Enemy Aircraft facts

While investigating facts about Enemy Aircraft In Top Gun and Enemy Aircraft Flight, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The two of the US pilots who were able to take off during the attack on Pearl Harbor and down 7 enemy aircraft in the process were denied the Medal of Honor because their commanding officer said they had "taken off without orders".

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What was used to detect enemy aircraft?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Enemy Aircraft Hot Springs Ar and Enemy Aircraft Llc I managed to collect.

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During WWII the Allied forces would drop clouds of thin strips of aluminum foil from aircraft to overwhelm enemy radar in a countermeasure known as “Window.”
Painting fake aircraft canopies onto the bottom of fighter planes is a technique used to confuse enemy jets about which side of an airplane is up versus down, buying critical moments of disorientation in an aerial battle.
In 1967, a fighter pilot purposely flew through enemy air defenses to make enemy aircraft leave him alone, then flew his damaged aircraft back into combat and destroyed two missile sites defending a target. Allowing 70 of the 72 other friendly aircraft to survive the mission.
During late WW2, the Nazis designed a plane named the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet. It flew so fast that it was untouchable by enemies, but it went so fast that its own pilots weren't capable of shooting enemy aircrafts before their plane flew past their adversaries.
Chuck Yeager (first man to officially break the sound barrier) as a fighter pilot in WW2 downed five enemy aircraft in a single mission - Two of these kills were scored without firing a single shot.
About the "Battle of Los Angelos", when the US army fired over 1400 rounds of artillery fire into the skies over LA, when it turned out that there were actually no enemy aircraft.
A WWII German fighter pilot that shot down 352 enemy aircraft and crash landed 14 times, all due to mechanical failure or getting hit by debris from a plane he downed. Credited with having the most aerial combat victories, Erich Hartmann earned the nickname "Black Devil".
There was a dog in Australia during WWII whose hearing was so acute he was able to warn airforce personnel of incoming Japanese planes up to 20 minutes before they arrived, and before they showed up on radar. "Gunner" could also differentiate the sounds of allied and enemy aircraft.
Oregon was bombed by Japanese during WWII. The attacks were minor, but they were the first time the contiguous United States was bombed by enemy aircraft.

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Chuck Yeager - first pilot to exceed Mach 1 - was shot down over France in WW2, taught bomb-making to Resistance groups who helped him, escaped into Spain, argued the high command into letting him back into combat against regulations, then became an Ace (bringing down 5 enemy aircraft) in 1 day.

During WWII, a fake town was built on the roof of a Boeing B-17 assembly plant in Seattle to disguise it from enemy aircraft. - source

The blimps you can see in D-Day pictures were used to stop enemy aircraft from coming low to strafe troops / boats. - source

During WWII Australian soldiers in Egypt adopted a local dog as their unofficial mascot. "Horrie the Wog Dog" would follow them through various campaigns, warning them of approaching enemy aircraft. After the war he was successfully smuggled back to Australia in defiance of quarantine laws.

That, before radar, Britain built huge concrete ‘acoustic mirrors’, to magnify the sounds of approaching enemy aircraft. - source

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Despite facing enemy fire at Pearl Harbor, Doris Miller helped move his wounded Captain to safety, and later operated an anti-aircraft gun until running out of ammunition. He was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, and is one of the "first US heroes of World War II."

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In the U.S. during WWII 15% of beer production was ordered to be set aside for the soldiers. A lot of the cans were even painted olive drab, which camouflaged them from enemy aircraft.

Owen J. Baggett, an American pilot in WW2 became the first pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft while parachuting with an M1911 pistol

During the early days of WW1, air combat was extremely rare, and mainly used for reconnaissance. The respect among pilots was extremely high. There are stories of the crew of enemy aircraft exchanging nothing more than smiles and waves when passing.

The B-29 Superfortress bomber was so well equipped, it was able to fight off 79 enemy aircraft, and down 7 of them, before landing "with hardly a scratch."

