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00:00Next, on Weapons at War.
00:04Today, it owns the sky, poised to strike any target, anywhere in the world, at any time.
00:10From primitive wooden biplanes to flying fortresses over Europe,
00:14from Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam,
00:16smart bombs in the Persian Gulf,
00:18and technology beyond, the bomber.
00:21Next, on Weapons at War.
00:30Yeah!
00:37This music plays
00:41Fromanken Owens
01:43Their populations, industrial centers, and reserve forces seemed secure, nestled far behind the combat erupting over the distant horizon.
01:51But the bomber holds no regard for that geographical shield.
01:54It creates total war, a war where destruction can come to any place at any time.
01:59The bomber cripples a nation's ability to supply its army and crushes its will to fight.
02:05From an airfield somewhere in the Middle East, a B-52 crew prepares for another combat sortie over Iraq.
02:36The 35-year-old bomber's payload is similar to what it carried in Vietnam, 60,000 pounds of free-fall explosive bombs.
02:45The mission is also familiar.
02:47Round-the-clock carpet bombing of enemy troop concentrations.
02:51While Desert Storm commanders relied on the B-52 for conventional area bombardment, they turned to smaller bombers for individual target strikes.
03:04With a radar jammer cloaking them from behind, F-111 bombers slipped into Iraqi airspace undetected on a routine basis.
03:14Their load was lighter, but their bombs were smarter.
03:18The strategic bombing campaign was relentless.
03:29Combined with other fighter bombers, the F-111's laser-guided munitions systematically dismantled the Iraqi military infrastructure with surgical precision.
03:39After 38 days, aerial bombardment set the stage for one of the most lopsided military victories in history.
03:48And F-111 crews finally proved themselves in combat.
03:53What we did tonight, basically, we launched out at dark four CBU-87s to hit Balad airfield, try to suppress some of the AAA from medium altitude.
04:03We put the CBU-87s on the target.
04:05We saw approximately six to eight canisters hit, and from our impression, when we left, there was less AAA going up than there was when we came in.
04:14We released ours from a higher altitude than planned due to the AAA coming up higher than originally expected.
04:20It was still a computer delivery off of radar, so we feel we got a real good hit.
04:26And then as we were coming back out, we saw more canisters going off for the guys coming in behind us.
04:31Coming from the target area, they're still shooting at you.
04:34You can see the tracers and all that.
04:36And, you know, it's not over by a long shot, but the further away you get, the better it starts to feel.
04:43But like Colonel Malone says, until you cross the border, you're not really breathing the full sigh of relief.
04:54After its performance in Desert Storm, the F-111 is now considered one of the most lethal bombers in the world.
05:00Although the Air Force never officially gave it a name, the pilots who fly it call it the Aardvark, in reference to its long nose.
05:10But looks can be deceiving.
05:11This anteater has teeth.
05:16The F-111 was the first jet aircraft to employ variable sweep wings.
05:22When pinned back, they reduce drag, allowing speeds two and a half times the speed of sound.
05:28Turbo fan engines with afterburners are standard equipment on all of today's jet fighters.
05:35But the Aardvark was the first to have them in 1964.
05:39Perhaps the F-111's most important component is its terrain-following radar.
05:44In flight, the radar flies the plane automatically, adjusting its height to match the curvature of the earth.
05:52This allows the bomber to streak across enemy lines lower than 200 feet above the ground, day or night, rain or shine.
05:59Despite its success tactically in Desert Storm, we're going to see the F-111 pass into history as an aircraft which perhaps came as the last of the small-scale bombers.
06:13Not quite a fighter, not quite a bomber.
06:16What we're going to see replacing it are aircraft which are basically capable of doing both roles.
06:21When the F-111 is finally retired, it will join an impressive lineup of bomb-carrying aircraft developed in this century.
06:33The bomber has indeed come a long way in just one lifetime.
06:37When Orville and Wilbur Wright delivered the first military airplane to the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1908,
06:48their flying machine was looked on as more of a novelty than a weapon.
06:52The Wright brothers themselves saw their aircraft as a passive reconnaissance vehicle
06:57that could spare the lives of horse-riding cavalry scouts.
07:01It wasn't until three years later that the first aerial bombs were dropped in anger.
07:06Well, the Italians dropped the first aerial bombs in warfare on Turkish troops.
07:11And for all practical significance, it might as well have been provolone.
07:15It didn't cause any casualties.
07:17But in philosophic terms, it alerted the visionaries around the world that something new was on the scene.
07:23Very shortly thereafter, bombs were dropped in the Balkans and France dropped bombs in Morocco.
07:28So it set the stage.
07:29By 1914, the war that would end all wars spread across Europe.
07:36And despite their lack of experience, French, British, German, and Italian pilots took to the skies,
07:42inventing the art of aerial warfare.
07:45Bombing tactics were still in their infancy,
07:48and most airplanes were used primarily to photograph enemy troop locations.
