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51-826: In 1944, the War Department was aware of aviation advances in Germany and issued a requirement for a range of designs for medium bombers weighing from 80,000 pounds (36,000 kg) to more than 200,000 pounds (91,000 kg). Other designs resulting from this competition, sometimes named the class of '45 , included the North American XB-45 and the Martin XB-48 . Procurement began with a letter contract (cost-plus-fixed-fee) on 17 January 1945 with mockup inspection and approval in early February. Orders for three prototypes followed on 27 February 1945 with certain changes recommended by

102-468: A building at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to the Executive Mansion , part of a complex of four matching brick Georgian/Federal style buildings for Cabinet departments with War in the northwest, Navy in the southwest and to the other side: State to the northeast and Treasury in the southeast. The War Department building was supplemented in the 1850s by a building across the street to

153-674: A civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department throughout its existence. The War Department existed from August 7, 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force later joined the Department of

204-420: A duct curving downward in a flat “S” to the engines, which were mounted behind the leading edge of the wing. The unusual flight control system utilized a system of pneumatic piping to transmit the pilot's control inputs and actuate various systems, rather than the more typical hydraulic , manual or electrical control lines and systems of most aircraft of the era. Production versions were to be equipped with

255-520: A pair of .50 caliber Browning M2 machine guns in a tail turret designed by Emerson Electric Company and provision was made for an APG-27 remote control optics and sighting system, but no weaponry was fitted into the prototype. Likewise, production aircraft were intended to be built with the General Electric J47 engines with 5,200 lbf (23 kN) static thrust rather than the J35s used on

306-590: A problem, as it distorted under flight loads. The pilots sat in tandem in a pressurized fighter-style cockpit under a single Plexiglas teardrop canopy with the bombardier-navigator-radio operator in a transparent Plexiglas nose section. The straight wing had an aspect ratio of 11.6, and was equipped with Fowler flaps which extended over 90 percent of the span, in four sections. The flaps extended via electrical actuators, and had very small ailerons . Each wing had five spoilers made of perforated magnesium alloy. The engine air intakes were flat oval inlets, with

357-775: Is now called the Empire Test Pilots' School (motto "Learn to Test – Test to Learn"), at RAF Boscombe Down in the UK. There are a number of similar establishments over the world . In America, the United States Air Force Test Pilot School is located at Edwards Air Force Base , the United States Naval Test Pilot School is located at Naval Air Station Patuxent River , Maryland and EPNER ( Ecole du Personnel Navigant d'Essai et de Reception – "School for flight test and acceptance personnel"),

408-930: The First World War , at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in the United Kingdom . An "Experimental Flight" was formed at the Central Flying School . During the 1920s, test flying was further developed by the RAE in the UK, and by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in the United States . In the 1950s, NACA was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , or NASA. During these years, as work

459-463: The Spanish–American War of 1898. This conflict demonstrated the need for more effective control over the department and its bureaus. Secretary of War Elihu Root (1899–1904) sought to appoint a chief of staff as general manager and a European-type general staff for planning, aiming to achieve this goal in a businesslike manner, but General Nelson A. Miles stymied his efforts. Root enlarged

510-625: The War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army , also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947. The Secretary of War ,

561-557: The "State, War, and Navy Building" (now the Old Executive Office Building , and later renamed to honor General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower ), built in the same location as its predecessors. By the 1930s, the Department of State squeezed the War Department from its office space, and the White House also desired additional office space. In August 1939, Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring and Acting Chief of Staff of

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612-659: The AAF agreed to the substitution but that project was ultimately cancelled in December 1946 before the prototypes were completed. The B-46 would be completed with only the equipment necessary to prove its airworthiness and handling characteristics. The XB-46 had a long streamlined oval torpedo-shaped fuselage , long narrow straight shoulder-mounted wings with four Chevrolet-built J35-C3 axial-flow eleven stage turbojets of 3,820 pounds-force (17.0 kN) static thrust paired in an integral nacelle under each wing. The fuselage turned out to be

