World War II Technology

Advances in aeronautics• During World War II Nazi Germany made

numerous advances is rocketry. The V-1 or “buzz bomb” was an automatic aircraft (today known as a “cruise missile”) and the V-2 was a “ballistic missile” that flew into space before falling down on its target (both were rained on London during 1944-45, killing thousands of civilians).

Damage caused by a V-2 Rocket

Computing Machines• During the war sophisticated computing

machines were made by the British for breaking the Nazi “Enigma” codes. The Americans also developed sophisticated machines for calculating ballistics and other battlefield equations.

Fine-tuning ENIAC. J. Presper Eckert (the man in the foreground turning a knob) served and John Mauchly (center) designed ENIAC to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells. ENIAC contained nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes and filled a 1,500-square-foot room. To program it, different accumulators had to be wired to each other.

Radar and Sonar• Radar is the ability to use radio waves to detect objects at a

distance. The basis of Radar was invented at the start of the war in Britain and the technology shared with the U.S. Radar allowed nations to track incoming air attacks, guided bombers to their targets, and directed anti-aircraft guns toward airplanes flying high above. Researchers not only constructed the radars, but also devised countermeasures. During their bombing raids, Allied bombers dropped thousands of tiny strips of tinfoil, code-named “window” and “chaff” to jam enemy radar. Sonar made use of sound waves and was largely used for the detection and location of German submarines. It helped the allies destroy many German submarines and open up the Atlantic for the shipment of war materials from America to Britain.

Penicillin• The discovery of the capabilities of the Penicillium Notatum

mold on killing bacteria was made in 1869 and Alexander Fleming popularized the discovery in the 1920’s with his further studies on the matter. However it was not until World War II that the powerful antibiotic was first mass produced. Penicillin was used during the war to fight blood poisoning that could be brought on even through simple wounds due to the unsanitary conditions of war. It was also used to fight STD’s such as Gonnerhea and Syphilis which were sometimes contracted by the soldiers.

Synthetic Materials• During the War the home front experienced shortages and rationing of many

basic items such as rubber, gasoline, silk, and metals.

• New materials emerged to fill these voids; many had been invented just before the war but found wide use during World War II: plastics and plastic wrap were invented to create storage containers to take the place of metal containers and aluminum foil. Artificial, chemically made fabrics such as Nylon and Rayon took the place of silk, cotton, and other natural fibers. Synthetic rubber was created to replace the real thing.

Pressurized Airplane Cabins• Flying at high altitude puts occupants of an aircraft at risk of hypoxia

(poor oxygen levels in the blood), altitude sickness, decompression sickness and barotrauma (cause by pressure differences). Despite these risks, bombers at the start of WWII were only equipped with oxygen masks, which restricted movement and were prone to failure.

• With the B-29 Super fortress, introduced in 1944, the Americans created the first cabin pressure system, with the nose and cockpit all pressurized. However, the bomb bays remained unpressurised. Even so, this advancement meant the crew could move around in comparative comfort.

Nuclear Energy• The secretive, multi-million dollar Manhattan

Project put the world’s top scientific minds to the task of harnessing the incredible amount of energy to be obtained by splitting the nucleus of an atom.

• At the end of the war, the United States developed two destructive weapons using this energy. The atomic bombs were used with deadly effect on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.