{"id":2619677,"date":"2026-06-24T22:46:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:47:09","slug":"folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\/","title":{"rendered":"Folkestone, 1917: The Day War Came to the Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><p style=\"font-size:15px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-bottom:18px\">Part of <strong>Wings of War &mdash; From Zeppelin to Sixth Generation<\/strong>, our series on the great turning points of military aviation.<\/p><p>It is a warm, sunny Friday afternoon in Folkestone, the 25th of May 1917. It is payday, and the day before a holiday weekend, so the little Kentish seaside town is busy. Housewives are out in crowds, doing their Whitsun shopping. There is a long queue on the pavement outside a greengrocer&rsquo;s in Tontine Street, women waiting for potatoes. A few miles away, at Shorncliffe Camp, Canadian soldiers are mustering on the parade ground. The mood, in town and camp alike, is almost cheerful.<\/p><p>At about twenty past six, without any warning at all, the street explodes.<\/p><p>The queue outside the greengrocer&rsquo;s is gone in an instant. A wine merchant who has stepped to the back of his shop returns to find his only customer decapitated. Horses lie dead between the shafts of their carts. Plate-glass windows blow inward as fine, glittering rain. And only <em>after<\/em> the first blasts do the people of Folkestone understand the strange new sound overhead &mdash; the beat of engines. They scream &ldquo;Zepps! Zepps!&rdquo;, because until this moment the only attack from the sky anyone has known has come from Zeppelin airships. But these are not airships. A clergyman who runs into the street looks up and sees aeroplanes &mdash; &ldquo;light, bright silver insects&rdquo; hovering against the blue, so beautiful that, for one held breath, the watching crowd is &ldquo;charmed with the beauty of the sight.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f3f4f6;border-radius:0;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:15px;letter-spacing:.3px\">QUICK FACTS<\/p><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.5\"><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>When<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">Friday 25 May 1917, about 6:20 pm<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Where<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">Folkestone, Kent, and nearby Shorncliffe Camp<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Attackers<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">Around 23 Gotha bombers of the German &ldquo;England Squadron&rdquo;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Worst hit<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">Tontine Street &mdash; the deadliest single bomb dropped on Britain in the war<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Toll<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">About 95 killed and 195 injured<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 14px 6px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>The first<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#222\">The first major daylight aeroplane raid on Britain &mdash; and the dawn of strategic bombing<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"background:#f3f4f6;border-radius:0;padding:16px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:14px;letter-spacing:.3px\">IN THIS ARTICLE<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px;line-height:1.9;font-size:15px\"><li><a href=\"#little-guernica\">The little Guernica<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#raid-for-london\">A raid meant for London<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#gothas-and-giants\">The Gothas &mdash; and the Giants behind them<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#total-war\">Carrying fear to the enemy<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#britains-answer\">Britain&rsquo;s furious answer<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#to-hiroshima\">From Folkestone to Hiroshima<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#bomber-grows\">And the bomber kept growing<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"little-guernica\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">The little Guernica<\/h2><p>The American historian Richard Rhodes opens his monumental history of the twentieth century not with a laboratory or a battlefield, but here &mdash; on this ordinary, sunlit afternoon outside a grocer&rsquo;s shop.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;background:#f8f9fa;margin:24px 0;padding:20px 24px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.65;font-style:italic;color:#222\">&ldquo;At Folkestone on a sunny, warm Friday afternoon, May 25, 1917, housewives came out in crowds to shop for the Whitsun weekend. A few miles away at Shorncliffe camp, Canadian troops mustered on the parade ground. There was bustle and enthusiasm in town and camp alike. It was payday.&rdquo;<span style=\"display:block;margin-top:12px;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;color:#555\">&mdash; Richard Rhodes, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Making of the Atomic Bomb<\/em><\/a>. Rhodes opens his Pulitzer Prize-winning history with this raid and describes the carnage that followed in unforgettable detail. It is one of the great books of the twentieth century &mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">read it<\/a>.<\/span><\/blockquote>\n<p>He calls it, a few lines later, &ldquo;the little Guernica of the Great War&rdquo; &mdash; a reference to the Spanish town whose bombing in 1937 would become the century&rsquo;s symbol of war waged on civilians. Folkestone came twenty years earlier, and it was the moment the idea was born. Around 95 people were killed and 195 injured that day. The single worst blow fell on Tontine Street, where one bomb killed more people than any other single bomb dropped on Britain in the entire war &mdash; most of them women and children queuing for the weekend&rsquo;s groceries.