WW2: The ascendancy of air power

WW2: the first conflict in which bombing of civilians was a deliberate policy (by both sides)

Bombers: dominant image of WW2 140,000 British and American fliers dead, 21,000 bombers destroyed

Strategic bombing used in total war in which whole areas are bombed with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying their morale and economic ability to wage war

Firebombing- Shock and Awe WWII Style Allied air raids killed 1.6 million civilians, more than 600,000 Germans. 7.5 million Germans left homeless London Blitz 1940- 57 days and nights of bombings by Germany to lower morale killing 15,000 civilians and leaving almost ½ million homeless. British and Americans used incendiary bombs to create firestorms (multiple fires started) which sucks in oxygen and creates a mix of poisonous gases.

Hamburg 1943: Operation Gomorrah More than 40,000 dead 1 million refugees 250,000 homes destroyed Temperatures of 1500 degrees Fire was 1000 feet in height Winds of 150 mph

Firebombing of Tokyo March 9-10, 1945 100,000 dead 1 million injured 1 million lost their homes “Probably more persons lost their lives by fire at Tokyo in a 6-hour period than at any time in the history of man.” --U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time... I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal. --U.S. Gen. Curtis LeMay, directed the firebombing campaign

August 1945: U.S. drops Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

Dangerous missions, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp1teqL-TLc