Airmen And Air Theory

Author : Phillip S. Meilinger
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Aeronautics, Military
ISBN : 9781428990326

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Airmen and air theory a review of the sources by Phillip S. Meilinger Pdf

This part of the book reviews the state of American airpower biography and autobiography. I have set certain parameters to define the boundaries of my discussion. I discuss biographies and autobiographies, anthologies, and oral histories of military officers who served in senior positions. Thus, although the stories of great aviators like Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, and Chuck Yeager are important, those men did not command large forces either in combat or in peace; they had only a temporary effect on the development of strategy and doctrine. Similarly excluded are civilian political leaders and industrialists like Stuart Symington and Donald Douglas, even though they played key roles In their own spheres. What follows are the stories, some published, some not of America's greatest military airmen-some told by themselves, others by biographers. The order of presentation is roughly chronological, according to the time during which these men served. The fact that a surprising number of air luminaries do not appear here means that much work remains to be done.

Author : Phillip S. Meilinger
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Air warfare
ISBN : 9780714682662

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Airwar by Phillip S. Meilinger Pdf

These essays cover a wide range of subjects and tell the story of air power's evolution over the past century.

Author : Major Gary C. Cox
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 66 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2015-11-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781786250377

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Beyond the Battle Line: US Air Attack Theory and Doctrine, 1919-1941 by Major Gary C. Cox Pdf

This study examines the development and usefulness of US air attack theory and doctrine during the interwar period, 1919-1941. This period represents more than twenty years of development in US Air Corps attack theory and doctrine. It was the first peacetime period of such development. Attack aviation during this time was a branch of aviation used to provide direct and indirect combat support to ground forces in the form of machine gun strafing, light bombing, and chemical attacks. From the earliest origins, attack theory and doctrine evolved primarily along two paths direct and indirect support of ground and air force objectives. The direct support approach was based on fundamental beliefs by the Army that attack aviation was an auxiliary combat arm, to be used directly on the battlefield against ground forces and to further the ground campaign plan. The indirect support approach, or air interdiction, was derived from the fundamental beliefs by the Air Corps that attack aviation was best used beyond the battle line and artillery range, against targets more vulnerable and less heavily defended, to further both the Air Force mission and the ground support mission. As attack doctrine evolved, range and hardened targets became problematic for the single-engine attack plane. Thus, attack theory and doctrine in terms of the indirect support approach, was adequately developed to be useful at the start of WWII. The use of light and medium bombers in North Africa showed the effectiveness of air interdiction and the indirect approach. Attack aviation had, indeed, established itself before WWII. Attack aviation, in the form of close air support, would have to wait for the lessons of WWII.

Author : Phil Haun
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2019-04-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780813176796

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Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School and American Strategic Bombing in World War II by Phil Haun Pdf

Following the cataclysmic losses suffered in World War I, air power theorists in Europe advocated for long-range bombers to overfly the trenches and strike deep into the enemy's heartland. The bombing of cities was seen as a means to collapse the enemy's will to resist and bring the war to a quick end. In the United States, airmen called for an independent air force, but with the nation's return to isolationism, there was little appetite for an offensive air power doctrine. By the 1930s, however, a cadre of officers at the US Army Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) had articulated an operational concept of high-altitude daylight precision bombing (HADPB) that would be the foundation for a uniquely American vision of strategic air attack. In Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School and American Strategic Bombing in World War II editor Phil Haun brings together nine ACTS lecture transcripts, which have been preserved in Air Force archives, exactly as delivered to the airmen destined to lead the US Army Air Forces in World War II. Presented is a distinctive American strategy of high-altitude daylight precision bombing as told through lectures given at the ACTS during the interwar period and how these airmen put the theory to the test. The book examines the Air Corps theory of HADPB as compared to the reality of combat in World War II by relying on recent, revisionist histories that have given scholars a deeper understanding of the impact of strategic bombing on Germany.

Author : General Giulio Douhet
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782898528

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Command Of The Air by General Giulio Douhet Pdf

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Author : John Gooch
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135208462

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Airpower by John Gooch Pdf

The nine contributors to this volume study the rapid development of airpower during the twentieth century as well as the methodological problems involved in assessing such change.

