Last week, we covered the impact of WWII on aviation. This got me thinking, what was the impact of the Cold War on aviation?
The Cold War was a war that wasn’t really a war… at least not by traditional means. After WWII, the US and USSR, who had once been allies, now became enemies.
Instead of fighting a traditional war, the US and USSR set up proxies that would fight one another. Stirring up rebellions and revolts in several countries and rigging elections in others.
During these proxy wars, both Russians and Americans would aid, by ending aircraft and pilots to train new recruits. This had a profound effect on aviation throughout the cold war!
The Jet Engine
Whilst the Cold War certainly didn’t invent the jet engine, it certainly aided in its popularity.
Using their own research, captured German scientists and physicists and captured jet aircraft, the French, Americans and Russians were all able to develop their own jet fighters.
These jet fighters were more durable, reliable faster, and easier to maintain than their slower, piston-powered alternatives. When fighting against piston-powered aircraft, the original F-86’s and Mig-15’s were unrivaled!
Using this, they were able to develop aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier.
And this also carried over to airliners too! The first jet engines were developed at the end of the Second World War. By 1949, the de Havilland Comet was introduced to the world!
Supersonic Travel
Soon after the release of the de Havilland Comet and Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, people began to wonder if they could make a much bigger aircraft break the sound barrier.
Although it would take almost 20 years after the introduction of the de Havilland Comet for the first supersonic jet airliner to arrive, it did arrive eventually.
The first supersonic passengerliner was the Tu-144, often nicknamed “Concordski” due to its similar appearance to the Concorde. Six months later, the Concorde would be introduced to the world, and nothing would be the same again…
The introduction of the Concorde sparked a new wave of aircraft designs, not just in the civilian sector, but also the military one too!
Concorde sparked a renewed hope in the United States’ aircraft manufacturers. The USSR and Europe had invented their supersonic aircraft, now it was time for the US to show them how to do it better!
This led to the Boeing 2707 (Boeing SST) and the Lockheed L-2000 (Lockheed SST). However, the US lacked the funds necessary to pay for full scale production at a rate greater than Concorde’s and find buyers.
As a result, the US Government pulled all funding for the SST program. This has resulted in the Concorde and Concordski being the only two passenger aircraft to ever be fully supersonic!
Localized RADAR
During WWII, RADAR had been a game changer for the British and Germans. Over the course of the 1940’s, the Soviets, French, Americans and most members of NATO developed their own RADAR systems.
Over the course of the 1950’s and 1960’s, fighters began to be equipped with radars of their own. The Buccaneer was one of the first ever jet fighters to have a radar on it.
This meant that the fighters could now detect incoming fighters, and know how far away they are, much more accurately than they could during WWII.
This also became a feature of newer commercial aircraft, including the 707, 727, 737 and 747 were all equipped with RADAR.
Aircraft Carriers
Perhaps the most significant impact of the Cold War on aviation is that of the popularization of the aircraft carrier. Although aircraft carriers were around during the end of WWI, and became prevalent during WWII, the Cold War was where they shinned!
The Cold War was where aircraft carriers entered “mass” production. Naval aviation truly came into its element here, F-4s became legendary for their use on aircraft carriers throughout the Vietnam War.
In fact, the Royal Navy even bought F-4 Phantoms for use on their aircraft carriers!
The F-14s became the most famous aircraft in the US Navy’s fleet used almost entirely on aircraft carriers. Partly, this was due to their success against their Russian equivalents.
However, what really got the aircraft carrier in the public’s mind was Top Gun, perhaps one of the best aviation movies. The success of the movie led to the aircraft carrier being ingrained in the public’s mind.
Reinvention of Dogfights
WWII air battles were immortalized for their dogfights. Battles like the Battle of Britain, have been replayed in film and media since the end of the war.
It looked as though the Cold War too would be defined by dogfights and proxy wars. Korea was perhaps the greatest showdown between the F-86 ad the MiG-15, all done using conventional dogfights.
