Airpower Myths And Facts

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Airpower

Author : Phillip S. Meilinger
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781410218094
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (18 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower by : Phillip S. Meilinger

Download or read book Airpower written by Phillip S. Meilinger and published by . This book was released on 2004-11-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the US Army bought its first "aeroplane" in 1909, debates have raged over the utility, effectiveness, efficiency, legality, and even the morality of airpower and strategic bombing. Unfortunately, much of this controversy has been colored by accusations, misconceptions, inaccuracies, myths, and simple untruths. If airpower needs criticizing - and certainly there are times when criticism is appropriate - it must be based on accurate information. In Airpower: Myths and Facts, Col Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF, retired, raises points and counterpoints that attempt to clear away some of the detritus that obscures the subject, thus allowing more informed debate on the real issues concerning airpower and strategic bombing and giving our political and military leaders a better basis on which to form decisions in future conflicts.

Airpower: Myths and Facts

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 141 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower: Myths and Facts by :

Download or read book Airpower: Myths and Facts written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airpower, especially strategic bombing, frequently generates controversy. Ever since the US Army bought its first "aeroplane" in 1909, debates have raged over the utility, effectiveness, efficiency, legality, and even the morality of airpower. These debates continue despite (or perhaps because of) the hundreds of books that have been written on the subject and the scores of examples witnessed, As the saying goes. certain topics tend to produce more heat than they do light. In some cases, the questions regarding air-power, strategic bombing, and their roles in war remain unanswerable or at least people fail to agree on the answers, Soldiers, sailors, and airmen approach war from different viewpoints and with differing service-cultural perspectives, which similarly influence others who write and speak about war. This is natural and perhaps advantageous fresh ideas are always useful. Unfortunately, much of the debate regarding airpower and strategic bombing has been colored by accusations, misconceptions, inaccuracies, myths, and simple untruths. If airpower needs criticizing and certainly there are times when criticism is appropriate it must be based on accurate information.

Airpower

Author : Colonel Usaf Meilinger, Retired Phill
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781516889440
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (894 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower by : Colonel Usaf Meilinger, Retired Phill

Download or read book Airpower written by Colonel Usaf Meilinger, Retired Phill and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-08-14 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airpower, especially strategic bombing, frequently generates controversy. Ever since the US Army bought its first "aeroplane" in 1909, debates have raged over the utility, effectiveness, efficiency, legality, and even the morality of airpower. These debates continue despite (or perhaps because of) the hundreds of books that have been written on the subject and the scores of examples witnessed. As the saying goes, certain topics tend to produce more heat than they do light. In some cases, the questions regarding airpower, strategic bombing, and their roles in war remain unanswerable-or at least people fail to agree on the answers. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen approach war from different viewpoints and with differing service-cultural perspectives, which similarly influence others who write and speak about war. This is natural and perhaps advantageous-fresh ideas are always useful. Unfortunately, much of the debate regarding airpower and strategic bombing has been colored by accusations, misconceptions, inaccuracies, myths, and simple untruths. If airpower needs criticizing-and certainly there are times when criticism is appropriate-it must be based on accurate information. What follows are points and counterpoints that attempt to clear away some of the detritus that obscures the subject, thus allowing more informed debate on the real issues concerning airpower and strategic bombing. This in turn, hopefully, will give our political and military leaders a better basis on which to form decisions in future conflicts.

Air Power Myths and Facts

Author : Col Phillip S Meilinger
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781478350781
Total Pages : 150 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (57 download)

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Book Synopsis Air Power Myths and Facts by : Col Phillip S Meilinger

Download or read book Air Power Myths and Facts written by Col Phillip S Meilinger and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airpower, especially strategic bombing, frequently generates controversy. Ever since the US Army bought it first "aeroplane" in 1909, debates have raged over the utility, effectiveness, efficiency, legality, and even the morality of air power. These debates continue despite (or perhaps because of) the hundreds of books that have been written on the subject and the scores of examples witnessed. Much of the debate regarding airpower and strategic bombing has been colored by accusations, misconceptions, inaccuracies, myths, and simple untruths. If airpower needs criticizing it must be based on accurate information. This manuscript highlights points and counterpoints that attempt to clear away some of the detritus that obscures the subject, thus allowing more informed debate on the real issues concerning air power and strategic bombing.

