1.
Interceptor aircraft
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An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent successful missions by enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. For daytime operations, conventional fighters normally fill the interceptor role, few aircraft can be considered dedicated daytime interceptors. Night fighters and bomber destroyers are, by definition, interceptors of the heavy type, examples of classic interceptors of this era include the F-106 Delta Dart, Sukhoi Su-15 and English Electric Lightning. Dedicated interceptor designs became rare, with the widely used examples designed after the 1960s being the Tornado F3, Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat. The first dedicated interceptor squadrons were formed up during World War I in order to defend London against attacks by Zeppelins, early units generally used aircraft withdrawn from front-line service, notably the Sopwith Pup. They were told about their targets prior to take-off from a centralized command center in the Horse Guards building. The Pup proved to have too low performance to intercept the Gotha G. IV bombers. Before Second World War started, offensive bomber speeds had improved so much that it appeared that the mission would be effectively impossible. The visual and acoustic detection had a range on the order of a few miles. This could be addressed by a cover of aircraft. The conclusion at the time was that the bomber will always get through, the introduction of radar upset this equation. Radar was able to detect aircraft at long range, on the order of 100 miles even for early systems and this provided enough time for fighters to start up, climb to altitude and chase down their targets. The introduction of jet power increased speeds from perhaps 200 miles per hour to 600 miles per hour in a single step, although radars also improved in performance, the gap between offense and defense was dramatically reduced. Large attacks could so confuse the defenses ability to communicate information to the pilots that the method of manual ground controlled interception was increasingly seen as inadequate. In the United States, this led to the introduction of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment to computerize this task. In the 1950s, during the Cold War, an interceptor force was crucial for the great powers. Hence for a period of time they faced rapid development. Thus, the doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening and their utility waned as the role became blurred into the role of the heavy air superiority fighters dominant in military thinking at the time
2.
Mitsubishi
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The Mitsubishi Group is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Its total revenue is about 1. 4% percent of Japans GDP and it is historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 to 1947 and was disbanded during the occupation of Japan following World War II. The former constituents of the continue to share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark. The three main companies in the group are The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Mitsubishi company was established as a shipping firm by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870. In 1873, its name was changed to Mitsubishi Shokai, the name Mitsubishi consists of two parts, mitsu meaning three and hishi meaning water caltrop, and hence rhombus, which is reflected in the companys logo. It is also translated as three diamonds, Mitsubishi was established in 1870, two years after the Meiji Restoration, with shipping as its core business. Its diversification was mostly into related fields, the experience of overseas shipping led the firm to enter into a trading business. In 1881, the company bought into coal mining by acquiring the Takashima Mine, followed by Hashima Island in 1890 and they also diversified into shipbuilding, banking, insurance, warehousing, and trade. Later diversification carried the organization into such sectors as paper, steel, glass, electrical equipment, aircraft, oil, as Mitsubishi built a broadly based conglomerate, it played a central role in the modernization of Japanese industry. After moving to Japan, they designed the Mitsubishi 1MT, Mitsubishi B1M, Mitsubishi 1MF, the merchant fleet entered into a period of diversification that would eventually result in the creation of three entities, Mitsubishi Bank was founded in 1919. After its mergers with the Bank of Tokyo in 1996, and UFJ Holdings in 2004, Mitsubishi Atomic Industry, a nuclear power company. Mitsubishi Chemical, the largest Japan-based chemicals company Mitsubishi Power Systems, during the Second World War, Mitsubishi manufactured military aircraft under the direction of Dr. Jiro Horikoshi. The Mitsubishi A6M was a primary Japanese naval fighter in World War II and it was used by Imperial Japanese Navy pilots throughout the war, including in kamikaze attacks during the later stages. Allied pilots were astounded by its maneuverability, and it was successful in combat until the Allies devised tactics to utilize their advantage in armor. Mitsubishi made use of forced labor during this tenure, laborers included allied POWs, as well as Chinese citizens. In the post-war period, lawsuits and demands for compensations were presented against the Mitsubishi Corporation, on July 24,2015, the company agreed to formally apologize for this wartime labor, and compensated 3765 Chinese laborers who were conscripted to Mitsubishi Mining during the war. On July 19,2015, the company apologized for using American soldiers as slave laborers during World War II, Mitsubishi was involved in the opium trade in China during this period. Mitsubishi was among a number of major Japanese companies targeted for dissolution during the occupation of Japan and it was broken up into a large number of smaller enterprises whose stock was offered to the public
3.
