Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

AIR SUPERIORITY
Carroll Dyer, The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of Admiral Richmond
Kelley Turner (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1970), 2 vols., is an account
of the Pacific amphibious operations commanded by Admiral Turner. It demonstrates
how essential air superiority was to successful1 amphibious landings.
Finally, Vice Adm. E. I? Forrestal’s Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN: A Study
in Command (Washington: Director of Naval History, 1966) contributes to understanding
of the achievements of air superiority in the Pacific.
The most important nongovernment published materials used in this study were
memoirs, and General George C. Kenney’s General Kenney Reports: A Personal
Memoir of the Pacific War (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949; reprint,
Office of Air Force History, 1987) is without question the most important of these
memoirs. General Kenney does not talk a great deal about air superiority in this
book, nor does he theorize; but he tells his readers in straightforward prose how he
went about defeating the Japanese air force. He made air superiority, in fact air
supremacy, his first priority when he took command, and this basic priority did not
change until the skies of the Southwest Pacific were literally swept clear of Japanese
aircraft. The attentive reader of Kenney’s book quickly learns that winning an air
war meant far more than simply outfighting an enemy in tropical skies or blasting
his jungle-circled airfields. His recipe for victory included a supply system that
demanded his constant attention, a steady stream of replacement aircraft and aircrews
that he spent much of his time pleading for, a maintenance system that enabled
his men to make the most of what they had, the development of effective
tactics, and the selection of subordinate commanders who had the ability, stamina,
and courage to do the work that had to be done. General Kenney’s memoir is enthusiastic,
bursting with pride in the accomplishments of his “kids,” so much so that
one can easily forgive him for an occasional inadvertant error in fact. In addition to
his personal memoir Kenney also wrote The Saga of Pappy Gunn (New York: Duell,
Sloan and Pearce, 1959), the near-legend whose inventive genius contributed significantly
to the air victory in the Southwest Pacific.
’ho other significant memoirs from the pens of Army Air officers are Lt. Gen.
Lewis H. Brereton’s The Brereton Diaries: The War in the Air in the Pacific, Middle
East, and Europe, 3 October 1941-8 May 1945 (New York: De Capo Press, 1976)
and Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault’s Way of a Fighter: The Memoirs of Claire Lee
Chennault (New York: G. F? Putnam’s Sons, 1949). General Brereton was in the
Philippines at the beginning of the war, and his book reveals much about the lack of
readiness, materially and psychologically, of American forces in December 1941.
Also, his diaries are perhaps the most logical and believable account of how American
air strength in the Philippines came to be largely destroyed on the ground without
striking a meaningful blow at the Japanese. General Chennault, of course,
served in China during the war, but the early part of his memoir tells much about the
attitude of most air officers toward tactical air power in general and fighter aircraft
in particular in the years immediately preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chennault
was an expert on fighters who experimented with early warning systems even
when his efforts ran counter to the wishes of his superiors. Lastly, Chennault tells
of his development of fighter tactics, and he was at least as responsible as any other
man for the development of the tactics that were successful in air combat against
the Japanese.
Admiral Frederick C. Sherman’s Combat Command: The American Aircraji
Carriers in the Pacific War (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1950) is an attention-holding
account of the author’s experiences as a commander of aircraft carriers.
He was a participant in the Pacific War from the Coral Sea through the Luzon
campaign. At the other extreme, in a sense, is James J. Fahey’s Pacific War Diary,
380