The Bomber Plane

MP1 One of the Carl Von Clausewitz’s central issues that describes war’s dynamic is the concept of “culminating point of victory.” Clausewitz advocated the idea that an offensive should be focused on the defender’s collapse, otherwise there is a “culminating point”, a momentum where the attacker loses his advantage for strategic victory. As he mentioned, “every attack which does not lead to peace must necessarily end up as a defense.” Military history has been enriched by battles of commanders with an overestimating self-confidence and high spirit who failed to identify this momentum. As a result, they lost the tactical advantage and they were defeated. Classical example in the World War II

The Army completed two vitally important publications in 2014. The first was the much-anticipated U.S. Army Operating Concept: Win in a Complex World 2020-2040. This work, with a foreword from the Chief of Staff of the Army, “provides the intellectual foundation and framework for learning and for applying what we learn to future force development under Force 2025 and Beyond.” The TRADOC Commanding General’s foreword emphasizes that the Army Operating Concept’s “vision of the future must drive change to ensure that Army forces and prepared to prevent conflict, shape the security environment, and win wars.” The Army Operating Concept includes an acknowledgment of the “continuities in the nature of war as well as an appreciation for changes in the character of armed conflict” and references Thucydides and Clausewitz. A number of themes emerge from the Army Operating Concept’s vision of the future. These include complexity, ambiguity, multiplicity, adaptation,

It has been debated that the legendary Chinese tactician, Sun Tzu did not actually exist. Manuscripts partially preserved for over 2000 years are incomplete, and often contain discrepancies. Due to carbon dating, historians conjecture that Sun Tzu’s 13 Chapter text “The Art of War” is an encyclopedic compilation of early strategic techniques that have remained relevant regardless of time, population, or political and military strategy. Irrespective of Sun Tzu’s existence, it is widely accepted that “The Art of War” teachings remain relevant to modern military tacticians and governmental policy makers. Sun Tzu’s tactical legacy can be seen in the United States Department of Defense, where it’s a required addition in

Most strategists during the First World War saw no military future for aviation. The French Marshal Ferdinand Foch once said, “Aviation is good sport, but for the Army it is useless” (Bailey 10); however, as air technology advanced in the 1920s, the idea of air power gained strength. World War II was the

The First two names that comes to mind when it comes to aviation are Wilburn and Orville; the wright brothers; Kitty Hawk North Carolina, when the Wright brothers made the first heavier-than-air, machine powered flight which lasted 12 seconds. Before those guys, many studies by brilliant minds, such as De Rozier, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton has been set in place which lead to this 12 second flight by the wright brothers in 1903. It was the matter of time after the first power aircraft when the development of the first practical airplane in 1905 and launched worldwide efforts to build better flying machines. As a result, the early 20th century witnessed myriad aviation developments as new planes and technologies entered service. (FAA, 2015). With this new method of transportation booming and every nation around globe part taking in it, comes the concern of safety and organize operations.

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

Flight is a novel about a teenage Native American boy, named Zits because of his face, gets moved around from foster home to foster home, “crashing” through each one, and has closed his mind to the idea that some foster parents are trying to help him. Then, later in the book, after he shoots thirty or so people in a bank, is transported through time and different bodies, and learns how to turn his life around with the knowledge he acquires from what he sees and does in these different bodies. In one especially striking scene, Zits has traveled into the body of a young Indian boy at war. He wakes up in the middle of a large Indian camp. He then realizes that it is an old war camp, from the battle called “Custer’s Last Stand”. Zits remembers that in this battle the Indians prevailed against Custer’s cavalry. Then, as he stands in the middle of the camp, the father of the boy whose body he’s in comes over. Since Zits never had a real dad, the love this man is showing to him, even just something small, feels tremendous. Zits thinks as the man picks him up and hugs him, “As long as I’m this kid, this man is my father. And since I never knew my real Indian father, I feel like I’m going to explode. I want to hug this guy forever and forever” (64). This quote quite clearly shows that Zits needs someone to love him desperately, and that he will latch onto any small amount of affection he gets.