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
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The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (often called the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, was the land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. The IJAAS also provided important reconnaissance support for the Army, however, the Army Air Service usually did not control the light aircraft or balloons deployed and operated by the IJA artillery battalions as spotters or observers. The Imperial Japanese Army made use of balloons for observation purposes in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and purchased its first aircraft. However, serious interest in military aviation did not develop until after World War I, nakajima later license-produced the Gloster Gannet and Bristol Jupiter. Kawasaki also produced engines under license from BMW. By the end of the 1920s, Japan was producing its own designs to meet the needs of the Army, by 1941, the Japanese Army Air Force had about 1,500 combat aircraft. The officer commanding the chutai was the Chutaicho, whose rank was usually that of captain, the commanders aircraft often had distinctive markings, often a partly or totally scarlet, red, orange or yellow tail. In a reorganization of 1927-05-05, the Air Regiment was created, each Air Regiment was a mixed purpose unit, consisting of a mixture of fighter and reconnaissance squadrons. In August 1938, a complete re-organization of the Army Air Service resulted in the creation of the Air Combat Group, each Air Combat Group was a single-purpose unit consisting typically of three Squadrons, divided into three flights-小隊-shōtai of three aircraft each. Together with reserve aircraft and the flight, an Air Combat Group typically had 45 aircraft or up to 30 aircraft. Two or more Air Combat Groups formed an Air Division, which, together with base and support units, in 1942, the Air Corps were renamed Air Divisions, to mirror the terminology for infantry divisions, but the structure remained the same. Two Air Divisions, together with some independent units made an Air Army, 6th Air Army – on Kyūshū covering Taiwan and Okinawa In April 1944, a reorganization of the Japanese Army Air Service occurred. Maintenance and ground units, formerly a separate command, were merged into the Air Combat Group. The flying squadrons of the Air Combat Group were re-designated as Attack Units, and these units were specially designated and trained with the mission of air-to-air ramming of Allied bomber aircraft. They usually had their armaments removed and their airframes reinforced, in the final phase of the war, the Special Attack Units evolved into dedicated suicide units for kamikaze missions. Around 170 of these units were formed,57 by the Instructor Air Division alone, notionally equipped with 12 aircraft each, it eventually comprised around 2000 aircraft. Teishin Shudan was the IJAs special forces/airborne unit during World War II, the word teishin may be literally translated as dash forward, and is usually translated as raiding. It may also be regarded as similar to the designation in the terminology of other armies
4.
