https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2024/07/25/wwii-the-autobahn-ike-the-interstates-and-one-mile-in-five/ Skip to content Open Menu * Home * About Search Search for: [ ] [Search] Close [cropped-header] wwiiafterwwii wwii equipment used after the war Germany / USA / warplanes WWII, the autobahn, Ike, the Interstates, and one-mile-in-five July 25, 2024July 26, 2024 jwh197518 Comments Earlier this summer I was talking with a fellow veteran and the subject of "one-mile-in-five" on the Interstate highways came up. The vague gist is that before WWII, Germany designed its famous autobahn network with war in mind. Near WWII's conclusion, Gen. Eisenhower was impressed with the autobahn and during his later Presidency ordered a copy of it made, the USA's Interstate system, mostly for military reasons including for US Air Force bombers to use when their bases got taken out by Soviet ICBMs - and one mile of every five is straight and level for this reason. Like many Americans I have heard this before and in fact, the specific highway identified by my acquaintance (a certain stretch of I-80 in Nebraska) I have also previously heard as an example location. ju88a (German Bf-110G staged for autobahn operation near the end of WWII in Europe.) late1940scon (Harley-Davidson WLAs of the United States Constabulary on the German autobahn after WWII.) Eisenhower-Interstate (Sign of the USA's Interstate highway system.) This is the type of thing that enough Americans have heard that it becomes accepted through cycles of repetition. To anybody who has driven the endless straightaways of I-15 in Utah or I-70 in Kansas it probably seems reasonable that bombers could land there, and there is usually somebody in earshot to interject "yes he's right, I've heard that too". "One-mile-in-five" and the military on the Interstates in general, has equal portions of real fact, misconstrued things, and outright error. Mostly in wwiiafterwwii I cover weapons and equipment; for readers who prefer that I will return to that in the future. Perhaps this will be of interest however. Eisenhower and the 1919 M.T.C. Convoy During 1919 the US Army's Motor Transport Corps organized a 70-vehicle exercise to cross the entire continent, much of it on the then-new Lincoln Highway, from Washington, DC to San Francisco, CA entirely by road. The objective was exploration of what it would take to self-deploy larger US Army combat units from one coast to the other. The vehicles selected were intentionally an unnatural mix to see what worked best, and ranged from heavy and medium trucks to staff cars to motorcycles. As it set off an additional officer was needed and LtCol. Dwight Eisenhower volunteered. Decades later he said he joined partly for training and partly because he was bored. 1919 As road maps of the era were so poor, a civilian guide from the Lincoln Highway Association rode along. The convoy was tasked not just with completing its journey, but also evaluating the USA's roads. When the convoy reached the Presidio in San Francisco, it still had 59 of the 70 vehicles running. Badger FWDs and the Militor artillery tractor fared best, while World War One Liberty-Bs and Garfords did worst. Overall the convoy found problems with trailers, mechanic's tools, and greases. The 15mph average goal was not met and the trip instead averaged 6mph. Eisenhower noted problems with highways themselves. Rural bridges in Wyoming were damaged by the military vehicles. Signage changed from state to state. Several civilian cars were run off the road as some highways weren't wide enough for a car to be abreast of a truck. None the less it illustrated the concept was possible. Only a year later, the Motor Transport Corps was disestablished as by 1920, trucks were so integral to everything in the US Army that they no longer rated a special department. the Reichsautobahn The Weimar Republic started a national highway scheme with little progress made before Adolf Hitler took power in Germany during 1933. He envisioned something much more ambitious and never tried before, the Reichsautobahn network of superhighways. Both the autobahn and Interstates are often described as "originally intended for military use" and in both cases, this is false. First and foremost the reichsautobahn was a "make-jobs" stimulus to the 1930s German economy. Secondly, it would be a political showpiece. Third, when complete, it would enhance the economy by reducing freight costs. A distant fourth was military considerations. It was very distant as the Wehrmacht was nowhere even close to fully mechanized in the 1930s. 885k39 (On the eve of WWII in 1939 there were still 885,000 pack animals in the Wehrmacht.) All long-distance logistics was via railroad (and would remain so during WWII), and there was little practical use in 1930s strategy for something like this. With war already a semi-inevitability, the German military reasoned that it maybe would be better to have the autobahn than not have it, but that is about the extent. Work started on 23 November 1933. The reichsautobahn was a revolution in highway design. Two directions of travel, two identical lanes each, would be separated by a grass median to reduce head-on accidents. Traffic would merge via on- and off-ramps, not parallel. There would be no intersections: other major highways would interface via cloverleafs, while small roads would cross on overpasses. Shoulders would be paved and there would be roadside breakdown and rest aprons. Signage and traffic laws would be uniform throughout. Stretches would be as straight as possible to keep speeds high. layout (An example of the 2x2 uniform lane layout, overpass, and on/off ramps instead of intersections. Ramps and shoulders were often of cobblebrick instead of concrete and in a few places in 2024, remain so.) frankfurtdarmstadt (Adolf Hitler leads the motorcade which