The Americans (and their NATO allies) helped train South Korean pilots how to fly F-86s. The Soviets helped train North Korean pilots how to fly MiG-15s.
Then came Vietnam.
The Americans were convinced that they’d do it differently. They knew that the Soviets had brought anti-aircraft missile launchers, so knew that they wouldn’t last long doing dogfights over enemy territory.
The Soviets on the other hand, were convinced to keep doing dogfights. As such, North Vietnamese pilots became legendary for their dogfighting skills.
The Americans initially armed their F-4s with bombs only, intending to be jet bombers only. After suffering heavy loses against North Vietnamese pilots, guns were added to F-4s as well.
Importance of Cargo Aircraft
Perhaps the most important impact of the Cold War on aviation was the importance (and then lack thereof) of cargo aircraft.
Arguably what caused the Cold War in the first place was the Berlin Airlift, where military cargo aircraft provided Berlin food and fuel by transferring them via cargo aircraft, rather than train.
This gave cargo aircraft an almost revered status among the Berlin people, but also the general public, who witnessed this all unfold on television and radio.
Cargo aircraft became a major part of the airline industry. In fact, most major airlines today, have a cargo airline department.
But during the Cold War, the cargo aircraft reverence was lost. The result has been that several airlines have ditched their cargo aircraft.
Reinvention of Aircraft Uses
The end of the Second World War, and the beginning of the Cold War saw a reinvention of aircraft uses.
Old military helicopters began to be used as civilian transport helicopters, or as military transports for military higher ups. Old military cargo aircraft, became civilian airliners.
Old airliners became private jets for the world’s richest people and richest corporations. In a twist of fates, some old airliners became military jets- just look at the de Haviland Comet and L-1011 TriStar entering RAF service!
New routes
Spying was a major part of the Cold War. The Russians had worries that Western airlines would be outfitted with spy equipment- cameras, microphones etc.
The result was that no western airline, whether American, British, French or whatever, was allowed to fly over Russian territory. In fact, this is something that is still in place to day (sort of!)
The British and the Americans also did the same for Russian and Warsaw Pact airlines. However, this has been lifted in recent years (although some Russian airlines do have bans in certain areas!)
But what did this achieve? It led to so many airlines having to develop long routes, especially those from Europe to East Asia.
Instead of going over Russia, they had to divert to a longer route over Southern Europe and North Africa. In fact, going from London to Tokyo is almost a twelve hour flight, without this, they’d be nearly eight!
Flying Higher
Jet aircraft fly much higher in order to achieve much faster speeds. Over the course of the Cold War, commercial airliners began to travel higher in order to be most fuel efficient.
Over the course of the Cold War, spy planes also had to fly faster. Originally, this was to be out of reach of Soviet and American RADAR. But after a while, it was to be higher than the interceptors the Soviets and Americans sent up.
Jet fighters also began to fly higher in order to achieve supersonic speeds. This began a trend that has been continued even to today! In fact, knowledge gained form jets flying higher helped the Apollo programs!
The Need for Helicopters
The first helicopter was design in 1939, however, it wasn’t until the Cold War when their practicality was finally understood.
The US Army realized that during combat operations, soldiers were being pulled away from area where ambulances could pick them up. This led to the platoon’s medic becoming critical to an injured solider’s survival.
The US Army realized that a helicopter, mounted with a machine gun and other defensive weaponry could be the most instrumental tool in saving soliders’ lives.
As such, helicopters like the Huey became famous for their role in Vietnam. The success of helicopter in Vietnam made many aircraft manufacturers consider making larger helicopters, intended for commercial operations.
However, this didn’t happen and were soon relegated to the pages of aviation history. However, the idea of helicopter airlines did stay alive… albeit something similar to private jet charter!
Airports
Perhaps the greatest impact of the Cold War on aviation was its affect on airports.