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
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The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The organization was responsible for the operation of aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. It was controlled by the Navy Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was equal in function to the Royal Navys Fleet Air Arm, the Italian Navys Aviazione Navale, or the Soviet Navys Morskaya Aviatsiya. The Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of the Navy of Japan was responsible for the development, the Japanese military acquired their first aircraft in 1910 and followed the development of air combat during World War I with great interest. They initially procured European aircraft but quickly built their own and launched themselves onto an aircraft carrier building program. They launched the worlds first purpose-built aircraft carrier, Hōshō, in 1922, afterwards they embarked on a conversion program of several excess battlecruisers and battleships into aircraft carriers. The IJN Air Service had the mission of air defence, deep strike, naval warfare. It retained this mission to the end, the Japanese pilot training program was very selective and rigorous, producing a high-quality and long-serving pilot corps, who ruled the air in the Pacific during early World War II. However, the duration of the training program, combined with a shortage of gasoline for training. Moreover, the Japanese, unlike the U. S. or Britain, the resultant decrease in quantity and quality, among other factors, resulted in increasing casualties toward the end of the war. In 1912, the Royal Navy had informally established its own flying branch, the Japanese admirals, whose own Navy had been modeled on the Royal Navy and whom they admired, themselves proposed their own Naval Air Service. The Japanese Navy had also observed technical developments in other countries, the following year, in 1913 a Navy transport ship, the Wakamiya was converted into a seaplane tender, a number of aircraft were also purchased. On 23 August 1914, as a result of its treaty with Great Britain, the Japanese, together with a token British force, then laid siege to the German held territory of Kiaochow and its administrative capital Tsingtao on the Shandong peninsula. During the siege, starting from September, Maurice Farman seaplanes onboard the Wakamiya conducted reconnaissance and aerial bombardments on German positions and ships. On 30 September the Wakamiya was later damaged by a mine, the Wakamiya conducted the worlds first naval-launched aerial raids in history and was in effect the first aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. By the end of the siege the aircraft had conducted 50 sorties and dropped 200 bombs, the mission consisted of a group of 29 British instructors, headed by Captain William Sempill, and stayed in Japan for 18 months. The British government hoped it would lead to lucrative an arms deal, the mission also brought the plans of the most recent British aircraft carriers, such as the HMS Argus and the HMS Hermes, which influenced the final stages of the development of the carrier Hōshō. The Hōshō became the first designed aircraft carrier from the keel up to be built, the military in Japan were also aided in their quest to build up their naval forces by Sempill who had become a Japanese spy
5.
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet
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The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket-powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational and its design was revolutionary and its performance unprecedented. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h, aside from combat losses many pilots were killed during testing and training. Work on the design startedunder the aegis of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug —the German Institute for the Study of sailplane flight and their first design was a conversion of the earlier Lippisch Delta IV known as the DFS39 and used purely as a glider testbed of the airframe. A larger follow-on version with a small propeller engine started as the DFS194 and this version used wingtip-mounted rudders, which Lippisch felt would cause problems at high speed. Lippisch changed the system of stabilization for the DFS 194s airframe from the earlier DFS 39s wingtip rudders. The design included a number of features from its origins as a glider, notably a skid used for landings, work continued under the code name Projekt X. The division of work between DFS and Heinkel led to problems, notably that DFS seemed incapable of building even a prototype fuselage, Lippisch eventually asked to leave DFS and join Messerschmitt instead. On 2 January 1939, he moved with his team and the partly completed DFS194 to the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg, the delays caused by this move allowed the engine development to catch up. Once at Messerschmitt, the decided to abandon the propeller-powered version. Although the engine proved to be unreliable, the aircraft had excellent performance. There was an onboard battery, but its capacity was limited, as was its endurance, no more than 10 minutes. The airspeed indicator averaged readings from two sources, the tube on the leading edge of the port wing, and a small pitot inlet in the nose. There was a further tapping-off of pressure-ducted air from the tube which also provided the rate of climb indicator with its source. In early 1941 production of a series, known as the Me 163. Secrecy was such that the RLMs GL/C airframe number, 8-163, was actually that of the earlier and it was thought that intelligence services would conclude any reference to the number 163 would be for that earlier design. In May 1941 the Me 163A V4 was shipped to Peenemünde to receive the HWK RII-203 engine, some postwar aviation history publications stated that the Me 163A V3 was thought to have set the record. The 1,004 km/h record figure would not be officially approached until the period by the new British
6.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
7.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
8.
