Office of Air Force History

In observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the Air Force History and Museums Program sponsored several commemorative events. One, co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation was a symposium on the War in the Pacific, held at the Bethesda, Maryland, Naval Officers' Club. The gathering offered a unique opportunity for its guest panelists-participants in that war or historians of it-to reflect on a variety of subjects: Japanese objectives; American military preparedness and grand strategy; the interaction between U. S. Army, Air, and Navy leaders; combined operations; political and diplomatic intrigue; the challenges of ground, air, and sea warfare within differing Pacific theaters; military science and technology; the essential role of intelligence; the proposed Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands; and the use of the atomic bombs. For the United States, World War II began and ended in the Pacific, from Japan's aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, to its surrender in Tokyo Bay, on September 2, 1945. During those years, for all but five months, Americans and their Allies were compelled to hold the line in Asia, doggedly opposing the imperialistJapan while a "Europe First" policy against Nazi Germany and fascist Italy prevailed in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The United States operated over huge distances, from China, Burma, and India, to countless Pacific islands from the Aleutians to the Coral Sea. It sent its Army, Navy, Marine, and Air forces into gruelling and horrific battles against a Japan bent at all costs on expanding its empire across thousands of miles and exploiting human and natural resources wherever it conquered. The momentous Allied victory in World War II made the United States the superpower it has been for half a century and, in large measure, determined its military planning into the present day. The War in the Pacific in particular proved that American military personnel fought bravely in many climes, on many fronts, against the odds, with amazing ingenuity and purpose. The discussions on World War II in general and the War in the Pacific in particular presented herein deal frankly with a time that tested America's resolve as it was never tested before and has not been tested since

As we conclude our year-long recognition of the 100th anniversary of powered flight, we take this opportunity to recognize and pay tribute to airmenof the past and present. We do this with an eye toward inspiring airmen of the future. General Frank M. Andrews was an inspirational figure in our history and it is fitting that we highlight his accomplishments and contributions in the creation, shaping, and development of the United States Air Force. As the organizer and commander of the prewar General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force, he was the first airman to have centralized nationwide command of Air Corpsbombardment, attack, and pursuit units. The advent of GHQ Air Force marked one of the first decisive steps on the road to the birth of a separate air service. Nevertheless, likely due to his personal modesty and untimely death in a B-24crash in, May 1943, while commanding the European Theater of Operations, he has been a background figure in our history. General George C. Marshall, wartime Chief of Staff of the Army, captured the magnitude of his tragic loss to the Allied war effort by characterizing Andrews as one of the nation's "few great captains." As we celebrate the Centennial of Flight, I'd like to encourage the use of upcoming venues to spread-the word about lesser-known, selfless warriors, such as General Andrews, who epitomize the values we highlight to airmen today. On March 7, 2003, we formally named the Air Combat Command headquarters building after General Andrews. We are also close to establishing anendowed scholarship fund in his memory for Air Force Academy Preparatory School Cadets and creation of a permanent "Andrews" exhibit in the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Additionally, we plan to integrate his story into our professional military education programs. Memorializing General Andrews is one example of how we can commemorate the Centennial of Flight, emphasizing the tremendous impact anindividual's efforts and contributions can have on aviation and the Air Force. Thank you for your support of this important project for aviation, the United States Air Force, and our nation.

Picture a man who was born before the flight of the first airplane, who spent time in Alaska during its early twentieth-century gold rush, and whobecame a superb pugilist, holding his own against ranked professionals. This same man joined the Army Air Service during World War I and made hisfirst solo flight after just a few hours of training. Several years later, he earned academic degrees at one of the Nation's most prestigious institutions, and, while setting all types of speed records in a multitude of aircraft, was involved in designing and testing many innovative aviation enhancements. During World War II, this same man flew the lead bomber in a flight that delivered the first retaliatory blow against the Japanese home islands. As commander of the Twelfth Air Force, he was involved in the North African campaign, striking at the Third Reich from the Mediterranean. Then, as commander of the "mighty" Eighth Air Force, he headed to England, where his fighter pilots achieved air superiority over the Luftwaffe. Lastly, in September 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri. Following the war, he served on the boards of many private corporations and government agencies and became the director of Shell Oil Company. He received his fourth star in 1985 from President Ronald Reagan, and, three years later, the Presidential Medal of Freedom fromPresident George H. W. Bush. This was not Walter Mitty or Forrest Gump, but a real person who lived for nearly a century. He was the United StatesAir Force's true Renaissance man, James H. Doolittle