07:52By the time the Americans entered the war, their air service was ranked 14th in the world.
08:02The Army's flight school curriculum wasn't too demanding.
08:05Cadets were required to make their own practice bombs out of plaster.
08:10Before their final check ride, each student was allowed 50 hours to practice flying in trainers like the Curtis Jenny.
08:17The Army was producing airmen, but the Americans had no combat-worthy airplanes.
08:24The United States went to Europe to find aircraft that it could duplicate in this country.
08:29It had no indigenous aircraft designs.
08:31One of them that was selected was the de Havilland DH-4,
08:33a bombing plane that appeared in 1917 over the Western Front.
08:37In this country, the Dayton Wright Company was authorized to build the airplane by the government.
08:42They had on hand a DH-4 from England and the plans.
08:45The bomber's body was forged from steel, while the wings were built using wood and canvas.
08:52Each airplane received a 400-horsepower, water-cooled, 12-cylinder Liberty engine.
09:00Once tested, they were broken down, boxed up, and shipped off to assembly sheds in Europe.
09:06In May 1918, the first DH-4s rolled onto the grass airfields in France.
09:15In all, 4,500 de Havillands were built.
09:23Before long, there were too many planes and not enough bombs to go around.
09:28So we'd take three-inch shell casings and just chunk them full of all kinds of stuff,
09:36everything we could put in there, and make our own bombs.
09:41And we would get over a road while we were supposed to be observing for enemy activity and everything.
09:49We'd see a line of trucks.
09:53So we'd try to work out our windage, and we'd let them go, see.
10:01And then we'd fly on back, and we'd try to watch the trajectory as they dropped.
10:09And sometimes we'd be 2,300 yards off target, and we had no smart bombs.
10:16They were just blah.
10:18And so we made some good hits.
10:25We got pretty good.
10:26The aerial bombs improved as well.
10:30A new device, the fusing propeller, was introduced for the safety of the pilots.
10:36The bombs wouldn't be completely fused until they had fallen far enough
10:40for passing air to spin their propellers off.
10:47Germany's massive twin-engine Gota bomber was among 8,000 military aircraft
10:52flying over the Western Front by the summer of 1918.
10:56Until then, neither side had used its aircraft in a coordinated effort.
11:01The Allies were the first to try.
11:05Under the command of America's brash air service commander, Colonel Billy Mitchell,
11:081,500 Allied planes converged on one target, Samuel.
11:14Three waves of 500 planes each crossed the German front line,
11:19dropping their bombs and strafing targets of opportunity.
11:23The German war machine succumbed within hours.
11:26But without German air opposition,
11:28the Allied raid was considered only a limited success.
11:34By the war's end, only a handful of America's top brass
11:37were convinced of the bomber's potential.
11:40Among them was Billy Mitchell,
11:42who recognized that future battles would be decided in the air.
11:48The years following the war were marked by continued rivalry
11:52between the Army and Navy air services.
11:55The Navy believed airship carriers and battleships
11:58could deter aggression from America's shores
12:01and seemed more interested in building big balloons than big airplanes.
12:06An armada of battleships with 12-inch guns
12:09already patrolled the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
12:13But since his return from France,
12:15Billy Mitchell had argued that battleships were obsolete,
12:19expensive, and vulnerable to attack from the air.
12:22As you might imagine, the Navy reacted
12:25as the more senior service would react,
12:28and the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels,
12:31said that he'd be glad to stand bareheaded upon the deck
12:34of any battleship that the air service carried to attack.
12:37In 1921, Congress gave Mitchell the chance to prove himself.
12:42With the Navy looking on,
12:44Mitchell's bombers set their sights
12:46on the captured German battleship,
12:47Ostfridsland, considered by many to be impregnable
12:50with its thick air pocket hull design.
12:54Seven bombers each dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on the ship.
12:58In just 20 minutes,
13:00the Ostfridsland disappeared beneath the surface.
13:05Officially, the Navy was unimpressed.
13:08They ordered more tests.
13:09For the next two years,
13:11Mitchell's men experimented with one-ton bombs
13:14on obsolete U.S. warships,
13:16demonstrating pinpoint accuracy.
13:20Strategic bombing theorists took heart.
13:23Britain's General Trenchard,
13:25Italy's Douai, and Caproni
13:26had all predicted the bomber would one day
13:29strike at the enemy's heartland,
13:31destroying factories that manufacture weapons
13:33before they had a chance to be used.
13:36Mitchell's tests confirmed the bomber's explosive potential.
13:40In 1923, the Army flew a T-2 transport coast-to-coast
13:46for the first time.
13:47The record-setting trip illustrated the difficulty
13:50of projecting air power at great distances.
13:54The T-2 had to assume 780 gallons of fuel
13:58and weighed 10,000 pounds before taking off
14:01on a bomber that would leave little room for a payload.
14:04Air-to-air refueling was one answer,
14:09but ideally, the Army Air Corps needed a plane
14:11to replace the biplane Keystone bomber
14:14in service at the time.