Strategic bombing
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One of the aims of war is to demoralize the enemy, so that peace or surrender becomes preferable to continuing the conflict. Strategic bombing has been used to this end, because the term has pejorative connotations, some, including the Allies of World War II, have preferred to use euphemisms such as will to resist and morale bombings. The theoretical distinction between tactical and strategic air warfare was developed between the two world wars, some leading theorists of strategic air warfare during this period were the Italian Giulio Douhet, the Trenchard school in the United Kingdom, and General Billy Mitchell in the United States. One of the aims of war is to demoralise the enemy, facing continual death, when such attacks were tried in the 1930s—in the Spanish Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War—they were ineffective. Commentators observed the failures and some air forces, such as the Luftwaffe, Terror bombing is an emotive term used for aerial attacks planned to weaken or break enemy morale. Use of the term to refer to aerial attacks implies the attacks are criminal according to the law of war, or if within the laws of war are nevertheless a moral crime. The Allied governments usually described their bombing of cities with other such as area bombing or precision bombing. He then added in a remark that the raid also helped destroy what is left of German morale. Howard Cowan, an Associated Press war correspondent, filed a story about the Dresden raid, there were followup newspaper editorials on the issue and a longtime opponent of strategic bombing, Richard Stokes, MP, asked questions in the House of Commons on 6 March. The first bombing of a city was on the night of 24–25 August 1914, the first effective strategic bombing was pioneered by the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914. The mission was to attack the Zeppelin production lines and their sheds at Cologne, led by Charles Rumney Samson the force of four aircraft inflicted minor damage on the sheds. The raid was repeated a month later with more success. Within a year or so, specialized aircraft and dedicated bomber squadrons were in service on both sides. These were generally used for bombing, the aim was that of directly harming enemy troops, strongpoints, or equipment. Eventually, attention turned to the possibility of causing harm to the enemy by systematically attacking vital rear-area resources. The most well known attacks were those done by Zeppelins over England through the course of the war, in all, four people were killed and sixteen injured, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740. German airships also bombed on other fronts, for example in January 1915 on Liepāja in Latvia, in 1915 there were 19 more raids, in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped, killing 181 people and injuring 455. London was accidentally bombed in May, and in July the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centers, there were 23 airship raids in 1916, in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691
9.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between 1 and 1.7 billion dollars. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote, the name Superfortress continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29s final roles during World War II was carrying out the bomb attacks on Hiroshima. The B-29 served in roles throughout the 1950s. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until phasing out the type in 1954, the Soviet Union produced an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy as the Tupolev Tu-4. The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, the type was retired in the early 1960s. The B-29 production total was 3,970 aircraft, dozens of B-29s remain as static displays but only two examples, Fifi and Doc, have been restored to flying status, with Doc flying again for the first time from McConnell AFB on July 17,2016. A transport developed from the B-29 was the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, first flown in 1944, followed by its commercial airliner variant and this bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948 Boeing introduced a variant of the B-29 as the KB-29. A heavily modified line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy which remain in service today with operators including NASA, Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938, in response to a United States Army Air Corps request. Boeings design study for the Model 334 was a derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps did not have money to pursue the design, in April 1939, Charles Lindbergh convinced general Henry H. Arnold to produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Nazi production, Boeings previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its response to this specification. Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940, in competition with designs from Consolidated Aircraft, Lockheed, Consolidated continued to work on its Model 33 as it was seen by the Air Corps as a backup in case of problems with Boeings design. Boeing received a production order for 14 service test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941. The B-29 featured a design with circular cross-section for strength
10.
Luftwaffe
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The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base, with the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe was officially established on 26 February 1935. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a testing ground for new doctrines. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwaders, during World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely, the Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffes fighter arm, in addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. In January 1945, during the stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority. After the defeat of Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history, Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. Throughout the war, the force was responsible for war crimes, one of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916, after the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. This base was known as 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in locations in Central Russia. The first steps towards the Luftwaffes formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power, in April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was established. Görings control over all aspects of aviation became absolute, on 25 March 1933 the Deutschen Luftsportverband absorbed all private and national organizations, while retaining its sports title. On 15 May 1933, all military organizations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe. The |Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, military-age members of the NSFK were drafted to the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, the absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate
11.