<\/p><h2 id=\"raid-for-london\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">A raid meant for London<\/h2><p>The bombs were never meant for Folkestone at all. They were the work of a specially formed German unit &mdash; Kampfgeschwader 3, the bomber wing the British came to call the &ldquo;England Squadron&rdquo; &mdash; whose entire reason for existing was to carry the war across the Channel to England&rsquo;s cities. On that afternoon some 23 of its Gotha bombers set out to strike London. It would have been the first time aeroplanes, rather than airships, had bombed the British capital. But inland from Gravesend they ran into a solid wall of cloud and could not find London. Rather than waste the raid, the formation turned south, hunting for an easier, undefended target. Folkestone, packed with shoppers, and the camp at Shorncliffe, full of troops, answered the need.<\/p><h2 id=\"gothas-and-giants\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Gothas &mdash; and the Giants behind them<\/h2><p>The Gotha was a genuinely new kind of weapon. With a wingspan of nearly 78 feet and two engines, it could climb above 15,000 feet, fly the long round trip to England, and still carry a useful load of bombs. A crew of three &mdash; pilot, commander and rear gunner &mdash; rode in an open fuselage threaded with fuel tanks, machine guns and the bombs themselves.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1077094605  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/gotha-g-v-bomber.jpg\" alt=\"A German Gotha G.V heavy bomber\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">This is a Gotha G.V, the workhorse of the German bomber wing that raided England &mdash; a twin-engined biplane with the two motors mounted between the wings, driving pusher propellers behind them. Crews flew it across the Channel and back, high above the defences of 1917. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The prototype and the cutaway below show how it was put together &mdash; and just how exposed its three crewmen were, perched among the fuel and the bombs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1873222964  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/gotha-g-v-prototype.jpg\" alt=\"The Gotha G.V prototype\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Gotha G.V prototype. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1363418097  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/gotha-bomber-internal-arrangement-cutaway.jpg\" alt=\"A cutaway of the Gotha bomber&rsquo;s internal arrangement\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A contemporary cutaway of the Gotha, showing the crew positions, the two engines, the fuel tanks and the bomb load. Illustration: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And the Gotha was not even the largest threat. Behind it came something close to monstrous: the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, one of a family of aircraft the Germans called <em>Riesenflugzeuge<\/em> &mdash; &ldquo;Giant aeroplanes,&rdquo; the type shown at the top of this article. With four engines and a wingspan approaching that of a Second World War B-29 Superfortress, the Giant could carry single bombs weighing up to 1,000 kilograms, heavier than anything dropped on Britain again until the next war. Only a handful were ever built, but they raided London alongside the Gothas, and they were the largest aircraft to bomb Britain in the entire conflict.<\/p><p>Folkestone was utterly unprepared for either. There were no anti-aircraft guns in the town, and the warning system had never registered the German change of plan. British fighters did scramble &mdash; dozens of aircraft clawed for height &mdash; but the Gothas were already too high, and droned back across the Channel almost untouched. It was a one-sided slaughter, and that was precisely the point.<\/p><h2 id=\"total-war\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">Carrying fear to the enemy<\/h2><p>This was something genuinely new in the history of war. A Zeppelin had bombed Antwerp at the very start of the conflict, and aircraft on both sides had hit targets near the front. But the campaign that opened over Folkestone &mdash; and that, three weeks later, struck London itself in broad daylight &mdash; was the first <em>effective and sustained<\/em> attempt to break a nation&rsquo;s will by bombing its civilians directly. It was the logic of the Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz&rsquo;s &ldquo;total war,&rdquo; lifted into the sky.<\/p><p>Germany&rsquo;s commanders told themselves a comfortable story about it. Such things, a captured Zeppelin officer assured his British interrogators, happen only by accident in war &mdash; no German officer, he insisted, would ever set out to kill women and children. It was a rationalisation that would echo down the century, mouthed by every air force that ever burned a city. The Kaiser himself had at first kept London off the target list, thinking of his royal relatives and the city&rsquo;s historic buildings; his naval staff pressed him, and by stages he relented.<\/p><h2 id=\"britains-answer\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">Britain&rsquo;s furious answer<\/h2><p>The raids were designed to terrify Britain into weakness. They did the opposite. When the England Squadron returned on 13 June 1917 and bombed London in daylight &mdash; killing more than 160 people, among them eighteen small children when a single bomb fell on the Upper North Street School in Poplar &mdash; the public outrage was volcanic. For the first time, the government was forced to take the defence of the home skies seriously: an organised system of guns, searchlights, observers and fighter squadrons, the direct ancestor of the air-defence network that would win the Battle of Britain a generation later.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=129311937  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/sopwith-camel-fighter-photo.jpg\" alt=\"A Sopwith Camel, British fighter of the First World War\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Britain&rsquo;s answer rose into the air &mdash; and within a year the shock of the Gotha raids had helped create the Royal Air Force, the world&rsquo;s first independent air force. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And it went further than guns and fighters. A committee under the South African statesman Jan Smuts recommended pulling the army&rsquo;s and navy&rsquo;s air arms together into a single, independent service &mdash; and on 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged into the Royal Air Force, the first independent air force anywhere in the world. The bombers that came to break British morale had instead invented British air power.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#eef3ff;border:1px solid #cdddff;border-left:5px solid #5C91FF;border-radius:0;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.3px;color:#1a3a7a\">POWERS COMPARED &mdash; STRATEGIC BOMBING IN WORLD WAR I<\/p><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.55\"><tr><td style=\"padding:5px 14px 5px 0;color:#555;white-space:nowrap;vertical-align:top\"><strong>The contenders<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:5px 0\">Imperial Germany vs Britain and its allies<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:5px 14px 5px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top\"><strong>Who invented it<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:5px 0\">Germany &mdash; first with Zeppelin airships, then with the Gotha and four-engined &ldquo;Giant&rdquo; bombers<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:5px 14px 5px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top\"><strong>Who answered best<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:5px 0\">Britain &mdash; building guns, searchlights, a warning network and home-defence squadrons almost overnight<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:5px 14px 5px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top\"><strong>The verdict<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:5px 0\">The raids meant to break British will instead created the world&rsquo;s first independent air force, the RAF (1 April 1918)<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"to-hiroshima\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">From Folkestone to Hiroshima<\/h2><p>Here is why a historian of the atomic bomb begins his story outside a Kentish greengrocer&rsquo;s. Folkestone is the first small step onto a road that runs in a single, terrible line through the whole of the twentieth century. The idea born that afternoon &mdash; that you can win a war by killing an enemy&rsquo;s civilians from the air &mdash; did not stay small. It grew, step by step, and each step made the next one thinkable.<\/p><p>Between the wars it hardened into doctrine. The Italian theorist Giulio Douhet argued that fleets of bombers would simply fly over the trenches and shatter a nation&rsquo;s cities and morale; the British coined the grim slogan that &ldquo;the bomber will always get through.&rdquo; In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the German Condor Legion put the theory into practice and erased the Basque town of Guernica in an afternoon &mdash; an atrocity that Picasso turned into the century&rsquo;s most famous anti-war painting, and that gave Rhodes his comparison for Folkestone.<\/p><p>Then came the Second World War, and the escalation became almost unimaginable. Germany&rsquo;s bombers did to London in the Blitz what the Gothas had only threatened. The Allies replied with a bomber offensive of staggering scale &mdash; the Royal Air Force by night, the American Eighth Air Force by day, in raids so costly they nearly broke, as over <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/black-thursday-over-schweinfurt-the-b-17-raid-that-nearly-broke-the-eighth-air-force\/\">Schweinfurt in 1943<\/a>. And the cities began to burn: Hamburg in 1943, where a man-made firestorm killed some 40,000 people in a few nights; Dresden in February 1945, consumed in another firestorm that killed tens of thousands more.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=710537699  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/tokyo-firebombing-1945.jpg\" alt=\"Tokyo after the firebombing of March 1945\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Tokyo, after the firebombing raid of 9&ndash;10 March 1945 &mdash; the single deadliest air raid in history, in which around 100,000 people died in one night. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The worst single night of all came not over Germany but over Japan. On 9&ndash;10 March 1945, American B-29s firebombed Tokyo and killed around a hundred thousand people in a few hours &mdash; the deadliest air raid in human history. And then, on the morning of 6 August 1945, came the end of the line: a single aircraft, a single bomb, and roughly the same number of dead in a few seconds as it had taken whole fleets a whole night to kill at Tokyo.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=117174357  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/atomic-cloud-over-hiroshima-1945.jpg\" alt=\"The atomic cloud rising over Hiroshima, 6 August 1945\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:0\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The destination of the road that began at Folkestone: the atomic cloud over Hiroshima, 6 August 1945. One aircraft, one bomb, one city. Photo: U.S. Government \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Richard Rhodes understood that the bomb did not come out of nowhere. It was the destination of a journey, and the journey started with men in biplanes throwing explosives at a seaside town. Twenty-eight years separate the queue in Tontine Street from the cloud over Hiroshima &mdash; a single human lifetime.