World War II, air war > Related Articles
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Parent topics
- Air warfare planning [r]: The set of doctrines and procedures for carrying out all types of air warfare, as an integrated whole [e]
- World War II [r]: War between the Allies (most notably the UK, US and Soviet Union) and the Axis (principally Germany and Japan) 1939–1945. [e]
Subtopics
- B-17 Flying Fortress (bomber) [r]: A U.S. designed heavy bomber, with relatively light payload and moderate range, but excellent defenses and rugged construction, that was the primary U.S. daytime strategic bomber in the European Theater of the Second World War [e]
- B-24 Liberator (bomber) [r]: A U.S. designed heavy bomber, of the Second World War, with moderate payload and defenses but extremely long range; valued as an anti-submarine warfare and maritime patrol aircraft [e]
- B-25 Mitchell (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- B-26 (bomber) [r]: World War II medium bomber, used for close air support and anti-shipping work as well as battlefield interdiction; often had unusually large gun equipment [e]
- B-29 Superfortress (bomber) [r]: The heaviest bomber aircraft of the Second World War, used by the United States to attack the Japanese home islands, at very long range; delivered nuclear weapons to Hiroshima and Nagasaki [e]
- Battle of the Atlantic [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Battle of the Beams [r]: German attacks on Britain after the end of the Battle of Britain. [e]
- Battle of Britain [r]: Those German offensive air strikes, and British defense, with which the Germans had intended to establish air supremacy for their proposed invasion of Britain [e]
- Battle of Cape Engaño [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Battle of the Coral Sea [r]: Fought in May 1942, the first battle between naval forces built around aircraft carriers, in which the opposing United States and Japanese ships never saw one another; it was a tactical Japanese defeat and strategic U.S. victory [e]
- Battle of the Eastern Solomons [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Battle of Leyte Gulf [r]: The largest naval battle in history, fought in October 1944 to reconquer the Phillipines from Japanese occupation [e]
- Battle of Midway [r]: Generally considered to be the turning point of the Pacific Theater in the Second World War, a Japanese force intending to capture Midway Island was turned back with the loss of four aircraft carriers, at the cost of one U.S. carrier; it was the last major Japanese offensive of the war [e]
- Battle of Pearl Harbor [r]: The surprise attack on the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Japanese navy, which took place on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941. [e]
- Battle of the Philippine Sea [r]: An carrier battle between the U.S. and Japan in June 1944, called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" due to the extremely heavy Japanese aircraft losses, marked the end of offensive Japanese capabilities, and gave the U.S. control of the islands from which the major B-29 bomber offensive against the Japanese Home Islands could be conducted [e]
- Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Battle of Taranto [r]: A devastating 1940 airstrike by British carrier aircraft against Italian warships in the harbor of Taranto; demonstrated that aerial torpedoes could work in shallow water and proved the concept used by the Japanese in the Battle of Pearl Harbor [e]
- Mitsubishi G4M Betty (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- C-47 Skytrain (transport) [r]: One of the many military and commercial variants of the DC-3 (airliner), this was the designation used by the United States Army Air Corps, Air Force, and United States Air Force [e]
- De Havilland Mosquito [r]: An extremely fast and flexible British aircraft, of plywood construction and with two engines, used as a light bomber, night fighter, special transport, and reconnaissance aircraft. [e]
- Doolittle Raid [r]: The first U.S. offensive operation in the Pacific during the Second World War. [e]
- Eighth Air Force [r]: The organization currently "owning" the bombers, information operations, and most intelligence aircraft of the United States Air Force; it conducted strategic bombing against Germany in the Second World War [e]
- F2A Buffalo (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- F4F Wildcat (fighter) [r]: Competent but not outstanding U.S. Navy carrier-capable fighter of the Second World War [e]
- F6F Hellcat (fighter) [r]: High-performance U.S. Navy carrier-capable fighter of the Second World War, used primarily for air superiority but had some attack capability [e]
- F4U Corsair (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Fifteenth Air Force [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Fw-190 (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hawker Hurricane [r]: The first monoplane fighter in British service, this aircraft, as opposed to the better-known Supermarine Spitfire, was the main killer of German bombers in the Battle of Britain; it moved afterwards to ground attack roles [e]
- Il-2 Stormovik [r]: Russian WWII ground attack aircraft, the world's prototype for heavily armored and armed tank-killers such as today's U.S. Air Force A-10 "Warthog" [e]
- Luftflotte II [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Luftflotte III [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Luftflotte V [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Luftwaffe [r]: The German Air Force, both the current and WWII organization; the current usage includes the forces after German unification [e]
