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

LESSONS BEFORE WORLD WAR I1
United States Air Force, 1907-1964. (Maxwell AFB, 1974 ed). pp 12-14: also Thomas H.
Greer, The Development of Air Doctrine in the American Air Army. 19/7-194/ (Maxwell
AFB, Sept 1955). pp4-13.35-36.
13. Maurer, Air Service, vol 11, p 141.
14. William Mitchell, “Tactical Application of Military Aeronautics.” Jan 5. 1919, File
97-10, Army War College Curricular Files, U.S. Army Military History Institute. Carlisle
Barracks, Pa. (MHI).
15. William Mitchell, “Air Service at the Meuse-Argonne.” World’s Work, XXXVIIl
(Sept 1919). pp 555-58.559; L. H. Brereton, “Difficulties Encountered in the Recent Offensive,”
n.d.. Mitchell Collection. Box 6, Library of Congress (LC); Report of Committee 5.
G-3 Course, Army War College Curriculum 1930-1931. “Employment and Organization of
Army Aviation and Anti-aircraft Defense,” Sept 27, 1930. pp 1-3: Army War College Curricular
Files, MHI; General Headquarters, AEF, Summaries of Air Information, March-April-
May, June-September, October-November, all 1918. File 51000300, Library, National Air
and Space Museum, Washington, DC, (LNASM).
16. Holley, Ideas and Weapons, chap X: James T. Hudson, Hostile Skies: A Cornbat
History of the American Air Service in World War I (Syracuse, NY, 1968). p 51,
17. Ferdinand Foch, “Memorandum on the Subject of an Independent Air Force.” Sept
14, 1918, in Air Power Historian 111 (July 1956). p 161; Greer, Air Doctrine. pp 31, 36-37.
18. On Trenchard, see Boyle, Trenchard, 350-53, also Brian Bond, British Military Policy
Between the Two World Wars (Oxford, 1980). pp 72, 74, 78, 85-86, 108, 109, 144. 222.
251, 321, 323; on Mitchell, see Alfred F. Hurley, Billy Mitchell: Crusader. ,for Air Pon~er
(Bloomington, 1975 ed), chaps 5 and 6; on Douhet, see Giorgio Rochet. “Douhet and the
Italian Military Thought, 1919-1930,” in Claude Carlier, ed, Colloque International: Colloque
Air 1984 (Paris, 1984). pp 19-30.
19. Trenchard’s memorandum, “The War Object of an Air Force,” May 2. 1928, quoted in
Saward, Bomber Harris, pp 33-34; Kennett, Strategic Bombing. pp 75-76; Henry A. Probert,
“The Independence of the Royal Air Force (1918-1945),” in Carlier, Colloyae, esp p 117.
20. Edward Warner, “Douhet, Mitchell, Seversky: Theories of Air Warfare,” in Edward
M. Earle, ed, Makers of Modern Strategy (Princeton, 1944). pp 485-497. summarizes the
theorists’ impact at this time, while Douhet’s ideas can be read in the translation by Din0
Ferrari of The Command of the Air (New York, 1942; reprint, Office of Air Force History,
1983). esp pp vii-x, 5-6, 28, 47-48, 57-58. 67, 337, 374-89; a recent critique of Douhet appears
in Barry D. Watts, The Foundations of U.S. Air Doctrine: The Problem of Friction in
War (Maxwell AFB, 1984). esp chap 2.
21. Quoted in P. Vauthier, La Doctrine de Guerre du GeneralDouhet (Paris. 1935). intro;
Rochet, “Douhet,” p 20.
22. A recent study of the Mitchell era can be found in John F. Shiner, Foitlois and the
U.S. Army Air Corps, 1931-1935 (Washington, 1983). pp 11-28, while Trenchard’s comment
can be found in Boyle, Trenchard, p 299.
23. William P. Mitchell, Our Air Force: The Keystone of National Defense (New York,
1919). pp xix, 200-01.
24. William Mitchell, “Notes on the Multi-Motored Bombardment Group-Day and
Night,” pp 70, 97-107, quoted in Hurley, Mitchell, p 83; also William Mitchell, Winged Defense:
The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power (New York. 1925). pp 19,
139, 199.
25. Warner, “Douhet, Mitchell, Seversky,” pp 499-500: Hurley, Mitchell, p 94.
26. William C. Sherman, Air Warfare (New York, 1926). chap V, esp p 128.
27. Intvw, Hugh N. Ahmann and Tom Sturm with Gen Laurence S. Kuter, Sep 30-0ct 3,
1974, pp 62, 67, 79-80, 108-09, U.S. Air Force Oral History Program, K239.0512-810,
AFHRC; Mason M. Patrick, “The Development of Military Aeronautics in the U.S. as compared
with that in France, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, and Russia.” Nov 27, 1,923, G-3
Course 15, File 1-20, vol 111, Army War College Course 1923-24, AWC Curricular Archives,
MHI; Memo, Patrick-Adjutant General, Dec 19, 1924, Box 10, and Mar 27. 1925, Box II,
both William Mitchell Collection, LC.
28. Ltr, Capt Carl Spaatz to Gerald Garard, Jan 29, 1926, Folder Jan 2-Apr 27, 1926,
Box 4, Spaatz Collection, LC; Spaatz Lecture. “Bombardment and Pursuit Aviation.” Quantico,
Va., Nov 4, 1927, File 51000400, LNASM.
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