Preview

Although It Varies From Nation To Nation, Aviation Has a Growing Effect on Almost Every Person In The World

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2742 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Although It Varies From Nation To Nation, Aviation Has a Growing Effect on Almost Every Person In The World
1. The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles, a fact I learned in my earth science class many years ago. Today, the earth feels considerably smaller thanks to the amazing advances in technology over the past 100 years. While the way we communicate has had the greatest impact on our world; the development of aviation comes in a close second. The past century has seen commercial aviation go from non-existent to an everyday necessity for accomplishing many different tasks and goals. In the early 1900's aviation was solely for military, the wealthy and of course the "crazy" inventors who thought it possible for man to soar through the sky. Fast forward 100 years and aviation has become affordable to just about anyone with a job. In fact, much of the world relies on aviation and if you think about it, there is nothing we do today that is not in some way or another affected by aviation. It has changed the way we travel, how we distribute food and goods, how we respond to emergencies, how we interact with people in other countries, how we wage war, and how we enjoy peace. Most importantly, it has changed how we view the world – and ultimately, ourselves. The aviation industry had large impacts on national and global economies, politics, military, tourism, environments as well as health and medicine. In 1903, a popular English novelist, George Gessing, said in no uncertain terms, “The invention of the airplane will make war impossible in the future.” It makes sense on paper; meaning if you can see your opponent's every move from the air and they yours, then what would be the point to fighting? Would it not always end in a draw? One hundred and ten years later we know that statement could not be further from the truth. Airplanes had a rough start during WWI due to them being unreliable and causing more lives to be lost than victories to be won. During the span of time between WWI and WWII, technology developed considerably and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Wright Brothers

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Wright Brothers were the ones who invented the airplane. The airplane has made huge advantages in the things that we do every day. Everyday people have a package that we miraculously transport to some other persons house. The way that we do this is by shipping, which took a long time 150 years ago mostly by train or car, mostly by an airplane. We have to thank the Wright Brothers for the ease of being able to ship things all across the world in a quarter of the time it would take without the airplane. Also they made it easier to travel wherever we want. Before we had to take a train or go by car which took days to weeks to travel to another state. Now, thanks to the invention of the airplane, we could fly across the country in 6 hours, which is so much easier than it used to be before. The airplane not only aided everyday people but also the armed forces. It aided the armed forces in fighting wars, they could attack from above. Just imagine not being able to attack from and having to fight on the ground, it is very tough. When you attack form above you get to see the whole battle field and not just 100 feet in front of you. It also allows you to survey the land before hand so you can accurately plan your battle. That is a huge advantage when it is a life or death situation such as war, which is a…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alex Kershaw’s “The Few The American ‘Knights Of The Air’ Who Risked Everything To Fight In The Battle Of Britain” doesn’t just tell the story of the seven American aviators who flew for the British as but also their enemies, the Luftwaffe’s point of view. This book is told through this group of Americans and from the viewpoint of the Royal Air Force pilots they fought with but also the perspective of the Luftwaffe fliers that they fought against during the battle. For example, in one part of the book, there was this one German lookout who had commented on how much of an advantage the British had because of their radars that could locate enemy planes while they crossed the English Channel; the lookout considered the…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to now iconic images of planes such as the Boeing B-17 and the Supermarine Spitfire, World War 2 is recognized as being a war where an important part transpired in the skies. Richard Overy’s book Why the Allies Won, uses chapter four to look into the changes instigated and achieved through Allied air warfare. Looking at the production methods and morals behind Allied fight in the sky, readers are able to understand the positive impacts that were instigated through the air war.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    B 17 Characteristics

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Every major conflict the United States of America has fought in has had a defining characteristic that people identify with that era. From the Red Coats of the Revolutionary War to trench warfare of World War I, World War II also had a defining characteristic. One can make the argument that in World War II that defining characteristic was the use of aviation, most notably the bomber. One of the most iconic bombers of World War II was the B-17 Flying Fortress. This paper will explain what brought about the development of the B-17 and its inception, as well as the B-17’s role in combat and supporting ground troops. Lastly, discussed are the Memphis Belle and Old 666, two notable B-17’s from World War II.…

