The US Air Force

The US Air Force wasn't the best during world war 2. But in modern times, the US is known for it's military strength. From the best stealth jets, to the best fighters.

P-51 Mustang

The North American P-51 was born when the British Government showed interest in purchasing the Curtiss P-40C. Curtiss was at max production capacity, so the British inquired to North American Aviation if they would build it under license for them. North American agreed, but they wanted to build a better aircraft. A condition of the sale from North American to the British was to supply the U.S. Army with two samples free of charge. The original prototypes were designated XP-51. The U.S. Army was given fourth and tenth aircraft. One of them can still be found at the EAA Museum in OshKosh, Wisconsin. Testing of the two prototypes started in October of 1941. The new aircraft received high marks and were clearly superior to other U.S. fighters at that time. Although, the U.S. Army decided to not immediately place orders. The first order of Mustangs to the British were designated Mustang I. The RAF received these aircraft behind schedule in October of 1941. Problems showed up immediately including the Allison power-plant and other design flaws. It is also important to note the Mustang Mk I's armament consisting of four .30 Cal machine guns mounted in the wings, as well as a set of two .50 Cal mounted in the wings and two .50 Cal machine guns mounted in the nose. The next evolution of this aircraft was designated Mustang Mk IA. Due to the recently signed Lend Lease Act the U.S. Army was able to place an order for 150 more Mustangs on behalf of the British. These aircraft were equipped with four 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannons mounted in the wings. Only 93 of the new Mustangs made it to the RAF. The U.S. Army pulled 55 for themselves and they immediately saw service. Two were kept by North American Aviation for internal use. These P-51 Mustangs first saw service in April 9th of 1943 and the first combat loss came shortly afterwards on April 23rd. Mustangs saw action against the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands but a majority of them found their way to the Mediterranean theatre. The Mustang saw combat early on in the country of Algeria. Over time these P-51 Mustangs were converted to Reconnaissance planes. A K-24 camera was placed in the left window behind the pilot. The camera faced towards the back and down and took pictures providing battlefield reconnaissance. These aircraft saw continued service until the later part of 1944 continuing to fill the Attacker and Recon role.

B-29 SuperFortress

The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft used during World War II. It was exclusively used in the Pacific Theatre during the war and participated in bombing raids on multiple islands in the Pacific war. The B-29 became the world's first and only nuclear-capable bomber to deliver weapons during wartime when on August 6th, 1945 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb known as "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the B-29 Bockscar dropped the second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan. During the Second World War, its only area of operations was the Pacific Theater specifically targeting the Japanese mainland. It also saw combat service in the Korean War a small group of loaned aircraft were evaluated by the R.A.F during the early 1950's as well. In British service, they were known as the "Washington B Mk. 1". During World War 2, the B-29 completed over 20,000 sorties with an estimated 180,000 tons of bombs dropped, as well as two atomic bombs. A total number of 3,970 were built and delivered to the USAAF. Perhaps the most famous "copy" of the war was the Tu-4. Although outwardly looking identical, this Soviet "B-29" was converted to metric making it unique. Other aircraft derived from the B-29 include the B-50, C-97, KC-97, 377 Stratocruiser, and NASA's own Guppy cargo carriers. The B-29 post-war also helped in the scientific, research, and development fields. They would play a key role in hurricane hunting and storm chasing which allowed it to collect key information about storm patterns, and helped to improve and to develop new radar systems such as the "sun tracker". It was also the aircraft that carried the supersonic test aircraft Bell X-1 into the air. The last American B-29 squadron was retired in the 1960s. Today one called "Fifi" still flies at air show circuits. It was joined by another named "Doc" in 2016.