Victory Through Air Power Page #3

from Newfoundland to Ireland.

First solo flight

across the Atlantic-

Charles A. Lindbergh,

New York to Paris.

First round-the-world flight-

U.S. Army planes

circled the globe.

Flying time-15 days, 11 hours.

Post and Gatty-

4 days, 10 hours.

Howard Hughes-

2 days, 23 hours.

Altitude flights developed

superchargers and deicers.

Air races improved design

and advanced speed.

Power diving

at 620 miles per hour...

tested durability

and construction of planes.

The first air maiI service

in 1918...

grew in a short time

to major airlines...

with regularly scheduled

transcontinentaI...

and then transoceanic

passenger and freight service.

Aviation was progressing

at a tremendous pace.

Time was being compressed,

distance shrunk...

range lengthened,

and load capacity increased.

The airplane-

now flying all over the world-

was the only weapon of war...

to develop such great

usefulness in peacetime.

Jeepers!

President Roosevelt

wants 50,000 planes a year.

Backed by 25 years

of constant pioneering...

American aviation

met the challenge.

Remember,

the experiment of 1914...

had become

a devastating force.

From the mile-a-minute plane

of World War I...

we're starting today

with planes...

flying more than

six miles a minute.

During the last war...

firepower was increased

from one brick per minute...

to 2,400 bullets per minute.

Today we're starting

with 9,600 bullets per minute.

During World War I...

aeriaI grenades

and 25-pound hand bombs...

grew to two-ton bomb loads.

Today we're starting

with ten-ton bomb loads...

of the most

devastating explosives...

ever conceived by science.

Today the historic flight

of C.S. Rolls...

is repeated daily...

by Rolls-Royce-powered

pursuit and bomber planes.

Departing from England...

the flight across the ChanneI

was quite uneventfuI.

Reaching the other side

and being recognized.

Dropped greetings.

And without stopping...

returned home

safely without mishap.

In one single night...

the bomb load

dropped on Cologne...

was 20 times greater

than the totaI amount...

used in the last war

by the United States.

Today, only

a brief 40 years later...

The Wright Brothers'

first flight of 120 feet...

could be made

with 92 feet to spare...

on the wing of the B-19.

Yet this huge 82-ton

experimentaI bomber-

designed seven years ago-

is only a forerunner

of what can be done.

The amazing advancement

in military aviation...

is due to the vision

and persistence...

of pioneer airmen,

among whom...

Major Alexander P. de Seversky

is an outstanding figure.

He literally

grew up with aviation.

His father

was the first Russian...

to privately own and fly

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