Reichsmark
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The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig. The Mark is an ancient Germanic weight measure, traditionally a half pound, from 1871 to 1918 Germany was called the Kaiserreich, or the Deutsches Reich. Although Germany became a republic in 1919, the term Reich remained part of the official name. The Reichsmark was introduced in 1924 as a permanent replacement for the Papiermark and this was necessary due to the 1920s German inflation which had reached its peak in 1923. The exchange rate between the old Papiermark and the Reichsmark was 1 ℛℳ =1012 Papiermark, the Reichsmark was put on the gold standard at the rate previously used by the Goldmark, with the U. S. dollar worth 4.2 ℛℳ. As the market crash of 1929 expanded into the Great Depression and it retained a gold peg at that time. Hyper inflation ensued to the point it was cheaper to burn reichsmark paper notes than to buy fire wood, a number of companies were created with inadequate capital for their operations and authorized to issue bonds exchangeable at a 1,1 rate for Reichsmarks and sold at a discount. The Reichsbank rediscounted the bills of these companies creating a monetary expansion without formally renouncing the link to gold, Deutsche Gesellschaft für öffentliche Arbeiten AG, founded 1 August 1930, ended up issuing 1.26 billion Reichsmarks of Öffa bills to finance public construction. It formed the model for further fraudulent issues of bills. MEFO was a company that was formed with relatively small amounts of capital that was used to finance German rearmament off the books. It issued bills without backing by its own resources but which were guaranteed redeemable at 1,1 for Reichsmarks for five years by the government, the MEFO bills amounts were considered a state secret and were an important element in the impression that Hitlerian economics was a success. This company essentially created an amount of Reichsmarks off the books. With the unification of Germany and Austria in 1938, the Reichsmark replaced the Schilling in Austria. The rates were as follows, After the Second World War, the Reichsmark continued to circulate in Germany, in practice, massive inflation dating back to the latter stages of the war had rendered the Reichsmark nearly worthless. For all intents and purposes, it was supplanted by a barter economy, the Reichsmark was replaced in June 1948 by the Deutsche Mark in the Trizone and later in the same year by the East German Mark in East Germany. Tenenbaum of the US military government, and was executed abruptly on 21 June 1948, three days later, the new currency also replaced the Reichsmark in the three Western sectors of Berlin. In November 1945, the Reichsmark was superseded by the Allied Military Schilling in Austria, in 1947 a local currency was introduced in the Saar. In 1924, coins were introduced in denominations of 1,2,5,10, and 50 Reichspfennig, the 1 and 2 Reichspfennig were struck in bronze, and depicting a wheat sheaf
12.
Kobe
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Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is located on the side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay. With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka, the earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD201. For most of its history, the area was never a political entity, even during the Tokugawa period. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889 and its name comes from kanbe, an archaic title for supporters of the citys Ikuta Shrine. Kobe became one of Japans 17 designated cities in 1956, Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobes prominence as a port city, the city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef, as well as the site of one of Japans most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen. Media related to History of Kobe at Wikimedia Commons Tools found in western Kobe demonstrate the area was populated at least from the Jōmon period. The natural geography of the area, particularly of Wada Cape in Hyōgo-ku, led to the development of a port, some of the earliest written documents mentioning the region include the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD201. During the Nara and Heian periods, the port was known by the name Ōwada Anchorage and was one of the ports from which imperial embassies to China were dispatched. The city was briefly the capital of Japan in 1180, when Taira no Kiyomori moved his grandson Emperor Antoku to Fukuhara in present-day Hyōgo-ku, the Emperor returned to Kyoto after about five months. Shortly thereafter in 1184, the Taira fortress in Hyōgo-ku and the nearby Ikuta Shrine became the sites of the Genpei War battle of Ichi-no-Tani between the Taira and Minamoto clans, the Minamoto prevailed, pushing the Taira further. As the port grew during the Kamakura period, it became an important hub for trade with China, in the 13th century, the city came to be known by the name Hyōgo Port. During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka and it was not until the abolition of the han system in 1871 and the establishment of the current prefecture system that the area became politically distinct. Hyōgo Port was opened to trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Osaka on January 1,1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War. The region has since been identified with the West and many residences from the period remain in Kobes Kitano area. Kobe, as it is today, was founded on April 1,1889. The history of the city is tied to that of the Ikuta Shrine, and the name Kobe derives from kamube