THIS slender volume has value for both the general reader and the aviation specialist. For the latter there are lessons regarding command andcontrol and combined-unit operations that need to be learned to achieve battlefield success. For the former there is a straightforward narrative aboutAmerican aviators of all four services struggling in the most difficult of conditions to try to rescue more than 1,500 American and Vietnamese military and civilians. Not all the Americans moving through the events recounted in this monograph acted heroically, but most did, and it was their heroism that gave the evacuation the success it had. Airpower and the Airlift Evacuation of Kham Duc is fully documented so that readers wishing to look deeper into this incident may do so. Those who study the battle will see that it was something of a microcosm of the entire Vietnam War in the relationship of airpower to tactical ground efforts. Kham Duc sat at the bottom of a small green mountain bowl, and during most of 12 May 1968 the sky was full of helicopters, forward air controller aircraft, transports, and fighters, all striving to succeed and to avoid running into each other in what were most trying"circumstances. In the end they carried the day, though by the narrowest of margins and with heavy losses.

The volume at hand, Training to Fly: Military Flight Training, 1907-1945, is an institutional history of flight training by the predecessor organizations of the United States Air Force. The U. S. Army purchased its first airplane, built and successfully flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright, in 1909, and placed both lighter- and heavier-than-air aeronautics in the Division of Military Aeronauticsof the Signal Corps. As pilots and observers in the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces, Americans flew combat missions in France during the Great War. In the first postwar decade, airmen achieved a measure of recognition with the establishment of the Air Corps and, during World War II, the Army Air Forces attained equal status with the Army Ground Forces. During this first era of military aviation, as described by Rebecca Cameron in Training to Fly, the groundwork was laid for the independent United States Air Force. Those were extraordinarily fertile years of invention and innovation in aircraft, engine, and avionics technologies. It was a period in which an air force culture was created, one that was a product of individual personalities, of the demands of a technologically oriented officer corps who served as the fighting force, and of patterns of professional development and identity unique to airmen. Most critical, a flight training system was established on firm footing, whose effective test came in combat in World War II, and whoseorganization and methods continue virtually intact to the present day. This volume is based primarily on official documents that are housed in the National Archives and Records Administration. Some, dating from World War II, remained unconsulted and languishing in dust-covered boxes until theauthor's research required that they be declassified. She has relied upon memoirs and other first-person accounts to give a human face to training policies as found in those dry, official records. Training to Fly is the first definitive study of this important subject. Training is often overlooked because operations, especially descriptions ofaerial combat, have attracted the greatest attention of scholars and the popular press. Yet the success of any military action, as we have learned over and over, is inevitably based upon the quality of training. That training is furtherenhanced by an understanding of its history, of what has failed, and what has worked.

This is a narrative drawn from the era of the Southeast Asian conflict, detailing a unique event in that lengthy struggle. The event was calledLINEBACKER II, a nickname like thousands of others, used to identify an operation, project, or mission associated with military affairs. It so differed from the many others, however, in its execution and outcome, that it stands alone. For the first time in contemporary warfare, heavy jet bombers were employed in their designed role to conduct extended strategic operations against the warmaking capacity of a hostile nation. This monograph tells part of the story of Strategic Air Command's participation in LINEBACKER II. In so doing, it addresses the efforts of a complex mixture of Air Force and sister service operations, with all services working in concert towards a common goal. Rather than develop a completechronology or blow-by-blow account, which are matters of record in other works, the campaign is pursued more from the personal perspective. Herein is described the impact of LINEBACKER II on those in command, plus those in operations, maintenance and support who undergirded the effort, and the crewmembers. The narrative tells how they successfully met a staggering challenge. There was no book to follow. In only eleven days of intense combat operations they wrote their own book as they supported and flew the missions. That book revealed an across-the-board ability to radically change complex procedures and tactics on short notice, and a commensurate ability of aircrew and support personnel to execute them to near perfection. In reviewing their story we find insight as to why the nation and the military need this caliber of people, who stepped forward when the need arose, demonstrated superior leadership, determination, and resiliency, did the job, and then dispersed into the more normal patterns of life. Many have since retired or separated from active service. Yet, it is clear that the ultimatewell-being of our military structure in society must hinge on the continuing presence of this breed of people. Theirs was an achievement born of greatability and courage, and deserving of great honor.