14:18One such craft was the Martin B-9,
14:21the first all-metal bomber.
14:23While this single-winged bird boasted a top speed
14:26of 163 miles per hour, its fame was short-lived.
14:30In 1934, the Martin designers outdid themselves
14:34with the B-10 bomber.
14:36The all-metal twin-engine monoplane
14:38was considered an engineering marvel for its day.
14:42Its cockpit was enclosed,
14:44its landing gear was retractable,
14:46and its bomb load was carried internally.
14:49The B-10 could carry over 2,000 pounds of bombs,
14:55and at 207 miles per hour,
14:58it was the fastest bomber in the world.
15:00Martin B-10 was just like a gift from God
15:03in terms of its beauty and its speed.
15:06The B-10 dispensed with the biplane wings,
15:10which were very significant,
15:11not only from the fact that they created a lot of drag,
15:13but were so prone to difficulty in weather.
15:16They would ice up so badly.
15:17You couldn't put de-icers, for example, on a biplane.
15:21It was not really a weapon yet.
15:23It didn't have self-sealing tanks.
15:25It didn't have enough armor.
15:26It didn't have enough armament.
15:27But it did have a Norton bomb site,
15:30which came in about that time,
15:31and it gave the Air Corps planners an idea
15:34of what they could do when they got a bomber.
15:36As World War II approached,
15:38the British stepped up their bomber production.
15:41Their twin-engine Douglas Boston
15:42was fast at 325 miles per hour,
15:46but had a range of just 1,000 miles.
15:49By the end of the 30s,
15:50there were a large number of bomber designs available.
15:53The problem was getting suitable air power.
15:55Other nations saw the advantages
15:58of using large bomber aircraft
16:00and developed them themselves.
16:01So we had a situation in the end of the 1930s
16:05where there were a number of aircraft designs available.
16:08The Germans in particular
16:09had drawn a lot of lessons
16:11from what the British were doing.
16:12The commander-in-chief
16:22of the Japanese Combined Fleet,
16:23Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,
16:25had plans of his own.
16:28Cripple the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor,
16:31and Japan would be free
16:32to take the rich resources of Southeast Asia.
16:39The Japanese strike force
16:41was counting on wooden-finned torpedoes
16:43to strike the Pacific carrier fleet
16:45in the shallow water at Pearl.
16:50Whether the plan succeeded or not
16:52depended on the torpedo attack.
16:55First, we had to compare the depth of Pearl Harbor
16:57with the depth of our own torpedoes when dropped.
17:00As long as it was shallower than Pearl Harbor,
17:02I knew our plan would work.
17:04The air attack had spectacular results.
17:122,335 Americans dead,
17:15188 aircraft destroyed,
17:17and four battleships sunk.
17:20As Billy Mitchell predicted 20 years earlier,
17:23air power destroyed the invincible dreadnoughts.
17:27For the Americans to strike back,
17:29they would need a new four-engine bomber
17:32capable of reaching Japan.
17:35By late summer 1942,
17:38the U.S. 8th Air Force
17:39began conducting massive daylight raids
17:41against German targets.
17:44The target for today is anchor.
17:48The 80-80 will be high group,
17:49and the 764 will be low.
17:52Now you bombardiers,
17:52take your time in going in on your releases.
17:55Ten men were needed to operate
18:00America's first mass-produced four-engine bomber,
18:03the B-17.
18:05With its 11 machine guns,
18:07it lived up to its nickname
18:08as the Flying Fortress.
18:12Most of the crew went to combat
18:14before they were 22.
18:16Teenagers going out to war at 20,000 feet.
18:25Plane after plane
18:32would take up position
18:33over the English Channel,
18:34squadron joining squadron
18:36in tight formation.
18:38Of course, the primary reason
18:39for that formation
18:40was self-protection,
18:42because if you look at it closely,
18:44with the lead airplane
18:46and then the airplane on his right wing
18:48being a little bit higher
18:50and the airplane on his left wing
18:52being a little bit lower,
18:52both behind,
18:54all their guns clear.
18:57They took all the insulation out
18:58when they got to England.
19:00You couldn't touch
19:01the side of the airplane
19:02with your hands
19:03and pull them away.
19:05You'd freeze.
19:07Your fingers would freeze
19:08right to the side of the airplane.
19:10The moment the formation
19:11crossed the coast of France,
19:13they were easy targets
19:14for German guns.
19:16To us, flak was an irritant.
19:19We'd go into the flak too,
19:20so the German fighters
19:21would leave us alone.
19:22Fighters would decimate formations
19:25if they got themselves
19:27coordinated properly.
19:32German radar alerted fighter pilots
19:34on the ground,
19:35but they bided their time.
19:37They knew the B-17s
19:39wouldn't break formation.
19:42They had the advantage.
19:42They knew when they were going to attack.
19:44We didn't know
19:45when they were going to attack.
19:47Going east,
19:48they loved to have hail attacks
19:50because the sun would be behind them then.