663-616: The American South, and the last Republican state governments in the region ended. The Army comprised hundreds of small detachments in forts around the West, dealing with Indians, and in coastal artillery units in port cities, dealing with the threat of a naval attack. The United States Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had an army of 542,000. Temporary volunteers and state militia units mostly fought

714-462: The Army Air Forces gained virtual independence in every way from the rest of the army. After World War II, the Department of War abandoned Marshall's organization for the fragmented prewar pattern while the independent services continually parried efforts to reestablish firm executive control over their operations. The National Security Act of 1947 split the War Department into the Department of

765-744: The Army George C. Marshall moved their offices into the Munitions Building , a temporary structure built on the National Mall during World War I. In the late 1930s, the government constructed the War Department Building (renamed in 2000 as the Harry S Truman Building ) at 21st and C Streets in Foggy Bottom , but upon completion, the new building did not solve the space problem of the department, and

816-516: The Army and the Department of the Air Force, and the Secretary of the Army and Secretary of the Air Force served as operating managers for the new Secretary of Defense. In the early years, between 1797 and 1800, the Department of War was headquartered in Philadelphia ; it moved with the other federal agencies to the new national capital at Washington, D.C. , in 1800. In 1820, headquarters moved into

867-579: The Board of War and Ordnance in 1776, operated by members of Congress. A second board was created in 1777, the Board of War, to operate separately from Congress. The Congress of the Confederation eventually replaced the system of boards with the Department of War. Only five positions were created within the department upon its creation: the Secretary at War, an assistant, a secretary, and two clerks. Shortly after

918-467: The Convair company and AAF test pilots . Stability and control were excellent but there were engineering problems with engine de-icing, the cabin air system, and vertical oscillations caused by harmonic resonance between the wing and spoilers. There was also concern regarding the ability of the three man crew to exit the aircraft in case of an emergency, since the exit plan relied on the pneumatic system to hold

969-564: The Department of State ultimately used it. Coming into office with World War II raging in Europe and Asia, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson faced with the situation of the War Department spread through the overcrowded Munitions Building and numerous other buildings across Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland and Virginia . On July 28, 1941, Congress authorized funding for a new Department of War building in Arlington, Virginia , which would house

1020-542: The Department of War. Many agencies still fragmented authority, burdening the chief of staff with too many details, making the whole Department of War poorly geared toward directing the army in a global war. General Marshall described the chief of staff then as a "poor command post." President Roosevelt brought in Henry L. Stimson as Secretary of War; after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Stimson supported Marshall in reorganizing

1071-970: The French test pilot school, is located in Istres , France. There are only two civilian schools; the International Test Pilots School in London, Ontario , and the National Test Pilot School , a not-for-profit educational institute is in Mojave, California. In Russia , there is a Russian aviation industry Fedotov Test Pilot School (founded 1947) located in Zhukovsky within the Gromov Flight Research Institute . Test pilots can be experimental and engineering test pilots (investigating

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1122-655: The Navy under the United States Department of Defense in 1949. The Department of War traces its origins to the committees created by the Second Continental Congress in 1775 to oversee the Revolutionary War . Individual committees were formed for each issue, including committees to secure ammunition, to raise funds for gunpowder, and to organize a national militia. These committees were consolidated into

1173-523: The United States Department of Defense. On the same day this act was signed, Executive Order 9877 assigned primary military functions and responsibilities with the former War Department split between the Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force. In the aftermath of World War II, the American government (among others around the world) decided to abandon the word 'War' when referring to

1224-666: The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and established the United States Army War College and the General Staff. He changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Concerned about the new territories acquired after the Spanish–American War, Root worked out

1275-575: The War Department building with its records and files was consumed by fire. The United States Military Academy at West Point and the Army Corps of Engineers were established in 1802. The Department of War was reduced in size following the end of the Quasi-War in 1802, but it was subsequently expanded in the years leading up to the War of 1812 . To accommodate this expansion, sub-departments were created within

1326-416: The airframe section has not survived in the collection. The rest of the airframe was scrapped on 28 February 1952. Data from General Dynamic Aircraft and their Predecessors General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists United States Department of War The United States Department of War , also called

