Wings Questions 4: Alexander Schlater

1. Why did some world leader and theologians feel that flying would be the end of mankind?

Airplanes changed the face of war more drastically than any other military innovation. What was once a life reserved for soldiers, the fear of enemy attack would now become  commonplace in the minds of civilians. Fronts meant nothing to enemy pilots, and as much distance as one might have thought they had between them and the war, anyone, at any moment, could be the victim of an aerial attack. Many leaders and theologians foresaw the harm that would befall mankind when the airplane inevitably fell into the hands of wicked men. The main concern being the lack of defense against an aerial strike. The inability to stop an attack directly, they feared, would prompt indirect measures to deter enemies, namely by hitting them harder. Rightly so, these great thinkers saw the idea of fending off immoral attacks with greater brutality would lead to a spiral into total war, war in which anyone and anything was a target.

5. How did the war in the air during WWII lay the foundation for the age of international air commerce?

The onset of WWII, expansive as it was, saw the need for international flights. Travel over seas was simply not fast enough, and attempting to break into the heartland of the enemy over vast, fortified territories was far too costly. For these reasons, the war induced the refinement of aviation technology to improve speed and distance to unheard of records. What once allotted Charles Lindbergh world fame, was now scarcely an accomplishment. Transatlantic flights were commonplace, and the birth of air commerce was a simple matter of reorganizing the cargo.

6. What role did strategic bombing play during the war and was it successful?

Strategic bombing took on many different roles during the war. What began with strikes on industrial sites gradually erupted into full fledged bombings of capitol cities. The goal of strategic bombing boiled down to how one could cause as much damage, both physical and mental, upon their enemy. While attacking production areas could help reduce enemy supplies and attacking highly fortified blocks could open up routes to ground troops, many found it more effective to simply kill as many women and children as possible. War is maintained by citizen morale. An unpopular war will almost always be a short war. Making a people reject their own governments war efforts is a tactic that is probably as old as governments themselves, and what would deter civilians more, than putting them through the hell of war first hand.

Ultimately the strategic bombing campaigns were successful on two fronts. The demoralization of citizens, especially in the case of Japan, shortened a war that persistent soldiers would have likely kept up for years to come. Also, the attacks on civilians helped to raise awareness of the hell that is war, and the immorality that is attacking urban areas. A lesson that, continues to this day to prove slow to learn. However, evidence of reform gives hope to the future.