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

AIR SUPERIORITY
tegic Air Offensive Against Germany, 1939-1945 [History of the Second World War]
(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1961) contributes to the discussion. Two
useful symposia proceedings should also be consulted: Claude Carlier, ed., Colloque
International, Colloque Air, 1984 (Paris: Foundation Par Les Etudes de Defense
Nationale, 1975); and Alfred E Hurley and Robert C. Ehrhart, eds., Air Power and
Warfare: The Proceedings of the Eighth Military History Symposium, United States
Air Force Academy, 18-20 October 1978 (Washington: Office of Air Force History,
1979).
On early predictions about the future use of aviation in war, see H. G. Wells,
War in the Air and Particularly How Mr. Bert Smallways Fared While It Lasted
(New York: Macmillan, 1908); R. P. Hearne, Aerial Warfare (London and New York:
John Lane, 1909); and Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper, The Aeroplane in
War (London: T. Werner Laurie;l912). World War I experience may be approached
through the following examples, starting with Cyril Falls, The Great War (New
York: G. P. Putnams, 1959). John H. Morrow, Jr., German Air Power in World War I
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982); and Richard I? Hallion, Rise of the
Fighter Aircraft, 1914-1918 (Annapolis: The Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company,
1984) offer an international view of major air superiority issues. For the American
side, start with James Hudson, Hostile Skies: A Combat History of the
American Air Service in World War I (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1968);
and the useful documents compilation, Maurer Maurer, ed., The US. Air Service in
World War Z (Washington: Office of Air Force History, 1978), 4 vols. See also
Charles D. Bright, “Air Power in World War I: Sideshow or Decisive Factor?” Aerospace
Historian 18 (1971); Geoffrey Rossano, “The Apprenticeship: How the
Allies Trained the American Air Service,” Journal of American Aviation Historical
Society 28 (1983); as well as William Mitchell, “Air Service at St. Mihiel,” World’s
Work, XXXVIII (1919), and William Mitchell, “General Principles Underlying the
Use of the Air Service in the Zone of the Advance A.E.E,” Bulletin of the Information
Section, Air Service AEF, 3 (1918). Also informative is the reprinted Ferdinand
Foch, “Memorandum on the Subject of an Independent Air Force, 14 Sept. 1918,”
Air Power Historian 111 (1956). See also I. B. Holley, Jr., Ideas and Weapons:
Exploitation of the Aerial Weapon by the United States During World War I: A Study
in the Relationship of Technological Advance, Military Doctrine, and the Development
of Weapons (Washington: Office of Air Force History, 1983 reprint).
Published sources on foreign experiences remain essential to understanding the
interwar period. Taken in order of appearance in this chapter, start with the Italian
story and Douhet’s influence. Dino Ferrari’s translation of Douhet’s The Command
of the Air (New York: Coward-McCann, 1942) has been reprinted by the U.S. Air
Force, Office of Air Force History (1983) with a new introduction, and a stimulating
modern synthesis appears in John E Shiner, “Reflections on Douhet,” Air University
Review XXXVII (1986), pp 93-95. Claudio G. Segre, “Douhet in Italy: Prophet
Without Honor?” Aerospace Historian 26, (1979) provides a rare English language
evaluation of Italian military aviation, while Edward Mead Earle, ed., Makers of
Modern Strategy: Military Thought from Machiavelli to Hitler (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1941), remains valuable although dated. See also P. Vauthier,
La Doctrine de Guerrp du General Douhet (Paris: 1935).
France’s interwar story can be followed via traditional accounts like William L.
Shirer, The Collapse of the Third Republic (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1961);
Maurice Ribet, Le Proces de Riom (Paris: Flammarion, 1945), and Camille Rougeron,
L’Aviation de bombardment (Paris: Berger’ Levraurl, 1937). Newer viewpoints
on that experience can be found in General P. Christienne, “L‘industrie aeronautique
franGaise de septembre 1939 ti juin 1940,” pp 141-65; P. Buffotot, “Le moral dans
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