19:53The tail gunner would bounce the airplane.
19:56He'd call the pilot.
19:57When he saw them fire,
19:59he'd say, bounce.
20:00And the pilot would take the airplane up
20:0240, 50 feet,
20:04or down 40, 50 feet.
20:06And amazingly enough,
20:07you could avoid being hit that way
20:11unless they pressed the attacks close,
20:13came right in.
20:14Going down the bomb run
20:27when the bombardier had identified
20:29the target area,
20:31the bombsite controlled the airplane.
20:33Trigger locked in,
20:36bomb bay doors open,
20:37select the bombs.
20:38When the two indices came up and met,
20:42there was electrical impulse,
20:43went to the bomb bay,
20:44released all the bombs.
20:50It was always a great relief
20:52to release the bombs.
20:56For some reason,
20:57I guess you figured the job was really done,
21:01you'd go in for the United States
21:02and come back on your own.
21:03In October 1943,
21:07the 100th bomb group
21:08sent 13 B-17s
21:11in a raid deep into Germany.
21:13Only one returned.
21:17Quite a few airplanes came back
21:19very seriously damaged.
21:21And in fact,
21:22the B-17 had a reputation
21:23of being able to take
21:26a tremendous amount of punishment
21:28and still get home.
21:31I saw the airplane
21:32that came back
21:33with the nose compartment
21:35completely blown away
21:36and the navigator
21:37and the bombardier
21:38both fell out.
21:52After each mission,
21:54there would be
21:54an empty hard stand
21:55where a B-17
21:57was parked the night before
21:58and empty bunks
22:00where men had slept.
22:01by the end of the war,
22:04the 8th Air Force
22:05lost 46,000 of its men.
22:09The B-17s were by no means alone in England.
22:30They bombed by day
22:31and the British bombed by night.
22:34The Lancaster bomber
22:35was the classic night bomber
22:37of the Second World War.
22:38The fact that it could operate
22:40over long ranges,
22:41eventually it was equipped with radar,
22:43made it actually
22:44quite a formidable weapon
22:45for the Germans
22:46to defend against.
22:47And it was, I suppose,
22:48respected by the Germans
22:49as being a capable aircraft.
22:53Because of its great range,
22:55the B-24 Liberator
22:56was best suitable
22:57for long over-the-water missions.
22:59Its specialty
23:00was the sub-hunt.
23:01Small twin-engine bombers
23:20like the B-25 Mitchell
23:21also left their mark.
23:23In World War II,
23:25the B-25, B-26
23:27were all necessary
23:28for short-range bombing operations
23:31behind enemy lines
23:32to interdict their rail
23:34and road supply
23:35where it wouldn't have been
23:36economical to use
23:37flying fortresses
23:38and B-24s.
23:40The B-26 Martin Marauder
23:43was especially suited
23:44for low-level infiltration.
23:461943 saw the arrival
24:03of the first bomber
24:04designed for hemisphere defense,
24:07the B-29 Superfortress,
24:10the most advanced bomber
24:11of its day.
24:12Gunnery system
24:13was very modern.
24:14Previously,
24:15the gunners
24:16had had to operate
24:17within the gun turrets
24:18and handle the guns themselves.
24:20With the B-29,
24:21they were remotely controlled.
24:25And the aircraft
24:26was pressurized.
24:27It had a pressurized
24:28crew compartment
24:29up in the nose.
24:31And then behind
24:31the aft bomb bay
24:32was another crew compartment
24:34where the gunners operated.
24:35And finally,
24:36the tail was also
24:37in the pressurized portion
24:38of the airplane.
24:40When the Americans
24:41finally captured
24:42the Mariana Islands
24:43in the South Pacific,
24:44they had a launching point
24:45for sustained bombing raids
24:48against Japan.
24:50They prepared
24:51on each of these airfields,
24:53there were five of them,
24:548,500-foot runways,
24:57which are pretty modest
24:57by today's thinking,
24:59but that's what we had.
25:00And we used
25:01most all of that footage
25:02on these heavyweight takeoffs.
25:05The B-29 would weigh
25:0670 tons,
25:07140,000 pounds.
25:09And you always hoped
25:10that every one
25:12of the engines
25:12would perform well
25:14because the takeoff
25:15was the most critical part
25:17of the entire mission.
25:19The missions to Japan
25:20and back
25:20were 2,600 miles,
25:22more than twice
25:23that of any
25:24in the European theater.
25:26With nothing but ocean
25:28beneath them,
25:29a slight navigational error
25:30in any direction
25:31meant they would run
25:32out of gas.
25:34Crippled bombers
25:34had nowhere to go
25:35but home.
25:37Some barely made it back.
25:40The B-29s needed
25:41an island between them
25:43and Japan,
25:44and Iwo Jima
25:45became a top priority
25:47for U.S. Marines.
25:49Iwo Jima was probably
25:50one of the most critical
25:51pieces of territory
25:52that you could have thought
25:53of if you were flying missions
25:55like we were
25:55in the spring of 1945.