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: /b><br><li>Bailey, Ronald H. The Air War in Europe. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1979. A simple, straight-forward book that includes much background on the development of military aviation, and includes many pictures that chronicle the air war.<br><li>Boyne, Walter J. Clash of Wings: World War II in the Air. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. A very informative and user- friendly book that dealt with the air aspect of all fronts and theaters of WWII. It includes much data on numerous planes in its appendices.<br><li>Brick, William. "Bombardier." American History, April 1995, pp. 60-65. A short magazine article following the story of how a U.S. airman was shot down over Austria, and his subsequent imprisonment by the Nazis.<br><li>Copp, DeWitt S. Forged in Fire: Strategy and Decisions in the Airwar over Europe, 1940-1945. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1982. A book dealing mostly with the U.S. involvement in the War, with particular emphasis on the politics of the military officials, and how the major strategic decisions were made.<br><li>Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt. The Air War in the West: June 1941 to April 1945. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1963. A short, very basic book that did not go into depth, but did cover its material well.<br><li>Grant, William Newby. P-51 Mustang. London: Bison Books Limited, 1980. A relatively short book, but one that dealt solely with the P-51, and went into considerable depth concerning its construction and use during WWII and in later conflicts.<br><li>Overy, R.J. The Air War: 1939-1945. New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1980. A fairly dry book that dealt mostly with the economics and generalities of the air war, without dealing too much with the actual fighting.<br><li>Perret, Geoffrey. Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II. New York: Random House, 1993. A good book that covered its topic well, although in-depth discussion of the contributions of the other allies ' forces is not dealt with.…

    • 4735 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Air Technologies Wwi vs Wwii

    • 4078 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Most strategists during the First World War saw no military future for aviation. The French Marshal Ferdinand Foch once said, “Aviation is good sport, but for the Army it is useless” (Bailey 10); however, as air technology advanced in the 1920s, the idea of air power gained strength. World War II was the first war in which air power was considered vital to winning. At the beginning, in 1939, air supremacy belonged to Germany and the Luftwaffe, the German air force, which consisted of five hundred thousand men. England had one hundred thousand men in its Royal Air Force. The United States had only twenty-six thousand in the American Air Corps. Two years before the United States even entered the war, Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to strengthen U.S. air power (Nelson). As advancements were made in aeronautics and new innovations were being fashioned, a prodigious belief in air power was rapidly emerging.…

    • 4078 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Actually, airplanes have been so useful they are still used in wars today. They have shaped modern warfare, because now armies have to prepare their soldiers differently for war, so they are ready to defend from or use air strikes. Thanks to the Wright Brothers, there is a whole new side to warfare.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    World War I: Analysis

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages

    On the eve of the World War I, no country was prepared for using aircraft or would have even thought about making an effective weapon of war. Several had experimented with dropping bombs from aircraft, firing guns, and taking off and landing from aircraft carriers, but no country had designed or built an aircraft specifically for war functions (Century of Flight). During World War 1, they had made many changed to the aircraft to make it create havoc on the enemy’s. They would add many weapons to the aircraft to make it a deadly air weapon. The would then haul many people and weapons onto the aircraft and shoot from the top of the sky, so no one could really protect themselves (The Air War in Europe 23). Once World War two hit, these aircrafts got more sufficient in making their weapons more deadly. Air warfare was a major component of World War II. It consumed a large fraction of the industrial output of the major powers. Germany and Japan depended on air forces that were closely integrated with land and naval forces. The aviators downplayed the advantage of fleets who were strategic bombers, and were late in appreciating the need to defend against Allied strategic bombing. Britain and the United States took an approach that greatly emphasized strategic bombing, and to a lesser degree, considered control of the battlefield by air, and satisfactory air defenses (Wikapedia). They both built a strategic force of large, long-range bombers that could carry the air war to the enemy's homeland. Simultaneously, they built tactical air forces that could win air dominance over the battlefields, giving assistance to ground troops. They both built a powerful naval-air component based on aircraft carriers, as did Japan; these played the central role in the war at sea (Angelucci 46). Before 1939, all sides operated under largely theoretical models of air warfare. Italian theorist, Giulio Douhet in the 1920’s summarized the faith that airmen during and after World War I developed…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Technology in 1910s

