United States Air Force

Air power influenced each member of the Allies and Axis powers uniquely through the context in which they viewed the effects of air power in World War I (WWI), the development of theories and technology in the interwar years, and the geopolitical situation facing the nations at the outset of World War II (WWII). These situations and experiences created a perception of the capabilities of air power that drove the creation and employment of the nations’ air arm. In turn, each belligerents’…

occurred during the Second World War between the 13th and 15th of February, 1949. The attack was done by Britain and the United States through the use of an aerial bombing. Within the four raids that the allies carried out, 3,900 tons of highly explosive bombs and incendiaries were dropped on the city by heavy bombers of the United States Army Air Forces and the British Royal Air Force. Dresden, Germany was the country’s seventh-largest city and the largest of the remaining un-bombed built…

highly-acclaimed rifle for the United States in World War II. As the standard infantry rifle of the Second World War, the Garand saw combat throughout theaters in Europe with the United States Army and especially in the Pacific with the United States Marine Corps. The major distinction of the M1 Garand series lay in the acceptance of the weapon system as the first self-loading rifle reaching operational status in the world. This occurred at a time when other national military forces were still…

Operation Husky was an invaluable experience for Allied forces in World War II. It opened the Allied forces eyes to the numerous challenges they must face internally before they could hope to be victorious in the war against Germany, Japan and Italy. This essay will show how a failure in operational leadership caused Operation Husky to fail to become the decisive victory it had the potential of being. Essential to command and control is a thorough understanding of the commander’s intent at…

on 22 June 1940, came the shifting of Germany’s attention to the coast of the United Kingdom. Hitler’s strategic goals for the region were dependent on the defeat of Great Britain, the last remaining ally remaining to fight off the Nazi advance through Europe. With this goal came the revision of Great Britain’s strategy in the war, it was simply to survive. While Germany began its raid of the United Kingdom through the air, the British people took to the skies to defend their homeland, in what…

of the aircraft would change the nature of war forever, “it [made it] possible to go far behind the fortified lines of defense without first breaking through them”. He made it very clear in his book The Command of the air that he strongly believed that having a powerful air force would ultimately win you the war, as airstrikes were indefensible. Herman Göring, the leader of the German Luftwaffe strongly used Douhet’s theories in his planning of the airstrikes which went along with the Nazi…

War is hell…..This is even more so with the technology build up in the post World War I period that brought new challenges to allied military leaders and a tremendous dichotomy in United States aviation warfare strategy of World War II. Both in Fire and Fury by Randall Hansen, and Herman Wolk’s Cataclysm: General Hap Arnold and the Defeat of Japan, follow key allied leaders and their bombing strategies. In Fire and Fury, Hansen asserts that the American daylight precision bombing was more…

That ultimate fulfillment of their prophecies and predictions can be summarized in their vision of airpower use. To win the war, one must first; conquer the air; use airpower as offensive weapon; gain air superiority to provide support to the ground forces; fight in the air, and deny enemy to fly; and destroy enemy support in order to break their capability and will to fight. From all those interwar airpower theorists and prophets, few of them distinguished from…

“Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront,” taught me that during the 1940s was a time when every ounce of any kind of resource was preserved for the armed forces, families with soldiers away being afraid to open the door every time there was a ring, and when people lost their husbands, brothers, or sons, the community rallied together to try and ease the pain even with something as small as a casserole. A…

five years, is a pilot in the air force. I have thought really hard about this and I think that this career would best fit my personality type. It’s also something I would enjoy and I find very interesting. I’ve been thinking about this career choice for awhile now but since I’ve had time to actually sit down and do research thoroughly about all the different options, I have finally decided what I want to work towards. When I was at work one day, a lady in the air force came in. I started to…