- Ju-87 Stuka (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Ju-88 (bomber) [r]: A German medium bomber of the Second World War, of quite high performance and survivability [e]
- Kamikaze [r]: Suicide attacks, specifically by Japanese aircraft in the Second World War, against military targets [e]
- Avro Lancaster [r]: The principal British heavy bomber in WWII. [e]
- Kawanishi H6K Mavis (maritime patrol aircraft) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Me-109 (fighter) [r]: Relatively lightweight Second World War German fighter aircraft; principal escort fighter during the Battle of Britain [e]
- Me-110 (fighter) [r]: Generally unsuccessful German fighter aircraft of the Second World War; intended as a twin-engine "bomber destroyer" but vulnerable to single-engine fighters; limited effectiveness as a night interceptor [e]
- Me-262 [r]: A WWII German aircraft that was the first jet air superiority fighter in significant production, with its advent delayed by Hitler's insistent that it also be able to bomb. [e]
- Norden bombsight [r]: A much-heralded, but relatively ineffective even by WWII standards, aiming device for unguided gravity bombs; required a bomber to stay in vulnerable straight and level flight and was useless against moving targets [e]
- P-47 Thunderbolt (fighter) [r]: U.S. multirole fighter of the Second World War, competent in air-to-air combat but outstanding as a fighter-bomber [e]
- P-38 Lightning (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- P-51 Mustang (fighter) [r]: A U.S. air superiority fighter in WWII; its long range made it an effective escort fighter as well. [e]
- PBY Catalina (maritime patrol aircraft) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Royal Air Force [r]: The British military service primarily responsible for air warfare [e]
- Royal Air Force Fighter Command [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Royal Air Force Bomber Command [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Second Raid on Schweinfurt [r]: Add brief definition or description
- SBD Dauntless (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- SB2C Helldiver (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Supermarine Spitfire [r]: A British fighter with exceptional high-altitude performance, serving in air superiority and photoreconnaissance roles from the beginning to the end of the Second World War, and retiring in 1955 [e]
- TBD Devastator (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- TBF Avenger (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hawker Typhoon (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- United States Army Air Corps [r]: Original form taken when aviation became quasi-independent in the United States Army; succeeded by the United States Army Air Force [e]
- United States Army Air Force [r]: Substantially autonomous air arm of the United States Army prior to creation of the independent United States Air Force [e]
- Vickers Wellington (bomber) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Aichi D3A1 Val (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Mitsubishi A6M Zero (fighter) [r]: Add brief definition or description
Other related topics
- Aircraft carrier [r]: A warship designed to launch and recover combat aircraft. [e]
- Autocannon [r]: A magazine-fed cannon that will load and fire continuously until its magazine is empty. [e]
- Bomber aircraft [r]: Airplanes optimized to deliver weapons to surface targets, rather than to fight other airplanes. [e]
- Fighter aircraft [r]: Airplanes that have a principal mission of destroying other airplanes in flight, often with a secondary capability to attack ground targets [e]
- Integrated air defense system [r]: An air defense that combines radar, anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, and fighter aircraft, presenting multiple layers of defense under systematic command and control [e]
- Jet engine [r]: A reaction motor that generates thrust by expelling fluid at high speed; the fast-moving fluid must be produced by a process dependent on some resources in the external environment, as opposed to the self-contained rocket motor [e]
- Machine gun [r]: A firearm capable not only of full-automatic fire, but with additional features, such as large ammunition supply mechanisms, barrel cooling or quick-change features, etc., that lets it fire for prolonged periods [e]
- Pilot training [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Radar [r]: A contraction of radio direction and ranging, used for detecting and tracking targets, navigation, imagery, and special applications. [e]
German code words
- Case White [r]: The German attack on Poland, beginning September 1, 1939 [e]
- Knickebein [r]: A German radio aid for navigation, based on transmitters in France that led German bombers, at night, over targets in the United Kingdom; defeated by British electronic countermeasures in the Battle of the Beams [e]
- Operation Barbarossa [r]: The German invasion of the Soviet Union, beginning on June 22, 1941 [e]
- Operation Mercury [r]: The German invasion of Crete, May 1941 [e]
Allied code words
- Operation Chastise [r]: The Royal Air Force operation against German dams, by the "Dam Busters" of 617 Squadron [e]
- H2S (military) [r]: An early imaging radar used, by the Royal Air Force, for the night bombing of Germany [e]
- Operation Hydra [r]: The Royal Air Force bombing of the missile research center at Peenemunde [e]
