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AAHS Journal, Vol. 49, No. 4 - Winter 2004 Table of Contents
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The
Navy’s Striking Eagles Squadron, Part I
The Golden Age of American Naval Aviation in the post-World War I era saw
the development of carrier-based aircraft first in the role of
reconnaissance and spotting for the battle line and in defense of the air
over the fleet. The grand maneuvers of the 1920s and 1930s, the fleet
problems, changed the role of the aircraft carrier as a battle line
component into an effective weapon whose planes carried the offensive, the
air strike, into the heart of the enemy. Protecting the strike group was
the carrier-based fighter. While its role initially had been to intercept
oncoming enemy aircraft, a role always important, its ability to escort
and cover the attack by carrier-based bombers and torpedo planes had
become equally important. |
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The Douglas B-23 Dragon
was developed as a twin-engine bomber, to replace the less capable Douglas
B-18 Bolo. The B-18 was unable to match the performance of the Boeing B-17
Flying Fortress, four-engine bomber. Douglas first attempted to
upgrade the B-18 by replacing the aircraft’s two engines with more
powerful 1,600 hp Wright 2600-3 radial engines. This retrofit did not
impress the War Department. Douglas engineers took the B-18 airframe and
decided to make more substantial alterations. They modified the fuselage
with a more streamline design, supported by a large tail-fin and rudder,
powered by two 1,600 hp Wright R-2600-3 radial engines which had been
planned for the upgraded B-18 or XB-22, stronger wings which were
available from the Douglas DC-3 commercial transport. The civilian Douglas
DC-3 was modified into a military transport becoming the Douglas C-47 Dakota
or Skytrain. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), replaced by
the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941, liked the
Douglas design proposal for the new twin-engine bomber and ordered
thirty-eight. This was a small production order, but kept the hopes alive
that Douglas might earn a larger bomber contract. |
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Korean War First: VF-53 vs. the Soviet Fleet Air Arm Early September
1950 was a time of transition between phases of the Korean War. Air Group
5 from USS Valley Forge (CV-45) had initiated USN carrier air combat
operations in Korea, as the only available USN carrier in the Far East,
with strikes against North Korea on 3 July in concert with HMS Triumph,
partly aimed at neutralizing North Korean air power and resulting in the
first jet victories in naval aviation history, by VF-51 F9F-3s against
North Korean Yak-9Ps over Pyongyang’s main airfield. That first day also
yielded a pair of inconclusive brushes with airborne Yaks for VF-53s
F4U-4Bs, plus some opportunities to strafe grounded North Korean aircraft.
The subsequent operations of CVG-5 soon settled into the alternating
routine of periods on the line engaged in interdiction and direct close
air support missions for UN ground forces retreating into the Pusan
Perimeter, plus replenishment, and short periods at bases and anchorages
in Japan. |
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The Fighting 54th, The Forgotten
Squadron of the Forgotten War Part II With Attu Island
retaken, the Americans and their Canadian allies turned their attention to
the Japanese on Kiska. They gathered a large invasion force of 33,000
American and Canadian troops and began training them for Aleutian
operations. Intelligence estimated that there were 5,000 troops on the
island with strong defensive positions. In preparation for the invasion,
the Eleventh Air Force moved its headquarters from Elmendorf Field to
Davis Field on Adak Island and engineers began constructing airfields at
Alexai Point on Attu and nearby Shemya Island. |
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The Air Force’s Early Airlift and Operation Strawboss Although members
of the Air Force Reserve have become accustomed in recent years to
performing missions for the USAF on a daily basis all over the world, such
has not always been the case. Prior to the present associate and unit
equipped wing programs which provide MAC with the ability to greatly
expand its capability overnight, the Air Force Reserve evolved slowly but
steadily as a combat-ready force. However, there were a number of
noteworthy individual events that led to Operation STRAWBOSS, one of the
first and largest airlift movements in the Air Force Reserve’s history.
This moved the entire 4th Fighter Wing from our country’s east coast to
Korea to support early hostilities in the Korean War. Everything was moved
– from the wing’s total force of F-86 Sabrejets and all of
their personnel, to the last piece of support equipment. |
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Post
WWII USAF Bomber Designs that Never Flew
For much of the
World War II period, development of new aircraft designs in the United
States was purposefully delayed to allow aviation contractors to focus
their energies on mass-production of the thousands-upon-thousands of
aircraft needed in the war effort. With some notable exceptions, the
aircraft produced for the armed forces during the war were based upon
pre-1942 specifications. Once wartime restrictions were lifted, however,
the advance in American aeronautical technology was absolutely phenomenal.
A large part of the stimulus came from the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF)
Research and Development Board, set up in 1944 by AAF chief General Henry
H. "Hap" Arnold and headed by renowned aeronautical scientist
Doctor Theodore von Karmen of Cal Tech. Arnold, who astutely foresaw that
America’s military responsibilities would not end with the war, told von
Karmen to develop a technological blueprint for a post-war Air Force that
possessed global striking powers. |
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Aircraft
Photos by Emil Strasser Part VII, The '30s, '40s and 1962 It’s time for
another trip down memory’s runway to the 1930s, 1940s and early 1960s.
We hope these photographs will bring back pleasant memories of aircraft
from time gone by.
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The
Tragic Flight of Boeing’s Prototype Model 307 Stratoliner On December 31, 1938, test
pilot Eddie Allen took the new Boeing Model 307, Stratoliner on a
42-minute maiden flight. When he returned, he was very enthusiastic
about the excellent handling characteristics of the new four-engined
airliner. |
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Max
Holtzem: An "Old Eagle" of the
First World War. When Holtzem
joined Jasta 16b as a fighter pilot late in 1917 he was assigned a Pfalz
D.IIIa which design he had flight tested at the factory one year earlier.
The D.III was the first biplane fighter design produced by Pfalz, the
company having previously built the Roland D.I and D.II aircraft under a
license agreement. |
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