The Berlin Crisis of 1948 had its origins in the dark mind of Joseph Stalin. Plans to interfere with Western access to Berlin were already hatched andharassment had begun by March 19, 1948, when the dictator met with German leaders of the Soviet-controlled Party of Socialist German Unity (SED). During the subsequent discussion, German communist leader Wilhelm Pieck warned that the elections scheduled for Berlin in October threatened a disaster for the SED. But, he argued, that humiliation could be prevented if, somehow, the Western powers could be removed from the city

An anniversary gives us the opportunity to recognize the deeds of our predecessors, take pride in our heritage, show gratitude for our victories, reflect on our losses, and review the past with the benefit of the longer perspective of history. Each generation tends to see the past in terms of its own experience. History both illuminates what has lain hidden and reinforces what we know. For its 1995 observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the Air Force History and Museums Program sponsored a series of commemorative events. One, a National Day of Recognition for Veterans of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), held on August 7th in the Washington, D. C. area, was celebrated at three locations. First, at the Pentagon's center court, Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall and Chief of Staff of the Air Force General RonaldR. Fogleman, praised the veterans' numberless contributions to Allied victory in the war. The Air Force Historian, Richard P. Hallion, read a congressional resolution marking the day and then Lieutenant Colonel Donald S. Lopez, USAF, retired, spoke on behalf of all World War II airmen. A flyover by vintage USAAF aircraft capped the festivities. During the afternoon in a symposium at the National Archives and Records Administration, eleven USAAF veterans, in separate sessionscovering the conflicts in Europe and Asia, reflected on their own wartime experiences of half a century ago. They spoke with clarity and authority and in remarkable detail on such topics as military preparedness, leadership, training, racial segregation, the treatment of American prisoners of war, military technology, the Allied invasion ofJapan, and the use of atomic weapons. Historians Richard G. Davis and William T. Y'Blood presented overviews at the respective sessions. That evening, the Daughters of the American Revolution gave a reception in honor of the symposium participants and opened ConstitutionHall for an outstanding musical tribute, which was performed before a packed house by the United States Air Force Band. Dr. Hallion, joined by General Bryce Poe, II, president of the Air Force Historical Foundation, hosted the symposium. Reminiscences and remarks are faithfully preserved herein.

From the Wright Brothers' first flight, a long, convoluted road led to the creation of the modernindependent United States Air Force. Despitefrustrating bureaucratic delays and political maneuvering, the ultimate goal was clear. Two world wars had devastated whole continents and threatened long-term global peace. Only a well-prepared American military establishment, fully utilizing its Air Force, could provide a strong national defense and help ensure world peace. As aerospace technology took off, an independent Air Force would lead the way into the atomic age, and a new military structure would be required. Just asimportant as technology, however, would be thevision and energy of air power advocates. Overfive decades, Air Force people would build theworld's finest air organization by following a simple creed: putting service above self

The development, production, and operational deployment of intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles probably constitutes the most intensive, complex, and expensive military program ever undertaken in American history. Certainly, it far exceeds in scope any other program attempted during a peacetime period. The objective of the program was far more than just the attainment of operational weapon systems. The continuance of peace, an uneasy one to be sure, and the very future and well-being of the "free world" depended in large measure upon a successful and energetic prosecution of the ballistic missile program. The United States Air Force, apprised through the media of several special studies of both the urgent requirement for rocket-propelled missiles and of recent major technological advances and possibilities, responded in 1954 with the establishment of a unique organization and management structure to carry out the importantjob. The structure was designed to harness the composite skills, knowledge, and facilities of the military service, the scientific world, and American industry in a major, concerted effort. No less important, the Air Force expected the new approach to compress the development-production-operation cycle by eliminating much of the inherent "red tape" so characteristic of the coordinating and decision-making processes at the various echelons of command and control. The Secretary of Defense and the President took special measures at their levels. They established special units and instituted special procedures--all for the purpose of easing the management task. They assigned the highest priority ratings to the program and removed likely areas of administrative impediments. Finally, they kept themselves intimately informed on each step of progress during the course of the program.

