Flying only a few dozen feet above the sea toward their targets, bombers would release their bombs, which would then, ideally, ricochet across the surface of the water and explode at the side of the target ship, under it, or just over it.

In recent years 'slingfests' have been held in Wyoming, USA, in September 2007 and in Staffordshire, England, in June 2008.

The Soviet Union is estimated to have had about 5,000 aircraft in 1939, and of these, some 700 fighters and 800 medium bombers were brought to the Finnish front to support the Red Army's operations.

The 22d Bombardment Group operating B 24s was based at Angaur from November 1944 until January 1945 when it moved to Guiuan Airfield in the Philippines.

But a long range bomber would be more cost effective than standoff bombers with cruise missiles, and, unlike shorter range tactical bombers, its bases would be invulnerable to attack.

On March 22, 1956, Armstrong was in a Boeing B 29 Superfortress, which was to air drop a Douglas D 558 2 Skyrocket.

The tension on the peninsula increased further with the annual joint military exercises conducted by the US and South Korea especially when American nuclear capable B 52 and B 2 bombers were added to the drills.

Allied tactics In the South West Pacific, a conventional strategic bombing campaign was out of the question, as industrial targets in Japan were well beyond the range of even the largest strategic bombers operating from bases in Australia and New Guinea.

Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24.

The direction from which the aircraft were coming was close (only a few degrees separated the two inbound courses), while the operators had never seen a formation as large on radar they neglected to tell Tyler of its size, while Tyler, for security reasons, could not tell them the B 17s were due (even though it was widely known).