The real turning point of the Pacific war came on June 4, 1942, when American carrier-based aircraft sank four Japanese carriers and a heavy cruiser in the waters north-west of Midway Island.

For the next three years, Allied forces pushed the enemy back across the Pacific. Japan entered the war with the world's finest torpedo bomber (Nakajima B5N2 Type 97) and long-range fighter aircraft (Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0). By 1944 the arrival of Grumman F6F Hellcats and Chance Vought F4U Corsairs had tipped the technological balance in favour of US naval aviators.

The final phase of the war in the Pacific was under way by 1944, when Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers began to attack targets in Japan from bases in China. The capture of the islands of Saipan and Tinian enabled the B-29s to range even farther over the Japanese islands. When high-altitude precision-bombing techniques yielded disappointing results, Army Air Force planners sent the B-29s in low and at night to conduct area fire raids of the sort pioneered by the RAF. The results were devastating-more than 83,000 residents of Tokyo lost their lives during a single raid on the night of March 10, 1945. The dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was quickly followed by the Japanese surrender on August 14, 1945 (see Nuclear Weapons).

The Turbojet

Two critical technical developments revolutionized aviation after World War II. The turbojet engine was developed almost simultaneously by the German engineer Hans von Ohain and the English engineer Frank Whittle (see Jet Propulsion). On August 27, 1939, the German Heinkel He 178 became the first purely jet-powered aircraft to fly. The German Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet, entered service in the autumn of 1944. In Britain, the twin-engined Gloster Meteor began operational flying in the closing months of the war. Its speed was sufficient to allow it to catch and shoot down Germany's V-1 "Doodlebugs"-the first cruise missiles.