This is the second in a series or historical studies on the role or the Air Force in space activities, prepared by the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office. The first study, The Threshold of Space 1945-1959, described the evolution of the nationalspace program with emphasis on the responsibilities or the Air Force. For the present study, the author adopted a broad approach that permitted timely coverage or USAF space policies, plans, and programs within the context or both the national space program and USAF strategic objectives. This office will also prepare comprehensive studies on particular portions or the space program. The Air Force in Space, 1959-1960 is part of the History of Headquarters USAF, Fiscal Year 1960. This document is classified SECRET to conform with the classification assigned to sources of information used herein.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops, supported by Soviet-supplied tanks and artillery, advanced across the 38th parallel, routing the lightly armed South Koreans. The immediate tasks facing General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Far East Command and its air component, the Far East Air Forces, were to provide equipment for the embattled South Koreans and to evacuate the American noncombatants caught in the path of the Communist offensive. Fighters and bombers of the Far East Air Forces contributed to the evacuation by protecting the ships and aircraft carrying the refugees to Japan. While covering the evacuation, 1st Lt. William G. Hudson, the pilot of an F-82 Twin Mustang, scored the first aerial victory of the Korean War by shooting down a Soviet-built fighter. The Korean War consisted of four distinct phases. Initially, the Communist army advanced against increasing resistance as it forced the United Nations defenders into the Pusan perimeter in the most southeastern part of South Korea. In September, however, the second phase began when the North Koreans suffered a complete reversal of fortune when the UN forces landed at Inchon, far beyond the battle line; burst from the Pusan perimeter; shattered the North Korean Army; and pursued its remnants northward. The third phase began when China intervened in force in November 1950, surprising the scattered UN armies as they approached North Korea's northern border and driving them back to the vicinity of the 38th parallel. Finally, the fourth phase was a stalemate, during which neither side would risk vast casualties in an attempt to gain a complete victory. Truce talks began in July 1951, but the fighting continued until July 1953, when the negotiations at last bore fruit and the conflict ended in a cease-fire agreement.

Almost twenty-five years after publishing Planning and Organizing the Postwar Air Force, 1943-1947, and a decade after publishing his definitive work, The Struggle for Air Force Independence, 1943-1947, Herman S. Wolk, retired Air Force senior historian, returns to the subject that capped his nearly fifty-year career with the Air Force history program. As Wolk explains, this briefwork is a reflective analysis. The United States Army's air arm waged a frustrating and uncertain battle during the interwar years to gain greater autonomy from the War Department. For the air arm, the key transition was the establishment in 1935 of the General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force under Brig. Gen. Frank M. Andrews. The GHQ Air Force was the first American air force that consolidated all striking forces. For several years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which triggered U. S. entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt foresaw the major role that air power would play in the conflict, and he called for a massive buildup. The president wanted the major share of aircraft produced to go to the Allies. Consequently, he was sometimes at cross purposes with his Air Corps chief, Maj. Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, who was hard at work trying toincrease the Army's air capability. The formation in June 1944 of the Twentieth Air Force was a landmark event in the Army air arm's drive for independence. With B-29s to send against the Japanese home islands, the Twentieth gave the Army Air Forces (AAF) what Arnold termed "a Global Air Force." Its formation set the precedent for that of the postwar Strategic Air Command, which provided the United States with its nuclear deterrence force in the Cold War. The lessons of World War II were many. Many also were the significant contributions of the AAF-tactical, strategic, support, humanitarian-that convinced President Harry S. Truman, Congress, and the American people that the creation of the United States Air Force (USAF) was necessary in the postwar era. Wolk makes the pivotal connections between politics and the searing experience of war to explain how and why the USAF was established. His analysis addresses not only technology, bureaucracy, and politics, but also people. The service's founding airmen were more than flyers and technologists; they were, above all, men of faith who believed in what they were doing. For many years they fought against long odds. The nation owes them a great debt.

