Interwar: Air Power Theory

Antiaircraft in the early twentieth century comes out of a rich pedigree of coastal defense and to a lesser degree field artillery. To trace air defense artillery’s

In this essay I will assess the significance of strategic bombing of Germany. I will do this by evaluating four key areas of the German war effort. This will include German and British moral, German economy, its effect on the outcome of the Eastern Front and the results of the preparation for D-Day. Overall allied bombing did not have a significant impact on the outcome of the war as for the majority of the war bombing techniques and technology were primitive and so had little effect. It only became a threatening tool latter on in the war, when the allies had effectively won.

     The name General Carl ‘Tooey’ Andrew Spaatz has become synonymous with the phrase air power and strategist. Air power has come along way since Wilbur and Orville launched the first airplane in 1902 in the city of Kitty Hawk. Famous engineers have taken the Wright-Brothers design and made great improvements to them while slowly integrating these new powerful means of transportation, weaponry and communication aids into the military. Since the onset of World War I there has been a debate on how to most effectively use these new airplanes in the Army’s collection. Most individuals believed that airplanes should be under control of the Army theater commander, while very

The development of the allied military strategy in World War II (WWII) presented challenges for the U.S. and Great Britain as they worked together to defeat the Axis powers. First, this paper will review the environment at the time of WWII when Admiral Stark penned the “Plan Dog” memorandum and MAJ Wedemeyer’s War Defense Team put together the “Victory Plan”. Next, it will look at the advantages and disadvantages of coalition operations with supporting examples. Then, a review of two major meetings between U.S. and Great Britain will identify what strategic decisions were made and the effects they have on the war. Finally, this paper will explore the foundations of strategy (Clausewitz and Sun Tzu) by which the allied forces used and

"World War 2 was a war fought in two distinct phases. The first was the last war of a new generation. The second was emphatically the first of a new era" . <br><br>"The British strategic bomber campaign was of doubtful cost effectiveness" . Bomber Command was by far the largest claimant on labour and factory space within the armed forces. Relative to their size they suffered more casualties than any other sector. <br><br>The Anglo-American bomber force was divided in terms of strategy. Bomber Command believed it was too risky to bomb by day, while the Americans believed it was too difficult to bomb by night. Initially both forces lacked accurate navigational equipment, which deterred them from precision bombing. <br><br>Germany developed a

“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.

The introduction of aircraft had begun a new era in warfare. No longer were military powers limited to the boundaries of vehicles that were restricted to land. The evolution of aircraft technology helped pioneer a new type of combat strategy that played a significant role in determining the outcome of a battle. Air combat also influenced the economies of the participating countries. The whole cycle of airplanes from the assembly line to the pilot became factors that added up to become an advantage or disadvantage.

New air technologies in the early mid-twentieth century had played major roles in war. The United States air forces were rapidly evolving between World War I and World War II. Aircraft structures and weapons developed along with the manufacture of new systems and devices. The United States Air Force made technological advancements in aviation, including weaponry, aircraft structure, and navigation, during the World Wars (1914-1945).

This report will analyze the question: To what extent did the introduction of aviation affect United States military strategies in World War I? The early adoption of aviation into the U.S. military and the manner in which the early air force used air power shall be discussed in this examination.

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,

General Mitchell was a Visionary Leader who recognized the US military must include air power as a dominant role in its Operational Doctrine in order to successfully prosecute and decisively win future wars. According to Jeffers (2005), US Operational Doctrine dictated the US Navy Fleet was the key to winning wars prior to World War I. While in command of all 1,481 American and Allied airplanes in France during World War I, General Mitchell successfully created and employed his air

One of the lessons learned after the first world conflict is the necessity of using the third dimension on military operations. That assumption has been conceptualizing by theorist through doctrine and implements differently from one country to another. The doctrine concerning air force warfare was a direct influence of World War I as a revolution on this domain. The challenge of many military theorists concerned the emergence of the aircraft as a weapon and the adaptation of this emerging capability on military operations. One of the Airpower advocates Giulio Douhet consider the airpower as a tool to use to avoid trench warfare and dramatically shorten wars. Thus, aircraft would attack an enemy’s sources of assets and it is the key to destroying the

Progress and development is a characterizing feature of all facets of the world, with military technology and warfare being no different. Throughout the history of humanity, warfare has evolved in pace with the available technology, proceeding through the stone age into the age of iron, then steel, and into the modern era of warfare characterized largely by the presence of gunpowder. Contemporary warfare however has evolved into something entirely different. Herein, it will be demonstrated that the tactics and technology employed during World War I are fundamentally different than warfare as it is currently practice.

Douhet. Douhet’s theory implied that strategic bombers can also be used against civilian targets, creating a loss of morale while destroying the enemy’s will to fight. Rather than relying strictly on bombers, Mitchell’s concept of airpower could be described as a balance between pursuit and attack aircraft in order to achieve a strategic advantage on the battlefield as well as air superiority. Trenchard wholly accepted Mitchell’s demand that the Air Service become a separate branch to support both land and naval forces. These strategies would later aid Mitchell in formulating his predictions of the next world war.