Wings Assessment #5

1. Summarize the new aviation technologies that emerged as a result of WWII

 As a result of WWII and the allied troops storming across Nazi Germany-controlled Europe, many cutting edge technologies were uncovered. Aircraft with wings swept back at forty-five degree angles were among some of the items discovered by the allies. Additionally, new surface-to-surface, surface-to-air, and air-to-air missiles were found coupled with a cache of data on supersonic and hypersonic (faster than the speed of sound) flight. All of these technologies were discovered in various underground/tunnel-like facilities found in remote mountainous regions of Germany. It is remarkable to think about how, with the impending allied invasion force narrowing in on Germany, the Nazis were able to produce technology that was a decade ahead of the rest of the world. This can be attributed to the Third Reich’s constant hope of an “ultimate weapon” that would turn the tide of the war in their favor. Additionally, Germany had a strong tradition of excellence in technological research and innovation. Moving forward from the war, scientists learned that at high speeds, the massive increase in drag and loss of lift spelled trouble for traditional aeronautics that flew by the way of propeller and internal combustion engine. Many technically skilled individuals foresaw this and recognized that a paradigm shift in thinking and propulsion would be necessary in order to push the limits of aeronautical speeds. This paved the way for reaction propulsion systems or “rocket engines.” However, this type of system posed a danger to pilots and crew and was not able to replace the ICE as a customary propulsion system. Frank Whittle and Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain both separately designed a new type of engine called a turbo-jet engine. Interestingly, von Ohain would ultimately wind up working for the U.S. Air Force as chief scientist of the Air Force Propulsion Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Turbo-jet technology has continued to dominate aviation propulsion to this day.

 

5. How did the U.S. view the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik and what was the reaction?

The United States viewed the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik as a “technological Pearl Harbor.” The reaction sparked by the Russian satellite launch was immense. President Dwight Eisenhower wanted to divide military space efforts aimed at developing intelligence satellites from a civilian space program which would have purely scientific objectives. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 brought about our current space exploration program which we know as NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As it was America’s counter to the Soviets in the “space race,” NASA became one of the most publicly observable federal agencies in the government. Expanse of NASA was rapid as eight new research centers were constructed in the first decade. In just five more years, NASA’s budget reached $5.25 billion in 1965. Adjusting for inflation, that same amount would be worth $39.13 billion in today’s money. This created a surge in the aerospace industry as much of the budget was allotted to contractors and subcontractors across the country. At the pinnacle of the Apollo program, the space agency employed approximately half a million Americans either by direct employment or through contracts. This created an era of “Big Science” around the Cold War. New engineering and technology contracts were being maximized and great leaps and bounds were made not just in aviation research, but in all kinds of research. With outer space being a great unknown at the time in terms of how materials and humans react in a vacuum, countless research projects had to be conducted studying these types of issues. With tensions increasing between the United States and the Soviet Union, an all-out arms race sparked by new technological innovation stemming from space research enveloped the two countries. Intercontinental defense systems and massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons were accumulated on the premise of preventing nuclear war.

 

7. What effect did the invention of the computer have on aviation technology?

The degree of complexity of the various equations required for calculating design factors of airplanes spurred the need for new technological innovations to make these calculations quickly and more automated. IBM punch-card tabulators were first used in WWII. After the war, aviation dominated much of IBM’s annual research forums. Many SoCal aeronautical firms purchased some of the first Remington Rand UNIVAC machines and aircraft manufacturers bought ten of the first nineteen IBM 701 general-purpose computers. Computers spurred the development of computational fluid dynamics allowing for previously unheard of visual representation of air-flow over an airfoil in a wind tunnel simulation. Not only was computational fluid dynamics a result of the computer, but the way that designs of aircraft were communicated to manufacturers was also drastically changed by the advent of the computer. Originally, blueprints and engineering drawings done by hand by skilled draftsmen were organized into a portfolio for an aircraft. The amount of drawings was staggering and very difficult to maintain. Additionally, the complex geometry involved in aircraft was incredibly difficult to perfectly illustrate through a drawing and many inconsistencies showed up. This all changed when an MIT doctoral student began work on a computer software that was able to produce advanced graphics. Within a few years, computers were replacing drafting boards across all kinds of industries.  Not until the 1980s, however, would advanced, high-resolution computer-aided drawing software come into play. The complicated drawing process was now rendered obsolete and in 1990, Boeing engineers designed their new model 777 airliner heralded as the first “paperless airplane.”