The Cold War

In 1947 the U. S. Air Force became an independent service, free of U. S. Army control. After World War II, jets rapidly replaced propeller aircraft in the world’s major air forces. The first U. S. super­sonic fighter was the F-100 (1953). By 1958 the F-104 could exceed 1,400 miles per hour (2,253 kilometers per hour).

The mid-1940s to the 1970s was the period of the Cold War, when the United States confronted a hostile Soviet Union. Both sides set out on an arms race that included producing new warplanes. Changes in design of this period included the introduction of delta, sweptback, and swing-wing wing shapes. Other developments included the first V/STOL (or jump jet), more powerful engines, and new radars and missiles. Ejection seats were invented to allow a pilot to escape from a damaged airplane, even at high speed and great heights.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union developed giant bombers able to fly nonstop for 10,000 miles (16,090 kilometers). The biggest U. S. bomber was the B-36 (1946). Such bombers were designed to carry nuclear bombs and guided missiles. Planes also had to counter missile attacks-the first U. S. missile built to shoot down enemy planes was the Nike-Ajax of the early 1950s. Some military experts argued that bombers were obsolete (out of date) and that guided missiles would replace the piloted airplane. Strategic nuclear weapons systems were indeed developed,
using land-based and submarine – launched missiles. The piloted bomber did not disappear, however, and the B-52 is still in service today, more than fifty years after its first flight.