From First Flight to WWI Fighters
Airplanes were only this many years old by the start of World War I (Wright Flyer first flew in 1903).
11 years
The 1919–1939 period of aircraft development highlighted in the slideshow is called the ______ era.
Interwar
The slideshow lists “single wing design” as an aerodynamic improvement; this is also called a _______.
Monoplane
Old planes used this material: lightweight but fragile and flammable.
Flammable
During WWI, aircraft were limited to low speeds and described as having this overall level of technology.
What is primitive technology?
This production method, pioneered by Henry Ford in the 1910s, was adopted for aircraft usage after WWI.
Assembly line
Name the feature that reduces drag by removing fixed wheels from the airstream during flight.
Retractable landing gear
Pure aluminum is light, but the slideshow says it’s too ________.
Soft
Name one WWI limitation listed that reduced aircraft effectiveness in war (not a specific plane).
“Limited to low speeds,” “usefulness in war was limited,” or “had few basic weapons.”
The slideshow says the assembly line made production cheaper, faster, and more ________.
Consistent
These “smoother bumps” fasteners are listed as an aerodynamic improvement.
Flush rivets
Mixing aluminum with these two metals made airplanes much stronger.
Copper & Magnesium
One WWI fighter in the slideshow is rated higher in maneuverability (5 g) but lower in speed (165 km/h) than the other shown; identify it.
Fokker Dr.1
In a jig-based system, custom-made guides do two key physical jobs to machines while operating. Name both.
Hold and align
According to the slideshow, the result of combining these aerodynamic improvements was that the coefficient of drag was split by what factor?
Cut in half
Match the engine to the aircraft shown: the Rolls-Royce Merlin is associated with this plane in the slideshow.
Supermarine Spitfire
Using only the slideshow’s WWI stats, argue which plane would most likely be better for a prolonged turning dogfight and give the two numerical clues that support it (one for turning, one for speed).
Fokker Dr.1, supported by 5 g maneuverability (vs 4 g) and 165 km/h speed (vs 182 km/h) as the tradeoff?
(Contestants must justify with both numbers and explain the turning-dogfight logic.)
Connect two interwar manufacturing advances from the slideshow to a single outcome: explain (1) how they reduce human error and (2) why that matters specifically for building streamlined aircraft bodies with smoother surfaces.
e.g. Jigs reduce manual labor and help align parts (reducing error), and steel milling enables precise high-strength components—together they help produce consistent, accurately fitted structures/surfaces needed for streamlining and smoother builds (like flush rivet/streamlined-body goals).
(Requires synthesizing manufacturing slides with aerodynamic implications.)
“Closed cockpit” is listed alongside “streamlined body” and “flush rivets.” Give the best physics-based explanation for why closing a cockpit can reduce drag, and classify which drag component it most directly targets (pressure/form vs skin-friction).
It reduces flow separation and turbulence caused by an open cockpit, lowering pressure/form drag more than skin-friction drag.”
(This pushes contestants to reason beyond memorization while staying consistent with the slide’s drag-reduction theme.)
Use at least three distinct improvements from different sections of the slideshow (materials + aerodynamics + engines/instruments/manufacturing/accessibility) to explain why aircraft became “necessary for certain victories in WWII,” and cite one WWII example listed.
e.g. “stronger metal airframes (materials) + reduced drag from streamlining/monoplane/retractable gear (aerodynamics) + massive power increases and supercharging/cooling advances (engines) (optionally plus improved instruments or mass production consistency) enabled faster, longer-range, more heavily armed/reliable aircraft—making airpower decisive in events like the Battle of Britain (1940), D-Day (1944), or Hiroshima & Nagasaki (1945)”?
(This is intentionally open-ended but graded by requiring multiple cross-slide links + one named example.)