The experience gained in operating such a great global air transport system has not only helped materially to win the war, but will be invaluable in expanding peacetime air transport and cargo service. New methods of handling cargo of all weights during the war will speed the development of postwar air cargo service. The world-wide experience of the transport crews will be valuable in developing postwar air travel to distant lands. Hundreds of new air crews trained for war service will be available for the great expansion of commercial aviation in early postwar days. [Illustration] [Illustration: NORTHROP P-61 _BLACK WIDOW_ NIGHT FIGHTER] Forty-two years after the birth of the airplane, we see aviation on the threshold of a great new era of progress. Fighting planes with a speed of nine miles a minute are an actuality. A giant transport plane, capable of carrying 100 passengers, has flown across the continent in six hours. This means that a passenger may eat lunch in New York and dinner in California. It means that postwar air travelers will become accustomed to flying at the speed of our 1939 fighting planes. Air travelers soon will be crossing the country at a speed of eight miles a minute. Boys and girls reading this book will, a few years from now, marvel that we even got excited over the eight-mile-a-minute airplane. The year 1944 saw a twelve-and-one-half ton fighter go into action on the war fronts. This plane, the Northrop P-61 _Black Widow_ night-fighter, is one of the most powerful airplanes yet to go into action. Powered with two 2,000-horsepower engines, the P-61 flies at 400 miles per hour. Equipped with radar and powerful guns, it can search out an enemy plane at night and destroy it. The new Bell P-59 _Airacomet_ is America’s first jet-propelled fighter. Its performance has amazed expert test pilots. It has no propeller (note diagram below), and the pilot hears no engine roar or propeller scream. He feels no vibration. Yet he whizzes along at a tremendous speed which is still a military secret. This lack of vibration reduces pilot fatigue, adding hours to his safe flying time. [Illustration: AIR DRAWN INTO THE ENGINE IS COMPRESSED, MIXED WITH FUEL AND THEN BURNED. GASES RUSHING THROUGH THE DISCHARGE NOZZLE PUSH THE PLANE AHEAD. THE SPEED OF THE PLANE IS REGULATED BY ADJUSTING THE SIZE OF THE OPENING IN THE DISCHARGE NOZZLE. DISCHARGE NOZZLE FUEL INJECTOR GAS TURBINE COMBUSTION CHAMBER COMPRESSOR MECHANISM AIR INTAKE] [Illustration: BELL P-59 _AIRACOMET_ JET-POWERED FIGHTER] [Illustration] [Illustration: BOEING 377 _STRATOCRUISER_ CONTROL CABIN GALLEY MEN’S LOUNGE MEN’S DRESSING ROOMS MAIN CABIN WOMEN’S DRESSING ROOMS FRONT CARGO HOLD CARGO DOOR CREW’S QUARTERS WING SECTION CIRCULAR STAIRCASE DINING ROOM AND LOUNGE CARGO DOOR REAR CARGO HOLD