The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997/The_Epic_Interactive_Encyclopedia_97.iso/a/air_force/infotext

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 2KB | 45 lines

A nation's fighting aircraft and the
organization that maintains them. history The
emergence of the aeroplane at first brought
only limited recognition of its potential
value as a means of waging war. Like the
balloon, used since the American Civil War,
it was considered a way of extending the
vision of ground forces. A unified air force
was established in the UK 1918, Italy 1923,
France 1928, Germany 1935 (after repudiating
the arms limitations of the Versailles
treaty), and the USA 1947 (it began as the
Aeronautical Division of the Army Signal
Corps in 1907, and evolved into the Army's
Air Service Division by 1918; by 1926 it was
the Air Corps and in World War II the Army
Air Forces). The main specialized groupings
formed during World War I - such as combat,
bombing (see bomb), reconnaissance, and
transport - were adapted and modified in
World War II; activity was extended, with
self-contained tactical air forces to meet
the needs of ground commanders in the main
theatres of land operations and for the
attack on and defence of shipping over narrow
seas. In 1945-60 the piston engine was
superseded by the jet engine, which propelled
its craft at supersonic speeds; extremely
precise electronic guidance systems lessened
the difference between missile and aircraft;
and flights of unlimited duration became
possible with air-to-air refuelling. The US
Strategic Air Command's bombers can patrol 24
hours a day armed with thermonuclear weapons.
It was formerly anticipated that the pilot
might become obsolete, but the continuation
of conventional warfare and the evolution of
tactical nuclear weapons have led in the
1970s and 1980s to the development of
advanced combat aircraft able to fly
supersonically beneath an enemy's radar on
strike and reconnaissance missions, as well
as so-called stealth aircraft that cannot be
detected by radar.