Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr. is a recipient of the Medal of Honor which he earned aboard a heavy bomber whose design exceeded the cost of what?
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Henry E. Erwin Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr., (May 8, 1921 – January 16, 2002) was a United States Army Air Forces airman and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. He earned the award as a staff sergeant and radio operator aboard a B-29 Superfortress in the Asia-Pacific theater. During a 1945 bombing mission over Koriyama, Japan, a white phosphorus bomb prematurely ignited in his aircraft and seriously wounded him. As smoke filled the plane, he picked up the burning device and carried it through the aircraft to the cockpit where he tossed it out a window. Although he suffered severe burns, he successfully saved his plane and all crew members aboard by disposing of the incendiary/smoke-generating bomb.
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Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing, which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and featured state of the art technology. Including design and production, it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between $1 and 1.7 billion. Innovations introduced included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled, tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that directed four remote machine gun turrets that could be operated by a single gunner and a fire-control officer. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote. The name "Superfortress" continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the high-altitude strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29's final roles during World War II was carrying out the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Tupolev Tu-2 The Tupolev Tu-2 (development names ANT-58 and 103; NATO reporting name Bat) was a twin-engine Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline (SDB and FB) bomber aircraft of World War II vintage. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a high-speed bomber or dive-bomber, with a large internal bombload, and speed similar to that of a single-seat fighter. Designed to challenge the German Junkers Ju 88, the Tu-2 proved comparable, and was produced in torpedo, interceptor and reconnaissance versions. The Tu-2 was one of the outstanding combat aircraft of World War II and it played a key role in the Red Army's final offensives.
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Enola Gay The Enola Gay ( ) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused unprecedented destruction. "Enola Gay" participated in the second atomic attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead.
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Convair XC-99 The Convair XC-99, AF Ser. No. "43-52436", is a prototype heavy cargo aircraft built by Convair for the United States Air Force. It was the largest piston-engined land-based transport aircraft ever built, and was developed from the Convair B-36 bomber, sharing the wings and some other structures with it. The first flight was on 24 November 1947 in San Diego, California, and after testing it was delivered to the Air Force on 26 May 1949. The Convair Model 37 was a planned civil passenger variant based on the XC-99 but was not built.
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USS Elrod (FFG-55) USS "Elrod" (FFG-55), an "Oliver Hazard Perry"-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named after Captain Henry T. Elrod (1905–1941), a Marine aviator who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the defense of Wake Island in World War II.
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Tupolev SB The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB (Russian: Скоростной бомбардировщик – "Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik" – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber, first flown in 1934. The Tupolev design was advanced but lacked refinement, much to the dismay of crews, maintenance personnel and of Stalin, who pointed out that ""there are no trivialities in aviation"".
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Great Lakes XTBG The Great Lakes XTBG-1, also known as "Avenger" (a name coincidentally used for the successful Grumman TBF), was an American prototype torpedo bomber, intended for service in the United States Navy as part of that service's plan to modernise its aerial striking force in the mid-1930s. The XTBG-1 was outperformed by the competing TBD Devastator, however, in addition to having instability problems and only a single prototype of the three-seat design was constructed during 1935.
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PZL.3 The PZL.3 was a Polish project for a four-engine heavy bomber, designed by Władysław Zalewski from 1928-1930 at PZL ("Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze" - National Aviation Establishments).
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Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the "Memphis Belle", a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States.
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H-class battleship proposals The H class was a series of battleship designs for Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine", intended to fulfill the requirements of Plan Z in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The first variation, "H-39," called for six ships to be built, essentially as enlarged "Bismarck"-class battleship s with 40.6 cm guns. The "H-41" design improved the "H-39" ship with still larger main guns, with eight 42 cm weapons. Two subsequent plans, "H-42" and "H-43", increased the main battery yet again, with 48 cm pieces, and the enormous "H-44" design ultimately resulted with 50.8 cm guns. The ships ranged in size from the "H-39", which was 277.8 m long on a displacement of 56444 MT , to the "H-44", at 345 m on a displacement of 131000 MT . Most of the designs had a top speed in excess of 30 kn .
