War Machines
Here are some images and facts about a few of the machines used in World War II. This page may help put an image with a name of a machine critical to a battle. An example of this is the B-25 and Doolittle's Raid.
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The B-17 'Flying Fortress'
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The B-17 Bomber was used throughout the second World War. Often referred
to as a Flying Fortress, there are few of the behemoths left, and only
one of it's larger cousin the B-29 Super Fortress (the type used in deploying
the nuclear bombs onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki). This enormous plane
had a wing span of 31.62 meters, and was 22.78 meters long.
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The P-51 'Mustang'
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The P-51 Mustang was a later development, however proved to be a
fierce one. Its long range a high speed made it very effective as a bomber escort. Some nations used airplanes that were based these fighters in their military in the 1980's.
Wing Span: 11.28 meters Length 9.83 meters.
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The F4U 'Corsair'
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The F4U Corsair was a mainstay in the Pacific Theatre
of war. Before the Corsair the United States Navy Aviators relied on the slow and old F2A Brewster Buffalo. The Corsair allowed U.S. pilots to compete with the fast manuverable Japanese 'Zeros'.
Wing Span: 12.44 meters Length: 10.16 meters
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The B-25 'Mitchell'
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This is a plane when first built, technically should not have been capable
of flight, much less useful in war. However, Mitchell, the man that
the B-25 Mitchell was named after, quickly proved that wrong. Thus
the B-25 was used with enourmous success, including the United States's first strike on the Japanese homeland. See theDoolittle's Raid for more information.
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Aircraft Carriers
The Hornet (top) and the Wasp (bottom), both lost at the battle for Guadalcanal.
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Some of the largest ships constructed at the time, and even still
it is rare to see a piece of steel this size afloat on the ocean.
Aircraft carriers proved crucial, particularly in the Pacific. World
War II was the first to use the massive ships so extensively, and proved
them to vital to tactics, even to this day.
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