Aircraft:Target for Today

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Allies

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Royal Air Force

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History of the Royal Air Force

Referenced here: [1]

While the British were not the first to make use of heavier-than-air military aircraft, the RAF is the world's oldest independent air force of any significant size and the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. It was founded on 1 April 1918, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. After the war, the service was drastically cut and its inter-war years were relatively quiet, with the RAF taking responsibility for the control of Iraq and executing a number of minor actions in other parts of the British Empire.

The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed "Article XV squadrons" for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from these countries, and exiles from occupied Europe, also served with RAF squadrons.

In the Battle of Britain, in the late summer of 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the German Luftwaffe, helping foil Hitler's plans for an invasion of the United Kingdom, and prompting Prime Minister Winston Churchill to say in the House of Commons on 20 August, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". The Avro Vulcan was a strategic bomber used during the Cold War to carry conventional and nuclear bombs.

The largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. While RAF bombing of Germany began almost immediately upon the outbreak of war, under the leadership of Air Chief Marshal Harris, these attacks became increasingly devastating from 1942 onward as new technology and greater numbers of superior aircraft became available. The RAF adopted night-time area bombing on German cities such as Hamburg and Dresden, and developed precision bombing techniques for specific operations, such as the "Dambusters" raid by No. 617 Squadron, or the Amiens prison raid known as Operation Jericho.

During the Cold War years the main role of the RAF was the defence of the continent of Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, including holding the UK's nuclear deterrent for a number of years. After the Cold War, the RAF was involved in several large scale operations, including the Kosovo War, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The RAF celebrated its 90th birthday with a flypast of the Red Arrows and four Typhoons over many RAF Stations and Central London on 1 April 2008.

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Aircraft
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USAAF

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History of the USAAF

Referenced here: [2]

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II. The direct precursor to the United States Air Force, its peak size was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft in 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By VE Day it had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide.

The Air Corps became the Army Air Forces in June 1941, ironically, only two days before the launching of the Third Reich's Operation Barbarossa, to provide the air arm a greater autonomy in which to expand more efficiently, and to provide a structure for the additional command echelons required by a vastly increased force. Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of the army or navy (such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe), the USAAF remained a part of the United States Army.

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Aircraft
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Axis

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Luftwaffe

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History of the Luftwaffe during World War II

At the outset of the war, the Luftwaffe was one of the most modern, powerful, and experienced air forces in the world, dominating the skies over Europe with aircraft much more advanced than their initial counterparts. The Luftwaffe was central to the German Blitzkrieg (lightning war) doctrine, as the close air support provided by medium two-engine bombers (Do 17, He 111, Ju 88) , Ju 87 dive bombers and an overwhelming force of tactical fighters were key to several early successes. The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka was a main asset for Blitzkrieg, able to place bombs with deadly accuracy.

In the autumn of 1940, the Luftwaffe could not defeat the British RAF in the Battle of Britain over the skies of England. With the begin of "Unternehmen Barbarossa", the German attack on the Soviet Union, most units were transferred to the Eastern Front. Only JG 2 and JG 26 remained in France.

Following the military failures on the Eastern Front, from 1943 onwards, the Luftwaffe went into a steady, gradual decline that saw it outnumbered and overwhelmed by the sheer number of Allied aircraft being deployed against it. Towards the end of the war, the Luftwaffe was no longer a major factor, and despite fielding advanced aircraft like the Messerschmitt Me 262 and Me 163, was crippled by fuel shortages and a lack of trained pilots.

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aircraft
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Regia Aeronautica

One of the least well documented episodes of the Battle of Britain concerns the activities of Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) when during the late stage of the battle the Regia Aeronautica was instructed to establish a force in Belgium to assist in operations against the British.

It is not easy to see what the Italian high Command hoped this would achieve other than to boost home moral. Participation of the Regia Aeronautica at the end of the Battle of Britain was viewed as a political necessity - yet it was unwanted by the German High Command. Formed by the transfer of existing unit CAI came into being on 10 September 1940, under the aegis of 1a Squadra Aerea di Milano. Generale sa (Air Marshal) Rino Corso-Fougier was made Air Officer Commanding. He was reputed to be a brilliant officer and pilot, but his only recent war experience was the short lived campaign when Italy invaded the south of France. There where three Stormi (roughly a RAF Wing). Two of these were bombers and were the striking force, self-protection being provided by the fighter Stormo. With the transport element (twelve Caproni 133Ts, one Savoia-Marchetti S.75, with nine Ca164s for communications) a force of some two hundred aircraft. 18° Gruppo CT was re-assigned from 3° Stormo after having taken part in the attack on southern France and equipped with new aircraft. 20° Gruppo CT was re-assigned from 51° Stormo and was initially equipped with 45 Fiat G.50bis. During the preparation stage, details were particularly taken care of in order to make a good impression on the German ally. A number of modifications were made to the equipment and a special grey-blue uniform was created for the troop, eliminating knickerbockers and puttees of World War 1 vintage. In march 1941 20° C.T. was based near Bolougne, under the command of JG51 of Werner Moelders. Between 18.04 and 30.04.1941 the 20° CT transfered to the Balcan front. the Balcan campaign ended on 30.04.41, and the unit moved to Lybia, still equipped with G.50.

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aircraft


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