When Orville and Wilbur Wright evolved the successful man-carrying aeroplane, they saw in it a machine to prohibit war; by 1914 there were many who still thought it useless for waging war—though they were soon to be disproved. In 1940, air supremacy became the key to the future course of a new world conflict; and in the two decades since then, air power has played a vital part in preventing small conflicts from developing into global proportions. The awesome threat of nuclear warfare has thus achieved its deterrent purpose in some measure, and " brushfire" wars and minor uprisings are now stifled by the use of what we are pleased to call " conventional " weapons. To keep the picture in perspective, it must be remembered that a single-engined Skyraider, for instance, itself a veteran design, can now carry a load of non-nuclear ordnance at least as devastating as that of a World War 2 Flying Fortress ; and yet, can we not see, in the use of aircraft to deliver a form of attack which incapacitates rather than kills, another significant step along the road towards Orville Wright's original aspiration which opens this book? Towards the day when all military aircraft are " warplanes of yesteryear " ?
Название: Warplanes of Yesteryear
Издательство: Arco Publishing Company
Год издания: 1966
Автор: Kenneth Munson
Формат: PDF
Страниц: 140
Язык: English
Размер: 18.1 MB
