Air Power in World War Two

Why did Japan attack the US at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 Dec, 1941?

• Disable US fleet & then expand power in Asia

• Japan intended to take over the world

• Prevent the US from denying natural resources

• All of the above

At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese managed to

• Destroy 96 Army planes, 92 Navy aircraft and crippled 159 more

• sink 3 US battleships—the Arizona, California, & W. Virginia

• damage 5 other battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers

• All of the above

Among the reasons the US went to war with Germany

• The Nazis believed other races were less human than Germans

• Germany wanted to make “living space” for a German master race

• The Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust

• All of the above

Germany began World War II using its ‘Luftwaffe’ which was

• the German Army

• The German Navy

• The German Air Force

• The German Boy Scouts

The English won the Battle of Britain with

• Tanks and infantry

• Ships and submarines

• Yorkshire pudding

• Air Power

In 1943 the US suffered extremely high air crew casualties because

• US bombers were flying into Germany alone

• Fighters didn’t yet have the range that bombers had

• US pilots flew during daylight hours

• All of the above

The D-Day invasion on Europe on 6 June 1944 was successful in part due to

• US Air Power

• Chemical warfare

• The atomic bomb

• Satellite intelligence

The role of Air Power in WWI vs WWII

• WWII saw long range bombing

• Air Power was the key to victory in WWII

• Aircraft were used to break the will of the people in WWII

• All of the Above

The US 3-point plan for Air Power in WWII included

• Sea superiority, port security, battleships

• Ground operations, supply, logistics

• Air superiority, Interdiction, Close air/ground support

• Cyber security, Nuclear deterrence, Space operations

Example of an Air Superiority fighter of WWII

• B-17 Flying Fortress

• P-51 Mustang

• V-22 Osprey

• T-6 Texan