opened a stretch between Frankfurt and Darmstadt.) The system was far from complete when WWII began in 1939: 2,050 miles in disconnected stretches. An additional 350 miles were finished during WWII until the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, when the whole project halted. As explained earlier, the autobahn was of low strategic importance for much of WWII. Fuel rationing curtailed civilian use and by December 1943, there was so little traffic that the system opened to bicyclists and pedestrians. The reichsautobahn gained real military relevance only in 1945 as WWII closed in on Germany itself. Now it was of practical use for tactical movements of Wehrmacht units....and also, Allied. The latter would actually prove most telling. Operating under total air superiority, the German superhighways allowed Allied units to advance much faster than streets or undivided highways. stuarts1945 (Lend-Leased M5 Stuarts of the British army advance down the autobahn six days before the war in Europe ended.) remagenlimbergmay45 (US Army MB jeep and U7144-T truck on the stretch between Remagen and Limberg during the final week of fighting.) sov (Little direct combat actually took place on the autobahn itself, as the straight, level planform would have made them shooting galleries detrimental to both sides. However there was some. Here a Soviet M-42 anti-tank gun is in a depression in the median. Russian-language sources often credit the photo as during the final April 1945 push into Berlin however given the snow on the ground, it's more likely this was earlier that spring, perhaps on the stretch between the Oder river and Breslau.) shermans (11th Armored Division M4A3 Shermans on the A9 in Bavaria during late April 1945. The cross-highway on the overpass was also already in American hands.) The system took surprisingly little damage throughout WWII. From December 1944, when the front lines were still in Luxembourg, Belgium, and Poland; it was a key Wehrmacht defensive asset. This inverted suddenly during March 1945. Still mostly intact, from that point on the US Army aimed to capture it that way instead of destroying it first. It largely did, less some bridges dropped by retreating German forces. cckw (The General Motors CCKW was a common WWII truck with half a million made. It was the predecessor of the long-serving M35 "Deuce & A Half" which replaced it during the Korean War. Considering the verbiage this WWII maintenance poster was printed after CCKWs were already inside Germany.) stuttgart1947 (A German unit blew this reichsautobahn bridge near Stuttgart as they retreated during 1945. Two years after WWII as seen here, it was still unrepaired.) GiesenApr45 (This WWII autobahn photo is fairly famous. It shows a Sherman and other American vehicles headed east with an endless stream of German POWs marching west. This was on the A5 near Geissen. The US Army was using both sides for eastbound traffic.) WWII in Europe ended on 8 May 1945. With Germany under four-way Allied occupation, the "reichs" prefix was dropped from the autobahn. 1945barrysmith (Half a year after Germany's surrender, there was still little civilian traffic and pedestrians were still allowed.) (photo by Barry Smith) 1948VWdeliverytoswitzerland (Three years after WWII, the Allied occupation authorities allowed automobile exports to resume. Here a convoy of brand new VW Beetles is headed to dealerships in Switzerland on a still-mostly empty autobahn. The Allied authorites denied the use of railroads to export the cars.) The United States Constabulary was the creation of MajGen. Ernest Harmon. As opposed to eroding battle units by using them for occupation duties, he proposed a made-for-the-purpose corps to occupy Germany. blitzpolezei1952 (Constabulary uniforms from a 1952 manual. Thompsons were considered better than the M1 Garand for their duties. This shows the distinctive lightning-C logo and kerchief unique to the corps.) Part of the 32,750-man force's duties were patrolling and governing the autobahn in the American zone. m8m24sentwil (The initial vehicular lineup: M8 Greyhound armored cars, M24 Chaffee tanks, MB/GPW jeeps, and L-5 Sentinel aircraft; all WWII gear. Tanks were later dropped from the lineup.) Constabulary (M8 Greyhounds were considered the most ideal vehicle for the task.) West Germany regained sovereignty in 1949 and with its scope greatly reduced, the Constabulary permanently disbanded in 1952. the autobahn in divided post-WWII Germany Map_1945 (Germany permanently lost East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. The rest was divided four ways and Berlin was divided into four sectors.) With defeated Germany divided into four ways, and later independent West and East Germany, the autobahn network was also cut. 1949sign (Old signage outlived the Third Reich; this one was still standing during the summer of 1949.) One such interruption would be important, the A2 which was divided at Helmstedt. Per a 1945 agreement, the three western WWII Allies were allowed use of one highway route across the Soviet zone (later, East Germany) to service the three western Allied sectors of divided Berlin. The USSR chose the A2 as it was the shortest possible route between West Germany and West Berlin. All military traffic to and from West Berlin went through here, as did all civilian traffic between West Germany and West Berlin. It was not a "reserved private road" and was also used by East German traffic. route At Helmstedt, there was a western Allied "Checkpoint Alpha", then a matching Soviet post. At the other end (West Berlin) was the same; a Soviet checkpoint then "Checkpoint Bravo". helmstedt1950s (Checkpoint Alpha during the 1950s. It was manned by French, American, and British troops and flew those flags. Next was a tiny West German customs post with the West German flag. A few yards east was the Soviet