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1903, the Wright brothers made achieve powered the aircraft flight fly off the ground for 15 seconds. Till the end of World War I, European countries produced more than 180,000 aircrafts. During World War II, the world has produced 700,000 aircraft. After World War I aviation industry started to occupied the position of the long-distance transport such as trains and ships. The innovation of aircraft shortens the distance between the Intercontinental, and even the world as a whole. It is no doubt that the civil aviation industry and aircraft industry has become one of the most important roles in contemporary.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through the course of WWII the Axis and the Allies began to develop new technologies for the purpose of battles. Germany began using the tactic of blitzkrieg, which emphasized speed and close coordination between planes and military forces in the ground (Ramirez 838). This demanded accurate mobility, which became more important than superior weapons or the amount of soldiers (Advancements in Tech WWII). Therefore, tanks and airplanes were made more efficient, by significantly increasing their speed, armor and firepower (Advancements in Tech WWII). Static trench warfare was no longer useful and that made air superiority a key point. Because of a need for improved mobility, through time, ways of transportation, such as airplanes were enhanced. This opened the eyes of inventors and a new era of scientific exploration was developed.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Giulio Douhet was an Italian aviation Commander in World War One. He published his first book on strategic bombing in 1921, Command of the Air. Douhet argues that artillery and submarines changed how war would be fought on land and sea. He also argued that new military technology gave the advantage to the defense. His conclusion was that neither side could deal a “death blow” or an attack “which leaves a deep gaping wound and the feeling of imminent death.”…

    • 3444 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the history of the world, there have been numerous amounts of inventions, or the perfection of inventions, that have changed history. Without these inventions, the human way of life would not be the same. Even though there are many significant ones, there are certain ones in time periods that have more of an impact than others. When looking back upon World War II, it is clear to see that the Jeep and the airplane have made a major impact on world history.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    World War 1 Significance

    • 1738 Words
    • 7 Pages

    At first, the planes were just used to see over enemy territory and find out their positions. If the plane were to encounter the opposing aircraft during their venture, the pilots and observers would fire against each other with any weapons they had (Schlager and Lauer). By the next year of the war, planes had taken a larger step in being part of the war. The authors acknowledge that, “By 1915, the combatants on both sides began to arm their aircraft with rear-firing machine guns. This meant, however, that the weapons could really only be used for defensive purposes, in the case that an observation aircraft found itself under attack from an enemy.” (Schlager and Lauer) The same year Germany had improved their aircrafts and added front-facing machine guns with the direct intention of fighting against enemy aircraft. Promptly, the countries realized how they could use jets for all types of combat, including bombers, observation and fighters. In 1916, the concept of formation flying came about, the formation was later on called “The Flying Circus”. Schlager and Lauer claim in their article, The Technology of War, that, “Instead of lone aircraft flying out on missions, a formation of aircraft, flying together and cooperating with one another, assured mutual protection in combat.” (Schlager and Lauer). Soon, it was noticed that planes could be used with direct intention of fighting against the enemy (Schlager and Lauer). The planes would attack each other along with the soldiers on the land who had no defense against the foes in the sky. Along with the new formations, aviation warfare had speedily changed where the pilot was in the front and the observer behind him in which they both manned a gun. Along with the guns, airspeed, cruising altitude and diving had…

    • 1738 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Air travel is a large and growing industry. It facilitates economic growth, world trade, international investment and tourism.…

    • 2122 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever since the stone ages mankind has come up with many different ways to travel. When people began to realize that traveling by land would make traveling easier Wilbur and Orville Wright, also known as “The Wright Brothers”, invented the world’s first successful airplane. Since then certain people in the world work daily to improve traveling by aircrafts. These certain people are known as Aerospace Engineers. Without these engineers our only flyable aircrafts would probably still be the first exact model that the Wright Brothers made. Trips to the moon would probably have never taken place if it weren’t for Aerospace Engineers.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays