Integration Of Airpower

“Never before had so much brain-power been focused on a single problem.”(Laurence qtd. in “Eyewitness”). Many inventions can be said to have changed the world, and the way it worked. Only a core few of these many inventions can be said to change air warfare, and few of those are as game-changing as the B-29 Superfortress by Boeing. The B-29 was the plane that dropped the atomic bombs in World War Two (“bomber”). The plane by Boeing was used most in World War Two as a strategic long-range bomber. This invention revolutionized the concept of war, and war is a factor in all life on planet earth. The B-29 bomber changed warfare by sparking the innovation of aircraft technology, saving lives, and allowing more power to be carried by the means

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was the end of Japanese competiveness in the air. This Battle gave way to the United States’ ability to project its military power further into the heart of Japan with little to no resistance from the Japanese Fleet in the form of aerial warfare. It also left the Japanese desperate to find new ways of fighting American naval forces in ways other than the standard convention. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was “not the decisive battle in World War II”7; however, it did help accelerate the United States’ takeover of the auxiliary islands with the destruction of Japanese conventional air warfare.

“The day has passed when armies on the ground or navies on the sea can be the arbiter of a nation's destiny in war. The main power of defense and the power of initiative against an enemy has passed to the air.” -Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. November, 1918.

Aircraft combat became popular during World War II. Each of the combatant powers wanted to gain command of the air, which meant destroying enemy air power while also subjecting the enemy to continuous air attack themselves.

This essay is intended to evaluate to what extent was the Japanese kamikaze aircrafts an effective offensive strategy against the Allied Powers during World War II. During the war, the Japanese were in a difficult situation with the Allied Powers, including the Big Four composed of the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. The Japanese were trying to reach their superior supremacy in the Eastern Hemisphere, but came to a halt when the United States would no longer trade oil with them. In panic and running out of fuel, the Japanese used the tactic of suicide bombing on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, after which, the US Congress declared war on Japan a day later. The Japanese, during World War II, resorted to the usage of Kamikazes as an offensive strategy to defeat their enemies; kamikazes were aircrafts with suicide bombers attached to them. The Japanese’s mindsets were focused on pleasing their emperor, allowing the kamikazes to continue, however with poorly trained pilots. The strategy proved to be effective short term, since the aircrafts did a lot of damage at the Battle for Leyte Gulf destroying many Allied Power’s ships, continuing to the Battle of Okinawa and the Battle of Iwo Jima, however, the kamikazes were not enough to defeat their opponents, as new advancements and technologies on the Allied side caused greater damage and resistance towards the kamikaze threats.

The United States would industrialize, optimism about how Americas fighting ability was focused on superior weaponry. With the turn of the century, Admiral Alfred T. Mahan’s doctrine of Sea Power emphasizing the use of a more modernized fleet promised swift and total victory. Then in the 1920’s and the 1930’s General Billy Mitchell of the Army Air Service helped to develop the doctrine of the Strategic Airpower as a technological means to achieve quick and total victory. In World War two, in response to the outrageous and tragic and unexpected Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and in a crusade against Fascism, Americans waged war on land, sea and air, to include the ultimate nuclear bombing of urban areas to achieve decisive victory and finally

“World War One, was the first war to see air combat..” (“Farmer, Brian”). Airplanes were known to be a technological advancement in the first World War. “The air phase of World War 1 can best be understood by considering the basic elements of aerial combat: men, machines, and tactics. (“Farmer, Brian”). As new weapons, planes and technological advances were coming into play in the nineteen hundreds, so did the new aerial tactic known as the “attack mission.” “The attack mission came into play in nineteen seventeen, and nineteen eighteen.” (“Farmer,

Jacobs, W. A. “Strategic Bombing and American National Strategy, 1941-1943.” Military Affairs, 50, No. 3 (Jul., 1986): 133-139. Accessed January 18, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1988300.

Firstly, we will analyse the case of the American military. Military power largely dominates the minds of neo-conservative scholars. Indeed, they are correct when they perceive that the vast American military power has no rival. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and powers such as Japan and the European Union not perusing military power, the US has no competition in terms of military resources. In fact, nearly all the worlds military budgets have declined apart from Americas. For example, in 2003, its budget was equal to 40% of the world’s total military spending, confirming its status as a military giant. However, does this equate to the US being classified as an empire? What grants the US its strike power is the sheer enormity of its

Historian John Olsen notes that “military commanders have come to look to air power as a quick and cheap solution to otherwise complex international problems.” Airpower has provided the US with a flexible, relatively low-cost, low-commitment tool that makes dabbling outside of international norms and rules less costly and therefore more attractive. Unfortunately, there is a potentially unseen cost, US prestige.

Strategic bombing is considered one necessity for a nation’s air force to visualize air supremacy during World War I and World War II. Strategic bombing is defined as “striking deep into enemy territory to destroy war-making capabilities.”

Air power advocates believed focusing on strategic bombing would end wars sooner. Corbett noted that continental powers would struggle to avoid total war because of their inability to control their citizens’ passion. Strategic bombing sought to enflame passions by bringing war directly to the population which, in theory, would then force their government to surrender. Unfortunately, strategic bombing remained an untested theory during the interwar years, unlike the air interdiction concepts Slessor proposed. His experience during the war showed the importance of air power in isolating a battlefield from reinforcement or resupply (168) and in using the mobility and flexibility of the airplane to disrupt an adversary’s ability to support

Previously, American fighters had not been able to escort bombers far into Europe because of fuel and range limitations. But with the development of these new external tanks, American fighters were able to engage enemy fighters and help protect American heavy bombers: “When combined with jettisonable external tanks, the P-38 and P-51 gained the range necessary to accompany B-17s and B24s to the limits of bomber endurance.” This technological advancement was crucial in helping America dominate the skies around the world. Not only could fighters now easily escort bombers, but American fighters could stay in the air longer to engage enemy aircraft. However, just as American planes were being upgraded and a new fighting strategy was being

The impact of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the most destructive singular air strikes against Japan. However, fire raids conducted by Major General Curtis E. Lemay were a significant factor in the air campaign against Japan. They also inflicted more casualties to the Japanese populous and damage to Japanese infrastructure than the atomic bombs (Hanson 60). The decision and execution of these attacks by General Lemay contributed to the overall success of the pacific campaign. The changes that General Lemay made to the XXI Bomber Command created more victories for the Americans with a lower casualty rate. These victories can also be attributed to the success of air power at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war.

Next, the planes had to actually enter into the war zone of Palestine. The Air TRansport command (ATC) was the name given to the division responsible for carrying the dismantled planes, and the guns, and whatever other weaponry was necessary, over to Israel. Many of the pilots, who would later fly in the war first flew to israel as a pilot for the ACT. For these MACHAL veterans this was their first glimpse of the land they were about to go risk their lives to protect. One example is Freddy Fredkins. He was an ex WWII pilot, from england. Ben-Gurion sent him to obtain fighter planes from England, and ship them to Israel without his homeland ever being the wiser. Another was an early international contributor, named Boris Senior. Boris was a