Airpower Myths and Facts: World War II, Vietnam - Report on the Effectiveness of Bombing, Usage of the Atomic Bomb on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Strategic Bombing

Download Airpower Myths and Facts: World War II, Vietnam - Report on the Effectiveness of Bombing, Usage of the Atomic Bomb on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Strategic Bombing PDF Online Free

Author : U. S. Military
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781973188896
Total Pages : 82 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (888 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower Myths and Facts: World War II, Vietnam - Report on the Effectiveness of Bombing, Usage of the Atomic Bomb on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Strategic Bombing by : U. S. Military

Download or read book Airpower Myths and Facts: World War II, Vietnam - Report on the Effectiveness of Bombing, Usage of the Atomic Bomb on Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Strategic Bombing written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book examines a number of common myths and misconceptions about the effectiveness of airpower. Contents include: Chapter 1 - Between the world wars, even though the US Army Air Corps received more than its fair share of funds from the Army, it continued to complain, agitate, and ask for more. * Chapter 2 - Entering World War II, the Air Corps' unbalanced doctrine and force structure leaned too heavily towards strategic bombing. Thus, air support of ground forces was inadequate and largely ignored by airmen. * Chapter 3 - The Air Corps entered World War II with a "Douhetian" concept of air war that emphasized area bombing and the waging of war on women and children * Chapter 4 - Airmen thought they could win the war alone * Chapter 5 - The fact that German production, especially of aircraft, continued to increase throughout 1944 proves that the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was ineffective and that the resources devoted to it would have been better spent elsewhere * Chapter 6 - Bombing was ineffective because it actually stiffened rather than lowered enemy morale. * Chapter 7 - The atomic bombs were unnecessary because Japan was about to surrender; even if it had not given up, an invasion or continued blockade would have been more humane * Chapter 8 - Overall, strategic bombing was a wasted effort that produced only minor effects * Chapter 9 - Airpower was a failure in Vietnam, losing the war and letting the Army down. Why even have an Air Force if it can't beat a fourth-rate power like North Vietnam? * Chapter 10 - Strategic bombing failed in Vietnam because Rolling Thunder did not break the will of Ho Chi Minh and his cohorts to continue the war in the south * Chapter 11 - Airpower was an indiscriminate weapon that killed excessive numbers of Vietnamese civilians * Chapter 12 - Too focused on strategic attack during the Persian Gulf War, the Air Force provided inadequate support to ground forces. * Chapter 13 - Air attack is nothing more than "recreational bombing"; pilots fly so high they can't possibly hit their targets accurately * Chapter 14 - Despite all the talk by airmen, the employment of airpower remains an indiscriminate use of military force that deliberately targets civilians

The Influence of Airpower upon History

Author : Robin Higham
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813140722
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Influence of Airpower upon History by : Robin Higham

Download or read book The Influence of Airpower upon History written by Robin Higham and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From early zeppelins, to the Luftwaffe and the Enola Gay, to the unmanned aerial vehicles of today, air power has long been regarded as an invaluable instrument of war. However, nations have employed aircraft for many other purposes as well; they provide security and surveillance, and they are vital to myriad diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. Air power has become a means for statesmen to advance a variety of goals, opening up new possibilities and problems in times of peace as well as war. The Influence of Air Power upon History examines the many ways in which aviation technology has impacted policymaking since 1903. It analyzes air strategy in nations around the world and explores how a country's presumed technological capability, or lack thereof, has become a crucial aspect of diplomacy. Together, the essays in this insightful volume offer a greater understanding of the history of military force and diplomatic relations in the global community.