1377-810: The army under the War Powers Act of 1941 . He divided the Army of the United States (AUS) into three autonomous components to conduct the operations of the War Department: the Army Ground Forces (AGF) trained land troops; the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) developed an independent air arm; and the Services of Supply (later Army Service Forces ) directed administrative and logistical operations. The Operations Division acted as general planning staff for Marshall. By 1942,

1428-507: The board. Serials 45-59582 to 59584 were assigned. Budgetary concerns also led to the contract being changed to a fixed-price type. In the fall of 1945, Convair found it was competing with itself when the USAAF became interested in an unorthodox forward-swept wing jet attack design, the XA-44 -CO that the company had also been working on. With the end of World War II severely curtailing budgets,

1479-451: The bulky radar fire-control system which was not installed in the XB-46 prototype would have undoubtedly forced an expensive redesign of the slender fuselage. Subsequent testing investigated excessive noise, tail vibration, and stability and control issues, and was conducted at Palm Beach Air Force Base , Florida between August 1948 and August 1949. After 44 additional flight hours, the XB-46

1530-598: The civilian leadership of their military. One vestige of the former nomenclature is the names of the service was colleges: the Army War College, the Naval War College , and the Air War College , which still train U.S. military officers in battlefield tactics and the strategy of war fighting. The date "MDCCLXXVIII" and the designation "War Office" are indicative of the origin of the seal. The date (1778) refers to

1581-403: The company considered canceling the XB-46 in favor of the other project as there was insufficient funding for both. Company officials argued that it made more sense to allow them to complete the XB-46 prototype as a stripped-down testbed omitting armament and other equipment and for the AAF to allow them to proceed with two XA-44 airframes in lieu of the other two XB-46s on contract. In June 1946,

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1632-535: The department and the army fell to Secretary Knox, while direct field command of the small Regular Army fell to President Washington. In 1798, Congress authorized President John Adams to create a second provisional army under the command of former President Washington in anticipation of the Quasi-War , but this army was never utilized. The Department of War was also responsible for overseeing interactions with Native Americans in its early years. On November 8, 1800,

1683-449: The department, with each one led by a general staff officer . These sub-departments were reformed into a modern system of bureaus by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in 1818. Secretary Calhoun created the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824, which served as the main agency within the War Department for addressing the issues regarding Native Americans until 1849, when Congress transferred it to

1734-654: The entire department under one roof. When construction of the Pentagon was completed in 1943, the Secretary of War vacated the Munitions Building and the department began moving into the Pentagon. The United States Secretary of War, a member of the United States Cabinet, headed the War Department. The National Security Act of 1947 established the National Military Establishment , later renamed

1785-407: The establishment of a government under President George Washington in 1789, Congress reestablished the War Department as a civilian agency to administer the field army under the president (as commander-in-chief ) and the secretary of war. Retired senior General Henry Knox , then in civilian life, served as the first United States Secretary of War . When the department was created, the president

1836-543: The general staff on the pattern of his American Expeditionary Force (AEF) field headquarters, which he commanded. The general staff in the early 1920s exercised little effective control over the bureaus, but the chiefs of staff gradually gained substantial authority over them by 1939, when General George C. Marshall assumed the office of Army Chief of Staff . During World War II , General Marshall principally advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on military strategy and expended little effort in acting as general manager of

1887-663: The general staff to few members before America entered World War I on April 6, 1917. President Woodrow Wilson supported Secretary of War Newton D. Baker , who opposed efforts to control the bureaus and war industry until competition for limited supplies almost paralyzed industry and transportation, especially in the North. Yielding to pressure from Congress and industry, Secretary Baker placed Benedict Crowell in charge of munitions and made Major General George W. Goethals acting quartermaster general and General Peyton C. March chief of staff. Assisted by industrial advisers, they reorganized

1938-481: The late stages of the war, the department took charge of refugees and freedmen (freed slaves) in the American South through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands . During the Reconstruction era , this bureau played a major role in supporting the new Republican governments in the southern states. When military Reconstruction ended in 1877, the U.S. Army removed the last troops from military occupation of