<\/p><h2 id=\"bomber-grows\" style=\"padding-top:22px\">And the bomber kept growing<\/h2><p>While the moral horror deepened, the machine itself never stopped evolving &mdash; and many of its most remarkable descendants have their own stories on this blog. In the Second World War the fragile Gotha gave way to armoured streams of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/black-thursday-over-schweinfurt-the-b-17-raid-that-nearly-broke-the-eighth-air-force\/\">B-17 Flying Fortresses<\/a>, which flew deep into Germany in daylight and paid a terrible price for it, as over <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/black-thursday-over-schweinfurt-the-b-17-raid-that-nearly-broke-the-eighth-air-force\/\">Schweinfurt in 1943<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1231345640  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/b-17-flying-fortress-formation.jpg\" alt=\"A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, backbone of the American daylight bombing campaign over Europe. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the war came the giants of the piston age, like the ten-engined <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/convair-b-36-peacemaker-six-turning-four-burning-history\/\">Convair B-36 Peacemaker<\/a> &mdash; big enough to carry the new atomic bombs across whole oceans without ever landing.<\/p><p>Then the jet age made the strategic bomber permanent. The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/b-52-stratofortress-70-years-new-engines-rolls-royce-f130-b-52j-100-years\/\">B-52 Stratofortress<\/a>, first flown in the 1950s, is still in front-line service today and may yet fly to its hundredth birthday &mdash; the longest career of any combat aircraft in history.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=480041345  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/b-52-stratofortress-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A B-52 Stratofortress\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The B-52 has served for seventy years and counting &mdash; the Cold War embodiment of strategic bombing, and still going. Photo: U.S. Air Force.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Designers reached for ever more extreme machines. The Mach-3 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-xb-70-valkyrie-when-a-pr-photo-shoot-killed-the-fastest-bomber-ever-built\/\">North American XB-70 Valkyrie<\/a> and its Soviet rival, the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/xb-70-valkyrie-vs-sukhoi-t4-sotka-mach-3-bomber-comparison\/\">Sukhoi T-4<\/a>, were among the most spectacular aircraft ever built &mdash; and both were cancelled when surface-to-air missiles made flying high and fast a death sentence. The Soviet Union went the other way, with the great turboprop Tu-95 &ldquo;Bear,&rdquo; which still shadows NATO airspace today, more than seventy years after its first flight.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=961204414  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/xb-70-valkyrie-mach-3-bomber.jpg\" alt=\"The North American XB-70 Valkyrie\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Mach-3 XB-70 Valkyrie &mdash; a strategic bomber so advanced it was overtaken by the missile age before it could enter service. Photo: NASA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The last act has been the pursuit of invisibility: the swing-wing <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/b-1b-lancer-first-flight-march-1983-carter-reagan-history\/\">B-1B Lancer<\/a>; the flying wing reborn as the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/northrop-yb-49-flying-wing-b2-spirit\/\">Northrop B-2 Spirit<\/a> (with its <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/what-are-those-white-patches-on-the-b-2-bomber\/\">curious white patches<\/a>); and now the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/b-21-raider-quietly-advances-flight-testing\/\">B-21 Raider<\/a>, the newest descendant of all. Every one of them traces its lineage back to a leather pouch of grenades and a queue outside a greengrocer&rsquo;s shop in Kent.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=69471975  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/b-2-spirit-stealth-bomber-flight.jpg\" alt=\"A Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Northrop B-2 Spirit: the flying wing reborn, and almost invisible to radar. Its descendant, the B-21 Raider, is flying now. Photo: U.S. Air Force.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The people in that queue could not have known any of it. They only looked up, for a moment, and were charmed by the silver insects in the sky.<\/p><p><em>Sources: Richard Rhodes, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Making_of_the_Atomic_Bomb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Making of the Atomic Bomb<\/a> (Simon &amp; Schuster); Imperial War Museum; U.S. National Archives; Ian Castle \/ the Folkestone &amp; Hythe district archives; contemporary British press accounts.<\/em><\/p>\n<!--SERIESBOX--><div style=\"border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#f7f9fc;padding:28px 30px;margin:42px 0;border-radius:0;\"><div style=\"font:700 22px\/1.25 Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacing:0.4px;color:#5C91FF;margin-bottom:20px;\">All Articles of the Series<\/div><table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;border:0;width:auto;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.45;\"><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">1.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/zeppelin-airship-military-history-wwi\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Airship at War<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">How the Zeppelin first carried war into the sky<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">2.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-reconnaissance-aircraft-to-satellites\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The First Job: Reconnaissance<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">The eyes that won the Marne and climbed to orbit<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">3.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/fighter-aircraft-air-superiority-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Fighter<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">The hundred-year quest for control of the air<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;background:#e7f0ff;\">4.