1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Idaho
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Idaho is a state in the northwestern region of the United States. It borders the state of Montana to the east and northeast, Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, to the north, it shares a small portion of the Canadian border with the province of British Columbia. With a population of around 1.7 million people and an area of 83,569 square miles, Idaho is the 14th largest, the states capital and largest city is Boise. Idaho prior to European settlement was inhabited solely by Native American peoples, in the early 19th century, Idaho was considered part of the Oregon Country, an area disputed between the U. S. and the United Kingdom. Idaho was eventually admitted to the Union on July 3,1890, forming part of the Pacific Northwest, Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. In the states north, the relatively isolated Idaho Panhandle is closely linked with Eastern Washington, the states south includes the Snake River Plain, while the south-east incorporates part of the Great Basin. Idaho is quite mountainous, and contains several stretches of the Rocky Mountains, additionally, around 38 percent of Idahos land is held by the United States Forest Service, the most of any state. Industries significant for the economy include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry. Idahos agricultural sector supplies a number of different products, but the state is best known for its potato crop, the official state nickname is the Gem State, which references Idahos reputation for gemstones and, more broadly, its many wilderness areas. The exact origin of the remains a mystery. Willing later claimed that he had invented the name. Congress ultimately decided to name the area Colorado Territory when it was created in February 1861, thinking they would get a jump on the name, locals named a community in Colorado Idaho Springs. However, the name Idaho did not fall into obscurity, the same year Congress created Colorado Territory, a county called Idaho County was created in eastern Washington Territory. The county was named after a steamship named Idaho, which was launched on the Columbia River in 1860 and it is unclear whether the steamship was named before or after Willings claim was revealed. Regardless, a portion of Washington Territory, including Idaho County, was used to create Idaho Territory in 1863. Despite this lack of evidence for the origin of the name, the name Idaho may be derived from the Plains Apache word ídaahę́, which means enemy. The Comanches used this word to refer to the Idaho Territory, a 1956 Idaho history textbook says, Idaho is a Shoshoni Indian exclamation. The word consists of three parts, the first is Ee, which in English conveys the idea of coming down
3.
Air National Guard
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When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States and they are jointly administered by the states and the National Guard Bureau, a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the National Guard of the United States. The ANG of the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands have no aircraft assigned, ANG units typically operate under Title 32 USC. However, when operating under Title 10 USC all ANG units are operationally-gained by an active duty USAF major command. ANG units of the Combat Air Forces based in the Continental United States, conversely, CONUS-based ANG units in the Mobility Air Forces, plus the Puerto Rico ANGs airlift wing and the Virgin Islands ANGs civil engineering squadron are gained by the Air Mobility Command. The vast majority of ANG units fall under either ACC or AMC, established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U. S. S. When not in a status, the Air National Guard operates under their respective state. The exception to rule is the District of Columbia Air National Guard. Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, Air National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency. The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service, even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, often serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only one weekend a month, the Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 Joint STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard transitioned from flying the F-15C/D Eagle at St and these proposals were eventually overruled and cancelled by the U. S. Congress. As state militia units, the units in the Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command and they are under the jurisdiction of the United States National Guard Bureau unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. Air National Guard units are trained and equipped by the United States Air Force, the state ANG units, depending on their mission, are operationally gained by a major command of the USAF if federalized. Air National Guard personnel are expected to adhere to the moral and physical standards as their full-time active duty Air Force. The same ranks and insignia of the U. S. Air Force are used by the Air National Guard, the Air National Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in a service members home state or equivalent. The creation of the regiments was caused by the perceived need to defend the Bay Colony against American Indians. This organization formed the basis of subsequent colonial and, post-independence, state and this distinction accounts for why there are no National Guard components in the U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps or U. S. Coast Guard
4.