1989-520: The main door open against the airstream. The aircraft was accepted on 7 November and delivered on 12 November 1947. The B-46 program was cancelled in August 1947, even before flight testing had been completed, because it was already obsolete. The North American B-45 Tornado already had production orders, and even it would be eclipsed by the Boeing B-47 Stratojet 's superior performance. Furthermore,

2040-532: The major decisions. In 1911, Secretary Henry L. Stimson and Major General Leonard Wood , his chief of staff, revived the Root reforms. The general staff assisted them in their efforts to rationalize the organization of the army along modern lines and in supervising the bureaus. The Congress reversed these changes in support of the bureaus and in the National Defense Act of 1916 reduced the size and functions of

2091-544: The newly founded Department of the Interior . The U.S. Soldiers' Home was created in 1851. During the American Civil War, the War Department responsibilities expanded. It handled the recruiting, training, supply, medical care, transportation and pay of two million soldiers, comprising both the regular army and the much larger temporary volunteer army. A separate command structure took charge of military operations. In

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2142-454: The pneumatic control system of this aircraft offered a unique opportunity for investigation. When this testing program was concluded in November 1950, the Air Force no longer had need for the XB-46, a fact acknowledged in the press as early as August, and on 13 January 1951 the nose section was sent to the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio , although it appears that

2193-598: The procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, wrote the charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico. Root's successor as Secretary of War, William Howard Taft , returned to the traditional secretary-bureau chief alliance, subordinating the chief of staff to the adjutant general, a powerful office since its creation in 1775. Indeed, Secretary Taft exercised little power; President Theodore Roosevelt made

2244-412: The prototype. The XB-46's first flight occurred 2 April 1947 after a month of taxi testing, and lasted ninety minutes as the bomber departed the Convair plant in San Diego , California for Muroc Army Airfield in the high desert . The pilot praised its handling qualities. Basic flight testing took place for five months, and by September 1947 it was concluded after 127 hours aloft on 64 flights by both

2295-442: The supply system of the army and practically wiped out the bureaus as quasi-independent agencies. General March reorganized the general staff along similar lines and gave it direct authority over departmental operations. After the war, the Congress again granted the bureaus their former independence. The Commission on Training Camp Activities addressed moral standards of the troops. In the 1920s, General John J. Pershing realigned

2346-399: The use of unmanned aerial vehicles to test experimental aircraft features. Still, piloting experimental aircraft remains more dangerous than most other types of flying. At the insistence of President Dwight D. Eisenhower , the first American astronauts , the Mercury Seven , were all military test pilots, as were some of the later astronauts. The world's oldest test pilot school is what

2397-422: The west known as the Annex and became very important during the Civil War with President Abraham Lincoln visiting the War Office's telegraph room for constant updates and reports and walking back and forth to the "Residence". The original 1820 structures for War and Navy on the west side of the now famous White House was replaced in 1888 by construction of a new building of French Empire design with mansard roofs,

2448-433: The year of its adoption. The term "War Office" used during the Revolution , and for many years afterward, was associated with the Headquarters of the Army . Test pilots A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques. Test flying as a systematic activity started during

2499-451: Was authorized to appoint two inspectors to oversee the troops. Congress created several additional offices over the course of the 1790s, including the major general , brigadier general , quartermaster general , chaplain , surgeon general , adjutant general , superintendent of military stores, paymaster general , judge advocate , inspector general , physician general, apothecary general, purveyor, and accountant. Forming and organizing

2550-402: Was done into aircraft stability and handling qualities, test flying evolved towards a more qualitative scientific profession. In the 1950s, test pilots were being killed at the rate of about one a week, but the risks have shrunk to a fraction of that because of the maturation of aircraft technology, better ground-testing and simulation of aircraft performance, fly-by-wire technology and, lately,

2601-407: Was taken out of service, since the cost of support and maintenance, coupled with a lack of spare parts, had become prohibitive. After sitting idle for a year, it was flown to Eglin Air Force Base , Florida , in July 1950, where its pneumatic system was tested under the coldest conditions in the large climatic facility there. Most jet aircraft of this period used hydraulic or electrical systems, so

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