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Henry Gilbert Costin Henry Gilbert Costin (June 15, 1898–October 8, 1918) was a private in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War I near Bois–de–Consenvoye, France during the Meuse–Argonne Offensive.
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Interstate Aircraft Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation was a small American aircraft manufacturer in production from April 1937 to 1945, based in El Segundo, California. In 1940 they developed the Cadet, a 2-seat monoplane. The Model S-1B was developed into the XO-63, later redesignated to the XL-6. A total of 259 of the XO-63/L-6/L-8 series were built for the US Army Air Forces. The company also manufactured a trainer for the US Navy which was developed in only nine months, from the first blueprints to first flight of the prototype. The company also manufactured bomb shackles, machine gun and cannon chargers, hydraulic actuators, and other aircraft components.
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Project Isinglass Project Isinglass was the code name given to two heavily classified, manned reconnaissance aircraft studied by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as potential replacements for the Lockheed A-12 and SR-71 during the mid 1960s. The first proposal under the Isinglass name, a high-altitude plane to fly at Mach 4 to 5, was considered an insufficient advancement over existing aircraft; the second, much more advanced design, sometimes referred to as Project Rheinberry, was an air-launched, Mach 20 rocket-powered boost-glide aircraft that would use a very-high-altitude trajectory to avoid defenses. This aircraft was considered too costly for development, and the project was abandoned in 1967.
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Davis wing The Davis wing is an aircraft wing design that was used for some time on a variety of World War II aircraft, most notably a number of designs from Consolidated Aircraft, the most notable being the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Thicker and with lower drag than most contemporary designs, it allowed high speeds and lift even at high angles of attack. Its use ended almost immediately following World War Two.
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Curtiss Model H The Curtiss Model H was a family of classes of early long-range flying boats, the first two of which were developed directly on commission in the United States in response to the ₤10,000 prize challenge issued in 1913 by the London newspaper, the "Daily Mail", for the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic. As the first aircraft having transatlantic range and cargo-carrying capacity, it became the grandfather development leading to early international commercial air travel, and by extension, to the modern world of commercial aviation. The last widely produced class, the Model H-12, was retrospectively designated Model 6 by Curtiss' company in the 1930s, and various classes have variants with suffixed letters indicating differences.
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Flak Bait Flak-Bait is a Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft that holds the record within the United States Army Air Forces for the number of bombing missions survived during World War II. Manufactured in Baltimore, Maryland as a B-26B-25-MA, by Martin, it was completed in April, 1943 and christened "Flak-Bait" by its first assigned pilot, James J. Farrell, who adapted the nickname of a family dog, "Flea Bait". "Flak-Bait" was assigned to the 449th Bombardment Squadron, 322d Bombardment Group stationed in eastern England.
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Martin XB-27 The Martin XB-27 (Martin Model 182) was an aircraft proposed by the Glenn L. Martin Company to fill a strong need in the United States Army Air Corps for a high-altitude medium bomber. Its design was based approximately on that of Martin's own B-26 Marauder. The XB-27 remained on paper, and no prototypes were built.
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Douglas XB-19 The Douglas XB-19 was the largest bomber aircraft built for the United States Army Air Forces until 1946. It was originally given the designation XBLR-2 ("XBLR-" "denoting Experimental Bomber Long Range").
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Leslie E. Gehres Leslie Edward Gehres (September 23, 1898 – May 15, 1975) was a naval aviator with the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. He is most noted as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS "Franklin", which was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945. Gehres is also an example of "mustang" officer, rising from enlisted man to admiral's rank.
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Michael J. Novosel Michael J. Novosel Sr. (September 3, 1922 – April 2, 2006) of Enterprise, Alabama served in the United States military during three wars: World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He flew the B-29 Superfortress bomber in World War II. In order to serve in the Vietnam War, he gave up the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve to become a chief warrant officer in the Army. For his bravery in conducting a medical evacuation under fire in this conflict, he was awarded the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
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Dornier Do P The Dornier Do P was a German four-engined heavy bomber, manufactured by Dornier Flugzeugwerke in the 1930s. It was built as part of the secret rearmament of Germany, in opposition to the Treaty of Versailles.