Whilst not many more airports were built during the Cold War, at least not in the West, it saw many airports being converted.
With the Golden Age of Aviation beginning, the consolidation of airports and the end of WWII, saw the privatization of airports. Many airports had been requisitioned during the war, and were returned during the Cold War.
The largest airports in the world began during the Cold War, including Heathrow and JFK!
The Cold War also saw the expansion of airports. Of those commercial airports that already existed before the war, many were expanded during the Cold War.
These expansions included more runways and terminals. However, upgrades to hangars and other airport amenities were also expand.
New Aircraft Designs
Perhaps the best impact of the Cold War on aviation was the introduction of new (and bizarre) aircraft designs!
At the beginning of the Cold War, piston aircraft were still being used. By the end, aircraft capable of Mach 3 were being used!
The Cold War began to show a new side of aviation. And a new side of war entirely.
Aircraft needed to be faster, lighter and stealthier (more on that later!) Perhaps the largest fear was that of a lack of runway. The British, Russians and Americans all saw a Cold War that went hot with airfields being bombed.
This led to aircraft such as the Lockheed XV-4, Harrier and Yak-38 being developed.
Emphasis on Stealth
Thanks to the increase in the use of radar, the Americans realized that the Soviets could now track their spy planes. Once these aircraft were spotted, they were intercepted by high altitude interceptors.
Whilst this often didn’t result in the downing of American spy planes, there were several close cases. Of those cases that did result in a prisoner for the USSR, there was significant press coverage, and it wasn’t all good…
As such, there was an emphasis placed on stealth. Aircraft manufacturers and the US Air Force wanted an aircraft that couldn’t be detected on RADAR.
The first stealth aircraft was the F-117 Nighthawk, released in 1981. Followed by the B-2 and most recently the F-22 and F-35 fighters!
Business jets
Perhaps the most executive impact of the Cold War on aviation was the fact it indirectly led to the invention of the first business jet.
During the Cold War, the air forces of the west needed better aircraft that could compete with their Soviet counterparts. To oversee these projects, military higher-ups had to be transported to the airfields.
Whilst using a massive cargo aircraft was certainly feasible, it was a wasteful use of an aircraft. This led to contracts for aircraft that were smaller than your usual airliners, and only slightly bigger than a fighter jet.
This gave many aircraft manufacturers hope of dominating the executive transport business. As always, many aircraft manufacturers made designs that were passed over by the US military.
However, without letting the designs go to waste, they realized that many corporations needed executive transports too. As a result, they built them and marketed them to the richest people, celebrities and major corporations!
Airliners
One of the greatest impacts of the Cold War on aviation was the dramatic change in aircraft technology. Not only did aircraft become faster, sturdier, get jet engines and radars, but they changed internally too!
Of course, design has changed from generation to generation. But the style f seats, size of seats and the quality of seats have all changed dramatically!
The color of aircraft has also changed. Before the Cold War, airliners were in great colors, reds, blues, whites. All airlines were distinguishable by their colors- much unlike today’s world.
However, paint became increasingly heavier, which meant that many airlines had to use mostly white liveries. Something that has continued to this very day!
Golden Age of Aviation
Perhaps the most well known impact of the Cold War on aviation was that of the Golden Age of Aviation.
During the 1950/60’s, more people were flying than ever. More airlines had been established than ever before. Former WWII flying aces came home and became airline pilots.
This, combined with a booming economy led to the Golden Age of Aviation. And the Cold War certainly helped to add more to the Golden Age!
Pilots who returned from Korea and Vietnam became airline pilots for American or United or Delta. USAF aircraft technicians became civil aircraft technicians.
With their knowledge and expertise, flying became better, more efficient and much cheaper! Thanks to them, the modern age of aviation was born. Which is partly why airlines like Ryanair and Southwest exist!
What was the most important impact of the Cold War on aviation? Tell me in the comments!