Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier or sailor has acted in combat without being attached or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. Air Force, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.
More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose. Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women, and an air force held and exploited it – from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that “last full measure of devotion”; to “Women’s Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first American woman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.
Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy’s defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation’s commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.
This eight-two page book concludes that “future conflicts will bring new challenges for air power in the service of the nation.”

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force (Fiftieth Anniversary Commemorative Edition)

History

McFarland, Stephen L.

Military

Air Force Histroy and Museums Program

United States Army Air Forces in World War 2. Traces the Army Air Forces' development of aerial night fighting, including technology, training, and tactical operations in the North African, European, Pacific, and Asian theaters of war.

Conquering the Night: Army Air Forces Night Fighters at War (U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II)

Dept. of the Air Force

0false18 pt18 pt00falsefalsefalseTo Command the Sky is a scholarly record of the fight for domination of the skies over western Europe during World War II. It also explains the technical details of the tactics used to defeat the Luftwaffe. This book is important for serious students of World War II or military aviation.

To Command the Sky: The Battle for Air Superiority Over Germany, 1942-1944 (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight (Paperback))

Newton, Wesley Phillips

University Alabama Press

The refinement of American military technology

America's Pursuit of Precision Bombing, 1910-1945

The author traces the AAF's development of aerial night fighting, including technology, training, and tactical operations in the North African, European, Pacific, and Asian theaters of war.  In this effort the United States never wanted for recruits in what was, from start to finish, an all-volunteer night fighting force.

Conquering the Night: Army Air Forces Night Fighters at War

Univ Pr of the Pacific

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier or sailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. Air Force, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources. More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose. Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women and an air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that “last full measure of devotion”; to Women’s Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first American woman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War. Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy’s defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation’s commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Examines the people, technology, command decisions, and events in the struggle for control of the skies in World War II

TO COMMAND THE SKY (SMITHSONIAN HISTORY OF AVIATION AND SPACEFLIGHT SERIES)

Smithsonian

To Command the Sky is a scholarly record of the fight for domination of the skies over western Europe during World War II. It also explains the technical details of the tactics used to defeat the Luftwaffe. This book is important for serious students of World War II or military aviation.

TO COMMAND THE SKY PB (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series)

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