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AIR POWER READERS – THE TOP TEN
Group Captain Peter W Gray Director of Defence
Studies RAF
In the introduction to the last edition of the Air Power Review, I
promised to provide an air power reading list that was somewhat
more attuned to the strategic level in the United Kingdom than the
titles offered by Davis Mets in his article ‘To Kill a Stalking Bird’. 1 The
all-time ‘top ten’ would inevitably include books that are now out of
print and I have deliberately tried to avoid this – not because the
books are not worth reading, but for ease of obtaining personal
copies. To that end, I have also included current US titles as they are
easily obtainable through Internet bookshops. In compiling this list, I
have obviously consulted with colleagues on the Air Power Review
Management Board; whilst consensus on the main entries was not
too difficult to achieve, an order of merit would be impossible. The
books are therefore arranged in rough reverse chronological order in
an attempt to cover the complete spectrum of air power activity.
Most of the titles are taken from the recommended reading list in the
latest edition of AP 3000.
AP 3000 BRITISH AIR POWER DOCTRINE, THIRD
EDITION, HMSO, LONDON 1999
No collection would be complete without this!
CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF’S AIR POWER
WORKSHOP SERIES
This series of collections of essays (Dynamics of Air Power, ed A P N
Lambert and Perspectives on Air Power, ed S W Peach) provide an
ideal vehicle for the development of air power thinking in the UK. A
further book is due to be published in Summer 2000. Similar
collections, but with higher proportions of American (and others!)
authors include:
R P Hallion, Air Power Confronts an Unstable World, Brassey’s
London, 1997 and
John Gooch, Air Power Theory and Practice, Cass, London, 1995.
ROBERT A PAPE, BOMBING TO WIN; AIR POWER
AND COERCION IN WAR, CORNELL UNIVERSITY
PRESS, ITHACA, 1996
In this book, Pape covers the theory and practice of attempting to
coerce an enemy with the use of air power. Although some readers
may find the theory slightly dense, the case studies make the effort
well worth while. Pape’s work is the subject of considerable
controversy; a collection of essays challenging some of his
conclusions is published by Benjamin Frankel (Ed), Precision and
Purpose: Debating Robert
A Pape’s Bombing to Win, Cass, London.
AIR VICE-MARSHAL TONY MASON, AIR POWER –
A CENTENNIAL APPRAISAL, BRASSEYS,
LONDON, 1994
Professor Mason covers 100 years of air power thinking and writing
starting from Major J D Fullerton’s discourse on the impact of
aeronautics in 1893. This book is an excellent source of material on
many aspects of air power. It is not, however, mere regurgitation of
old material, but has snippets of original source research such as the
confirmation by Air Marshals Harris and Slessor that they had never
heard of nor read [the Italian air power theorist] Douhet’s ideas before
World War II (page 45).
NOTE
1 David R Mets, ‘To kill a Stalking Bird: Fodder for your professional Reading
on Air and Space Superiority’, RAF Air Power Review, Vol 2, Nos 3 & 4.
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