checkpoint with the USSR's flag. Both the western and Soviet facilities, here at Helmstedt and on the other (Berlin) end were expanded during the 1970s and again in the 1980s.) The Soviets tried closing the A2 twice. The first was briefly in 1948 when a currency change caused hyperinflation in the Soviet occupation zone. The second more serious attempt was from June 1948 - May 1949 when the Soviets tried to force the three western Allies out of Berlin, this foiled by the Berlin Airlift. For western military personnel to cross East Germany (in either military vehicles or civilian cars) on the WWII autobahn the process was as follows. First a series of documents was needed, most key being the multilingual "flag order" which had a French, British, or American flag at the top. flagorder (Example 1980s British Army Of The Rhine packet with flag order, British passport, and British army ID card. American soldiers did not need a passport but did need their driver's license, plus the flag order and their American military ID card.) At Checkpoint Alpha in Helmstedt, all these documents were thoroughly examined for any typos. Soviet soldiers would use any tiny error to disqualify the transit. The vehicle then proceeded a short distance across the legal border to the matching Soviet checkpoint. At a pull-off lane marked "military" in western lettering, a Soviet soldier checked the paperwork. The Soviets were allowed to examine around, under, and through windows of vehicles (either military or civilian) but not enter them for search. If the Soviet soldier saluted, western soldiers were ordered to return the salute regardless of rank. The USA and Great Britain did not recognize East Germany's right to interfere in the WWII agreement for dividing Berlin. Transiting troops were to demand a Soviet officer if an East German border guard tried to perform the procedure. At one point the US Army printed a German-language card saying "I demand a Soviet officer!" to hold in the window so Americans would not even speak to East Germans. The vehicle then entered the East German autobahn. eastgerman (Unlike their neighbor, East Germany did not allow unlimited speed anywhere on its autobahn. Speed was capped at 100kmh (62mph) with further restrictions for trucks, military vehicles, busses, and in heavy traffic or sharp turns.) Western military personnel were allowed to change a flat tire but were otherwise prohibited from stopping. It was strictly prohibited to exit the autobahn for any reason. eastgerman2 (The route was marked with a yellow "Transit Westberlin" label.) At the other end, the procedure was reversed. First the vehicle arrived at a Soviet checkpoint, where the documents were again inspected. From there the vehicle proceeded to Checkpoint Bravo. The other side of Bravo was West Berlin. bravorem1991 (The final landmark heading to West Berlin was this Soviet war memorial, with a WWII T-34 tank. This 1980s photo shows how Checkpoint Bravo (lower left) had by then expanded into a multilane plaza similar to tollbooth structures on Chicago's freeways. During 1991 the USSR removed the tank and plaque. The empty plinth was razed by reunified Germany later.) The journey took 21/2 hours. The departure time was recorded and if the vehicle hadn't reached the other checkpoint 5 hours later, an investigative squad entered the autobahn to determine what happened. Until 1980 odometer readings were recorded at both Alpha and Bravo and compared to the (1/1o mile exactness) known distance. Prior to 1979, US Army soldiers with a security clearance were banned from this route, needing to take railroad or air travel to West Berlin. In December 1989, with the Berlin Wall already opened, Soviet soldiers increasingly just waved through western military personnel who held a flag order up in the window without examining it. At 23:59 on 30 June 1990 Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo were shut down. The two Germanys would reunite later that year. exercise "Sweetbriar" 1950 The post-WWII importance of critical highways was highlighted by this joint Canadian-American arctic warfare exercise. Previous wargames had used roads as objectives, but here, a particular one (the old Alaskan Highway) basically was the exercise. map2 (The old Alaska Highway (today Alaska State 2 and Canada Provincial 1) spanned the border between Fairbanks, AK and Whitehorse, Yukon.) The predicate was that an all-American OPFOR from Fairbanks would seize Northway Airport about 30 miles west of the border and further proceed down the Alaska Highway into Canada to take Whitehorse. The main force, American and Canadian troops from Colorado and Alberta, would muster south of Whitehorse, defend it, then push the OPFOR out of the Yukon back into Alaska. sweetbriar5 (A lance corporal of the Princess Pats still with a WWII Bren Mk.II machine gun. Conditions for "Sweetbriar" were harsh.) Only half a decade after WWII, a lot of WWII gear was still in use by both nations. sweetbriar4 (US Army M29 Weasel struggling to control a logistics sledge.) The Weasel, more associated with swamp use during WWII, had originally been designed by Studebaker as a snow vehicle. It put very low ground pressure on its tracks. For "Sweetbriar" they had makeshift deckhouses offering some shelter from the arctic weather. France would later use these handy WWII machines again, during the Indochina War, obviously not in snow. lancasterinAK (RCAF Lancaster during "Sweetbriar". The USAF's F-80 Shooting Star and C-54 Skymaster pictured were also WWII types still in use.) The Lancaster had been a key RAF bomber during WWII. By 1950 it was obsolete in that role and the RCAF was using it for reconnaissance. Almost every mile of the Alaska Highway was photographed from the air during the exercise. During the 10-day exercise, which included a frigid paratrooper drop, the defenders were judged to have defended Whitehorse, pushed the OPFOR back, and have retaken Northway Airport. The event highlighted that under certain circumstances, controlling a roadway might be key to a whole campaign. Eisenhower and the Interstates Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was by the latter part of WWII, SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe) and held that post through the "Overlord" landings in Normandy, and then the final drive into Germany itself. After Germany's surrender he was military governor of the USA's occupation zone. He remained the US Army's representative in the Joint Chiefs Of Staff until 1948. Eisenhower remained SACEUR through the 1949 creation of NATO until 1952, when he retired from the military. Later that autumn he was elected President. ike (Gen. Eisenhower as SACEUR with the flags of NATO's charter members as they appeared at that time.) As a general, Eisenhower had witnessed firsthand the usefulness of highways: first, the Red Ball Express circuit of trucks out of the Normandy beachhead needing dedicated roads to themselves, with France lacking a counterpart to the autobahn. Next, as the autobahn proved useful to both the Germans and then his own forces. Finally, he had still been in uniform when "Sweetbriar" was run. The autobahn (or "ribbons of concrete" as he called it) was highly impressive to the general. Eisenhower sought a nationwide superhighway network modeled on the autobahn. It would be for civilian benefit, but with some coincidental military usefulness. (As outlined later below, it was never intended for Strategic Air Command bombers.) The concept (either civilian or military) was not entirely new. At the end of WWII in 1945, the Public Roads Administration proposed something like the autobahn, however still having surface-level intersections. Prior to WWII, a "Strategic Highway Corridor Network" had been identified from existing roads and four years after WWII, the Department Of Defense issued suggestions for making the nation's highways more suitable for military use. The Interstate Defense & Highways Act of 1956 was signed into law by President Eisenhower and called for 41,000 miles of superhighway of the autobahn type. dmn (The 41,000 miles of Interstate & Defense Highways as planned. By 2024 the system is significantly longer.) (map via Dallas Morning News newspaper) I1950s (Similarities to Germany's WWII autobahn were immediately apparent in the late 1950s as the first stretches opened.) True to Eisenhower's vision, the Interstates were almost identical to the autobahn layout: a divided multilane highway, no surface-level intersections, cloverleaf interchanges, uniform construction standards throughout and uniform easy-to-understand signage nationwide. Differences in the American version were more lanes, and more complex interchanges. how much of it was really for defense? Eisenhower always envisioned the project for civilian betterment, still maybe holding whatever military value. Unlike his adventure in 1919, by the late 1950s the USA faced zero chance of a direct land invasion. Hence, at the start it was already never envisioned for the role the Alaska Highway played during "Sweetbriar". After his second term ended, some Republican party staffers said that "...Defense &..." was in the Congressional bill's title to woo hardline conservatives averse to pure social spending. This proved unnecessary as the Interstate legitimately had bipartisan support on its own. There were several direct, but non-combat, benefits to the military. Even though long-distance transfers of armored and mechanized units were by rail (and still are today) the system would ease regional movements, for example from several military bases to a common exercise area. sherman (A M36B1 Jackson + M25 tank transporter combination slightly exceeded the DOT max weight of this US Hwy. 30 bridge in Pennsylvania. Given that WWII was in progress it was deemed an acceptable risk.) (official US Dept. Of Transportation photo) The Interstates would have common nationwide standards for lane width, shoulders, bridges, grades, etc making it much easier to plan movements than during WWII. The Pentagon considered a second aspect more important. Mobilization of America's industry for war had been key during WWII and it was surmised that a third world war would require the same. Several routings were done specifically to Defense Department request to serve factories identified as key for the next world war. jones One of these is in Illinois. I-180 is one of the shortest routes in the system, only 13 miles long. It was specifically made just to link a Jones & Laughlin Steel mill to I-80. The Pentagon had identified the mill as a key war asset, and I-180 had no other purpose. The steel mill is since closed and razed but I-180 remains, now only serving the tiny village of Hennepin, IL population 769. The Defense Department requested the Interstate's minimum clearance under overpasses be increased from 14' to 16', as it did not know what future military systems would look like. This was done to some, but not all, of the system. At the same time, the US Army strove to keep gross vehicle weights of future trucks maxed out at 78,000 lbs which was close to the Interstates original 80,000 lbs limit. 1964 During the mid-1960s Boeing designed the trailer used to put LGM-30 Minuteman I ICBMs into their silos. It was sized to barely fit beneath the Interstate's 14' overpass clearance height, and was made to Interstate lane widths. (It could also fit inside a C-133 Cargomaster.) GMC made a unique, squat cab-over prime mover to tow it, keeping the overall highway length down (any military truck could tow it in an emergency). The current Minuteman III ICBMs use a similar trailer. There is one last aspect which was probably less pleasant to discuss during the Cold War. 1952 (The USSR tested its first atomic bomb four years after WWII. Signs like these appeared in some states thereafter. By the 1960s most were already gone. So many cars were on the road by then that if Americans chose to mass-panic, law enforcement would be overwhelmed.) During Germany's 1940 campaign against France, the Luftwaffe inadvertently weaponized northern France's civilian population. An attempted lateral move of France's III Army group across the II Army's area collapsed, because the highways were clogged by panic-stricken civilians fleeing cities in every direction. The new Interstates would have immense bandwidth to absorb sudden surges of traffic, as might be expected if the threat of nuclear war escalated. (Later during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, there was no such mass panic to any substantive degree.) With the Interstates carrying the bulk of civilian traffic, other highways would remain usable for critical industry, the military, and emergency services. Now in 2024, the military ironically uses the Interstates only sparingly. Modern speed limits of 65mph or more (80mph on I-29 in South Dakota) make convoys of M1120 HEMTTs and M1097 Humvees crawling down the right lane a hazard to civilian cars. If at all possible, highways with less and slower traffic are selected. 2021 (The 2nd Brigade Combat Team on I-25 in Colorado during 2021.) (photo via Denver Gazette newspaper) "one-mile-in-five" One mile (5,280' / 1.6093 km) sounds like a lot and for takeoff runs of WWII warplanes, it was plenty. By the war's final year in 1945 this was starting to change however. Planes - especially bombers - were getting larger. Strategic Air Command's first heavy bomber type was the best of the American WWII offerings, the B-29 Superfortress. These would again see non-nuclear combat during the Korean War. mk4 (SAC's "Silverplate"-modified B-29s usually carried one Mk4. This 31kT bomb was the successor design to the 21kT WWII Mk3 "Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki. If no loading pit was available, the B-29's nose had to be jacked up to load a Mk4 as shown.) Boeing's B-50 was started during 1944 as an improved B-29. The B-29D version would have Wasp Major engines, outboard fuel tanks, new electronics, an enlarged tail, and increased speed and range. boeing_b-50 Three months after WWII ended, Boeing requested and received permission to change the B-29D's designation to B-50, in that the company considered it "a whole new plane". The real reason was to make buying them less painful in Congress, as B-29As were being disposed of at the same time. The Superfortress name was retained. kb50j (The tanker version was the last of the WWII Superfortress family tree still active and intersected the career of much later warplanes. Here a KB-50J refuels a F-101 Voodoo, B-66 Destroyer, and F-100 Super Sabre.) B-50s served from 1948 - 1955 and were an important, if short-lived, follow-on to WWII-manufactured B-29s which served alongside them. Different sources give different takeoff runs for the Superfortress but there actually was no one number, rather a matrix calculating how much fuel and bombs was aboard, the runway's height above sea level, and ambient temperature. Heavier, higher, and hotter all increased the run. At sea level and 33degF a Superfortress at 80,000 lbs (no bombs and just a thousand gallons of fuel) needed 2,500' of runway. At an average postwar mission (one atomic bomb and nearly full tanks) at 68degF on the same runway, this more than doubled to 11/4 miles. At maximum permissible weight on a very hot summer day a Superfortress needed 2 miles. xb46 (The elegant but obsolete-at-birth XB-46.) Convair's XB-46 started in response to a WWII US Army requirement for a jet-powered reconnaissance bomber; with Germany already fielding the Ar-234 Blitz in that category. On 17 January 1945 a cost-plus contract was issued for one prototype. There was no expectation it would see WWII combat, even with WWII then expected to run into 1946. The XB-46 first flew on 2 April 1947, eighteen months after WWII's end. Convair now had zero chance of getting an order; its design overtaken by captured German research already capitalized on by rival Boeing. At minimal fuel with no bombs (and in fact, not even the planned defensive .50cal guns) the XB-46 still needed 21/4 miles of runway, the same as a B-50 at maximum war weight. The gigantic (and very expensive) B-36 Peacemaker was emblematic of SAC's early era. Its roots lay in an early-WWII US Army study for a strategic bomber with range to hit Europe from North America, when it appeared possible that Germany might conquer England. Later in WWII the idea was put in abeyance as the B-29 was sufficient in the Pacific. size (Early-production B-36 Peacemaker with three WWII bombers: B-18 Bolo, B-17 Flying Fortress, and B-29 Superfortress.) (photo from Life magazine) Entering US Air Force service in 1948, the huge B-36 Peacemaker was instead now tailored for intercontinental nuclear missions against the USSR with a pair of 15mT Mk17s. mk17 "Hotter / higher / heavier" described earlier affected this bomber the same way but in a much more pronounced manner. The B-29's takeoff matrix was a 2-page foldout itself a bit complex by WWII standards. The B-36's takeoff matrix was 10 pages long. During WWII the "cocktail napkin idea" already assumed a 5,000' (just under 1 mile) takeoff. Finally flying, the YB-36's absolute runway minimum was set at 9,980' (just under 2 miles). In B-36 service, as one example, Biggs AFB, TX (elevation 3,900') runway of 13,554' length (more than 21/2 miles) was barely adequate in summer. The Peacemaker didn't serve long. The Soviets were fielding jets and SAMs, and the WWII era of propeller bombers was over. 1958 (B-36s were pulled from duty in 1959. A year previous here, early-production B-52 Stratofortresses were entering use and the prototype YB-58 Hustler was in final tests.) Boeing's B-47 Stratojet was the other type emblematic of SAC's early years. It originated to the same WWII requirement as Convair's XB-46. Boeing's original idea was an unremarkable straight-wing jet. The company was extremely fortunate in gaining early access (while WWII was still ongoing in the Pacific) to captured German research on wing sweep. The design was totally revamped as a sleek, swept-wing, six-jet type and prototypes were ordered seven months after WWII's end. A year later B-47s were in production. xb47 Smaller than a Peacemaker, the Stratojet was a success but also had challenges with operational range. Jet engines of WWII and the first postwar years were thirsty, and airborne refueling (multiple times) would be needed to cover meaningful parts of the USSR. With that, it was obviously advisable to start off with as much fuel onboard as possible, ideally 100%. The "ballpark" takeoff run was supposedly 6,000' (a little under 11/4 miles) but that was not realistic. The six J-47 engines performed poorly in slow forward motion, and at higher-elevation airbases often the pilot was already more than 2/3 of the way down the runway before he knew if he should takeoff or abort. One early XB-47 test flight consumed 21/4 miles of runway. With full fuel and an atomic bomb aboard, in-service B-47 takeoff runs of 2 miles were common in summer. takeoff (A huge bank of RATO bottles, which fell off downrange, were later added and shortened the B-47 Stratojet's takeoff by as much as a third.) All of this is not intended to be a dull litany of runway data but rather to show that the idea of using Interstate highways for for crisis dispersal of strategic bombers just wouldn't work, even if it had ever been envisioned. result A highway takeoff needs no overpasses, no curves, even grade, and unobstructed median. One mile would have been pointless even with WWII-generation bombers. So would two miles. At 21/2-in-five it starts to become silly, it would have been half the Interstates after urban expressways, hills, curves, bridges, etc were taken out. If the "one-in-every..." formula were abandoned and just a few sites identified over the whole Interstate network, it still makes little sense. To select, survey, and modify the civilian roadway's layout at a certain point becomes less cost-effective than granting the same federal funds to extend civilian runways. The Rand Corporation thinktank did a study during 1958 (S-113, declassified in 2021) on how the US Air Force could protect its expensive bombers, highly vulnerable at known airbases, against a surprise Soviet nuclear attack. The US Air Force was already committing to keeping 5% of SAC bombers in the air round-the-clock with a nuclear weapon aboard. (This was briefly done, and was incredibly expensive.) A further 1/3 of the force was to be on alert, fueled and armed, ready to take off with minimal notice. The remainder of the force - 57% to 62% of it - would be sitting on the tarmac at their home base and, in all likelihood, be lost. At the time the B-47 Stratojet was 70% of the US Air Force's entire bomber inventory. It was the model studied. The study looked at using both civilian airports and non-SAC military bases with runways, and considered the B-47 fleet's fate vs a spread of possible Soviet attack options. At first glance, in the lower 48 states there were 331 suitable civilian airports for dispersal. However this would be with the Stratojets taking off with just 30% fuel, massively exacerbating the need for in-flight refuelings. At 70% fuel in summer, fewer than 80 airports were suitable and with 100% fuel and max bombload, only two nationwide were suitable year-round. (The two were not named, presumably to keep the study's classification level down.) Rand suggested a mixed quick fix of US Air Force B-47s doubling up on US Navy and US Marine Corps runways, fast improvements to select civilian airports, and using small batches of bombers constantly dispersed to marginal (30% fuel) airports on a random rotation, so the Soviets would need to cover hundreds more targets with ICBMs or bombers. herald (The concept was tested during 1960's exercise "Clutch Pedal" and put into real use during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here is a B-47 dispersed to Palm Beach Airport, FL during the crisis.) (photo via Miami Herald newspaper) The Interstate highway system, which had started construction two years earlier, was not even considered for the study. Rand likely concluded in 1958 that if actual airports were so problematic, there was no sense in examining stretches of roadway. Later events perhaps proved them right. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, 33 civilian airports received 183 SAC bombers. Praised in public, behind closed doors the effort was a circus. crisis (A pair of Stratojets with atomic bombs onboard, at Memphis Airport in Tennessee during the Cuban Missile Crisis.) Since dispersed bombers would enter combat with whatever had been previously loaded at their airbase, it needed to be correct before they dispersed. Frantic SAC strike planning teams were described as exchanging this-or-that yield bomb the way boys trade baseball cards, trying to match preloaded ordnance and preselected targets. A quartet of B-47s dispersed to Mitchell IAP was put in a bad-weather holding pattern - with atomic bombs aboard - over Milwaukee. B-47s dispersed to Logan IAP found that no refueling arrangements had been made, and civilian jet fuel was purchased from Mobil Oil in Boston by one of the pilots. When the USAF relaxed to DefCon 3 on 21 November, the experience was not evaluated as positive. Given this commotion at functioning big-city airports, one can only imagine trying to disperse bombers to stretches of rural Interstate. The issue later sort of resolved itself. The B-52 was much longer-ranged alleviating some of the inflight refueling burden, meanwhile more WWII-legacy airbases (not just SAC but also Tactical Air Command, Military Airlift Command, and US Navy) had their runways extended as dispersal options, lessening the need to disperse to civilian airports. For tactical warplanes, highway dispersal is not as far-fetched. It was done in actual combat during WWII. With the Allies pounding every known German airbase by 1945, fighters used the autobahn. 262 (US Army mechanized units pass a Me-262 on the autobahn's shoulder near WWII's end in 1945.) ju88 (Ju-88s staged for autobahn operations in 1945.) me210april45 (A Me-210 abandoned on the autobahn during the war's final ten days. This is something of a rarity as most Me-210s went to Hungary.) During the Cold War, both alliances viewed the divided autobahn as a viable, if not perfect, emergency asset and drilled in its use. 1984a (A-10 Thunderbolt II on the West German autobahn during 1984.) Aviation had progressed immensely since WWII and it was no longer suitable to just park planes under trees on the shoulder as with the German fighters pictured earlier. Portions of the autobahn were purpose-altered to be used this way during war. Ahlhorn (This stretch of the A29 near Ahlhorn was incomplete during WWII and finished by West Germany later. It has a paved-over median, and premade aircraft parks and taxiways which were blocked by removable barricades during peacetime.) It was considered that a stretch of the WWII roadway 1.5 km (4,921' or barely under 1 mile) was the absolute minimum with 3.5 km (2 miles) ideal. The Bundeswehr estimated that it would take 24 hours after a war began to put predetermined autobahn stretches in use. The concept was operationally tested with warplanes of various generations and types: C-119 Flying Boxcar, F-104 Starfighter, Tornado, C-130 Hercules, Alpha Jet, Transall, A-10 Thunderbolt II and F-16 Falcon. Around a half-dozen warplanes could be utilized at each site. The Warsaw Pact also did the same. East Germany and GSFG (Soviet forces forward-based there) used the euphemism ABA ("Autobahn Abschnitt", highway section) for their program. After the Germanys reunited in 1990 it was found that the NATO and Warsaw Pact techniques and theories ended up quite similar, although they evolved independently during the four decades after WWII. 1983 (East German MiG-23 "Flogger" on the autobahn during 1983. Temporary touchdown markers are set up in the median.) Until very recently Germany lost interest in the concept and most of the Cold War stretches, since modified to 21st century EU highway safety standards, are no longer usable without changes. The "one-mile-in-five" myth of the Interstate maybe started with a 1941 suggestion that federally-numbered roadways would periodically have crude airplane landing strips sited alongside (not on) them. During 1943, with the USA now in WWII, the dormant idea was revisited for war use. The strips would be tailored up to a B-24 Liberator or B-17 Flying Fortress. These were not to be functional mini-"bases", just that one distressed warplane could land and later be flown away. It was recommended that for increases in elevation above sea level, additional lengths be added to the strip. Perhaps the later (x) -out-of-every-(y) misconception was mangled out of this. During 1943 Congress refused to fund the idea and that was the last time it had any chance of official sanction. The idea was long since dead by the time Interstate construction began. "One-mile-in-five" continues to have remarkable longevity within American culture. It is an annoyance to both the US Air Force and civilian Department Of Transportation, as curious citizens inquire if any of the supposed Cold War Interstate bomber airstrips are declassified yet. 1945 (US Army vehicle speeding by a Me-262 on the autobahn during 1945.) Share this: * Twitter * Facebook * Like Loading... Related 1950s, 1960s, aircraft: bombers, armored cars, Canada, East Germany, M4 Sherman, tanks, West Germany Post navigation Previous Post happy Independence Day 2024 / two WWII sail veterans Next Post Switzerland's Staghounds 18 thoughts on "WWII, the autobahn, Ike, the Interstates, and one-mile-in-five" 1. [1cc6ef] Francois says: July 25, 2024 at 3:00 pm Hello. (German Ju-88 staged for autobahn operation near the end of WWII in Europe.) Me-110. (A M4A1-76W Sherman + M25 tank transporter combination slightly exceeded the DOT max weight of this US Hwy. 30 bridge in Pennsylvania. Given that WWII was in progress it was deemed an acceptable risk.) 90 mm Gun Motor Carriage M36B1 ? Thank you for your excellent and interesting work. Greetings from France. LikeLiked by 1 person Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 25, 2024 at 9:35 pm I zoomed in and you are right, it is a 100G-4 with the Lichtenstein radar. Thank you for the catch and I have corrected it! I thought it was a TD at first too but the barrel is too short, no muzzle brake, and the side of the hull looks wrong. I am pretty sure it is a M4A1 (an early one) and the thing on the roof is a factory weather cover. Thank you again for the keen eye on the plane! LikeLike Reply o [1cc6ef] Francois. says: July 26, 2024 at 11:49 am Hello again. I think we can see a bulge (yellow) directly above the gun on the mantlet wich is not on the Sherman plus the two "rings" (red). The optic hole (?) seems to be bigger. [rno60110] Regards. LikeLike o [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 26, 2024 at 3:11 pm I did not notice those details and you are correct, it indeed looks like a Jackson with the muzzle brake off. I have corrected it and thank you again for the keen eye. LikeLike 2. [65b6b9] FTB1(SS) says: July 25, 2024 at 4:47 pm My grandfather used to go on and on about how the entire Interstate system was to move the army to which ever coast the