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;background:#e7f0ff;\"><span style=\"font-weight:700;color:#0b2a6b;\">Folkestone, 1917<\/span><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;background:#e7f0ff;\">The day strategic bombing was born<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">5.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/guided-missiles-precision-weapons-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Precision Revolution<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">When bombs and missiles learned to aim themselves<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">6.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/electronic-warfare-aviation-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Wizard War<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">How electronic warfare learned to blind the enemy<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">7.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-satellites-space-reconnaissance-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">Eyes in Orbit<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">How spying moved into space<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">8.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/stealth-aircraft-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">Stealth<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">How aircraft learned to vanish from radar<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">9.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-drone-uav-history\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Rise of the Drone<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">War without a pilot in the cockpit<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;text-align:left;white-space:nowrap;color:#5C91FF;font-weight:700;padding:9px 14px 9px 10px;\">10.<\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;white-space:nowrap;padding:9px 48px 9px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/sixth-generation-fighter-jets-race\/\" style=\"font-weight:700;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;\">The Sixth Generation<\/a><\/td><td style=\"vertical-align:top;border:0;color:#555;font-weight:400;padding:9px 12px 9px 0;\">When the fighter learned to fly itself<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div><!--\/SERIESBOX--><!--SERIESCAR--><div style=\"border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#f7f9fc;border-radius:0;padding:30px 32px;margin:42px 0;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><div style=\"display:flex;align-items:center;justify-content:space-between;margin-bottom:18px;\"><div style=\"font:700 26px\/1.25 Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacing:1.2px;color:#5C91FF;\">EXPLORE THE SERIES<\/div><div><button type=\"button\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('wowcar').scrollBy({left:-564,behavior:'smooth'})\" style=\"border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;color:#5C91FF;width:38px;height:38px;cursor:pointer;font-size:18px;line-height:1;border-radius:0;\">&#8249;<\/button><button type=\"button\" onclick=\"document.getElementById('wowcar').scrollBy({left:564,behavior:'smooth'})\" style=\"border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;color:#5C91FF;width:38px;height:38px;cursor:pointer;font-size:18px;line-height:1;border-radius:0;margin-left:6px;\">&#8250;<\/button><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wowcar\" style=\"display:flex;gap:18px;overflow-x:auto;scroll-snap-type:x mandatory;padding:4px 2px 4px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-aviation-history-zeppelin-to-sixth-generation\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:512\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/f-22-raptor-twilight-modern-air-power.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#5C91FF;margin-bottom:5px;\">OVERVIEW<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">Wings of War<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">From Zeppelin to Sixth Generation<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/zeppelin-airship-military-history-wwi\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:523\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/german-zeppelin-airship-in-flight.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Airship at War<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">How the Zeppelin first carried war into the sky<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-reconnaissance-aircraft-to-satellites\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:478\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/wwi-reconnaissance-biplane.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The First Job: Reconnaissance<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">The eyes that won the Marne and climbed to orbit<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/fighter-aircraft-air-superiority-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:512\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/fokker-eindecker-aircraft.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Fighter<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">The hundred-year quest for control of the air<\/span><\/span><\/a><div style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;border:2px solid #5C91FF;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:942\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/zeppelin-staaken-r-vi-giant-bomber.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;color:#5C91FF;margin-bottom:5px;\">YOU&rsquo;RE READING THIS<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#0b2a6b;margin-bottom:7px;\">Folkestone, 1917<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">The day strategic bombing was born<\/span><\/span><\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/guided-missiles-precision-weapons-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:510\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/fritz-x-first-guided-bomb.