Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajoo
Humans are both highly competitive and innovative and this can we tend to misuse our innovations. Take air planes as an example, they were intended to provide high speed transportation and they evolved into supersonic jet fighters and bombers built for war and destruction. There are several others.
Reminds me of Roger Waters lyric from his album Amused to Death, "give the human race a little bit of rope and they will fuck it up". And we do this extraordinarily well.
|
Hi Rajoo,
I'm not trying to play "know it all here", but, as a retired aircraft mechanic and lifelong aviation hobbyist I feel the need to set the record straight here. Aviation and the weaponization of aircraft grew up hand to hand together as twin siblings VS aviation being co opted into war machinery. Here is an article describing that development;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aerial_warfare
"The history of aerial warfare began in ancient times, with the use of kites in China. In the third century, it progressed to balloon warfare. Airplanes were put to use for war starting in 1911, initially for reconnaissance, and then for aerial combat to shoot down the recon planes. The use of planes for strategic bombing emerged during World War II. Also during World War II, Nazi Germany developed many missile and precision-guided munition systems, including the first cruise missile, the first short-range ballistic missile, the first guided surface-to-air missiles, and the first anti-ship missiles. Ballistic missiles became of key importance during the Cold War, were armed with nuclear warheads, and were stockpiled by the superpowers – the United States and the Soviet Union – to deter each other from using them."
As you can see here, it was only 8 years between Wilbur and Orville's 1903 first flight and the 1911 use of aircraft in war. In fact, the Wright's first customer for their newfangled flying machine was none other than the US Army.
Beyond all of that, I heartily agree with your point ......
