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Tanks and machine guns weren't the only machines to evolve [tank and machine gun pictured]

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during World War II. Airplanes also took a huge leap forward. Hmm, do planes leap? We'll [plane leaps in]

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have our Shmoop researchers look into that. Technically, the Wright brothers

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took the first flight in 1903, but planes had a long way to go. In World War I, [Wright Brothers' plane falls]

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planes for mostly used for espionage and were barely considered weapons. They [spy plane flying]

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were still made of wood, so we can see not being particularly keen on flying

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them into battle. Flying in a burning plane is kind of a drag. Between the wars, [wooden plane catches fire]

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most of the world's powerful nations had been improving their plane designs. By the [people design plane]

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time war broke out, wooden-winged biplanes had disappeared in favor of steel-winged [wooden plane replaced]

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monoplanes. Bombs were more powerful, and plane-mounted machine guns were more

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deadly. Plus, there were a whole lot more fighter planes in the air. Even more than [planes fight]

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the technology, people had been developing the strategy surrounding air

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warfare. They called it strategic bombing. This was the idea that you could crush a [plane strategy developed]

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country's fighting will by bombing their home cities and countryside. Yeah, that [bombing diagram]

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means purposely killing civilians. It was a new idea in warfare, and it made the [war photos]

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whole thing bigger, uglier, and more inescapable. You know the term "total war,"

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meaning that the war infiltrated every aspect of civilian life? Well, planes and [planes eat breakfast with person]

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their giant bombs made World War II just that. Here's a little example. When

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the Allied powers bombed the German city of Dresden toward the end of the war, [Dresden bombing pictured]

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they dropped 3,300 tons of bombs filled with napalm.

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The bombs started a fire so large it became a firestorm, which sucked oxygen

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from the surrounding city and got up to about 1800 degrees. Streets melted. It

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killed 25,000 Germans. War was no longer just for soldiers. In the effort to

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prevent farmers from being able to fly over cities, anti-aircraft war got more [plane destroyed]

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serious, especially in Britain. The fighter pilots who shot down German

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bombers coming from London became cultural heroes. Well, the front lines [war photos]

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were effectively right above them all. Exciting? Yes. But Buckingham Palace

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confirmed that it also royally stunk. By the end of the war, the most important [war planes over England... queen is not amused]

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development in planes had occurred: the jet engine. Well, the first operational [jet engine developed]

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fighter jets were built by the Germans, and if they'd had the money, fuel, or

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industrial capability to make lots of them, well then World War II might not

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have gone so well for us. Of course, Americans jumped on the jet engine band

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wagon pretty fast, and it was an American jet that first officially broke the [American jet pictured]

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sound barrier in 1947. In a decade or so, propeller planes were totally out. It's

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okay, propeller planes. Even the mullet will come back in style someday. [propeller plane grows obsolete]

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