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Precision Revolution<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">When bombs and missiles learned to aim themselves<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/electronic-warfare-aviation-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:614\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/ea-18g-growler-electronic-warfare.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Wizard War<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">How electronic warfare learned to blind the enemy<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-satellites-space-reconnaissance-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:768\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/reconnaissance-satellite-in-orbit.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">Eyes in Orbit<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">How spying moved into space<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/stealth-aircraft-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:512\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/f-117-nighthawk-stealth-fighter.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">Stealth<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">How aircraft learned to vanish from radar<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-drone-uav-history\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:614\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/mq-9-reaper-drone.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Rise of the Drone<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">War without a pilot in the cockpit<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/sixth-generation-fighter-jets-race\/\" style=\"flex:0 0 264px;scroll-snap-align:start;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:1px solid #d8d8d8;background:#fff;border-radius:0;overflow:hidden;font-family:Montserrat,Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:150px;background-image:url('https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:768\/h:512\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/sixth-generation-fighter-concept.jpg');background-size:cover;background-position:center;\"><\/span><span style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px 18px;\"><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:700;font-size:16px;line-height:1.3;color:#1a3a7a;margin-bottom:7px;\">The Sixth Generation<\/span><span style=\"display:block;font-weight:400;font-size:13.5px;line-height:1.45;color:#555;\">When the fighter learned to fly itself<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><!--\/SERIESCAR--><div style=\"border:1px solid #ddd;margin:34px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0;padding:11px 16px;background:#1a3a7a;color:#fff;font-weight:700;font-size:13px;letter-spacing:.5px\">RELATED READING<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/military-aviation-history-zeppelin-to-sixth-generation\/\" style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;font-size:15px;line-height:1.4;border-bottom:1px solid #e3e3e3\">Wings of War: From Zeppelin to Sixth Generation (series overview)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/b-52-stratofortress-70-years-new-engines-rolls-royce-f130-b-52j-100-years\/\" style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;font-size:15px;line-height:1.4;border-bottom:1px solid #e3e3e3\">The B-52 at 70: The Bomber That Will Outlive Everything Designed to Replace It<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/the-xb-70-valkyrie-when-a-pr-photo-shoot-killed-the-fastest-bomber-ever-built\/\" style=\"display:block;padding:13px 16px;color:#1a3a7a;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;font-size:15px;line-height:1.4\">The XB-70 Valkyrie: When a PR Photo Shoot Killed the Fastest Bomber<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of Wings of War &mdash; From Zeppelin to Sixth Generation, our series on the great turning points of military aviation. It is a warm, sunny Friday afternoon in Folkestone, the 25th of May 1917. It is payday, and the day before a holiday weekend, so the little Kentish seaside town is busy. Housewives are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2621252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2619677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Folkestone, 1917: The Day Strategic Bombing Began<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On 25 May 1917, German Gotha bombers struck a Kentish seaside town \u2014 the first aeroplane raid on Britain and the birth of strategic bombing of civilians.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Folkestone, 1917: The Day Strategic Bombing Began\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 25 May 1917, German Gotha bombers struck a Kentish seaside town \u2014 the first aeroplane raid on Britain and the birth of strategic bombing of civilians.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-24T20:46:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-24T20:47:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/zeppelin-staaken-r-vi-giant-bomber.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2356\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tamika Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tamika Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/88afb39d0a02d6de10537662492fb68d\"},\"headline\":\"Folkestone, 1917: The Day War Came to the Shops\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-24T20:46:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-24T20:47:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2724,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/folkestone-gotha-raid-1917-strategic-bombing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/06\\/zeppelin-staaken-r-vi-giant-bomber.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History &amp; 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