Bøger af Office of Air Force History

Over a period of several years the USAF Historical Division has received hundreds of requests for brief histories of Air Force organizations. Air Force units ask for historical data they can use for the orientation of new personnel and for building morale and esprit de corps. USAF Headquarters and the commands need historical data for organizational planning. Information officers throughout the Air Force want historical materials for public relations purposes. Members and former members of the Air Force are interested in the units with which they have served. Government agencies and private individuals, for various reasons, seek information about Air Force units and their histories. As a result of the great demand for and the interest in such histories, it appeared that a book containing brief sketches of Air Force combat organizations would be of value as a reference work. The task of preparing such a volume was undertaken by the USAF Historical Division as a phase of its work on World War 11. This book is concerned primarily with the combat (or tactical) groups that were active during the Second World War. Although such groups had numerous designations, nearly all fell within four major categories: bombardment, fighter, reconnaissance, and troop carrier. The book covers both the combat groups that served overseas and those that remained in the United States. It also covers combat organizations above the group level. It does not deal with provisional organizations or with air base, maintenance, supply, medical, transport, and other service or support organizations. Although this book is devoted exclusively to organizations that were active during World War 11, its coverage of those organizations is not confined to the World War I1 period. Instead, each organization is traced back to its origin and forward to 1 January 1956, with later activations being mentioned if they took place prior to the time the draft of the book was prepared in 1957-1958.

This manuscript those who have led American air forces. What kind of men were they? What kind of leaders were they? What can we learn from their experience? The book takes a close look at two air leaders: Rear Admiral William Moffett and General Carl A. Spaatz.

One of the longest and most bitter disputes in twentieth century military affairs has been over the organization of the armed forces, particularly the question of independence of the air forces. The argument over an independent Air Force cut to the very heart of national defense, for who controlled air policy, air doctrine, buying of aircraft, military training, and the structure of the air forces determined the type of military forces the nation would possess and how aviation would be used in war.

This book is prepared by the United States Air Force Historical Research Center for the use of the Air Force and the general public. It presents fundamental data about the 7 medals and streamers earned in combat by Air Force members and units in military campaigns from the beginning of military air power up to the present day.

Air power has always been linked closely to science and technology. The very reality of flight depended upon a technical innovation. Unlike other services, where machines merely support the mission, technology is for the Air Force at the very heart of its existence as an institution. As a consequence, the USAF and its predecessor organizations have always recognized the singular importance of science to their survival. This book describes and analyzes the methodologies and conclusions of the five main science and technology forecasts undertaken by the Air Force since before its birth as an independent service.

This is the first of a multi-volume Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems. Volume 1 deals with the development, deployment, and operations of fighter aircraft between 1945 and 1973, commencing with the F-80 Shooting Star and ending with the development of the F-15 Eagle. Many of these aircraft were employed during the Korean War, the war in Southeast Asia, and during the cold war crisis throughout the world. The origin of each aircraft is noted as well as its most troublesome development, production, and operational problems. Also covered are significant modifications, most of which can be attributed to ever-changing aeronautical technology.

In this thoroughly researched and lucidly written volume, Lt. Col. John F. Shiner describes the Air Corps' effort to prepare the nation for war; to gain money, air craft, and, even more important, independence; and to achieve a capability to wage aerial war. The focus of the work is Maj. Gen. Benjamin Foulois and his tenure as Chief of the Air Corps between 1931 and 1935.

This volume is part of a series documenting the history of U.S. air activities in Europe during World War I. The narratives here are published by the Office of Air Force History so as to reach a wider circle of persons interested in the Great War and the early history of military aviation. Included in this volume is William C. Sherman's "tactical History" which provides excellent information about the conduct of combat operations.

A retrospective of the Air Force "Scientific Advisory Board," which was formed when the Air Force became a separate service by Arnold von Karman to play an advisory role in all aspects of new technology.

In April 1917, as the United States entered World War I, the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal corps had only a handful of usable flying fields. This number quickly grew exceeding 40 by the end of the war. By the end of 1943, these fields had grown to an astounding peak of 783- 345 main bases, 116 subbases, and 322 auxiliary fields - a number not including the many depots and ranges. This manuscript details 89 bases in a statistical format, which their histories - a topic of particular interest both inside and outside the Air Force.