Silk scarfs were used by pilots of early aircraft to keep oily smoke from exhaust out of their mouths while flying. Silk Scarfs were worn by pilots of closed cockpit aircraft to prevent chafing; especially fighter pilots, who were constantly turning their heads watching for enemy aircraft.

Interesting facts about enemy aircraft

During one of the first battles of the Yom Kippur war, 2 Israeli jets faced off against 28 Egyptian MiGs and won. The Israeli planes shot down 7 enemy aircraft in 6 minutes, and drove the remainder away.

During World War II in Australia, there was a dog whose hearing was so acute that it could warn airforce personnel of incoming Japanese planes 20 minutes before they arrived, and before they showed up on radar. "Gunner" could also differentiate the sounds of allied and enemy aircraft.

When the president of Botswana was traveling to Angola for a meeting of African heads of state, the Angolan Air Force mistook his plane for an enemy aircraft and shot it down

Nobuo Fujita of the Japanese army is the only enemy soldier to have ever bombed the continental United States from an aircraft during World War II or all history. He dropped 4 bombs in Oregon to start forest fires, and later became an honorary citizen of an Oregon town near the bombed forests.

Early in WW2 Royal Navy used an anti-aircraft weapon that was using compressed air to fire a projectile at enemy aircraft. It could shoot anything that would fit in the barrel with most popular ammunition being potatoes, hence the nickname "potato thrower".

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HMS Wellesley holds the honor of being the only British 19th century sailing ship of the line to be sunk by an enemy aircraft.

The Irish Air Corps used crashed enemy aircraft to expand their air force during WWII

In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a “death ray” that would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. His “death ray” instead evolved into radar—or “radio detection and ranging.”

No. 303 Squadron RAF, aka "Kosciuszko Squadron". It was one of 16 Polish squadrons in the RAF, and was the highest scoring Squadron in the Battle of Britain - downing 40 enemy aircraft in 7 days

Military aviators earn the qualification "ace in a day" by shooting down 5 or more enemy aircraft in a single day. In 1965, a Pakistani Air Force pilot accomplished the feat in less than a minute.

In the 1920s/30s people used elaborate listening devices called "war tubas" that worked like giant stethoscopes to detect enemy aircraft.

In 1943, Northrop designed a rocket-powered aircraft whose main method of attacking was to ram into enemy bombers, slice off their wings, and survive.

When the CIA was building the A-12 stealth aircraft, the only reliable place to buy the amount of titanium they needed for the project was Russia. They created front companies and bought the metal straight from the enemy.

In 1943, the USAAF planned to use a high-speed rocket-powered flying-wing aircraft to quite literally ram enemy aircraft out of the sky; aptly nicknamed the ‘Flying Ram’. It was scrapped after its maiden flight in 1945, where the aircraft lost control and crashed, killing the test pilot.

In WWII That Charles Lindbergh while working as a civilian liaison with the USAAF to improve upon combat capabilities of aircraft being used in theater, shot down an enemy Japanese squadron commander.

The Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Waco TX was originally a veteran's mental facility and in is named after Doris Miller, a Waco native, who manned a gun and shot down 4 enemy aircraft during the raid on Pearl Harbor.

Gen. Robin Olds, fighter pilot, kept his official score during the Vietnam War at 4 kills despite shooting down more enemy aircraft. Air Force brass wanted to put him on administrative duty once he achieved his 5th kill.

During the Gulf War, an F-15E Strike Eagle, an aircraft primarily used for ground attacks, made a documented kill of an enemy helicopter...using a laser guided bomb. This event was the ONLY documented air-to-air kill for an F-15E using a bomb.

The last time US troops were attacked by enemy aircraft was during the Korean War on Apr. 15, 1953, when two U.S. soldiers were attacked and killed by a propeller-driven aircraft supporting Chinese and North Korean troops.

In WW2 air raid wardens on the east and west coast would go door to door and tell home owners to turn off their lights at night so it wouldn't guide enemy aircraft. While talking to home owners they'd inform them of restrictive housing covenants that would aid them in removing black neighbors.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Enemy Aircraft. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Enemy Aircraft so important!