Boise Airport
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Boise Airport is a joint civil-military airport three miles south of Boise in Ada County, Idaho, United States. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation and is overseen by an Airport Commission, Boise is a landing rights airfield requiring international general aviation flights to receive permission from a Customs and Border Protection officer before landing. The 124 FW operates the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, the National Interagency Fire Center is based in the city of Boise and the Boise Airport is used for logistical support. The United States Forest Service also uses Boise Airport as a base for aerial firefighting air tankers during the wildfire season. Boise Airport had 1,487,764 enplaned passengers in 2015, growing from 1,378,352 passengers in 2014, BOI ranked 72nd in the nation in enplanements for 2015. In 1926 the first municipal airport in Boise named Booth Field was built on a bed where the Boise State University campus now stands. The first commercial flight in the United States passed through this airfield on April 26,1926. Varney Airlines began operating out of Boise in 1933, later merging with National Air Transport to become United Airlines. With United Airlines able to trace its roots to Varney, United is recognized as the airline that has operated the longest out of Boise,83 years as of 2009, the airfield also played host to Charles Lindberghs Spirit of St. Louis on September 4,1927. The current airport has its origins in 1936 when Boise began buying and leasing land for the airport, by 1938 Boise had the longest runway in the United States,8,800 feet. The steel hangar for Varney Airlines was moved to the present field in 1939, as aircraft grew the hangar was no longer big enough and was converted into a passenger terminal. It was part of the terminal facility until the completion of a new terminal in 2004. During World War II the Army Air Corps, later Army Air Forces, leased the field for use as a base for B-17 Flying Fortress. More than 6,000 men were stationed there during the war, the field was named Gowen Field in 1941 on July 23, after 1st Lt Paul R. Gowen. Born and raised in Caldwell, he attended the University of Idaho for two years, then obtained an appointment to West Point in 1929, and graduated ninth in his class in 1933. While piloting a twin-engine B-10 bomber in the Army Air Corps, the right engine failed shortly after take-off from Albrook Field, near Panama City. The other two members, navigator and radio operator, survived and crawled from the wreckage with burns. After the war the part of the used by the Army Air Forces was returned to the city
5.
124th Fighter Wing
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The 124th Fighter Wing is a unit of the Idaho Air National Guard, stationed at Gowen Field Air National Guard Base, Boise, Idaho. If activated to service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. S. The 190th FIS becoming the flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 124th Headquarters, 124th Material Squadron, 124th Combat Support Squadron, also in 1955, the F-86A day interceptors were replaced by the F-94A Starfire all-weather interceptor. The 190th changed aircraft four times over the next 23 years to fly the F-89C Scorpion, F-86L Sabre Interceptor. In 1958, the 124th implemented the ADC Runway Alert Program, in which interceptors of the 190th FIS were committed to a runway alert. In 1968 Air Defense Command was re-designated as Aerospace Defense Command, in November 1975, the 124th Fighter-Interceptor Group was transferred from Air Defense Command to Tactical Air Command. It was re-equipped by TAC with the RF-4C Phantom II Mach 2 high speed reconnaissance aircraft, many of these planes were veterans of combat in Vietnam. F-4 Phantom jets would eventually spend 20 years on Gowen Field, the unarmed RF-4C carried high resolution cameras and electronic sensors, which soon proved their worth to thousands of people in Idaho. Aerial photographs were taken immediately after the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake near Challis. The Challis-Mackay region experienced rather thorough damage, with 11 commercial buildings and 39 homes with major damage, while another 200 houses were damaged, the reconnaissance photos helped emergency response crews locate and evaluate the damage. The RF-4C was still in service at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, following the end of Desert Storm, all of the remaining RF-4Cs were withdrawn from USAF service. In 1991, Idaho’s Air Guard changed aircraft and mission again, the Idaho ANG was to be the only ANG unit to operate the F-4G. The F-4G was designed as an anti-Surface to Air Missile aircraft to jam, the F-4Gs were received from the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing at George AFB, California as part of the closure of George AFB. The squadron was re-designated as the 190th Fighter Squadron with the changeover of its parent 124th to the Air Force Objective Wing organization, in 1992, the 124th Fighter Group became part of the new Air Combat Command. In April 1993 the squadrons Wild Weasel jets were sent to Southwest Asia to support Operation Southern Watch, twice 190th airmen were challenged by illegal Iraqi air defense radar near Basra. The threats were answered — and silenced — with AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile anti-radiation missiles, from 1993 to 1995 there were a total of four deployments to the Gulf. The last such deployment returned to Boise in December 1995, Idaho’s airmen served longer in Southwest Asia than any other flying unit in the Air National Guard
6.