25:58To us, it meant
25:59a sanctuary for a B-29
26:02in trouble,
26:03either due to fuel
26:04or mechanical trouble,
26:05he could go there
26:06and land.
26:07The superfortresses
26:08were proving
26:09to be reliable,
26:10but their bombing accuracy
26:12left much to be desired.
26:14Dropping their bombs
26:15from 30,000 feet
26:17protected the 11-man crews
26:18from ground fire
26:19but allowed the bombs
26:21a free fall
26:22of six miles.
26:24Unpredictable winds
26:25often undid
26:26the best intentions
26:27of pilots
26:28and bombardiers.
26:31After taking over
26:32the 21st Bomber Command,
26:34General Curtis LeMay
26:35reassessed the B-29's
26:37bombing record
26:38and took the biggest gamble
26:40of his career.
26:42His order?
26:43Remove the gunners
26:44and ammunition
26:44to make room
26:45for more bombs.
26:47Fly at night
26:47and fly low level.
26:50I can remember
26:51that briefing
26:52because we all sat
26:53in a big Quonset hut
26:55and when we heard
26:56the bombing altitudes,
26:58at first there was
27:00a silence
27:00throughout the hall
27:02and then a great gasp
27:04from all of the crew members
27:05as they realized
27:06what they had just heard.
27:08Given most of Japan's buildings
27:10were made of wood,
27:11LeMay was counting
27:12on a new weapon,
27:13the incendiary bomb.
27:15Even if they didn't
27:15hit their targets,
27:17LeMay bet
27:18their fires would.
27:20On that first mission,
27:22there were 300 B-29's
27:23which took off
27:24from Guam
27:25and Tinian
27:26and Saipan.
27:27Here we would be flying
27:28with no light showing
27:29in the dark
27:31with just individual aircraft,
27:34no formation.
27:35We're all going
27:36toward the same place
27:37at the same time.
27:39We saw pieces of houses
27:42like windows and doors
27:43actually going by the airplane
27:46at around 8,000 feet.
27:49I've never been
27:49in worse turbulence
27:50in an aircraft
27:51anywhere
27:52that was stronger
27:54than that night
27:55March 10th
27:56over Tokyo.
27:57I thought the wings
27:58were surely going to be
27:59just ripped off
28:00the aircraft.
28:01The bonfire
28:02that was going on
28:03down there
28:04on the surface
28:05was throwing heat upward,
28:07but the turbulence
28:08was from that heat rising.
28:11Then you could not help
28:12but sympathize
28:13with the people
28:14on the ground.
28:15There were thoughts
28:16about the folks
28:18on the ground
28:18and what they had
28:20to be suffering.
28:20In our first firebombing
28:22of Tokyo,
28:22it was so bad
28:24that many Japanese
28:25themselves properly figured
28:27that it was the beginning
28:28of the end for them.
28:35On August 6th,
28:37a lone B-29
28:38crossed over the coast
28:39of Japan
28:40with an even deadlier weapon.
28:42Its payload,
28:43one bomb.
28:44Its target,
28:46Hiroshima.
28:46At a height of 800 feet,
28:51an atomic bomb detonated,
28:53releasing an explosive force
28:54equivalent to 1,000
28:57fully loaded B-29s.
29:01The potential to destroy
29:03whole cities
29:04with a single bomb
29:05became the ultimate projection
29:07of military power.
29:09The nuclear bomber
29:10had become
29:11the most lethal weapon
29:12in the U.S. arsenal.
29:1430 years military strategists
29:19had predicted the day
29:21when aircraft
29:21could deliver a blow
29:22powerful enough
29:23to obliterate
29:24an entire city.
29:26With the destruction
29:27of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
29:29the concept
29:30of strategic bombing
29:31had finally realized
29:32its full devastating potential.
29:35The power not only
29:36to destroy one city,
29:38but to force the surrender
29:39of an entire nation.
29:41With the advent
29:43of the jet engine,
29:45strategic bomber development
29:46changed radically.
29:48In the meantime,
29:49new bombers
29:49were technically obsolete
29:51on arrival,
29:52including the enormous B-36.
29:55The B-36
29:55is just unbelievable
29:57to imagine something
29:59that 230-foot wingspan.
30:03Think of it
30:04in terms of a relationship
30:06to a football field.
30:07Football field being
30:08what, 300 feet,
30:09100 yards.
30:10And here we're looking
30:11at 230 feet,
30:13three-quarters
30:13of the football field.
30:15You can imagine that
30:15for a wingspan
30:16with these six push-up props
30:19on the back side
30:20of the wing.
30:22The B-36
30:23was originally designed
30:24to strike Germany
30:25from the United States
30:26if American bases
30:28in Britain were lost.
30:30Consequently,
30:31it had an incredible range
30:32of nearly 7,000 miles.
