U. S. Air Force

The theme of the first Military History Symposium, held at the United States Air Force Academy on 4-5 May 1967, was "Current Concepts in Military History." The papers delivered at the second, on 2-3 May 1968, together with the subsequentcomments of a number of officers who had participated in the events discussed, were published by the Academy in 1969 as Command and Commanders in Modern Warfare. The presentvolume consists of the papers, revised and annotated for publication, and the discussion sessions of the third Symposium, held on 8-9 May 1969. With the fourth Symposium, "Soldiersand Statesmen; the Policy-Making Process in Modern History," to be held at the Academy on 22-23 Oct 1970, the series becomes biennial. The Symposia are intended to serve a number of purposes. First, they provide a forum for scholars in military history, a field that has grown rapidly since World War II and one in which the Academy obviously has a special interest. Second, bybringing distinguished scholars to the Academy, the Symposia provide a link between the scholar and the military professional. At a time of serious internal stresses in American society, all such links are generally valuable. More prosaically, however, the Academy's history faculty is kept abreast of developments in their academic discipline, while cadets are encouraged to a continuing interest in the background of their chosen profession. Third, by the participation of historians who do not consider themselves primarily "military" historians, but who are competent in areas that impinge on military affairs, the field of military history itself is enriched

Those old enough to remember the decade after Vietnam will recall those years as exciting but difficult ones to be a fighter pilot. Struggling to come to terms with poor performance by U. S. forces in Vietnam, we seemed to have thewrong jets, unreliable weapons, and inadequate training. On top of this we faced the specter of the next war coming in Europe against the Warsaw Pact, which outnumbered us two to one. We called the Soviet and Soviet-trained pilots Ivan, and sometimes Ivan seemed ten feet tall. We should have had an edge with our force of combat veterans. However, within five years after Vietnam, the number of experienced combat fighter pilots dropped precipitously as many disgruntled aviators left the Air Force for thegreener pastures of commercial aviation. For the ones who stayed it was no consolation to know that combat experience always evaporates after every war. All they could see was men who knew how to fight laying down their arms and retiringfrom the field. The ones who stayed struggled mightily, and this is their story. I did not focus this book on the generals and legislators who worked hard to improve the fighter force. Rather, this book is about the young officers, the line pilots, and weapons systems operators (WSOs), whose innovations, devotion to duty, intelligence, flying skills, and sheer determination made indelible marks on combat capability Of course, generals made a difference, and nothing could have happened without the leadership and support of some, like the former commanders of Tactical Air Command (TAC), Generals Robert J. Dixon, William W. Momyer, and Wilbur Creech. Some of the stories I relate include them, but the thrust is toward the "blighters in the trenches." Most worked long, usually thankless hours in anenvironment where the cynics among them stated that the reward for excellence was no punishment. History is at once educational and fickle. After reading this, a young officer, pilot or not, will have a better understanding of how the fighter force developed. Nonetheless, much of the information herein comes from interviews, and memories dim over the decades. An old joke: What is the difference between a fairy tale and a fighter pilot's war story? Answer: None, except the fairy tale starts out, "Once upon a time..." whereas the story starts out, "There I was..." That said, the information from the interviewees is the best available. All of them were in the hunt during those years, flying the jets, teaching the younger pilots, and striving for excellence. No one knows more about the era.

In December 1918 Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, Chief of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), directed his newly appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, Col. Edgar S. Gorrell, toprepare a history and final report on U. S. air activities in Europe during World War I. The narratives written and compiled by Gorrell and his staff were submitted by Patrick to Gen. John J. Pershing, Commander in Chief of the AEF. They summarized Air Service activities from the arrival of the first airmen in France in the spring of 1917 until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. The"Final Report" was published by the Air Service in an Information Circular in 1921, and by the Army in a multivolume collection of World War I documents in 1948. Although it has been used andcited by a number of historians over the years, it deserves to be better known. The Office of Air Force History, therefore, is republishing it so as to reach a wider circle of persons interested in the Great War and the early history of military aviation. Another important document produced under Gorrell's supervision as part of the history of the Air Service, AEF, is a "Tactical History" written by Lt. Col. William C. Sherman and a group of officers working with him in France at the end of the war. Although published in part in an Air Service Information Circular in 1920, Sherman's "Tactical History" has remained virtually unknown, or at least has not had extensive use. Since it provides excellent information about the conduct of combat operations, it should be of value to persons interested in aerial warfare in the First World War. It has been included, therefore, in this volume with the "Final Report." This is one of a series of volumes of World War I documentation that the Office of Air Force History is planning to publish.

