Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 04:31 PM - Edit history (1)
Aircraft development from 1903-1920 was like Computers in the 1990s, six months after you purchased the newest and fastest, it was already so obsolete it had to be replaced.
Worse, Aircraft main role in WWI, was seeing where the enemy troops were AND where one's artillery was hitting (and in many places, that was done by Balloons, for they could stay up longer and were hard to shoot down till cannons were installed in Aircraft and that was just before WWII).
Thus the fact that the US did not have a single "Modern" Aircraft in 1917, when the US entered WWI, should surprise no one. Aircraft development during WWI was that fast that the latest plane in 1916, was obsolete by 1917. This rapid change in Aircraft development continued till the invention of the Liberty Engine in 1919 (Which became the standard aircraft engine for the next ten years) and the Invention of Flaps in 1920, that made any aircraft made prior to 1920 hopelessly obsolete (so obsolete that all were declared NOT air worthy in 1924).
Thus the key between 1903 and 1920 was developing aircraft NOT actually building them. In this the US was on the same edge as Europeans, but just not making planes that would be obsolete in six months.
Thus in 1919 it was a US Navy Plane that first flew over the Atlantic (Lindbergh's feat in 1927 was flying a SINGLE ENGINE plane Non-stop across the Atlantic). It was a four engine plane that stopped at various locations in the Atlantic to re-fuel from Ships stationed in the Atlantic to do so). In the 1920s it was US Aircraft that came to dominate the world stage, from the Hawk series of Fighters (started as an open cockpit biplane with flaps in 1921 and ending with the P-40 during WWII.
Side note: The chief reason the US fell behind the Europeans in aircraft after 1909 can be blamed on the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers wanted paid for inventing the airplane, and the US Courts upheld their patent rights. Thus US Aircraft makers had to wait till after those patents expired in 1918 to do anything if it meant using ANYTHING involving the Wright flyer of 1903. Since Flaps were NOT invented till 1920, warping the wings was the only way to get planes to fly, and that was a Wright Brother's invention. Europe just ignored those Patent rights.
As to WWII, when the US entered WWII, the Sherman Tanks was considered the second best tank in the World (Second to the Russian T-34). The Tiger came out in 1943 along with the Panther, both rush jobs in response to the T-34 and the Sherman.
As to "Modern" Ships, the US had reserved the right to convert two Battle Cruisers to Carriers under the 1920 Battleship moratorium, something Japan and Britain also had the right to do and did. In 1834 the US decided to use up its remaining tonnage under that treaty for Carriers to build the Ranger (a small carrier do to limitations under the Washington Treaty). In the late 1930s the US built two more Carriers, the Yorktown and the Enterprise permitted under a proposed Extension of the Washington Treaty that Japan decided NOT to renew.
To give you an idea of how "Bad" the US Fleet was in 1942, when the US commissioned its first Battleships since WWI (New Battleships had been banned under the Washington Treaty of 1921), it was 1942 and those battleships were sent to the ATLANTIC not the Pacific. This was NOT because those battleships were obsolete, it was where the US Navy had its greatest concerns, not only the German Fleet, but the French Fleet for the US had plans to attack then FRENCH North Africa, where France had its latest battleships (Which did engage the US Battleships during the invasion of North Africa).
One of the reason for sending Battleships to the Atlantic was Britain was depended on the Convoy system, and while the U-Boat threat was a nuisance, the real fear was surface raiders hitting one of those convoys. To give you an idea of the threat the first Battleship Carrier battle occurred during the German Invasion of Norway. Please note it was the Battleship that sunk the Carrier. Carriers as late as the 1950s could not operate much night flights, landing on carriers after nightfall was to dangerous. You could launch air strikes at night, you could NOT land aircraft on carriers at night (one or two maybe, but more forget it). When the German Battleship sunk the British Carrier, the Carrier was waiting for its aircraft to return, having launch a pre dawn raid. Unfortunately , the German Battleship had traveled all night at full speed (25 knots for 10 hours is 250 miles, the range of most airplanes of the time period).
As to actual US Aircraft, the P-40 was as good as most planes, not quite up to Spitfire level (but could be made so, if given the engine of the Spitefire, which is what happened in the case of the P-51, in fact the P-51 was designed by North America Aircraft company for they did not want to produce the P-40 for it had been designed by another Aircraft Company, the P-40 with the Spitfire engine did as well as the P-51 but by the time someone put that engine in the P-40, it had been reserved to the P-51 and after WWII the US Air Force, to cut costs, reverted to the US engine the P-51 and P-40 had been originally equipped with).
By the start of WWII, the US had spent 20 years upgrading is old Battleships and testing them to see how they could take battle punishment. This researched lead to two things, first the Dakota and then the Iowa Class of Battleships. These started to come out in 1942, but 1944 do to the sealing off of German Ports, the fear of German Surface Raiders had ended and the US was committed to Naval Combat when it could decide when and where the battle was to occur. I.e. the US Navy would only attack if the fleet also controlled the skys. IF the US could not control the Skys, no US surface ship went into the areas,
The Battleships at Pearl Harbor were repaired and ready for emergency use as battleships within three months of Pearl Harbor (Except for two, The Arizona and Oklahoma, all of the Battleships were back into service within three months, then withdrawn for further repairs and reentered service by the fall of 1942. The Utah was also sunk, but it had become a hauler for targets for other battleships well before WWII thus not considered Battle worthy even before Pearl Harbor. When the US started it offensive against Japan, it was after these Battleships had returned to the fleet and the US had Battleship superiority in the Pacific.
As to actual Aircraft, no plane designed after December 7, 1941 flew in WWII. Unlike WWI, by the 1930s it then took years to design a plane AND those planes stayed active for years afterward. The Zero had a great reputation in the first year of US participation in WWII, but that is before the US pilots found out its weak points (to get the maneuverability the Zero was noted for, came at the cost of no armor and no self sealing tanks, which mean even on bullet could take out a Zero, as opposed to the better armored US planes. IN many ways the reputation of the Zero was a cover story for how under trained US Pilots were, for any pilot with training ended up in Europe not the Pacific for Europe was viewed as the main area of concern.
Sorry, your point do NOT match history. It does match US propaganda from WWII, but once you look at the actual FACTS, there do NOT hold up.
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