WW2 Era Aircraft Magazine 
Ca. 1940's
Current Aviation
Volume II, Number 15
January 3-7, 1944
 
This publication was produced during WW2 to keep military pilots and aviation enthusiasts informed on new technologies and techniques that could help win the war for the allies. This original paper was lost in an attic until it was rescued by caring people before it was to go to the dump. Always try to save history! 
 
** Aviation in WW2 **
During World War II, aviation firmly established itself as a critical component of modern warfare from the Battle of Britain in the early stages to the great aircraft carrier battles between American and Japanese Pacific fleets and the final delivery of nuclear weapons. The major combatants – Germany and Japan on the one side and Britain, the United States, and the USSR on the other – manufactured huge air forces which engaged in pitched battles both with each other and with the opposing ground forces. Bombing established itself as a major strategic force, and this was also the first war in which the aircraft carrier played a significant role.
 
As with Aviation in World War I, military investment during World War II drove aviation forward in leaps and bounds. The streamlined cantilever monoplane quickly proved its worth in almost every role, although a few older biplanes remained in niche roles for much of the war. Engine power and aircraft performance increased steadily, with jet and rocket engines beginning to make their appearance by the end of the war. Avionics systems increased in sophistication and became more widespread, including power-assisted flight controls, blind flying instrumentation, radio communications, and radar tracking.
 
The development of civil aviation stagnated until peace could be restored, and in the combatant countries, many existing civilian aircraft were pressed into military service. However military technologies developed during the war would revolutionize postwar aviation. In particular, the widespread construction of aerodromes with serviceable runways would provide the basis for a postwar move of long-range passenger flights from flying boats to land planes.
 
 
** World War Two **
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. In a total war directly involving more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centers and the only two uses of nuclear weapons in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, a majority being civilians. Tens of millions of people died due to genocides, starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of the Axis defeat, Germany and Japan were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders.