Kenneth N. Walker

Kenneth N. Walker PDF Author: Martha Byrd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
The life of Kenneth Walker spanned most of the first half of this century. It was a time of enormous change everywhere; in some ways even greater than the changes we have seen in the last half. Before we move on to Martha Byrd's examination of his life, we will here attempt to set Walker, the Air Corps Tactical School, the Army's Air Corps, and the Army itself in the context of those times.

Kenneth N. Walker

Kenneth N. Walker PDF Author: Martha Byrd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
The life of Kenneth Walker spanned most of the first half of this century. It was a time of enormous change everywhere; in some ways even greater than the changes we have seen in the last half. Before we move on to Martha Byrd's examination of his life, we will here attempt to set Walker, the Air Corps Tactical School, the Army's Air Corps, and the Army itself in the context of those times.

Keneth Walker

Keneth Walker PDF Author: Martha Byrd
Publisher: University Press of the Pacific
ISBN: 9780898758979
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
An untempered crusader, General Kenneth N. Walker helped ensure that the United States enter World War II with a solid foundation for the effective application of airpower. With a strong bomber and sound bombardment tactics as its base, that foundation withstood the initial trials of combat and proved flexible enough to change with experience. We are indebted to Martha Byrd for conducting the difficult and exhaustive research necessary to pull together the numerous parts that comprised the life and legend of Kenneth Newton Walker. That Walker had significant influence in the early days of airpowers rise to prominence cannot be questioned. Ms. Byrd has brought us the man behind the influence.

Kenneth N. Walker

Kenneth N. Walker PDF Author: Air University Press
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781549972379
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
The same traits of character that marked Kenneth N. Walker's life led to his premature death. His most dominant characteristic, an inner drive that kept him at a fever pitch of intensity, was formed during a hard childhood. He joined the US Army in 1917 at age 19. Until 1928, his career was sound but unexceptional. He found his professional stride as a student at the Air Corps Tactical School in 1928-29, when he embraced the concept of the invincible bomber and made it his crusade. He served as bombardment instructor at the school from 1929 to 1934. Walker's years at the Air Corps Tactical School were critical years in the development of US air doctrine. In that process--an intellectual process that had to be primarily theoretical because experience was so limited--Walker advocated bombardment as the means through which airpower in the future would be expressed. He did extensive work on bomber tactics and plane development, the goal of which was to make the bomber capable of defending itself as well as carrying out its offensive mission. Since he envisioned defense against an enemy's air force being accomplished by bombers that would destroy the enemy's planes and facilities on the ground, he saw little value for the pursuit (fighter) arm.Although the phrase was first voiced by others, Walker became identified with the credo, "The well-organized, well-planned, and well-flown air force attack will constitute an offensive that cannot be stopped." He believed it so fervently and advocated it so vehemently that his very conviction seemed to overcome the nagging doubts of others. Even his supporters agreed that he was "rabid" in his single-mindedness. Claire L. Chennault, his most vocal and visible opponent in the long debate on air doctrine, called him a radical with a blind spot. With limited technology, low appropriations, and an isolationist foreign policy also affecting decisions, the Air Corps moved inexorably toward a doctrine of strategic bombardment as the primary mission of an air force.Chapter 1 - The Formative Years * Chapter 2 - The Spokesman for Bombardment * Chapter 3 - More Schooling and Command * Chapter 4 - Washington and AWPD-l * Chapter 5 - The Southwest Pacific and Fifth Bomber Command * Chapter 6 - Walker's Last Mission * Chapter 7- The Lingering Doubts

Airmen and air theory a review of the sources

Airmen and air theory a review of the sources PDF Author: Phillip S. Meilinger
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990321
Category : Aeronautics, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
This part of the book reviews the state of American airpower biography and autobiography. I have set certain parameters to define the boundaries of my discussion. I discuss biographies and autobiographies, anthologies, and oral histories of military officers who served in senior positions. Thus, although the stories of great aviators like Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, and Chuck Yeager are important, those men did not command large forces either in combat or in peace; they had only a temporary effect on the development of strategy and doctrine. Similarly excluded are civilian political leaders and industrialists like Stuart Symington and Donald Douglas, even though they played key roles In their own spheres. What follows are the stories, some published, some not of America's greatest military airmen-some told by themselves, others by biographers. The order of presentation is roughly chronological, according to the time during which these men served. The fact that a surprising number of air luminaries do not appear here means that much work remains to be done.

AU Press, Your Air and Space Power Publisher, 2003

AU Press, Your Air and Space Power Publisher, 2003 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description


American Airpower Strategy in World War II

American Airpower Strategy in World War II PDF Author: Conrad C. Crane
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700629025
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Resistance is a product of will times means, Carl von Clausewitz postulated in his treatise On War. In his 1993 Bombs, Cities, and Civilians, which the American Historical Review judged "must reading for anyone interested in the subject of air warfare," Conrad C. Crane focused on the moral dimension of American air strategy in World War II—specifically, the Allied effort to break the enemy's will through targeting civilians. With decades of research and reflection, and a wealth of new material at his command, Crane returns to the subject of America's WWII airpower strategy to offer an analysis fully engaged with the "means" side of Clausewitz's equation: the design and impact of strategic bombing of the enemy's infrastructure and thus its capacity to fight. A marked advance in our understanding of the use of airpower in war in general and the Second World War in particular, Crane's work shows how, despite an undeniable lack of concern about civilian casualties in Germany and Japan late in the war, American strategic bombing in WWII consistently focused on destroying the enemy's war-making capacity instead of its collapsing will. Further, Crane persuasively argues that in the limited wars since then, separating such targets has become increasingly more difficult, and all air campaigns against states have subsequently escalated to accept greater risks for civilians. American Airpower Strategy in World War II also provides an expanded close look at the use of airpower in the last three months of the strategic air war against Germany, when so many bombing missions relied upon radar aids, as well as the first direct comparison of 8th and 15th Air Force bombing campaigns in Europe. The result is the most coherent and concise analysis of the application and legacy of Allied strategic airpower in WWII—and a work that will inform all future practical and theoretical consideration of the use, and the role, of airpower in war.

Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School and American Strategic Bombing in World War II

Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School and American Strategic Bombing in World War II PDF Author: Phil Haun
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813176808
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Following the cataclysmic losses suffered in World War I, air power theorists in Europe advocated for long-range bombers to overfly the trenches and strike deep into the enemy's heartland. The bombing of cities was seen as a means to collapse the enemy's will to resist and bring the war to a quick end. In the United States, airmen called for an independent air force, but with the nation's return to isolationism, there was little appetite for an offensive air power doctrine. By the 1930s, however, a cadre of officers at the US Army Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) had articulated an operational concept of high-altitude daylight precision bombing (HADPB) that would be the foundation for a uniquely American vision of strategic air attack. In Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School and American Strategic Bombing in World War II editor Phil Haun brings together nine ACTS lecture transcripts, which have been preserved in Air Force archives, exactly as delivered to the airmen destined to lead the US Army Air Forces in World War II. Presented is a distinctive American strategy of high-altitude daylight precision bombing as told through lectures given at the ACTS during the interwar period and how these airmen put the theory to the test. The book examines the Air Corps theory of HADPB as compared to the reality of combat in World War II by relying on recent, revisionist histories that have given scholars a deeper understanding of the impact of strategic bombing on Germany.

Architect of Air Power

Architect of Air Power PDF Author: Brian D. Laslie
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081317404X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
At age 36, Laurence S. Kuter (1905–1979) became the youngest general officer since William T. Sherman. He served as deputy commander of allied tactical air forces in North Africa during World War II and helped devise the American bombing strategy in Europe. Although his combat contributions were less notable than other commanders in the Eighth Air Force, few officers saw as many theaters of operation as he did or were as highly sought-after. After World War II, he led the Military Air Transport Service, Air University, Far East Air Forces, and served as commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). Despite these accomplishments and others, however, Kuter remains widely underappreciated. In Architect of Air Power, Brian D. Laslie offers the first biography of this important but unsung pioneer whose influence can be found in every stage of the development of an independent US Air Force. From his early years at West Point to his days at the Air Corps Tactical School to his leadership role at NORAD, Kuter made his mark with quiet efficiency. He was an early advocate of strategic bombardment rather than pursuit or fighter aviation—fundamentally changing the way air power was used—and later helped implement the Berlin airlift in 1948. In what would become a significant moment in military history, he wrote Field Manual 100-20, which is considered the Air Force's "declaration of independence" from the Army. Drawing on diaries, letters, and scrapbooks, Laslie offers a complete portrait of this influential soldier. Architect of Air Power illuminates Kuter's pivotal contributions and offers new insights into critical military policy and decision-making during the Second World War and the Cold War.

Military Flight Training -Training to Fly

Military Flight Training -Training to Fly PDF Author: Cameron, Rebecca Hancock
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359125557
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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Book Description
The volume at hand, Training to Fly: Military Flight Training, 1907-1945, isan institutional history of flight training by the predecessor organizations of theUnited States Air Force. The U.S. Army purchased its first airplane, built andsuccessfully flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright, in 1909, and placed bothlighter- and heavier-than-air aeronautics in the Division of Military Aeronauticsof the Signal Corps. As pilots and observers in the Air Service of the AmericanExpeditionary Forces, Americans flew combat missions in France during theGreat War. In the first postwar decade, airmen achieved a measure ofrecognition with the establishment of the Air Corps and, during World War 11,the Army Air Forces attained equal status with the Army Ground Forces.

Training to Fly - Military Flight Training 1907-1945

Training to Fly - Military Flight Training 1907-1945 PDF Author: Cameron, Rebecca Hancock
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359125573
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 693

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Book Description
Air Force book is an institutional history of flight training by the predecessor organizations of the United States Air Force. The U.S. Army purchased its first airplane, built and successfully flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright, in 1909, and placed both lighter- and heavier-than-air aeronautics in the Division of Military Aeronautics of the Signal Corps. As pilots and observers in the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces, Americans flew combat missions in France during the Great War. In the first postwar decade, airmen achieved a measure of recognition with the establishment of the Air Corps and, during World War II, the Army Air Forces attained equal status with the Army Ground Forces. During this first era of military aviation, as described by Rebecca Cameron in Training to Fly, the groundwork was laid for the independent United States Air Force. Those were