This publication is the first of a series titled The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia. It tells the story of the Air Force's involvement in the region from the end of the second World War until the major infusion of American troops into Vietnam in 1965. During these years, and most noticeably after 1961, the Air Force's principal role in Southeast Asia was to advise the Vietnamese Air Force in its struggle against insurgents seeking the collapse of the Saigon government. This story includes some issues of universal applicability to the Air Force: the role of air power in an insurgency, the most effective way to advise a foreign ally, and how to coordinate with other American agencies (both military and civilian) which are doing the same thing. It also deals with issues unique to the Vietnamese conflict: how to coordinate a centralized, technological modern airforce with a feudal, decentralized, indigenous one without overwhelming it, and how best to adapt fighter, reconnaissance, airlift, and liaison planes to a jungle environment. Additional volumes in this series will tell the story of the Air Force in South Vietnam, in Laos, and over North Vietnam until the cessation of the Air Force's direct role in 1973.

This is the second in a series of research studies-historical works that were not published for various reasons. Yet, the material contained therein was deemed to be of enduring value to Air Force members and scholars. These works were minimally edited and printed in a limited edition to reach a small audience that may find them useful. We invite readers to provide feedback to the Air Force History and Museums Program. Dr. Theodore Joseph Crackel, completed this history in 1993, under contract to the Military Airlift Command History Office. Contract management was under the purview of the Center for Air Force History (now the Air Force History Support Office). MAC historian Dr. John Leland researched and wrote Chapter IX, "CRAF in Operation Desert Shield." Rooted in the late 1930s, the CRAF story revolved about two points: the military requirements and the economics of civil air transportation. Subsequently, the CRAF concept crept along for more than fifty years with little to show for the effort, except for a series of agreements and planning documents. The tortured route of defining and redefining of the concept forms the nucleus of the this history. Unremarkable as it appears, the process of coordination with other governmental agencies, the Congress, aviation organizations, and individual airlines was both necessary and unavoidable; there are lessons to be learned from this experience. Although this story appears terribly short on action, it is worth studying to understand how, when, and why the concept failed and finally succeeded. The payoff came during the Persian Gulf War, over the period from August 1990 until January 1991, when the CRAF flew in support of Operation Desert Shield. The CRAF provided the "greatest airlift in history," eclipsing in some aspects even the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift. The statistics were staggering: during those 165 days the CRAF transported some 400,000 troops and 355,000 tons of cargo from the U. S. east coast to the Arabian Peninsula, an average distance of 7,000 miles. By May 1991 CRAF aircraft had transported 60 percent of the troops and 25 percent of the cargo.

This study is the first of a two-part history of Air Force forward air control operations in Southeast Asia. Part II currently in preparation, will take the story through the years 1965-1970, a period which witnessed many thousands of air control missions flown in support of U. S., South Vietnamese and Allied ground combat units during operations against enemy forces. In this narrative, Major Rowley describes the manyproblems which faced the first air controllers after their arrival in South Vietnam in early 1962. He discusses their efforts to overcome the language barrier and help train Vietnamese Air Force personnel, their role in establishing a centralized air control system, and the tactics and techniques they developed during the years prior to President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision in 1965 to dispatch large U. S. ground forces to Southeast Asia to help thwart the attempted conquest of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese. Major Rowley's study is one of a series of historical works currently being written by Air Force historians on air operations in Southeast Asia. His account is based on primary source materials in the Office of Air Force History; the USAF Historical Archives at Maxwell AFB. Ala.; the Air University Library; and the records of the Air Staff and the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. The author has examined official correspondence- - letters, memoranda, and working papers- -plus a variety of historical studies and reports, including organizational histories. Interviews with forward air controllers and other key personnel-conducted both by the author and other military historians- -also were drawn upon. Transcripts of these are available in the Office of Air Force History or in the collections of the Historical Archives at Maxwell AFB. Ala.