Following the Armistice in 1918, Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, Chief of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces, directed that a record be made of lessons learned during the war. This information, he believed, was needed for planning the Air Service of the future. The reports prepared by commanders, pilots, observers, and other members of the various Air Service units inresponse to General Patrick's directive are of considerable historical interest for the information they contain about the Air Service and its employment at the front. A select group of the reports on lessons learned make up Part I of this volume of World War I documents on U. S. military aviation. Part II is devoted to a report on the effects of Allied bombing in World War I. This long-forgotten document, the result of a post-war investigation by the Air Intelligence Section of General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, is the counterpart of the well-known United States Strategic Bombing Survey of World War II. This volume is the last in a series that the Office of Air Force History is publishing on the U. S. Air Service in World War I.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of Pacific forces in World War II, viewed the Battle of the Bismarck Sea as a disaster for the Japanese and a triumph for the Allies. In that great air-sea confrontation, U. S. and Australian air forces proved that air power could be decisive in preventing the resupply of ground troops by sea. Months of torturous warfare in the jungles of New Guinea had left Japanese troops vulnerable to disease and starvation. In the end, Allied airmenwere able to break Japan's grip on New Guinea and end its threat to Australia through the innovative and aggressive use of air power. MacArthur's strength lay in a dedicated and courageous band of airmen who could attack enemy ships from all directions at any time.

THIS MONOGRAPH, written by Mrs. Juliette A. Hennessy of the USAF Historical Division, recounts the development of aviation in the United States Army from April 1861, when the Army first became interested in balloons as a means of observation, to April 1917, when America entered World War I. The origins and organizations of the Army's air arm are told in detail, with particularemphasis on early air force personnel, planes, and experiments. In the process the monograph traces the early development of what today is The United States Air Force. Of necessity, the monograph tends strongly toward the chronological variety. This is owing to several factors, the thinness of aviation activities for most of the long period covered and an equal thinness in records being the principal factors. Only a few books which deal with this early period of Army aviation have been written, and all of them together do not cover the period. This, then, is the first attempt to put the story into a single volume. Because the story of the air arm from April 1917 to the beginning of World War II also has not been fully covered it is expected that the present monograph will be the first of three, which, when completed, will become the basis for a published history of the Army Air Arm, 1861-1939. Like other Historical Division studies, this history is subject to revision, and additional information or suggested corrections will be welcomed.

USAF Manpower Trends, 1960-1963, is an account of Air Force efforts to adjust to requirements for a high quality technical and professional force and to the ever-growing demands from the Administration and Congress for greater economy in the use of manpower. Continuing technological developments and changes in national military strategy dictated the recruiting and holding of better trained people, shifts in personnel assignments, and modifications in the mission of many Air Force units. Perhaps most immediatelysignificant were preparations to meet the Berlin and Cuban crises of 1961 and 1962 and to counter the Communist threat to wage "wars of national liberation." The author has approached the various subjects discussed in this study from the viewpoint of the highest echelons of the Air Force--Headquarters USAF and the Office of the Secretary--attempting to explain how they met new problems and conditions, particularly how they adjusted to the demands of the Administration and Congress.

The Changing Character of Air Force Manpower, 1958-1959, is an account or the Air Force's efforts to fit its personnel to its changing weapons. This meant a search for higher quality of abilities in both its military and civilian manpower and a quest tor improved manpower controls. The education for future careers in the Air Force involved new concepts in all phases of training. And the problems or the reserve forces required growing attention from the Air Force. Prepared as a chapter for inclusion in the History of Headquarters USAF, Fiscal Year 1959, this study is being issued separately to make it more readily available throughout the Air Force. Like all the studies produced by the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office, it is presented with an invitation for suggestions from its readers.