Author : Philip S. Meilinger
Publisher : Lancer Publishers
Page : 684 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Air power
ISBN : 8170622824

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The Paths Of Heaven: The Evolution Of Airpower Theory: The School Of Advanced Airpower Studies by Philip S. Meilinger Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:227852369

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The Paths of Heaven The Evolution of Airpower Theory by Anonim Pdf

Airpower is not widely understood. Even though it has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure to many people, even to professional military officers. This fact is largely due to fundamental differences of opinion as to whether or not the aircraft has altered the strategies of war or merely its tactics. If the former, then one can see airpower as a revolutionary leap along the continuum of war; but if the latter, then airpower is simply another weapon that joins the arsenal along with the rifle, machine gun, tank, submarine, and radio. This book implicitly assumes that airpower has brought about a revolution in war. It has altered virtually all aspects of war: how it is fought, by whom, against whom, and with what weapons. Flowing from those factors have been changes in training, organization, administration, command and control, and doctrine. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 66 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Electronic
ISBN : MINN:30000007532405

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AU Press, Your Air and Space Power Publisher, 2003 by Anonim Pdf

Author : Ryan Burke,Michael Fowler,Jahara Matisek
Publisher : Georgetown University Press
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Air power
ISBN : 9781647122508

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Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower by Ryan Burke,Michael Fowler,Jahara Matisek Pdf

This second edition of Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower introduces contemporary strategy at the operational level of war. Developed as foundational reading for all US Air Force Academy cadets, this textbook is designed to close the gap between military theory and practice.

Author : Peter Gray
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2015-11-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781780938141

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Air Warfare by Peter Gray Pdf

Air Warfare provides an introduction to the subject's theory, history and practice. As well as delivering an up to date look at the strategy, and historiography of air power, Peter Gray explores the theories behind air power and looks at the political, legal and moral dimensions of the application of air power. Topics covered include: - Key military strategists and their legacy - Air power's strategic effects - Leadership, management and command - Tactics, technology and operations The book draws on primary sources including official narratives and published reports, examines key thinkers in the study of air power, and discusses topics such as concepts of warfare as an art or science, cultural perceptions of air power, and the experience of being an airman. With its broad scope and thorough coverage of a range of key topics, Air Warfare takes air power beyond the study of individual campaigns, or controversies, providing a multi-disciplinary approach to air power studies.

Author : Major Philip W. Wielhouwer
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 77 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782898290

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Trial By Fire: Forging American Close Air Support Doctrine, World War I Through September 1944 by Major Philip W. Wielhouwer Pdf

Proper doctrine for close support of American ground forces by airpower has been a tumultuous issue since the first days of combat aircraft. Air and ground leaders struggled with interservice rivalry, parochialism, employment paradigms, and technological roadblocks while seeking the optimum balance of missions given the unique speed, range, and flexibility of aircraft. Neither ground force concepts of airpower as self-defense and extended organic artillery, nor air force theories focused on command of the air and strategic attack fit the middle ground of close air support (CAS), leaving a doctrinal void prior to American combat in World War II. This thesis focuses on the critical period from September 1939 through the doctrinal and practical crucible of North Africa, which eventually produced a resoundingly successful system. Theoretical and practical changes in organization and command, airpower roles, and the tactical air control system are examined, with subarea focus on cooperation and communications technology. Upon examination, discerning leadership, able to transcend earlier compromises and failures, emerges as the essential element for CAS success during the war. While many airpower concepts proved valid, air-ground cooperation through liaison proved indispensable, a lesson repeated even today.

Author : Carl H. Builder
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 299 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2017-07-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9781351481298

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The Icarus Syndrome by Carl H. Builder Pdf

At the end of the Reagan era, many in the U.S. Air Force began to express their concerns about the health of their institution. They questioned whether the Air Force had lost its sense of direction, its confidence, its values, even its future. For some, these concerns reflected nothing more than the maturation of the most youthful of America's military institutions. For others it was a crisis of spirit that threatened the hard-won independence of the Air Force. Although the diagnoses for this malaise are as numerous as its symptoms, The Icarus Syndrome points a finger at the abandonment of air power theory sometime in the late 1950s to early 1960s as the single, taproot cause of the problems. That provocative diagnosis is followed by an equally provocative prescription the Air Force must follow to regain its institutional health. Author Carl H. Builder begins with an overview of this crisis of values within the Air Force, along with a litany of concerns about what seems to have gone wrong within that institution. The history of the U.S. Air Force, along with the role played in it by air power theory, is explored and is used to support Builder's thesis. The remainder of the book is an analysis of what went wrong and when, how these wrongs might be corrected, and the challenges for Air Force leadership in the future. Now available in paperback, The Icarus Syndrome will be of great interest to U.S. Air Force professionals, military and aviation historians, and institutional psychologists.

Author : Phillip S. Meilinger
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Air power
ISBN : UOM:39015035732687

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10 Propositions Regarding Air Power by Phillip S. Meilinger Pdf

Author : Air University (U.S.). Extension Course Institute
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 162 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1957
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781428915725

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The Development of Air Doctrine in the Army Air Arm, 1917-1941 by Air University (U.S.). Extension Course Institute Pdf