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
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The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin turbofan engine, straight wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United States Air Force. Commonly referred to by its nicknames Warthog or Hog, its name comes from the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The A-10 was designed for air support of friendly ground troops, engaging armored vehicles and tanks. It entered service in 1976 and is the only aircraft that has served in the USAF that was designed solely for CAS. Its secondary mission is to forward air controller – airborne support. Aircraft used primarily in this role are designated OA-10, the A-10 was intended to improve on the performance of the A-1 Skyraider and its poor firepower. The A-10 was designed around the 30 mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon and its short takeoff and landing capability permits operation from airstrips close to the front lines, and its simple design enables maintenance with minimal facilities. The A-10 served in the Gulf War, the American intervention against Iraqs invasion of Kuwait, the A-10 also participated in other conflicts such as Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and against ISIL in the Middle East. The A-10A single-seat variant was the version produced, though one pre-production airframe was modified into the YA-10B twin-seat prototype to test an all-weather night capable version. In 2005, a program was started to upgrade remaining A-10A aircraft to the A-10C configuration with modern avionics for use of precision weaponry. The U. S. Air Force had stated the F-35 would replace the A-10 as it entered service, but this remains highly contentious within the Air Force and in political circles. With a variety of upgrades and wing replacements, the A-10s service life may be extended to 2040, post-World War II development of conventionally armed attack aircraft in the United States had stagnated. Design efforts for tactical aircraft focused on the delivery of nuclear weapons using high-speed designs like the F-101 Voodoo, designs concentrating on conventional weapons had been largely ignored, leaving their entry into the Vietnam War led by the Korean War-era Douglas A-1 Skyraider. While a capable aircraft for its era, with a large payload and long loiter times. The U. S. Air Force and Marine Corps lost 266 A-1s in action in Vietnam, the A-1 Skyraider also had poor firepower. The lack of conventional attack capability prompted calls for a specialized attack aircraft. The former became the Tactical Fighter Experimental, or TFX, which emerged as the F-111 and it was also expensive to buy and operate, with a flyaway cost of $2 million in FY1965, and operational costs over $900 per hour. After a broad review of its force structure, the U. S. Air Force decided to adopt a low-cost aircraft to supplement the F-4
7.
142nd Fighter Wing
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The 142nd Fighter Wing is a unit of the Oregon Air National Guard, stationed at Portland Air National Guard Base, Oregon. As a state unit, the 142nd Fighter Wing is not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. It is under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Air National Guard unless it is federalized by order of the president of the United States, if activated to federal service, the wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. The 123rd Fighter Squadron assigned to the wings 142nd Operations Group, is a descendant organization of 123rd Observation Squadron and it is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II. Began operations, using P-47s, by making a sweep over France. Flew fighter- sweep, dive-bombing, and escort missions prior to the invasion of the continent, attacked railroads, trains, vehicles, gun emplacements, and buildings in France during the invasion of 6 June 1944. Patrolled beachhead areas and continued its assaults against the enemy during the remainder of the Normandy campaign, participated in the aerial barrage that prepared the way for the Allied breakthrough at St Lo on 25 July, and supported the subsequent drive across northern France. Conducted operations that supported Allied ground action in the Battle of the Bulge, returned to the US, October and November 1945 and inactivated. The wartime 371st Fighter Group was re-activated and re-designated as the 142nd Fighter Group and it was organized at Portland Municipal Airport, Oregon, and was extended federal recognition on 30 August 1946 by the National Guard Bureau. The 142nd Fighter Group was bestowed the history, honors, the groups 123rd Fighter Squadron was equipped with P-51D Mustangs and was assigned to the Fourth Air Force, Air Defense Command. The group was federalized and brought to duty on 2 March 1951. It was assigned to the Air Defense Command Western Air Defense Force and it was then reassigned to the federalized Washington ANG 142nd Fighter-Interceptor Wing on 11 April and moved to OHare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, by 1 May 1951. Re-designated 142nd Fighter-Interceptor Group on 1 May 1951, at OHare, the 142nd Fighter Group controlled the 62nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, flying F-86A Sabre day interceptors. The group was inactivated on 6 February 1952, being replaced by the 4706th Air Defense Wing, re-formed as the 142nd Fighter-Interceptor Group, flying F-86F Sabre day interceptor aircraft. It resumed its mission of the air defense of Oregon. Was upgraded by ADC in 1955 to the dedicated F-94A Starfire all-weather interceptor, with this new aircraft, the mission of the 123rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron changed from day interceptor to day and night all-weather interceptor. In 1957 the 123rd again upgraded to the improved F-89J Scorpion then in 1966 to the supersonic F-102A Delta Dagger. In the summer of 1958, the 142nd implemented the ADC Runway Alert Program, the runway alert continues to this day