Airpower against an Army: Challenge and Response in CENTAF's Duel with the Republican Guard

Author : William F. Andrews
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1428912568
Total Pages : 143 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (289 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower against an Army: Challenge and Response in CENTAF's Duel with the Republican Guard by : William F. Andrews

Download or read book Airpower against an Army: Challenge and Response in CENTAF's Duel with the Republican Guard written by William F. Andrews and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly two decades the United States Air Force (USAF) oriented the bulk of its thinking, acquisition, planning, and training on the threat of a Soviet blitzkrieg across the inter German border. The Air Force fielded a powerful conventional arm well rehearsed in the tactics required to operate over a central European battlefield. Then, in a matter of days, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait altered key assumptions that had been developed over the previous decade and a half. The USAF faced a different foe employing a different military doctrine in an unexpected environment. Instead of disrupting a fast paced land offensive, the combat wings of the United States Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) were ordered to attack a large, well fortified, and dispersed Iraqi ground force. The heart of that ground force was the Republican Guard Forces Command (RGFC). CENTAF's mission dictated the need to develop an unfamiliar repertoire of tactics and procedures to meet theater objectives. How effectively did CENTAF adjust air operations against the Republican Guard to the changing realities of combat? Answering that question is central to this study, and the answer resides in evaluation of the innovations developed by CENTAF to improve its operational and tactical performance against the Republican Guard. Effectiveness and timeliness are the primary criteria used for evaluating innovations.

Myths of the Air War Over Serbia: Some "Lessons" Not to Learn

Download Myths of the Air War Over Serbia: Some

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 10 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Myths of the Air War Over Serbia: Some "Lessons" Not to Learn by :

Download or read book Myths of the Air War Over Serbia: Some "Lessons" Not to Learn written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article is a sequel to my earlier piece "Myths of the Gulf War: Some 'Lessons' Not to Learn" (Airpower Journal, Fall 1998), which caused some consternation and discomfited many, for it seemed that I was criticizing airpower. I was not. I was criticizing those who do not understand its strengths and its limitations and who ask it to substitute for strategy. This article takes largely the same myths and tests those propositions against the backdrop of the air war over Serbia and the 78-day bombing campaign that the United States and its NATO allies engaged in, regarding the fate of Kosovar Albanians and the province of Kosovo. A representative dictionary definition of myth is "a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions or religious rites, etc. of a people." The headings in this article constitute imaginary beliefs about the air war over Serbia: It Was a War; It's Over; We Won; We Accomplished Our Objectives; Technology (PGMs) Won the War; The "Vietnam Syndrome" Is Over: U.S. Military Might and Prestige Are Restored; We Can Do It Again If Necessary; Others Paid for the Cost of the War; Unlike Our Past Wars, the Air War over Serbia Represents an Almost Unblemished Record of Success, Superior Military Performance, and Accomplishment; The Promise of Airpower Was Finally Fulfilled; and The United States and NATO Accomplished Their Strategic Purpose through the Use of Military Force.

Understanding Airpower: Bonfire of the Fallacies

Author : Colin S. Gray
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (137 download)

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Book Synopsis Understanding Airpower: Bonfire of the Fallacies by : Colin S. Gray

Download or read book Understanding Airpower: Bonfire of the Fallacies written by Colin S. Gray and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II

Author : Stewart Halsey Ross
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476616116
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II by : Stewart Halsey Ross

Download or read book Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II written by Stewart Halsey Ross and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-10-03 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States relied heavily on bombing to defeat the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, and air raids were touted as "precision" bombing in American propaganda. But was precision possible over cloud-covered Europe or a darkened Japanese countryside? Could the vaunted Norden optical bombsight in fact "drop bombs into pickle barrels" as advertised? Were the American aircrews well trained and well protected? How good were their airplanes? What were the results of the costly raids? This work sets suppositions against facts surrounding the United States' use of strategic bombing in World War II. Chapters cover the events leading up to World War II; the start of the war; the seers and the planners; the airplanes, bombs, bombsights, and aircrews; the planes Germany used to defend itself against American planes; the five cities (Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki) that experienced the most destruction; and the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of the damage done by aerial bombing. The book also probes the government's myth-building statements that supported America's view of itself as a uniquely humanitarian nation, and analyzes the role played by interservice rivalry--"battleship admirals" against "bomber generals."

Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II

Author : Stewart Halsey Ross
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 078641412X
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II by : Stewart Halsey Ross

Download or read book Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II written by Stewart Halsey Ross and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2002-12-27 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States relied heavily on bombing to defeat the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, and air raids were touted as "precision" bombing in American propaganda. But was precision possible over cloud-covered Europe or a darkened Japanese countryside? Could the vaunted Norden optical bombsight in fact "drop bombs into pickle barrels" as advertised? Were the American aircrews well trained and well protected? How good were their airplanes? What were the results of the costly raids? This work sets suppositions against facts surrounding the United States' use of strategic bombing in World War II. Chapters cover the events leading up to World War II; the start of the war; the seers and the planners; the airplanes, bombs, bombsights, and aircrews; the planes Germany used to defend itself against American planes; the five cities (Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki) that experienced the most destruction; and the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of the damage done by aerial bombing. The book also probes the government's myth-building statements that supported America's view of itself as a uniquely humanitarian nation, and analyzes the role played by interservice rivalry--"battleship admirals" against "bomber generals."

Fulcrum of power : essays on the United States Air Force and national security

Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1428990089
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (289 download)

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Book Synopsis Fulcrum of power : essays on the United States Air Force and national security by :

Download or read book Fulcrum of power : essays on the United States Air Force and national security written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: N THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE IMPACT OF FLIGHT REACHED INTO EVERY CORNER OF American society. However, nowhere has its impact been more dramatic than in the realm of military affairs. Over the past one hundred years, the evolution of military aviation technology has altered the way Americans have looked at national security. The development of military aviation has had an enormous impact upon the battlefield which, in turn, has transformed international politics and the crafting of national security policy. The question of how best to protect the United States against external military threats has come to involve the projection of military power abroad. With the passage of time and accelerated advancement of military aviation technology, the organization and development of air forces have assumed greater urgency and significance. In 1934, James H. Jimmy Doolittle noted that the future security of our nation is dependent upon an adequate air force AND this will become increasingly important as the science of aviation advances. I.

Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare

Author : Tami Biddle
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400824974
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare by : Tami Biddle

Download or read book Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare written by Tami Biddle and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-10 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major revision of our understanding of long-range bombing, this book examines how Anglo-American ideas about "strategic" bombing were formed and implemented. It argues that ideas about bombing civilian targets rested on--and gained validity from--widespread but substantially erroneous assumptions about the nature of modern industrial societies and their vulnerability to aerial bombardment. These assumptions were derived from the social and political context of the day and were maintained largely through cognitive error and bias. Tami Davis Biddle explains how air theorists, and those influenced by them, came to believe that strategic bombing would be an especially effective coercive tool and how they responded when their assumptions were challenged. Biddle analyzes how a particular interpretation of the World War I experience, together with airmen's organizational interests, shaped interwar debates about strategic bombing and preserved conceptions of its potentially revolutionary character. This flawed interpretation as well as a failure to anticipate implementation problems were revealed as World War II commenced. By then, the British and Americans had invested heavily in strategic bombing. They saw little choice but to try to solve the problems in real time and make long-range bombing as effective as possible. Combining narrative with analysis, this book presents the first-ever comparative history of British and American strategic bombing from its origins through 1945. In examining the ideas and rhetoric on which strategic bombing depended, it offers critical insights into the validity and robustness of those ideas--not only as they applied to World War II but as they apply to contemporary warfare.

Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy

Author : Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1612513328
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (125 download)

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Book Synopsis Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy by : Thomas Wildenberg

Download or read book Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy written by Thomas Wildenberg and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Billy Mitchell returned from WWI, he brought with him the deep-seated belief that air power had made navies obsolete. However, in the years following WWI, the U.S. Congress was far more interested in disarmament and isolationist policies than in funding national defense. For the military services this meant lean budgets and skeleton operating forces. Billy Mitchell’s War with the Navy recounts the intense political struggle between the Army and Navy air arms for the limited resources needed to define and establish the role of aviation within their respective services in the period between the two world wars. After Congress rejected the concept of a unified air service in 1920, Mitchell and his supporters turned on the Navy, seeking to substitute the Air Service as the nation's first line of defense. While Mitchell proved that aircraft could sink a battleship with the bombing of the Ostfriesland in 1921, he was unable to convince the General Staff of the Army, the General Board of the Navy, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or Congress of the need for an independent air force. When Mitchell turned to the pen to discredit the Navy, he was convicted by his own words and actions in a court-martial that captivated the nation, and was forced to resign in 1925. Rather than ending the rivalry for air power, Mitchell’s resignation set the stage for the ongoing dispute between the two services in the years immediately before WWII. After Mitchell’s resignation, the rivalry for air power between the two services resurfaced when the Navy's plans to procure torpedo planes for the defense of Pearl Harbor and Coco Solo were brought to the attention of the Army. The book concludes with a description of the events surrounding the Air Corps' abysmal performance at Pearl Harbor and Midway followed by a critical assessment of how the development of aviation was pursued by the Army and the Navy after WWII.

The United States Air Force and the Culture of Innovation, 1945-1965

Author : Stephen B. Johnson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The United States Air Force and the Culture of Innovation, 1945-1965 by : Stephen B. Johnson

Download or read book The United States Air Force and the Culture of Innovation, 1945-1965 written by Stephen B. Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Creech Blue

Author : James C. Slife
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Creech Blue by : James C. Slife

Download or read book Creech Blue written by James C. Slife and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonel Slife chronicles the influence of the late Gen Wilbur L. "Bill" Creech7a leader, visionary, warrior, and mentor7in the areas of equipment and tactics, training, organization, and leader development. His study serves both to explain the context of a turbulent time in our Air Force's history and to reveal where tomorrow's airmen may find answers to some of the difficult challenges facing them today. Colonel Slife, who addresses such controversial topics as the development of the Army's AirLand Battle doctrine and what it meant to airmen, is among the first to describe what historians will surely see in years to come as the revolutionary developments of the late 1970s/early 1980s and General Creech's central role. Creech Blue enlightens the Air Force on its strongly held convictions during that period and challenges the idea that by 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Air Force had forgotten how to wage a "strategic" air campaign and was dangerously close to plunging into a costly and lengthy war of attrition had it not been for the vision of a small cadre of thinkers on the Air Staff. In exploring the doctrine and language of the decade leading up to Operation Desert Storm, Colonel Slife reveals that the Air Force was not as shortsighted as many people have argued.

Marked for Death

Author : James Hamilton-Paterson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1681771977
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (817 download)

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Book Synopsis Marked for Death by : James Hamilton-Paterson

Download or read book Marked for Death written by James Hamilton-Paterson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-08-02 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dramatic and fascinating account of aerial combat during World War I, revealing the terrible risks taken by the men who fought and died in the world's first war in the air. Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Nearly forgotten in the war's massive overall death toll, some 50,000 aircrew would die in the combatant nations' fledgling air forces. The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air 'aces' who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. Marked for Death debunks popular myth to explore the brutal truths of wartime aviation: of flimsy planes and unprotected pilots; of burning nineteen-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots blinded by the entrails of their observers. James Hamilton-Paterson also reveals how four years of war produced profound changes both in the aircraft themselves and in military attitudes and strategy. By 1918 it was widely accepted that domination of the air above the battlefield was crucial to military success, a realization that would change the nature of warfare forever.