30:35The B-36
30:36has the distinction
30:37of never firing
30:39a shot in anger
30:39and it retired quietly
30:41in 1959.
30:45In 1946,
30:46Northrop aircraft
30:47debuted its version
30:49of the bomber
30:49of the future,
30:50the XB-35 Flying Wing.
30:54Jack Northrop
30:55had argued for years
30:56that a flying wing
30:57was superior
30:58to an aircraft
30:59with tail surfaces
31:00that produced
31:01so much drag.
31:02At 393 miles per hour,
31:05the wing was faster
31:06and more agile
31:07than the B-36,
31:09but it too had propellers
31:11which made it obsolete.
31:13The Air Force
31:13converted two of the wings
31:15to jet propulsion,
31:16but the gas-guzzling jets
31:18cut the craft's range
31:19in half.
31:21Amid much controversy,
31:22the flying wing
31:23was shelved
31:24for a time.
31:26Since the late 40s,
31:28nothing has influenced
31:29American bomber design
31:30more than the Cold War
31:32with the Soviet Union.
31:34The Soviet's first
31:35MiG-15 jet fighter
31:37was cause for concern.
31:39One proposal
31:41to counter the MiG threat
31:42was the XF-85 Goblin.
31:45This parasite escort
31:46was designed
31:47to ride underneath
31:48the B-29.
31:50If a MiG-15
31:51was identified,
31:52the Goblin
31:52would swoop down
31:53and attack the Russian jet
31:55with four machine guns.
31:57Unfortunately,
31:58the Goblin
31:58was little more
31:59than a flying jet engine
32:00and had poor handling characteristics.
32:06Like the flying wings
32:07before it,
32:08the program was discontinued
32:10and the Air Force
32:11canceled its order
32:12for 30 more Goblins
32:13in 1947.
32:15The same year,
32:17the Air Force's
32:17first large jet-powered
32:19nuclear bomber
32:20made its maiden flight.
32:21The B-47 Stratoget
32:24was the first
32:25large aircraft
32:26to incorporate
32:27swept-back wings
32:28and tail surfaces.
32:37The concept
32:38of strategic air power
32:40had always been
32:41to penetrate
32:41the enemy's front line
32:43to strike
32:44at his heartland.
32:45In the Korean conflict,
32:47B-29 struck
32:48virtually every strategic target
32:50in four months
32:51following North Korea's invasion.
32:53But this time,
32:55the enemy's heartland
32:56was in Communist China.
32:58Political considerations
32:59suddenly came into play
33:01in the nuclear age.
33:07After years
33:08of prototype testing,
33:10one of the most remarkable
33:11and enduring bombers ever
33:12rolled out in 1954.
33:15the B-52 straddle fortress
33:17was born.
33:19The eight-engine bomber
33:20carries a crew of six
33:21on two decks.
33:23Below are the navigator
33:24and radar nav stations.
33:27Above,
33:27the electronic warfare officer
33:29and the gunner
33:30are positioned behind the pilot
33:32and co-pilot seats.
33:35Now, the B-52 came along,
33:37and with the B-47,
33:38when they were in combat,
33:39the United States
33:41had a strategic supremacy
33:43over the entire world
33:44that no nation,
33:45not even Britain,
33:46at the height of her power
33:47ever exercised.
33:48The B-52s were designed
33:50as a high-level bomber
33:51armed with nuclear weapons,
33:53free-fall weapons.
33:54And with aerial refueling,
33:56it could strike
33:57anywhere in the world,
33:58and it had an enormous
34:00electronic countermeasure capability
34:01too, the first one.
34:03In 1957,
34:05the American government
34:05took the decision
34:06to always have
34:07a number of bomber aircraft,
34:09the numbers always remain secret,
34:12either in the air
34:12or in their bases,
34:14fully manned
34:15and armed with nuclear weapons,
34:17capable of striking
34:17at targets in the Soviet Union
34:19on the command of the President.
34:24When you're on alert,
34:25your life was conducted
34:26pretty much like
34:27a firefighter's would be.
34:29Although you were
34:30out of your flight suit,
34:31your boots were alongside your bed
34:33as was your flight suit.
34:35So if perchance
34:36the klaxon sound,
34:37the alarm sounded
34:38during the hours of sleep,
34:41make no mistake about it,
34:43you'd be awakened
34:43because of the sound
34:45of the sleeper you were
34:46and responded immediately.
34:57Within 15 minutes,
34:59the B-52s were expected
35:01to be airborne
35:01en route to selected sites
35:03in the Soviet Union.
35:06Only final instructions
35:07from headquarters
35:08kept them
35:09from flying all the way.
35:11So you responded
35:12and were ready to go.
35:15But the ability
35:16to recall you
35:17is very good.
35:19Wow.
35:20Superb.
35:21But what is really interesting
35:23is that no other country
35:25has gone down the road
35:26since the 60s
35:27of developing bomber aircraft,
35:30four-engine bombers,
35:31other than the Soviet Union
35:32and the United States.