In a Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, USAF, dated 16 July 1962, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Research and Development) requested that the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) be directed to accomplish a "two pronged project" which would document and analyze the "Air Force in-house laboratory posture." The first AFCHO response to this request, the Memorandum stated, should be "a review of actions taken by the Air Force since the 14 October memorandum of the Secretary of Defense in strengthening the in-house laboratories." The study presented in the followingpages endeavors to meet the first of the two requirements which were assigned to AFCHO by the Vice Chief of Staff, USAF. A second and considerably larger study will be issued by AFCHO during calendar year 1963. This forthcoming study will, within the terms of reference contained in the 16 July Memorandum, be "an historical analysis of policies, actions, attitudes and results relating to in-house laboratories since the Von Karman report was issued in 1946. It should be a much longer range project which will bring together for the first time all the information on this subject and will be most useful in analyzing and portraying the Air Force's use and support of the in-house laboratories overthe past two decades." Mr. Carl Berger, the author of this first, briefer, and essentially current study on Air Force in-house laboratories, will also prepare the second, more comprehensive, and longer range AFCHO study covering this highly important and often controversial area of Air Force activity.

The Air Force and Contract Management, 1961-1965 deals with the impact of a study project initiated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to improve the management of Department of Defense contracts. It briefly describes the Air Force's contract management organization and general approach to performing the function, the recommendations emerging from the study, and the decision by OSD to centralize contract management within a new Defense agency. USAF organizational changes that followed--including transfer of thousands of USAF contract management personnel and some 38,000contracts to the new agency--are discussed. The Air Force's post-reorganization responsibilities formanagement of contracts for major weapon systems, and other support functions, are also examined.

In our continuing effort to document the use of airpower in Southeast Asia, we present in this volume two major contributions to the "airpower story." Monograph 4, "The Vietnamese Air Force, 1951-1975, An Analysis of its Role in Combat," was written by General William W. Momyer, USAF (Ret), former commander of air forces in Vietnam. It presents an objective review of the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) and the role played by the U. S. Air Force in VNAF's short 14-year life span. To provide the necessary perspective to this complex subject, the author presents a comparative analysis of the successes and failures of airpower during the three major enemy offensives of 1968, 1972 and 1975. The conclusions touch upon some of the fundamental doctrinal principles of airpower and highlight areas that must be carefully considered in any future employment. The events presented in Monograph 5, although not directly related to the war in Vietnam, took place in Southeast Asia, and were performed by the same men, organizations, and machines which fought so gallantly in that war. It is almost a step-by-step account of the "Mayaguez Affair" and the role of airpower in its successful outcome. Particular emphasis is given to the courage anddetermination of the young helicopter pilots during the delivery and recovery of U. S. Marines from Kho Tang Island. These two monographs provide the student of airpower with an excellent case study in the tactical employment of air resources at two widely separated points in the spectrum of conflict. For the general reader, they provide a vivid and substantive discussion on the use of combat airpower and should give some understanding of the magnitude and complexity of any airpower operation, large or small.

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.

WHEN JAPAN ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR on December 7, 1941, and Germany and Italy joined Japan four days later in declaring war against theUnited States, intelligence essential for the Army Air Forces to conduct effective warfare in the European and Pacific theaters did not exist. Piercing the Fog tells the intriguing story of how airmen built intelligence organizations to collect and process information about the enemy and to produce and disseminate intelligence to decision makers and war fighters in the bloody, horrificcrucible of war. Because the problems confronting and confounding air intelligence officers, planners, and operators fifty years ago still resonate, Piercing the Fog is particularly valuable for intelligence officers, planners, and operators today and for anyone concerned with acquiring and exploiting intelligence for successful air warfare. More than organizational history, this book reveals the indispensable and necessarily secret role intelligence plays in effectively waging war. It examines how World War II was a watershed period for Air Force Intelligence and for the acquisition and use of signals intelligence, photo reconnaissance intelligence, human resources intelligence, and scientific and technical intelligence. Piercing the Fog discusses the development of new sources and methods of intelligence collection; requirements for intelligence at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare; intelligence to support missions for air superiority, interdiction, strategic bombardment, and air defense; the sharing of intelligence in a coalition and joint service environment; the acquisition of intelligence to assess bomb damage on a target-by-target basis and to measure progress in achieving campaign and war objectives; and the ability of military leaders to understand the intentions and capabilities of the enemy and to appreciate the pressures on intelligence officers to sometimes tell commanderswhat they think the commanders want to hear instead of what the intelligence discloses. The complex problems associated with intelligence to support strategic bombardment in the 1940s will strike some readers as uncannily prescient to global Air Force operations in the 1990s. A half century ago, accurate, timely intelligence contributed significantly to victory and hastened the end of World War II. Such a legacy is worth reading and thinking about by all those responsible for building, maintaining, and employing air power. How well intelligence is integrated with air operations is even more important today than it was in the past. It will continue to prove as critical in the next century as it has been in this one