Detailed first-hand accounts by U.S. Air Force fighter pilots who flew combat missions over North Vietnam. This is a reprint of a 1976 work. During the war in Southeast Asia, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots and crewmen repeatedly were challenged by enemy MIG fighters in the skies over North Vietnam. The ensuing air battles were unique in American history because U.S. fighter and strike forces operated under stringent rules of engagement and faced extremely formidable antiaircraft defenses. Despite these constraints, American airmen managed to emerge from their aerial battles with both victories and honor. ¿Aces and Aerial Victories: The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia, 1965¿1973" is a collection of firsthand accounts by Air Force fighter crews who flew combat missions over North Vietnam between 1965 and 1973. They recall their air battles with enemy MIGs, the difficult and dangerous tactical maneuvers they had to perform to survive, and their victories and defeats. The narratives are taken directly from aircrew after-action reports. The book points out that U.S. pilots did not amass the high victory scores common in World War II and Korea because of North Vietnamese efforts to conserve scarce aircraft, their reliance on Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft artillery units, and the 3 ¿-year stand-down in American air operations over North Vietnam from December 1968 until spring 1972. Yet despite these constraints, three Air Force pilots were credited with five victories each, thus becoming aces. ¿Aces and Aerial Victories¿ also illuminates the role of Air Force airmen flying support missions such as aerial refueling, as well as the electronic warfare crews, SAM missile-hunting Wild Weasel aircraft, search and rescue units, reconnaissance aircraft, weather men, and the indispensable maintenance and supply units. Historians, aviation buffs, and anyone interested in the bold exploits of Air Force fighter pilots in combat will find much to learn and admire in this exciting book.

During World War II, the American and British intercepted and read hundreds of thousands of their enemies¿ secret military and diplomatic message transmitted by radio. ULTRA was the designation for the signals intelligence derived from German radio communications encrypted by the ENIGMA cipher machine. At the British Government Code and CipherSchool at BletchleyPark, British and American military personnel, including a young officer named Lewis F. Powell, were indoctrinated in ULTRA intelligence. In "ULTRA and the Army Air Forces in World War II: An Interview with Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Lewis F. Powell, Jr.", Justice Powell describes in detail his experiences at Bletchley Park and subsequent role in evaluating the use of ULTRA intelligence by the Air Force in the European Theater through the medium of an oral history interview with two U.S. Air Force historians. During his stay at Bletchley Park, Powell met the key figures in the ULTRA effort, including Alan Turing, about whom he says, ¿The word ¿brilliant¿ fails to reflect his genius.¿ Powell also talks about who among the Allied powers had access to ULTRA data, confirming that the USSR was never given access and that, due to British suspicions of certain individuals, the French received only limited information, even after D-Day. Powell also addresses such topics as the bombing of Dresden and Allied knowledge of such German weapons as the V-1, V-2, and ME-262. Included in an appendix are transcriptions of Powell¿s notes taken at Bletchley Park. His interview is supplemented by an informative essay, ¿The U.S. Military Intelligence Service: The ULTRA Mission,¿ by Air Force historian Diane T. Putney. ULTRA and the Army Air Forces in World War II is a remarkable firsthand account of the most extraordinary intelligence coup of World War II, told by an intelligent, observant, and articulate military participant. As such, it constitutes an important contribution to the history of the intelligence war that should be of interest to historians and intelligence professionals alike.

Originally published in 1976. This narrative describes the evacuation of more than 1,400 American soldiers, Marines, and airmen, and Vietnamese men, women, and children from the Kham Duc Special Forces camp in southern I Corps on 12 May 1968. It treats the geographical and topographical setting, the threat to the camp posed by two regiments of the North Vietnamese Army, and the danger to the camp and its inhabitants from the communist seizure of all the high ground around the camp. The monograph devotes individual chapters to the US Army and Marine helicopter rescue efforts, tactical air support, and tactical airlift. The final chapter deals with the attempts to rescue the last three men at Kham Duc. American aircraft losses were severe during the evacuation, and the successful outcome of the mass rescue depended upon the skill and courage of American aircrews. Had command and control been better, losses probably would have been less severe.

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Lewis F. Powell, Jr., was one of a small group of people specially selected to accept and integrate ULTRA, the most secret signals intelligence from intercepted and decoded German military radio transmissions, with intelligence from all other sources. From May 1944 to the end of the war in Europe, he served as the ULTRA officer on General Carl Spaatz's United States Strategic Air Forces staff. Earlier, Colonel Powell had served as an intelligence officer with the 319th Bomb Group, the Twelfth Air Force, and the Northwest African Air Forces. He finished the war as Spaatz's Chief of Operational Intelligence in addition to carrying out his ULTRA duties. The Air Force is grateful to Justice Powell for his generosity in giving his time and recollections so that his experiences can be of benefit, through the medium of history, to the Service today and in the future.