Victory Through Air Power Page #2

a formidable weapon of war.

The merciless pressure

of warfare...

developed highly specialized

types of planes.

The dropping of grenades

and hand bombs...

led to a new and terrible

instrument of war-the bomber.

The terrific competition

of aeriaI combat...

compelled the rapid improvement

of aircraft.

More than 20,000 conflicts

were fought in the air.

The forced development

of aircraft...

in these four years of war...

would have taken 20 years

to accomplish in peacetime.

Yet the war ended before

the world fully realized...

the military potentiaI

of air power.

As a war-weary public

transferred its interest...

to peacetime activities...

the airplane again

had to struggle for existence.

The "Fly with Me"

gypsy flyer...

barnstormed

all over the country.

While people still regarded

the airplane...

as an exciting novelty...

farsighted airmen

were compelling the public...

to look upon aviation

with a new respect.

The U.S. Navy NC-4 flew

from Newfoundland to England...

via the Azores.

The first nonstop

transatlantic flight...

was made by Alcock and Brown

from Newfoundland to Ireland.

First solo flight

across the Atlantic-

Charles A. Lindbergh,

New York to Paris.

First round-the-world flight-

U.S. Army planes

circled the globe.

Flying time-15 days, 11 hours.

Post and Gatty-

4 days, 10 hours.

Howard Hughes-

2 days, 23 hours.

Altitude flights developed

superchargers and deicers.

Air races improved design

and advanced speed.

Power diving

at 620 miles per hour...

tested durability

and construction of planes.

The first air maiI service

in 1918...

grew in a short time

to major airlines...

with regularly scheduled

transcontinentaI...

and then transoceanic

passenger and freight service.

Aviation was progressing

at a tremendous pace.

Time was being compressed,

distance shrunk...

range lengthened,

and load capacity increased.

The airplane-

now flying all over the world-

was the only weapon of war...

to develop such great

usefulness in peacetime.

Jeepers!

President Roosevelt

wants 50,000 planes a year.

Backed by 25 years

of constant pioneering...

American aviation

met the challenge.

Remember,

the experiment of 1914...

had become

a devastating force.

From the mile-a-minute plane

of World War I...

we're starting today

with planes...

flying more than

six miles a minute.

During the last war...

firepower was increased

from one brick per minute...

to 2,400 bullets per minute.

Today we're starting

with 9,600 bullets per minute.

During World War I...

aeriaI grenades

and 25-pound hand bombs...

grew to two-ton bomb loads.

Today we're starting

with ten-ton bomb loads...

of the most

devastating explosives...

ever conceived by science.

Today the historic flight

of C.S. Rolls...

is repeated daily...

by Rolls-Royce-powered

pursuit and bomber planes.

Departing from England...

the flight across the ChanneI

was quite uneventfuI.

Reaching the other side

and being recognized.

Dropped greetings.

And without stopping...

returned home

safely without mishap.

In one single night...

the bomb load

dropped on Cologne...

was 20 times greater

than the totaI amount...

used in the last war

by the United States.

Today, only

a brief 40 years later...

The Wright Brothers'

first flight of 120 feet...

could be made

with 92 feet to spare...

on the wing of the B-19.

Yet this huge 82-ton

experimentaI bomber-

designed seven years ago-

is only a forerunner

of what can be done.

The amazing advancement

in military aviation...

is due to the vision

and persistence...

of pioneer airmen,

among whom...

Major Alexander P. de Seversky

is an outstanding figure.

He literally

grew up with aviation.

His father

was the first Russian...

to privately own and fly

an airplane.

At ten,

his military education began.

He graduated from the ImperiaI

Russian NavaI Academy...

as a lieutenant and saw

service with the fleet in 1914.

With a firm belief

in the future of aviation...

he became

a full-fledged pilot...

in both Army

and NavaI aviation...

and was assigned to flying duty

with the Baltic fleet.

While on

a night bombing mission...

he was shot down...

and suffered the loss of

his right leg-

an invalid at 22.

Ignoring his handicap and

determined to fight again...

he returned to the front as

Chief of Pursuit Aviation...

in the Baltic,

with the rank of commander.

He fought

57 aeriaI combats...

became the leading ace

of the navaI air forces...

and was awarded

the highest honors...

his country could bestow.

In 1918,

he came to America...

and later served

as aeronauticaI engineer...

and test pilot for

the United States government.

He became a friend,

advisor, and disciple...

of GeneraI Billy Mitchell.

Having become a citizen...

in 1928 he was

commissioned a major...

in the United States Air Corps.

He invented the first

fully automatic bombsight...

and many other instruments

and devices...

all contributing

to the greater efficiency...

of military aviation.

He designed, built, tested...

and himself

flew his new planes.

Among them,

an all-metaI amphibian plane-

in which he set a world speed

record that still stands-

the first low-wing all-metaI

basic training plane...

and the first all-metaI

single-seater fighter plane...

of cantilever construction...

adopted by

the United States Army.

In 1937...

to prove long range could be

built into pursuit planes...

he set a new nonstop record

from New York to Havana.

In an Army pursuit ship

of his own design...

he was the first officially to

cross the country east-west...

with a record

of 10 hours, 5 minutes.

His planes

won the Bendix race...

three successive years.

In 1940, he was presented

the Harmon Trophy...

by President Roosevelt...

for being the Outstanding

Airman of the Year.

With his background

as a combat pilot...

aeronauticaI designer,

engineer, manufacturer...

and military strategist...

Major Seversky's advanced

viewpoint and opinions...

are of vitaI importance

to every citizen.

Under the pressure of war...

the science of aviation

is making terrific strides.

As soon as the airplanes-

which are already...

on the drafting boards of

all the warring nations-

take to the air, there will

not be a single spot...

on the face of the earth

immune from overhead attack.

The enormous flying range...

and destructive power of

these planes will transform...

the entire surface of our planet

into a battlefield.

The distinction between soldiers

and civilians will be erased.

And I believe that

it is only a matter of time...

before we here in America...

will suffer our share

of civilian casualties.

And so warfare becomes

everybody's business.

All of us must understand

the strategy of war.

No longer should it be a mystery

open only to military minds.

The strategy of war is simply

a plan to defeat the enemy.

In wars of the past, there were

only two ways to do it.

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