1932 AAC photo -> 1939 comic cover

[zoomer]

This concerns my avatar, a photo of one Lieut. Hutchinson in the nose gun position of a Keystone Panther with the 9th Bomb Squadron at March Field, Calif., in October, 1932.

Well, that pic must have seen publication or distribution, because 7 years later, we have this.

Fred Guardineer cover for Action Comics #18, November, 1939.

Action of course was the comic where Superman began. This was the last cover that didn't feature him.

No, of course the AAC didn't paint planes all-over red. In 1932 it was OD fuselage, chrome yellow wings & empennage. The OD was supplanted a little later by brilliant cobalt blue.
No idea who the Green & Black force might have been either - maybe they were advertising that chocolate company.

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Interesting observation. That must have been a crazy place in the nose gun position. All out in the open with props on both sides of you! :?

 

[Anonymous]

Not to mention baling out from that position .Rgds jeff

 

[zoomer]

Yes. From our retrospective, it looks like a comic-strip idea of aerial combat applied to real life.

These giant box kites, capable of barely 100 mph, were at the front line of our air defense until at least 1934. Incredible.

 

[rich]

Yes. From our retrospective, it looks like a comic-strip idea of aerial combat applied to real life.

These giant box kites, capable of barely 100 mph, were at the front line of our air defense until at least 1934. Incredible.

Given the far smaller size of the UK, it's relatively easy to visualise an air defence system. At various times, I think that France was perceived as a more likely antagonist than Germany, but at least the air planners knew the most likely sources of unwanted visitors.
But when you consider a country as massive as the US, the logistics of creating a credible air defence must have been phenomenal.
Here is some cutting edge technology from the pre-radar era, I think blind operators were often favoured because of their alleged hearing acuity........... I don't know if the US employed similar methods? We've come on a bit since though, well at least that's what they tell us.............

 

[zoomer]

Given the far smaller size of the UK, it's relatively easy to visualise an air defence system. At various times, I think that France was perceived as a more likely antagonist than Germany, but at least the air planners knew the most likely sources of unwanted visitors.
But when you consider a country as massive as the US, the logistics of creating a credible air defence must have been phenomenal.

Yes, and what's more, in the 20s and 30s, the American military and particularly its aviation branches were under tight political and budgetary control. The Navy was greatly favored over the Army, and aviation was considered a grave threat to both. Gen. Mitchell had upset the brass of both services with his theories about strategic air power in the 20s - so thru most of the next decade, the Air Corps was limited to support of ground forces, both in theory and in training.

I don't imagine we planned, or gamed, for any invasion other than by sea. An air offensive, at the time, depended on the still unproven aircraft carrier. Things began to change about 1935, when the B-17 program was approved and Gen. Andrews began to organize a strategic bombing force. But we were still terribly under strength and would remain so well into the first years of WW2.

 

[rich]

Thanks Zoomer, I'd forgotten about Billy Mitchell - I remember reading that he sunk a battleship using aircraft, which was considered impossible at the time. Did the US use it's airpower in anger between the wars? The RAF had extremely dismal bombers at the outbreak of WW2, the Luftwaffe made pretty short work of them. And if it were not for the Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons, I think it would have been game over very quickly indeed...........

 

[zoomer]

Did the US use it's airpower in anger between the wars?

No. I suppose the Marines might have used a few aircraft in utility roles in Central America, but that would be all.