Commies landed on. Turns out he was right! Then again, I-70 through the Colorado Rockies would be a bit difficult to land on... Great article! LikeLiked by 1 person Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 25, 2024 at 9:40 pm I drive to Vegas once a year around New Years (I am near the Mississippi) and I-70 by the tunnels west of Denver is pretty sketchy but they bust their rears keeping one lane open even if you have to crawl at 35mph until you are down the west slope of the Rockies. The other route I have tried is to stay on I-80, loop up by Warren AFB in Wyoming and then south on I-15 through Salt Lake City. This is 1.5 hrs faster but it is a crap shoot, they say the Interstate is closed 1 day a week in Wyoming during December and January (I have been lucky so far.) It is pretty amazing that you can get from the Mississippi to the Vegas Strip in under 24 hrs on the Interstates. As recently as 100 years ago it would have been like a week's journey. LikeLiked by 1 person Reply 3. [9ddf87] elhefe777 says: July 25, 2024 at 5:30 pm Everything posted on this site is awesome. This is one of the best. LikeLiked by 1 person Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 25, 2024 at 9:41 pm thank you! LikeLiked by 1 person Reply 4. [88b73e] rodmigantonio says: July 25, 2024 at 7:34 pm You didn't talk about rocket assisted takeoff on the highway...just kidding ;), of course. Very interesting. Thanks again! LikeLiked by 1 person Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 25, 2024 at 9:43 pm There is a video online, with original sound, of a Stratojet taking off from some SAC base with RATO. The noise is like a scream, I cant even imagine it in person. LikeLiked by 1 person Reply o [742c1a] Tempo says: August 8, 2024 at 12:42 am Great article, although you missed one thing there have been recent (in 2021) A-10s and other aircraft using highway training exercises which are interesting in that they have been the first military use of that on US soil apparently. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2721902/ a-10s-land-on-michigan-state-highway/ LikeLiked by 1 person o [5f681d] jwh1975 says: August 8, 2024 at 2:54 am I know they have recently (past 3 - 4 years) flown A-10s on highways in Michigan and Wyoming. The Wyoming one was pretty spectacular, they also landed a MC-130 and a Reaper drone on the highway. LikeLiked by 1 person 5. [2d6475] Tom from East Tennessee says: July 27, 2024 at 6:41 pm Excellent and interesting piece! I had heard that one mile in five thing and thought it was true, I don't know that I'll ever use the correct info but it was very satisfying reading the actual story of this. I never know what you'll write about next but I hope you'll keep it up, we really like your articles on "WWII after WWII" LikeLiked by 1 person Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 27, 2024 at 10:29 pm thank you! LikeLike Reply 6. [e56456] ikokki says: July 28, 2024 at 8:05 am Using an stretch of road for tactical aviation is part of several countries defense doctrine. Part of the advertisement for the Gripen is that it is intended to be used from special stretches of civilian highway in Sweden. There was a story in the Greek special press that indeed in 1974 some roads around Tanagra were closed down to vehicle traffic to be used as runways, but it turned out that this created serious traffic problems for civilian traffic. That apparently has been taken into account for planning, but what that means in practice I have no idea. I also wanted to share my experience as a kid of crossing East Germany to West Berlin. My uncle lived in West Berlin and he would drive to Greece and back for vacation, and take us with him. The point that he entered East Germany was somewhere in Bavaria, he did not have to get all the way north. You would never under any circumstance pass the speed limit of 100 km/h. Yes the fine was something like 20 Marks but the East German policeman would give you an entire 15-20 minute lecture on how you were a menace to society by speeding. Any time you would have gained was lost from the lecture and being East Germany, there was police everywhere of course. You were only allowed to stop at specific designated restaurants between the entry point and West Berlin if you wanted to eat, not at any random village which after all is likely not to have had extra food anyway. I am not sure if they would check your receipt as to where you changed your DM into Marks like in the rest of East Germany (they did that to combat black market currency exchanges). Now East and West German fuel had different quality specifications but I remember my uncle not complaining about East German diesel, the way he was complaining about high sulfur Yugoslav and Greece diesel. Now I do not remember the specifics at crossing that border beyond that it was strict, I was a kid and it is many decades ago LikeLiked by 2 people Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: July 28, 2024 at 3:50 pm The US Air Force recently restarted limited training, a few months ago they used a rural highway in Wyoming (not an Interstate) to land a C-130 and A-10. Sweden and Finland both practice it still with the Gripen and F/A-18 Hornet. Switzwerland (which also calls its national roads "autobahn"s) has elaborate cold war-era sites still in use. My grandma and grandpa (now both many years passed) were German immigrants to the USA and visited their relatives in East Germany one time. They said it was a huge ordeal crossing the border. LikeLike Reply 7. [953a3f] staghounds says: September 1, 2024 at 6:44 pm You skipped over the Pershing Map of 1922, with which I believe Eisenhower was connected. LikeLike Reply + [5f681d] jwh1975 says: September 1, 2024 at 7:48 pm I think that was the start of the National Defense Highways concept. 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