PART 2 of 2Medical Support of the Army Air Forces In World War II has been prepared to fill a gap in the medical history of that period. Its purpose is to present a unified narrative of the total performance of the AAF medical service in support of the Air Forces combat mission. Fundamentally a reference book, this volume is based almost exclusively upon unpublished documents in custody of the U. S. Air Force, with occasional citation of published sources. Since this volume, like other comparable military publications in World War II, is based upon masses of archival material, the project has been in a very true sense a group project. During World War II professionally trained historians carried out basic research and writing while professional specialists in aviation medicine prepared highlytechnical materials. And while as authors we must assume final responsibility for the historical and technical accuracy of the presentation and interpretation of the present volume, it has been our intention insofar as is humanly possible to establish and acknowledge individual contributions. In the order of sequence in which these group efforts appear, first mention is made of Chapter III, "School of Aviation and Related Programs" which represents a collation of edited data based upon the series of 6-month histories prepared in the Army Air Forces Training Command under the direction of Col. Neeley Mashburn (MC), by the School of Aviation Medicine, and by the four continental air forces. Chapter IV, "Research and Development" represents in part a collation of materials from the same source, together with a draft prepared by the staff of the Aero Medical Laboratory. Chapter V, "The Air Evacuation Mission" is a collation of data gathered from the histories of the School of Air Evacuation, the School of Aviation Medicine, and the Wing histories of the Air Transport Command. None of these chapters represents original research or writing on the part of the editors. The overseas theaters, on the other hand, have been approached somewhat differently. Two historians on the wartime staff were originally scheduled to prepare monographs on the Mediterranean and European Theaters respectively. John S. G. Carson, Ph. D., who was to prepare the final draft of the AAF/MediterraneanTheater medical history was called back to his academic post before his research and writing was completed. Chapter VI, however, incorporates much of his draft material. It also includes, withminor editing, a section on the North African Landings and early Twelfth Air Force prepared in the theater under the direction of Col. William Cook (MC). Another Headquarters historian, Wiley Hodges, Ph. D., was scheduled to prepare a monograph on the European Theater but he too was called back to his academic post before his task was completed. A large section of Chapter VIII dealing with the "Special Problems of Aviation Medicine in Europe'', however, remains substantially as written by him. The section on the Ninth Air Force, with slight editing, incorporates the periodic histories prepared in the theater. And while the editors have taken extensive liberties with his manuscript, authorship credit for the chapter on the Pacific and Southwest Pacific belongs to Lt. Col. Charles G. Mixter, Jr. (MC)who was Malaria Control Officer in that area during the war and later called to Headquarters, AAF, to prepare the official report. Finally to Bruce Berman, M. A., who is presently a member of the historical staff, goes collaborative credit in preparation of the chapter on ChinaBurma- India. This is in addition to his assistance in editing thevolume.

