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Bomber Destroyer
Bomber destroyers were World War II interceptor aircraft intended to destroy enemy bomber aircraft. Bomber destroyers were typically larger and heavier than general interceptors, designed to mount more powerful armament, and often having twin engines. They differed from night fighters largely in that they were designed for day use. The United States Army Air Corps considered powerfully armed destroyers, like the Bell YFM-1 Airacuda prototype, to counter a potential attack of high-performance bombers. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning and Bell P-39 Airacobra were also initially specified to carry very heavy armament based on a central 37 mm cannon, specified as interceptor aircraft working in the anti-bomber role. In the pre-war era the UK, by contrast, favored development of the "turret fighter", such as the Boulton Paul Defiant, which mounted the armament in a rotating turret. Turret fighters were expected to work together to coordinate fire on unescorted bombers (due to limits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airacuda Bell XFM-1 (15954491367)
The Bell YFM-1 Airacuda was an American heavy fighter aircraft, developed by the Bell Aircraft Corporation for the United States Army Air Corps during the mid-1930s. It was the first military aircraft produced by Bell. Originally designated the Bell Model 1, the Airacuda first flew on 1 September 1937. The Airacuda was marked by bold design advances and considerable flaws that eventually grounded the aircraft. The Airacuda was Bell Aircraft's answer for a "bomber destroyer" aircraft. Although it did see limited production, and one fully operational Squadron (aviation), squadron was eventually formed, only one prototype and 12 production models were ultimately built, in three slightly different versions. Design and development In an effort to break into the aviation business, Bell Aircraft created a unique fighter concept touted to be "a mobile anti-aircraft platform"Winchester 2005, p. 74. as well as a "convoy fighter".Hanson, David"Bell YFM-1 Airacuda" ''daveswarbirds.com'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zerstörer
A heavy fighter is an historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews; this was in contrast to light fighters, which were typically single-engined and single-crew aircraft. In Germany, these larger fighters were known as ''Zerstörer'' ("destroyers"). The heavy fighter was a major design class during the pre-World War II period, conceived as long-range escort fighters or heavily-armed bomber destroyers. Most such designs failed in this mission, as they could not maneuver quickly enough against single-engine fighters. Most notable among such designs was the Messerschmitt Bf 110, which suffered great losses during the Battle of Britain. An exception was the American Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which proved an effective heavy fighter; even against smaller, lighter, single-engine ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Operational History
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 ''Würger'' was used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War in a variety of roles. Like the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Fw 190 was employed as a "workhorse", and proved suitable for a wide variety of roles, including air superiority fighter, strike fighter, ground-attack aircraft, escort fighter, and operated with less success as a night fighter. It served on all the German fronts: Eastern Front, Western Front, North African Campaign and the Defence of the Reich. When it was first introduced in August 1941, it quickly proved to be superior in all but turn radius to the Royal Air Force (RAF) front-line fighter, the Spitfire Mk. V variant. The 190 wrested air superiority away from the RAF until the introduction of the vastly improved Spitfire Mk. IX in July 1942 restored qualitative parity. The Fw 190 made its air combat debut on the Eastern Front much later, in November/December 1942. The Fw 190 made a significant impact seeing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escort Fighter
The escort fighter was a concept for a fighter aircraft designed to escort bombers to and from their targets. An escort fighter needed range long enough to reach the target, loiter over it for the duration of the raid to defend the bombers, and return. A number of twin-engined heavy fighters with high fuel capacity were designed for escort duties prior to the outbreak of World War II. Such heavy fighters largely failed in their intended escort role during the war, as they were commonly outmaneuvered by more agile single-engined fighters. As the war progressed, longer-range fighter designs and the use of drop tanks allowed single-engined fighters to perform escort duties. In the post-war era the introduction of jet engines and their inherent short range made escort fighters very difficult to build. The related concept of a penetration fighter emerged briefly in the 1950s and again in the 1960s, but did not result in any production aircraft. Parasite fighters—small aircraf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a Supersonic aircraft, supersonic Interceptor aircraft, interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the Flight airspeed record, fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is an aircraft built primarily using stainless steel. It was to be the last aircraft designed by Mikhail Gurevich (aircraft designer), Mikhail Gurevich, before his retirement. The first prototype flew in 1964 and the aircraft entered service in 1970. Although it was capable of reaching Mach 3.2+, this would result in the engines accelerating out of control and needing replacement, therefore the operational top speed was limited to Mach number, Mach 2.83."Intellige ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convair F-106 Delta Dart
The Convair F-106 Delta Dart is an all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Convair. The F-106 was designed in response to the 1954 interceptor program. Envisioned as an imagined "Ultimate Interceptor", it was a development of the F-102 Delta Dagger, and commenced as the ''F-102B'' prior to being redesignated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-106 was designed without a gun or provision for carrying bombs, instead carrying its AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missiles within an internal weapons bay; its clean exterior was beneficial to supersonic flight. Major differences from the F-102 included the adoption of the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet engine, heavily redesigned air inlets along with a variable-geometry inlet duct to suit a wide range of supersonic speeds, and a general increase in size. On 26 December 1956, the first prototype performed its maiden flight. After flight testing demonstrated lesser perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term ''Cold war (term), cold war'' is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and Nuclear arms race, nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, Economic sanctions, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. After the end of World War II in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed satellite state, satellite governments in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The commission approached NAA to build Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, NAA proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was completed on 9 September 1940, 102 days after contract signing, achieving its first flight on 26 October. The Mustang was designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine without an export-sensitive turbosupercharger or a multi-stage supercharger, resulting in limited high-altitude performance. The aircraft was first flown operationally and very s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Fighter
A heavy fighter is an historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews; this was in contrast to light fighters, which were typically single-engined and single-crew aircraft. In Germany, these larger fighters were known as ''Zerstörer'' ("destroyers"). The heavy fighter was a major design class during the pre-World War II period, conceived as long-range escort fighters or heavily-armed bomber destroyers. Most such designs failed in this mission, as they could not maneuver quickly enough against single-engine fighters. Most notable among such designs was the Messerschmitt Bf 110, which suffered great losses during the Battle of Britain. An exception was the American Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which proved an effective heavy fighter; even against smaller, lighter, single-engin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter" to meet the RAF requirement for day and night fighters that could concentrate their firepower on enemy bombers which were not expected to have fighter escorts due to the distance from Germany to the United Kingdom. The Defiant had all its armament in a dorsal turret offering the ability to fire in most directions. The same principle was used in the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc which was also built by Boulton Paul. In combat, the Defiant was found to be effective at destroying unescorted bombers, the role it was designed for,Verkaik, 2020 p334 but was vulnerable to the ''Luftwaffe''s more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters operating from bases in Northern France, allowing them to escort bombers to London, although with fuel for only ten minutes of flying time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bell P-39 Airacobra
The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force, which used it to score the highest number of kills attributed to any US fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict. Other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.Gunston 1980, p. 22. The P-39 had an unusual layout, with the engine installed in the center fuselage, behind the pilot, and driving a tractor propeller in the nose with a long shaft. It was also the first fighter fitted with a tricycle undercarriage.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 25. Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the absence of an efficient turbo-supercharger, preventing it from performing high-altitude work. For th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