During WWII Boeing made two bombers, “B-17 Flying Fortress” and “B-29 Flying Fortress.” During WWII, when the nazi’s started to take over countries around Germany, the allies had an idea to use the B-17 bombers to bomb out the factories that were built throughout Germany. By doing this the nazis became weaker, and it handed the allies a chance to start attacking germany on all sides. After Hitler went down in defeat, Japan sent fighter-bombers over to Hawaii and bombed them out. United States started to produce B-29s with researching the atomic bomb. The B-29s didn’t get produced that much but they did end the war. Near the end America finished researching the atomic bomb, and they put it on a B-29, the bomber flown to Japan and drop the atomic bomb which ended the war between Japan and USA. The B-17 and B-29 were great bombers, but the specs in them is what really what made them famous.

After the Great War experience, the idea of strategic bombardment strongly influenced British interwar airpower theorists and advocates. The Trenchardian notion that decisive victory would come through the moral effect of aerial bombing was driven by the faith and expectation that it could destroy the enemy’s will to fight. During World War II, British more than Americans, felt it practical to adopt and

Their work reflects the primacy of the army in war. Due to the need for Americans to defend coastlines, protect commercial shipping, secure the interior, and ultimately project power, the American theory of warfare has evolved. In the 20th Century, the American theory of warfare developed a greater recognition of the interdependencies between the branches of service. Based on these dependencies, in 1946 President Harry Truman established the first unified commands. The unified commands permanently changed the role the Army from an operational force to a force provider. This change subordinated the Army’s theory of warfare to a higher-order joint theory of warfare. The evolution, however, did not stop there, as changes in the operational environment have forced the evolution of the theory of warfare beyond the military

Billy Mitchell’s impact on America military aviation development is unquestionably profound but his progressive radical approach in convincing others about the significance of air power led other to articulate, “Mitchell had allowed his vision of the potential of aviation to cost him his perspective.” Believing in his results from combat in WWI Mitchell set out to prove the importance of the air domain challenging the establishment on the significance of air power. Mitchell started out with a balanced approach regarding of this “new instrument of warfare” but as time progressed he and his pupils in the Air Service departed from a vision of a balanced force to one concentrated solely on strategic bombing leading up to WWII. Billy

Many theorists speculated different ideas on strategic bombing, including Trenchard, Douhet, and Gorrell. Trenchard’s strategic bomb theory was to focus more on attacking German homelands and to target the enemy nation’s morale. Next, Douhet’s theory is based on Total War Concept and targeted German infrastructures. Lastly, Gorrell’s theory using strategic bombs was to mainly focus on one German city at a time.

The United States Air Force This paper deals with the contributions of the United States Air Force to the eventual victory of the Allies in Europe during World War II. The Allied powers had no idea how important a strong air force would be against the Axis powers during World War II. The fact that Hitler moved east in 1941 and had planned to do so since 1940, had important implications for the British war effort. Though still powerless to prevent German initiatives from being successful in Greece and Crete, the British government was given a long period during which to prepare adequate defenses in the mainland against the expected day when Hitler would turn west again.

The conditions for using different strategies and tactics include enemy specific information, operational environment along with strategic and operational goals. One of the vital tactics developed during the Napoleonic era was the use of standard linear formations and the implementation of skirmishes, allowing the option of utilizing a combined effort of both when needed. In order to succeed in battle and incorporate awareness of his Army’s strength and weakness as well as taking into consideration of the operational environment, Napoleon introduced new tactics. The use of standard linear formations and the implementation of skirmishes is considered one the vital tactics of the Napoleonic era, allowing the option of utilizing a combined effort of both when needed. Current warfare approaches require serious contemplation of operational environments to determine what strategies or tactics are most suitable, yet another valuable strategy realized by Napoleon. Wars of years past typically fought with the idea or notion of symmetrical fighting, but current conflicts include an ability to utilize an asymmetrical approach, realizing as the environments and enemies change so too should our tactics and strategies. Strategies in the Napoleonic era considered military tactics first and foremost during warfare; however, logistical

Throughout the ages of history, there were many wars that were fought. For every victory and defeat, what was it that really determined the outcome of the war? Which army leader had the better or worse battle plan? With the plan they had, did it increase their chances of victory? Were there key factors in an army leader’s plan that lead to their defeat? Or, was the best decision made to completely avoid war? For a lot of the wars that took place and the ones that were avoided many years ago, the mystery still remains unsolved on how and why certain army leaders were victorious or gained a certain advantage because of the choices they made. On the other hand, it is also unknown on how or why an army leader failed to a certain extent