PART 1 of 2Medical Support of the Army Air Forces In World War II has been prepared to fill a gap in the medical history of that period. Its purpose is to present a unified narrative of the total performance of the AAF medical service in support of the Air Forces combat mission. Fundamentally a reference book, this volume is based almost exclusively upon unpublished documents in custody of the U. S. Air Force, with occasional citation of published sources. Since this volume, like other comparable military publications in World War II, is based upon masses of archival material, the project has been in a very true sense a group project. During World War II professionally trained historians carried out basic research and writing while professional specialists in aviation medicine prepared highlytechnical materials. And while as authors we must assume final responsibility for the historical and technical accuracy of the presentation and interpretation of the present volume, it has been our intention insofar as is humanly possible to establish and acknowledge individual contributions. In the order of sequence in which these group efforts appear, first mention is made of Chapter Ill, "School of Aviation and Related Programs" which represents a collation of edited data based upon the series of 6-month histories prepared in the Army Air Forces Training Command under the direction of Col. Neeley Mashburn (MC), by the School of Aviation Medicine, and by the four continental air forces. Chapter IV, "Research and Development" represents in part a collation of materials from the same source, together with a draft prepared by the staff of the Aero Medical Laboratory. Chapter V, "The Air Evacuation Mission" is a collation of data gathered from the histories of the School of Air Evacuation, the School of Aviation Medicine, and the Wing histories of the Air Transport Command. None of these chapters represents original research or writing on the part of the editors. The overseas theaters, on the other hand, have been approached somewhat differently. Two historians on the wartime staff were originally scheduled to prepare monographs on the Mediterranean and European Theaters respectively. John S. G. Carson, Ph. D., who was to prepare the final draft of the AAF/MediterraneanTheater medical history was called back to his academic post before his research and writing was completed. Chapter VI, however, incorporates much of his draft material. It also includes, withminor editing, a section on the North African Landings and early Twelfth Air Force prepared in the theater under the direction of Col. William Cook (MC). Another Headquarters historian, Wiley Hodges, Ph. D., was scheduled to prepare a monograph on the European Theater but he too was called back to his academic post before his task was completed. A large section of Chapter VIII dealing with the "Special Problems of Aviation Medicine in Europe'', however, remains substantially as written by him. The section on the Ninth Air Force, with slight editing, incorporates the periodic histories prepared in the theater. And while the editors have taken extensive liberties with his manuscript, authorship credit for the chapter on the Pacific and Southwest Pacific belongs to Lt. Col. Charles G. Mixter, Jr. (MC)who was Malaria Control Officer in that area during the war and later called to Headquarters, AAF, to prepare the official report. Finally to Bruce Berman, M. A., who is presently a member of the historical staff, goes collaborative credit in preparation of the chapter on ChinaBurma- India. This is in addition to his assistance in editing thevolume.

In 1959 the United States Air Force Academy's Department of History began the Harmon Memorial Lecture Series on Military History in memory of Lt. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon, first superintendent and "father" of the Academy. The series supported two goals: to further encourage the awakened interest in military history that evolved after World War II and to stimulate cadets to develop a lifelong interest in the history of the military profession. Each year thereafter, a committee of nationally known civilian historians and Academy representatives selected an outstanding military historian to be the annual lecturer. Beginning in 1970, the Harmon Lecture also served as the keynote address for the Academy's biennial Military History Symposium. This collection of the first thirty Harmon Memorial Lectures reflects the evolution in scholarship of prominent scholars working in military history over the past three decades. In keeping with the purpose of the series, the Academy publishes and distributes each lecture to Air Force and Department of Defense agencies, university libraries, and scholars throughout the United States and abroad. A number of lectures are used in courses at the Academy, and we receive many requests for them from civilian scholars and military personnel. Consequently, the Academy's Department of History and the Office of Air Force History have decided to publish the first thirty lectures under one cover, thereby making them more available. In this way, we continue to honor the memory of General Harmon, who during his lifetime developed a deep and abiding interest in military history and contributed so much to establishing the United States Air Force Academ