Russian history and culture has long fascinated Westerners, but only in the twentieth century has Russia had an impact on people everywhere. Whyis this true? Why is the Soviet period of Russian history extraordinary in Russia's millennium-long existence? Several reasons come to mind. In thetwentieth century Russia has served as a dramatic example of the challenges encountered by all late modernizing societies. For a time, the Soviet Unionseemed to incorporate the dreams of both Marxism and nationalism. It offered an unprecedented developmental path to modernization while maintaining both political and economic independence. Many Soviet citizens andsome foreign observers correspondingly escalated their view and understanding of Russia's historical experience to universal levels, seeing the Soviet Union as embodying the sufferings and humanitarian aspirations of people everywhere, in all cultures and in all places. Within this broad context, other factors have also made the Soviet period of Russian history extraordinary. Among them is the special concern of this book-Russian experience with modem war. War is arguably the central fact of modem Russian history. Encounters with modem warfare have certainly transformed Russia in the twentieth century. In particular the Soviet period of Russian history has been uniquely shaped, possibly distorted, by the devastating results of global war. One outcome has been that Russia's influence has been extended globally, even into space itself. To date, however, the centrality of war in the Russian historical experience has not been well integrated into the general understanding of Russian history in the West. Several factors have contributed to this, not the least of which has been the emotionalism engendered by the extravagant mutual hostility of Communists and anti-Communists. Unrealistic optimism concerning the impending demise of capitalism on the one hand, or of socialism on the other, colored interpretations and obscured evidence. Only occasionally were partisans on both sides forced to accommodate themselves to the stubbornness of historical data.

The first paper tells the story of GPS. It is not only a story of scientific and technical achievement, but also one of suspense that illustrates the difficulties of introducing revolutionary technologies. The failures and successes in that program attest to the vision and perseverance of the people who made it happen. The GPS finally solved the problem that had challenged seafarers since antiquity. It has also enabled a multitude of civilian and military applications. The second paper looks at a development that has revolutionized the employment of air power. The use of laser research and the GPS has enabled ever-increasing precision strikes at ever-increasing distances. From tens of bombers dropping hundreds of bombs to hit a singletarget in World War II, now a single aircraft can strike several targets. Precision also raises expectations for minimizing collateral damage and puts high priority on detecting targets, identifying them correctly, and tracking them. Advances in electro-optical/infrared imaging, in radar, and in lasers have become the triad for remote sensing, where the objective has been to "overcome the problems of great distances, weather, and darkness," articulated by von K rm n. The third paper focuses on infrared cameras from their first beginnings to their employment inunmanned aerial vehicles such as the Predator and Global Hawk. The fourth paper looks at airborne radar, whether in AWACS or in Joint STARS, two systems that have revolutionized the conduct of air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. Soon after the first powered flight in 1903, the effects of the high altitude environment on the performance of pilots became a concern. Research on the effects of hypoxia went back to balloonists in the late nineteenth century. With the creation in 1918 of the Air Service Medical Research Laboratory, it became possible to establish the scientific foundation for the development of a wide variety of equipment, from oxygen masks to the pressure suits of today, that would enable air crews to fly higher and for longer periods of time. The fifth paper traces that history and the accomplishments of such pioneers as Armstrong, Stapp, and Kittinger. The paper also includes the story of a particular mission of the SR-71, an aircraft that flew at 80,000 feet, at the edge of space, at three times the speed of sound-an extreme environment indeed. The sixth paper, not presented at the symposium, describes the Air Force research in weather, not only the effort to understand terrestrial weather, but also space weather. The launching of U. S. satellites, which started in 1958, led to the discovery of the Van Allen belts. This was a major scientific discovery that began the mapping of the space environment, a necessary condition for sending unmanned and manned spacecraft to space. To reach space, whether for scientific, military, or commercial purposes, a launch capability was needed. In the early years of the space age, this capability was provided by theAir Force's long-range ballistic missiles-Atlas, Titan, and Thor. The seventh paper records the history and the systems that have allowed the U. S. to launch satellites that have provided extraordinary sensing capabilities and global communications. The evolution of military satellite communications from concept to reality, an indispensable capability for today's Air Force, is documented in the eighth paper. Finally, as we start the second century of powered flight, the Air Force is once more expandingits capabilities using advanced technology. The wave of the future is directed energy that isexpected to revolutionize the science and art of warfare. Since the invention of the laser in the1960s, the Air Force has been conducting research and development for an operational platformthat would use lasers to destroy ground or air launched missiles.