Air Force Heritage

Overview

• Air Power before WWI• WWII – Strategic bombardment• Korea War + Technology• Air Campaigns of Vietnam • The Space Race• DESERT STORM

Air Power Before WWI

• Thought mostly as a ‘communication, observation and reconnaissance’ asset • Very unprepared for war

• 14th among airpowers in the world• 131 Officers, 1087 enlisted men…. NO combat

capable aircraft

Billy Mitchell

• General ‘Billy’ Mitchell• Studied Sir Hugh Trenchard (RAF)• Forward Action, relentless offensive

• Pushed for an independent Air Force• Demonstration –sinking 3 captured German

ships

End of WWI

– St. Mihiel - France• One of first US offensives of the war• 1,500 planes over battlefield in support of ground

forces• Achieved Air Superiority – Could attack ground forces, airfields, comm

centers• At the end of the war• 45 Squadrons• 781 aircraft kills, 73 balloon kills

WWII - CBO

• Combined Bomber Offensive• Americans and British against Germany• Around the clock bombing

• Strategic Bombing• Started as high altitude, daylight, precision

bombing – tight bomber formations with on-board guns

B-17 B-24

WWII - CBO

• Huge losses – led to fighter escorts + fighters with longer range (P-51 Mustang)

• Attacked Germany aircraft industry to gain air superiority• Once air superiority was achieved could attack any

target for the remainder of war

• Doolittle Raid• Aircraft carriers

WWII - Other

• Tuskegee Airmen – first African American military pilots• North Africa ground attack mission• Fighter escorts – ‘Red Tails’

• WASPs – Women’s Air Force Service Pilots• Ferried planes across Atlantic

• National Security Act of 1947

Korean War

• Part of the Cold War• North Korean troops, supported

by Soviets crossed into South Korea

• Jet Fighter Aircraft!• MIG-15 – technologically

superior• Higher airspeed at altitudes

above 30,000, lighter, higher climb rate, smaller turn rate

• F-86 Saberjet – superior training of pilots

• 792 MIF-15 kills vs 78 F-86 losses

F-86

F-80

MIG-15

After the Korean War

• Secretary of the Air Force:• “the Korean War was a special case and air power

can learn little from there about its future role in US foreign policy”

• Nuclear development and ‘deterrence’• B-52 Stratofortress – capable of delivering nuclear weapons

over Soviet Union• ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles)• Led to Atlas, Thor, Titan I, Titan II, Minuteman I, II and

III and Peacekeeper missile systems• Navy’s missile launching submarines

Air Campaigns of Vietnam

• ROLLING THUNDER – interdiction campaign meant to stem flow of men and supplies into S. Vietnam– ‘Graduated’ use of force against select targets– Hoped would bring N. Vietnam to peace talks– Instead allowed them to build up air defense network– Canceled when became obvious it was not working

B 52 Stratofortress

Air Campaigns of Vietnam

• LINEBACKER I – Bombing campaign• More intense than ROLLING THUNDER• Targeted comm centers, road networks,

railroads, bridges, military barracks, harbors• Intended to cut off supplies to N. Vietnamese in

the South + limited N. Vietnams ability to make war

• More impact in 9 months than ROLLING THUNDER did in 4 years

Air Campaigns of Vietnam

• LINEBACKER II• Employed a large number of B-52s• A true strategic bombing campaign• Specific targets in Hanoi and Haiphong

• Ran concurrently with LINEBACKER I• Brought N. Vietnam to peace talks

The Space Race

• Mercury – First manned space program• Alan B. Shepard – first American in space• Flight was about 15 min• Objectives – to put a man in space and to return

safely, to test effects of space flight• Gemini• Intermediate step between Mercury and Apollo• Carried 2 astronauts• Objectives - perform first orbital docking and first

space walk, to perfect re-entry and landing

The Space Race

• Apollo• First mission to moon• Objectives were to land on the moon and return to

Earth and gather moon samples

DESERT STORM

• INSTANT THUNDER – named related to ROLLING THUNDER• Quick, decisive campaign • Destroy Iraq’s ability to fight

The Five Strategic Rings

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Phases of DESERT STORM

Phase I: Strategic Air Campaign– Focus on targets from ‘5 rings’– Government offices, military HQ,C4I, CBRNE, missile sites, electrical +petroleum production, Iraqi AF– About one week

Phase II: Suppression of enemy Air Defenses over Kuwait vicinity– About 2 days

Phases of DESERT STORM

Phase III: Air Attacks on ground forces in Kuwait and vicinity– Republican Guard and regular Iraqi forces in

Kuwait– Planned to last several weeks or reduce forces to

below 50% (historically the point of ineffectiveness)

Phase IV: Ground Operations as directed

Overview

• Air Power before WWI• WWII – Strategic bombardment• Korea War + Technology• Air Campaigns of Vietnam • The Space Race• DESERT STORM