8.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
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The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941–1945. Its primary armament was eight. 50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a load of 2,500 pounds. When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was used by two U. S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat, the P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U. S. were equipped with the P-47, the armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, offering good visibility. A modern-day U. S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, both had fled from their homeland to escape the Bolsheviks. In 1939, Republic Aviation designed the AP-4 demonstrator powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine with a belly-mounted turbocharger. While the resulting Republic P-43 Lancer was in limited production, Republic had been working on an improved P-44 Rocket with a powerful engine. The latter was an aircraft powered by the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine. The United States Army Air Corps backed the project and gave it the designation XP-47, as the war in Europe escalated in spring 1940, Republic and the USAAC concluded that the XP-44 and the XP-47 were inferior to the Luftwaffe fighters. Republic unsuccessfully attempted to improve the design, proposing the XP-47A, kartveli then designed a much larger fighter, which was offered to the USAAC in June 1940. The Air Corps ordered a prototype in September, to be designated the XP-47B, the XP-47A, which had little in common with the new design, was abandoned. The XP-47B was of construction with elliptical wings, with a straight leading edge that was slightly swept back. The air-conditioned cockpit was roomy and the seat was comfortable—like a lounge chair. Main and auxiliary self-sealing fuel tanks were placed under the cockpit, the cowling admitted cooling air for the engine, left and right oil coolers, and the turbosupercharger intercooler system. At full power, the pipes glowed red at their forward ends, the complicated turbosupercharger system with its ductwork gave the XP-47B a deep fuselage, and the wings had to be mounted in a relatively high position. This was problematic since long-legged main landing gear struts were needed to provide clearance for the enormous propeller
9.
United States Air Forces Central Command
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United States Air Forces Central Command is a Named Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. During the Cold War, it was one of two Numbered Air Forces of Tactical Air Command and it has fought in the 1991 Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, as well as various engagements within USCENTCOM. United States Air Forces Central is the descendant organization of Ninth Air Force. AFCENT was formed as the United States Central Command Air Forces under Tactical Air Command, CENTAF initially consisted of designated United States Air Force elements of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force which was inactivated and reformed as USCENTCOM in 1983. On 1 March 2008 USCENTAF was redesignated USAFCENT and it shared its commander with Ninth Air Force until August 2009. Ninth Air Force was formally re designated USAFCENT on 5 August 2009, a new Ninth Air Force was established that date for command and control of CONUS-based Air Combat Command units formerly assigned to the previous Ninth Air Force. It is planned that they return to a shared commander after the United States completes its current wars. During World War II, the air forces of the United States Army Air Forces came to be classified as strategic or tactical. In June 1942, the German Afrika Korps advance in North Africa forced the British Eighth Army to retreat towards Egypt putting British Middle East Command at risk, harry A. Halverson, commanding twenty-three B-24D Liberator heavy bombers and a hand-picked crews, decided to move to Egypt. HALPRO was quickly diverted from its mission to a new one—interdictory raids from airfields in Egypt against shipping. On 28 June 1942, Major General Lewis H Brereton arrived at Cairo to command the U. S. Army Middle East Air Force, USAMEAF comprised the Halverson Detachment, Breretons detachment, and the Air Section of US Military North African Mission. Several USAAF units were sent to join USAMEAF during next weeks in the destruction of Rommels Afrika Korps by support to troops and secure sea. Col. Patrick W. Subsequent negotiations carried the point with the British, on 12 October a small staff moved into Grey Pillars, RAF headquarters at Cairo, and thenceforth USAMEAFs bombers operated only under the strategic direction of the British. After initially resisting the attack, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel decided he no longer had the resources to hold his line, Allied victory in the Second Battle of Alamein was accomplished. Ninth Air Force had been first constituted as V Air Support Command, part of Air Force Combat Command, at Bowman Field, Kentucky on 11 September 1941. It was reassigned to Bolling Field, Washington, D. C. on 22 July and transferred without personnel or equipment to Cairo, Egypt on 12 November 1942. The Ninth Air Force mission comprised, Gain air superiority, Deny the enemy the ability to replenish or replace losses, and Offer ground forces close support in North-East Africa. On 12 November 1942, the US Army Middle East Air Force was dissolved and replaced by HQ Ninth Air Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton
10.
