|
498th Nuclear Systems Wing
The 498th Nuclear Systems Wing was a wing (air force unit), wing of the United States Air Force based at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. World War II The wing was initially established as the 498th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 19 November 1943. The group remained unmanned until it was activated on 20 November 1943. The group was established at Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico, and assigned to Second Air Force. It was to be a B-29 Superfortress group. The unit was formed with four bomb squadrons (873d Tactical Missile Squadron, 873d, 874th Tactical Missile Squadron, 874th, 875th Bombardment Squadron, 875th and 876th Bombardment Squadron, 876th), all being newly constituted. It moved to Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas in December 1943 to begin training. Because of a shortage of B-29s, the group was equipped with former II Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortresses already at Great Bend which were previously used for training heavy bomber replacement personnel. In the sprin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bomber, strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat. One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with state-of-the-art technology, which included a cabin pressurization, pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
875th Bombardment Squadron
The 875th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. The squadron was activated in late 1943 for service during World War II. After training in the United States with Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers, the squadron moved to the Mariana Islands, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Japan, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before the end of hostilities in August 1945. The squadron returned to the United states in December 1945 and was inactivated in March 1946, and its personnel and equipment transferred to another organization. History The squadron was first activated at Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico in November 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 498th Bombardment Group, an early Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber squadron. The squadron trained in New Mexico and at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas with early model B-29s until July 1944, when it began its deployment to the Pacific.Mau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iwo Jima
is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although south of Tokyo on Honshu, Iwo Jima is administered as part of the Ogasawara Subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Only in size, the island is still volcanic island, volcanic and emits sulfurous gases. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. Although likely passed by Micronesians who made their way to the Bonins to the north, Iwo Jima was largely ignored by the Spanish Empire, Spanish, Dutch Empire, Dutch, British Empire, British, and Empire of Japan, Japanese until a relatively late date after its 1543 rediscovery. The Japanese eventually colonized the island, administering it as the Iojima, Tokyo, Ioto or Iojima Village under Tokyo's jurisdiction until all civilians were forcibly evacuated to Honshu in July 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quonset Hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section. The design was developed in the United States based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I. Hundreds of thousands were produced during World War II, and military surplus was sold to the public. The name comes from the site of their first deployment at Quonset Point at the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center in Davisville, Rhode Island. Design and history The first Quonset huts were manufactured in 1941 when the United States Navy needed a lightweight, all-purpose building that could be shipped anywhere and assembled without skilled labor. They could be assembled in a day by a 10-person team using only hand tools. The George A. Fuller construction company manufactured them, and the first was produced within 60 days of signing the contract. In 1946, the Great Lakes Steel Corporation claimed "the term 'Quonset,' as ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saipan
Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Saipan was 43,385. Its people have been United States citizens since the 1980s. Saipan is one of the main homes of the Chamorro people, Chamorro, the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous people of the Mariana Islands. Saipan has been inhabited for over four thousand years. From the 17th century, the island experienced Spanish Empire#Pacific exploration and trade, Spanish occupation and rule until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Saipan was briefly occupied by the United States, before being German–Spanish Treaty (1899), formally sold German New Guinea#Imperial German Pacific protectorates, to Germany. About 15 years of German rule were South Seas Mandate, followed by 30 years of Empire of Japan, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II. The command was established at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas on 1 March 1944. After a period of organization and its assigned groups receiving their B-29 Superfortress aircraft, the command transferred first to Peterson Field, Colorado, then deployed to the central Pacific, being headquartered at Harmon Field, Guam, in the Mariana Islands. Its assigned units engaged in very long-range bombardment operations, primarily against Japan until mid-July 1945. History The Marianas chain of islands, consisting primarily of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, were considered as being ideal bases from which to launch B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan. The islands were about from Tokyo, a range which the B-29s could just about manage. Most important of all, they could be put on a direct supply line from the United States by ship. In August 1944, Major genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
73d Bombardment Wing
__NOTOC__ AD 73 ( LXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitian and Messalinus (or, less frequently, year 826 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination AD 73 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Vespasian and Titus are appointed to be Roman censors. * Spring – The Roman governor Lucius Flavius Silva lays siege to Masada, the last outpost of the Jewish rebels following the end, in AD 70, of the First Jewish-Roman War (Jewish Revolt). The Roman army (''Legio X Fretensis)'' surrounds the mountain fortress with a 7-mile long siege wall ( circumvallation) and builds a rampart of stones and beaten earth against the western approach. After the citadel is conquered, 960 Zealots under the leadership of Eleazar ben Ya'ir commit mass suicide whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east. They lie south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of the Philippines, demarcating the Philippine Sea's eastern limit. They are found in the northern part of the western Oceanic sub-region of Micronesia, and are politically divided into two jurisdictions of the United States: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and, at the southern end of the chain, the territory of Guam. The islands were named after the influential Spanish queen Mariana of Austria following their colonization in the 17th century. The indigenous inhabitants are the Chamorro people. Archaeologists in 2013 reported findings which indicated that the people who first settl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) operations. The Twentieth Air Force commander is also the Commander, Task Force 214 (TF 214), which provides alert ICBMs to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). Established on 4 April 1944 at Washington D.C, 20 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Pacific War, Pacific Theater of World War II. Operating initially from bases in India and staging through bases in China, 20 AF conducted strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands. It relocated to the Mariana Islands in late 1944, and continued the strategic bombardment campaign against Japan until the Japanese capitulation in August 1945. The 20 AF 509th Composite Group conducted the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
383d Bombardment Group
The 383d Bombardment Group is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. It was last stationed at Camp Anza, California, where it was inactivated on 4 January 1946. The group (military aviation unit), group was active from 1942 to 1944 as a heavy bomber training unit. It was reorganized as a very heavy bomber unit and trained for deployment overseas. However, it arrived at its overseas station too late to see combat, and returned to the United States, where it was inactivated. History Heavy bomber training unit The group (military aviation unit), group was first activated at Salt Lake City Army Air Base in November 1942, with the 40th Air Refueling Squadron, 540th, 541st Special Operations Squadron, 541st, 42nd Air Refueling Squadron, 542d and 543d Bombardment Squadrons assigned.Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 646Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 646-647Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 647Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 647-648 Its cadre (military), cadre moved to Rapi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II, used primarily in the European Theater of Operations, United States Army, European Theater of Operations. It is the List of most-produced aircraft, third-most produced bomber in history, behind the American four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the German multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. The B-17 was also employed in transport, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue roles. In a USAAC competition, Boeing, Boeing's prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, which were introduced into service in 1938. The B-17 evolved through numerous Boeing B-17 Flyin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
II Bomber Command
The II Bomber Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was established in September 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor to command heavy bomber units assigned to Second Air Force. Following the entry of the United States into World War II, it flew patrols off the northwest Pacific coast. However, its main efforts soon began organizing and training heavy bomber units and aircrews. By 1943, the command had become the only command under Second Air Force conducting operational training, and on 6 October 1943 it was disbanded as redundant and its functions absorbed by Second Air Force or transferred to the bomber commands of the other continental air forces. History Initial operations GHQ Air Force (GHQ, AF) had been established with two major combat functions, to maintain a striking force against long range targets, and the air defense of the United States. In the spring of 1941, GHQ, AF reorganized its Northwest Air District as 2nd Air Force. To ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
