World War I, the “war to end all wars,” comes to an end at 11 a.m. The armistice had been signed in a railcar in the forest of Compiegne, France, at 5 a.m. local by Mattias Erzberger, head of the German Catholic Centrists for the Central Powers, and by Marshall Ferdinand Foch for the Allied Powers. At that time, the US had 45 squadrons (of which 38 had been involved in combat) consisting of 767 pilots, 481 observers, and 23 aerial gunners, on the front in France. There were also 37 balloon companies.
In 1941, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold of the then-U.S. Army Air Corps, personally reviewed a jet engine patented by Sir Frank Whittle flying on a Gloster E.28/39 aircraft. Impressed by its design, Arnold arranged for a Whittle engine to be brought back to the U.S. and tasked General Electric…