35:34Really, that's because
35:35of the nuclear deterrence.
35:36That's because people
35:37want to carry nuclear weapons
35:38and also because it costs
35:40so much to build a bomber.
35:45By the early 60s,
35:46the Soviet's air defense network
35:48had become more complex
35:49than ever.
35:50The surface-to-air missile
35:51was emerging as a threat
35:53greater than MiG fighters.
35:56The Air Force was convinced
35:57a high-altitude
35:59supersonic plane
36:00could outpace the missiles
36:02and replace the B-52 fleet.
36:06North American aviation
36:07soon began development
36:08of the XB-70 Valkyrie,
36:11a futuristic bomber
36:13capable of flying
36:13three times the speed of sound.
36:23Although the XB-70
36:34was a stunning
36:35technological achievement,
36:37the Soviets shot down
36:38a high-flying American
36:40U-2 spy plane
36:41two years earlier.
36:44This confirmed the fear
36:45that a combination
36:46of radar, computers,
36:48and surface-to-air missiles
36:50had made Soviet air
36:51penetration suicidal at best.
36:54In 1964,
36:56the XB-70 program
36:58was canceled.
36:59The fact is that
37:00the Russians got the U-2
37:03by salvoing
37:04an enormous number
37:05of missiles.
37:06They even shot down
37:07some of their own airplanes
37:08that were in pursuit
37:09of the U-2 at the time.
37:11And a high-altitude bomber
37:13probably could have continued
37:14to penetrate for a few years.
37:16In actual fact,
37:18in retrospect,
37:19the decision was probably
37:20a good one.
37:20The B-70 probably
37:22would have come
37:23into squadron service
37:24just about a time
37:25when the missiles
37:26had matured
37:28on the Russian side,
37:28on the Soviet side,
37:29so that it would have
37:30been at risk.
37:31The end result was
37:32that they improvised.
37:33The Air Force
37:34converted a portion
37:35of its B-52 force
37:36to carrying conventional bombs.
37:39One year later,
37:40they would see combat
37:41for the first time
37:42in the skies over Vietnam.
37:44In February of 1965,
37:52American bombers returned
37:54to the Marianas Islands
37:55and B-52 squadrons
37:57set up operations
37:58in Guam.
38:00Originally,
38:00as I recall,
38:01they went over there
38:02with the F-model aircraft.
38:05And then they discovered
38:06later on
38:07that there was
38:08a better capability
38:09by utilizing
38:10the D-model aircraft
38:11with a modification
38:12in the Bomb Bay.
38:13They called it
38:13Big Belly.
38:15And by putting bombs
38:16internally
38:17and maybe 12
38:18under the wings,
38:20the Air Force
38:20would employ a system
38:21that was far more effective.
38:23While bombers
38:24like the B-57
38:25were attacking targets
38:27in North Vietnam,
38:28the B-52s
38:29made the biggest impact
38:31explosively
38:32and psychologically.
38:37Ironically,
38:39the high-altitude
38:39nuclear bombers
38:40were now playing
38:41a conventional role
38:42of close air support
38:44and received
38:45their targeting information
38:47directly from the ground.
38:49The forward air controller
38:51could call
38:53the strike force,
38:54which was already airborne
38:55in the target area,
38:57and give them
38:58the target,
38:59give them the size
39:01of the box
39:01they wanted,
39:02and set the whole thing up
39:03and they could release
39:04within probably 20 minutes
39:07of when the target
39:08was found.
39:13For an enemy infantryman
39:16on the ground,
39:17it was absolutely,
39:18positively,
39:19a terrorist weapon.
39:20It had to be
39:21a terrorist weapon
39:22because they couldn't hear us.
39:25All they could hear
39:26would be five seconds
39:28before impact,
39:29the scream of the bombs
39:29coming down.
39:32and so the impact
39:33would occur
39:34before they could even
39:35take a breath.
39:37In the late 60s,
39:38the Air Force again
39:39tried to replace
39:40their B-52s
39:41and requested
39:42another supersonic bomber.
39:45But unlike the XB-70,
39:47this one was to be
39:48a low-altitude penetrator
39:50capable of speeds
39:51exceeding twice
39:52the speed of sound.
39:54Rockwell's design
39:55for the B-1
39:56was selected,
39:57and the first prototype
39:58flew in 1974.
40:02But President Carter
40:03canceled the program
40:04in 1977
40:06and recommended
40:07further development
40:08of the air-launched
40:10cruise missile.
40:12The B-1's cancellation
40:13sparked a series
40:14of high-tech improvements
40:16to the B-52
40:17that enhanced
40:18its life expectancy
40:19while extending
40:21its attack range
40:22and combat survivability.
40:24Electro-optical
40:25and infrared cameras
40:27were installed
40:27under the nose,
40:29allowing the lower-deck
40:30navigators
40:30a night-vision capability.
40:33The Boeing B-52
40:34Stratofortress
40:35is probably
40:35the classic
40:36post-war bomber.