Operation Overlord
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Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings, a 1, 200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, the decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion in 1944 was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. The coast of Normandy was chosen as the site of the invasion, with the Americans assigned to land at sectors codenamed Utah and Omaha, the British at Sword and Gold, and the Canadians at Juno. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a military deception, Operation Bodyguard. This misled the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings, Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in charge of developing fortifications all along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an invasion. A failed counterattack by German forces on 8 August left 50,000 soldiers of the 7th Army trapped in the Falaise pocket, the Allies launched an invasion of southern France on 15 August, and the Liberation of Paris followed on 25 August. German forces retreated across the Seine on 30 August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord, in June 1940, Germanys leader Adolf Hitler had triumphed in what he called the most famous victory in history—the fall of France. The defending British Expeditionary Force, trapped along the northern coast of France, was able to evacuate over 338,000 troops to England in the Dunkirk evacuation. After the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing for the creation of a front in Western Europe. Two tentative plans code-named Operation Roundup and Operation Sledgehammer were put forward for 1942–43, instead, the Allies launched the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and invaded Italy in September. These operations provided the troops with valuable experience in amphibious warfare, the decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the next year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Churchill favoured making the main Allied thrust into Germany from the Mediterranean theatre, but was over-ruled by his American allies, British Lieutenant-General Frederick E. Morgan was appointed Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander, to begin detailed planning. The initial plans were constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. In part because of lessons learned in the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942, the failure at Dieppe also highlighted the need for adequate artillery and air support, particularly close air support, and specialised ships able to travel extremely close to shore. Morgan considered four sites for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected. The Pas de Calais is the closest point in continental Europe to Britain and was the location of sites for V-1 and V-2 rockets. The Germans considered it to be the most likely initial landing zone, Normandy was hence chosen as the landing site
11.
Dive bomber
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A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bombs trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact throughout the bomb run and this allows attacks on point targets and ships, which were difficult to attack with conventional level bombers, even en-masse. A dive bomber dives at an angle, normally between 45 and 90 degrees, and thus requires an abrupt pull-up after dropping its bombs. This puts great strains on both pilot and aircraft and it demands an aircraft of strong construction, with some means to slow its dive. This limited the class to light bomber designs with ordnance loads in the range of 1,000 lb although there were larger examples. The SBD Dauntless helped win the Battle of Midway, was instrumental in the victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea, a second and simpler technique is to bomb from a shallow dive angle, sometimes referred to as glide bombing. This reduces the accuracy, but still allows line of sight to the target during the bomb run, the Junkers Ju 88 and Petlyakov Pe-2 were widely used in this role. The Heinkel He 177 is often mentioned as having its development upset by the demand that it be able to dive bomb, the phrase glide bombing should not be confused with the term glide bomb, where the bomb glides towards its target while the aircraft remains in level flight. Attachments for this type of bombing were fitted to the Norden bombsight, Dive bombing was most widely used before and during World War II, its use declined during the war, when its vulnerability to enemy fighters became apparent. Most tactical aircraft today allow bombing in shallow dives to keep the target visible, when released from an aircraft, a bomb carries with it the aircrafts velocity. In the case of a bomber flying horizontally, the bomb will only be travelling forward. This forward motion is opposed by the drag of the air, additionally, gravity accelerates the bomb downward. The combination of two forces, drag and gravity, results in a complex pseudo-parabolic trajectory. The distance that the bomb moves forward while it falls is known as its range, if the range for a given set of conditions is calculated, simple trigonometry can be used to find the angle between the aircraft and the target. By setting the bombsight to this angle, the aircraft can time the drop of its bombs at the instant when the target is lined up in the sight. This was only effective for area bombing, however, since the path of the bomb is only roughly estimated. Large formations could drop bombs on an area hoping to hit a target, but there was no guarantee of success. The advantage to this approach, however, was that it is easy to build such an aircraft and fly it at high altitude, the horizontal bomber was thus ill-suited for tactical bombing, particularly in close support
12.
Normandy landings
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday,6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, planning for the operation began in 1943. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces, the amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06,30, the target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their positions, particularly at Utah. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs, at Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks. The Allies failed to any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead, museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 338,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force, after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a. full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a front in Europe in 1942. Instead of a return to France, the Western Allies staged offensives in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. By mid-1943 the campaign in North Africa had been won, the Allies then launched the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and subsequently invaded Italy in September the same year. By then, Soviet forces were on the offensive and had won a victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Initial planning was constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin that they would open the second front in May 1944. Four sites were considered for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected
United States
Idaho
Air National Guard
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
