evolution of wartime aviation

WWII era of military aircraft

I have always found beauty and appeal in the WWII era of military aircraft with their identifying roundels, stars and crosses standing in colourful contrast to their khaki, olive-drab camouflage background. In the 1940’s these were the state-of-the-art military craft of their day.

Advances in technology always develop quickly in the service of war and seventy years into the jet age, we are witness to aircraft such as the F35. In the next generation of Canadian defence, the government plans to buy eighty-eight F35’s. Critics of this plan estimate that the purchase will be at the staggering lifetime cost of 77 billion dollars. F35s are war machines with first-strike nuclear capability whose sole purpose is destruction. While I enjoy the ‘wow factor’ of modern aircraft aesthetics and flight, I am darkly aware of their intended purpose.