On September 21 and 22, 1995, the Air Force Historical Foundation convened a historical symposium on the United States Air Force's experience in the development of space systems and their military applications. Held at theAndrews Air Force Base Officers' Club, Maryland, the symposium was the culmination of nearly a year-long planning effort headed by a committee chaired by Lt. Gen. Bradley Hosmer, USAF (Ret.). Other committee members included Donald R. Baucom, BMDO historian; George W. Bradley III, Air Force Space Command historian; Col. Louis H. Cummings, USAF (Ret.), the Foundation's executive director; R. Cargill Hall and Jacob Neufeld, senior historians at the Air Force History Support Office; and Maj. John Kreis, USAF (Ret.), a Foundation trustee. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Office of the Air Force Historian, in association with the Air Force Space Command and the Air University. Dozens of individuals affiliated with these organizations pitched in graciously and expertly whenever the committee solicited their assistance. We wish to acknowledge especially Lt. Gen. Patrick P. Caruana, vice commander of Air Force Space Command, who introduced one of the panels, and Major Kreis, who introduced another. Gen. Bryce Poe II, USAF (Ret.), the Foundation president at the time, introduced the symposium. He was followed by the then Air Force Chief ofStaff, Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, who gave the keynote address. Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila E. Widnall and the Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, placed the subject in perspective and peeked into the future. Severalother distinguished civilian and military officials related their experiences and perspectives, while scholars provided historical context. A perusal of the table of contents discloses a virtual "Who's Who" in Air Force space history. The symposium was arranged in three chronological sessions beginning with the threshold of space in 1945 to 1961, the year that the Air Force became executive agent for space research and development. Gen. Bernard A. Schriever, USAF (Ret.), the service's leading missiles and space pioneer, provided invaluable recollections and observations. Panel two traced the evolution of space systems from R&D to operational status up to their employment in the Persian Gulf War. Former Air Force Secretary John L. McLucas and Gen. Donald J. Kutyna riveted the audience's attention with their personal assessments. Finally, former Air Force Secretary Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge was among a select panel of senior leaders who looked at space "today and tomorrow." The consensus among the two hundred men and women who attended was that this was a unique and extremely useful symposium and that its proceedings deserved to be published and disseminated widely.

No experience etched itself more deeply into Air Force thinking than the air campaigns over North Vietnam. Two decades later in the deserts of Southwest Asia, American airmen were able to avoid the gradualism that cost so many lives and planes in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Readers should come away from this book with a sympathetic understanding of the men who bombed North Vietnam. Those airmen handled tough problems in ways that ultimately reshaped the Air Force into the effective instrument on display in the Gulf War. This book is a sequel to Jacob Van Staaveren's Gradual Failure: The Air War over North Vietnam, 1965-1966, which we have also declassified and are publishing. Wayne Thompson tells how the Air Force used that failure to build a more capable service-a service which got a better opportunity to demonstrate the potential of air power in 1972. Dr. Thompson began to learn about his subject when he was an Army draftee assigned to an Air Force intelligence station in Taiwan during theVietnam War. He took time out from writing To Hanoi and Back to serve in the Checkmate group that helped plan the Operation Desert Storm air campaign against Iraq. Later he visited Air Force pilots and commanders in Italy immediately after the Operation Deliberate Force air strikes in Bosnia. During Operation Allied Force over Serbia and its Kosovo province, he returned toCheckmate. Consequently, he is keenly aware of how much the Air Force has changed in some respects-how little in others. Although he pays ample attention to context, his book is about the Air Force. He has written a well-informed account that is both lively and thoughtful.

The history of the United States Air Force is inextricably bound up in the history of aerospace technology. Major revolutions have influenced the evolution of Air Force capabilities and systems, most notably those of atomic weaponry, the turbojet revolution, supersonic flight, avionics, aerial refueling, spaceflight, precision weaponry, electronic flying controls, composite materials, andstealth. It is worthwhile to take a retrospective look at some of the aerospace challenges and opportunities the Air Force faced and how it took advantage - or failed to take advantage - of them. With this in mind, the Air Force History and Museums Program organized a symposium on October 23 and 24, 1995, in which leading historians, technologists, and military decision makers met at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to present case studies on a series of technological challenges, opportunities, and problems. This symposium, co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation, covered relevant technological histories ranging from the turbojet revolution of the 1930s to the stealth revolution of the 1990s. This volume presents the texts of the papers in the order they were given. Many people within the Air Force History and Museums Program helped put this program together. I especially wish to acknowledge the contributions of Jacob Neufeld of the Air Force History Support Office for his efforts in bringing both the symposium and thispublication to fruitio