40:37It must be
40:38the best-known
40:39bomber aircraft
40:39in the world,
40:41not only for its
40:41operations in Vietnam,
40:43but of course
40:44recently in Desert Storm.
40:46American engineers
40:46have been able
40:47to develop it
40:48to survive
40:49into the 1980s
40:50and 90s
40:50by adding
40:51electronic warfare equipment,
40:53by taking away
40:54its self-defense guns
40:55which were found
40:56in the 70s
40:57to be of no use whatsoever.
40:59It's the sort of design
40:59that it said
41:01that the pilots
41:02flying today
41:02had fathers and grandfathers
41:04who flew it in the service.
41:05It's a classic
41:06because you have been able
41:07to work on it,
41:09to develop it,
41:10and to create something
41:11which will probably
41:12keep flying
41:12for at least
41:13another 10 years.
41:14The decision
41:15to finally build
41:16the B-1 bomber
41:17came from
41:18President Reagan
41:18who was convinced
41:20the right combination
41:21of smart electronics
41:22could defeat
41:23the radar defenses
41:24the Soviets
41:25were likely to build
41:26in the 1990s
41:28and beyond.
41:35The newer B-1B model
41:37is still designed
41:38to penetrate Soviet airspace
41:40at low altitudes.
41:42Its top speed
41:42at 200 feet
41:43is 600 miles per hour.
41:46The B-1B carries
41:4792,000 pounds
41:48of conventional
41:49and nuclear weapons.
41:52Its payload
41:52is nearly twice
41:53the amount
41:54of the B-52,
41:55yet its radar
41:56return signature
41:57is only one-tenth
41:59that of a B-52.
42:08In November 1988,
42:10the United States
42:11revealed one of the closest
42:12guarded military secrets
42:14since the atomic bomb.
42:16The most sophisticated
42:17aircraft ever developed,
42:19the B-2 stealth bomber.
42:22As it turned out,
42:24Northrop Corporation
42:25was given another chance
42:26to prove its
42:27flying wing concept.
42:29Once operational,
42:31the B-2 bomber
42:32will have the capability
42:33to penetrate
42:33the most sophisticated
42:34enemy radar
42:35with conventional
42:37or nuclear bombs.
42:38It relies on its
42:40low-profile stealth design
42:41and radar-absorbing skin
42:44to evade detection
42:46until it has closed
42:47within a few miles
42:48of its target.
42:49Much of the stealth's
42:50airframe
42:51is made of classified
42:52composite materials
42:54which allow for
42:55high strength
42:56and low observability.
42:58And the problem is,
42:59of course,
43:00that when it comes
43:01to tire technology,
43:02it takes a while
43:02to design
43:03and to develop it.
43:05It also costs
43:06a lot of money.
43:08And there have been
43:09various estimates
43:09as to the price
43:11of a B-2 bomber.
43:12It costs about
43:13a billion dollars
43:14for each one.
43:15And really,
43:15you've got to decide
43:16whether or not
43:17there's a need
43:18to carry nuclear weapons
43:19into the heart
43:20of the Soviet Union
43:20unseen in the 1990s.
43:23With the arrival
43:24of the B-2,
43:25bombers have taken
43:26another step
43:27toward technical achievement
43:28and enormous
43:30destructive potential.
43:31With each advance,
43:32however,
43:33one constant remains,
43:35the moral dilemma
43:36of the bombing crews
43:38who must wrestle
43:39with the devastating
43:40effects of their mission
43:41and their responsibility
43:44to mankind.
43:46The crews are very well aware
43:50of the power
43:51that they contain
43:52within their bomb bays,
43:53that it's a tremendous weapon.
43:56They're very, very
43:58philosophically concerned
43:59about the results
44:00of what they do.
44:00There's no sense
44:01of vainglory.
44:02There's no sense
44:02of bloodthirstiness.
44:04It's simply a job
44:04that's got to be done.
44:05And you do it
44:06with the minimum casualties,
44:06but you do it.
44:08I think quite often
44:09it was a case of thinking
44:11in terms of dedication
44:12to a mission,
44:14quite frankly,
44:15an assignment,
44:16but never with a thought
44:18that it was devoid
44:24of a taking of a life
44:28or destruction of a life.
44:30And I think as you tend
44:33to get a little bit older
44:34as time goes on,
44:36you tend to consider
44:38that more
44:39and you come to realize
44:41even more
44:42that war
44:44is a hell of a way
44:46to settle differences.
44:49There's got to be
44:50a better way.
44:52Got to be.
44:53Near the end
45:00of World War I,
45:02Orville Wright
45:03wrote hopefully
45:03to a friend,
45:05the airplane
45:06has made war
45:07so terrible
45:08that I do not believe
45:10any country
45:11will again care
45:12to start a war.
45:14Perhaps the bomber
45:15has evolved
45:16into the weapon
45:16that will finally
45:18make Orville Wright's
45:19prophecy
45:19come true.