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  • Into Germany

    With the Luftwaffe virtually wiped out by 1945, 9th Air Force aircraft roamed freely over Germany, attacking targets of opportunity and providing excellent close support for Allied troops. Under the umbrella of complete air superiority, the Allies crossed the Rhine in late March, and advanced

  • Italy Surrenders

    Attention was next turned to Sicily. It was pounded day and night with bombs, and on July 10, it was invaded from the air by gliders and paratroopers. This was the first large-scale airborne operation undertaken by the Allies in World War II. Assault forces were then landed on the beaches under air

  • Invasion Plans

    After months of bombardment by AAF and naval aerial forces, Japan was reeling. By July 1945, its cities were devastated, its industrial might was crippled, and the blockade imposed by Allied aircraft, submarines and mines cut it off from outside sources of food and other supplies. AAF planes

  • Iwo Jima

    Iwo Jima, an island of volcanic rock, is located halfway between Saipan and Japan. In enemy hands, it was an obstacle to B-29 formations en route to Japan, a staging area for enemy aircraft strikes against B-29 bases in the Marianas, and a threat to air-sea rescue operations along the B-29's flight

  • Island Hopping

    In the central Pacific, the role of the Hawaii-based 7th Air Force had been primarily a defensive one and after the Battle of Midway, the enemy had made no serious effort to advance in that theater. But, by late 1943 as growing U.S. naval strength permitted a more aggressive strategy in the central

  • Imperial Brutality: Bataan Death March

    "Their ferocity grew as we marched ... they were no longer content with mauling stragglers or pricking them with bayonet points. The thrusts were intended to kill."- Capt. William Dyess, 21st Pursuit Squadron commanderWith few aircraft left, U.S. Army Air Forces personnel fought as infantry to hold

  • Interstate L-6 “Grasshopper”

    The Interstate Co. entered the aviation industry in 1940 with the S-1B "Cadet," a tandem seat liaison airplane. When the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces contracted with Interstate for 250 S-1B aircraft, designating the prototype as the XO-63. It was the last airplane to

  • Interwar Development of Bombsights

    "... in order to drop a bomb so that it will strike at least in the vicinity desired, the use of a bomb sight is imperative. However, this sight must be simple enough ... to use it even under hostile fire."- American Expeditionary Force Booklet on High Altitude Bombsights, Aug. 20, 1918 During World

  • Italian Aviation in WWI

    In most historical accounts of the early days of military aviation, our reverence for the activities of the American Expeditionary Force and its French and British companions-in-arms on the western front has led us to overlook the immense Italian contribution to the formation of airpower doctrine.

  • Inventor of the Science of Flight: Sir George Cayley

    Born in 1773, Sir George Cayley essentially created the science of flight. Using scientific methods and keeping careful and detailed notes, Cayley became the first to identify the basic problems of heavier-than-air flight, the first to carry out basic aerodynamic research, and the first to discover