Wings That Stay on

Edward V. Coggins

Description

From the Preface: This book was required. As a former professor of military history at the American Military University (AMU) and a retired USAF Colonel, I wanted to teach a course on the effects of fighter aviation in war. In addition, I wanted to create a course that was a "hands-on" approach to fighter aviation history. Having flown USAF fighters for more than 20 years, I felt I had a good working knowledge of fighter aviation, but when I researched the subject I found I would have to ask my students to read scores of books to provide the background they would need. There was no "single-source" book that covered everything I wanted to cover. I determined to write that book. I wanted to write a straightforward book in plain language that would not bore fighter pilots and at the same time that would be simple enough to be attractive to laymen as well as air power historians. That is what I have done, I have covered some detailed thoughts about fighter flying in what Southern Americans might call "biscuits and gravy" language. The overriding premise of the text, is that the fighter has been the key element in the air power equation and continues in that role today although this role may be changing with the advent of good, reliable, beyond visual range air-to-air missies. This view has not been universally held over the years; however, it is a view that has been held by fighter pilots since the advent of the fighter. More and more historians are beginning to support this view. Table of Contents: World War I; Fighter Development Between Wars; The Air Wars Between World Wars; Fighter Development In World War II; The Korean War; The Fighter In The Vietnam War; The Arab-Israeli Wars; The India-Pakistani Conflicts; The Air War In The Falklands; Soviet Experience In Afghanistan; The Persian Gulf War; The Future; Summary And Conclusions.\; Appendices Definitions.

Sujets

• Military Science
• Persian Gulf War
• Sciences et techniques
• Falklands
• Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Afganistán
• Military history
• Arab-Israeli Wars
• Falkland Islands
• World War I
• Gulf War
• World War II
• Vietnam War
• Technology
• Soviet Union
• Persian Gulf
• Korean War
• Engineering
• Îles Malouines
• United States Air Force
• Première Guerre mondiale
• Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques
• Seconde Guerre mondiale
• Afghanistan

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621777
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

WINGS THAT STAY ON
THE ROLE OF FIGHTER AIRCRAFT IN WAR
BY
EDWARD V. COUGAR COGGINS JR.
COLONEL USAF (RET)
T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
This book is respectfully dedicated to: My Grandson: PFC Benjamin G. Berry Who won his wings far too soon.
Designed by Jerry Moore
Copyright 2000 Turner Publishing Compnay
All rights reserved
Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the publisher and/or author.
This publication was produced using available and submitted materials. The author and publisher regret they cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.
Library of Congress Catalog No. 00-101687
LIMITED EDITION
ISBN: 978-1-68162-176-0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1 - WORLD WAR I
CHAPTER 2 - FIGHTER DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN WARS
CHAPTER 3 - THE AIR WARS BETWEEN WORLD WARS
CHAPTER 4 - FIGHTER DEVELOPMENT IN WORLD WAR II
CHAPTER 5 - FIGHTER DEVELOPMENT IN WORLD WAR II
CHAPTER 6 - THE KOREAN WAR
CHAPTER 7 - THE FIGHTER IN THE VIETNAM WAR
CHAPTER 8 - THE ARAB-ISRAELI WARS
CHAPTER 9 - THE INDIA-PAKISTANI CONFLICTS
CHAPTER 10 - THE AIR WAR IN THE FALKLANDS
CHAPTER 11 - SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN AFGHANISTAN
CHAPTER 12 - THE PERSIAN GULF WAR
CHAPTER 13 - THE FUTURE
CHAPTER 14 - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
APPENDICES- DEFINITIONS

PREFACE
This book was required. As a former professor of military history at the American Military University (AMU) and a retired USAF Colonel, I wanted to teach a course on the effects of fighter aviation in war. In addition, I wanted to create a course that was a hands-on approach to fighter aviation history. Having flown USAF fighters for more than 20 years, I felt I had a good working knowledge of fighter aviation, but when I researched the subject I found I would have to ask my students to read scores of books to provide the background they would need. There was no single-source book that covered everything I wanted to cover. I determined to write that book. I wanted to write a straight-forward book in plain language that would not bore fighter pilots and at the same time that would be simple enough to be attractive to laymen as well as air power historians.
That is what I have done. I have covered some detailed thoughts about fighter flying in what Southern Americans might call biscuits and gravy language.
The overriding premise of the text is that the fighter 1 has been the key element in the air power equation and continues in that role today although this role may be changing with the advent of good, reliable, beyond visual range air-to-air missiles. This view has not been universally held over the years; however, it is a view that has been held by fighter pilots since the advent of the fighter. More and more historians are beginning to support this view.
Between World Wars, however, strategies based on bombardment aviation theories dominated almost all of the air forces of the world. In spite of WW I experience, the Air Power Doctrine that the bomber would always get through 2 pervaded the era between World Wars. The foremost disciples of Air Power in WW I, General Douhet (Italy), General Mitchell (U.S.) and Air Marshall Trenchard (Great Britain) were convinced the bomber would dominate in future wars. They had many senior adherents that dominated the air forces of the world. In this atmosphere, fighter pilots who reminded their bomber oriented leaders of the lessons of WW I were very roughly handled. Many fighter pilots risked their careers because they refused to stop purporting the effectiveness of the fighter in war. The disagreements were doctrinal, emotional and even fanatical at times. General Giulio Douhet wrote a book, Command of the Air, in 1921 that stated that the bomber would prevail over all other weapons. This view was adopted by most air forces the world over.
The U.S.Army Air Corps (USAAC) was not immune to this bias. General Billy Mitchell was court martialed for arguing the bomber case in the newspapers when his senior ground officers tried to smother his Air Power claims. The controversy caused him to resign his commission only to meet an early death in civilian life. However his followers who were still on active duty, adopted Mitchell s messianic zeal for a separate air force (like the RAF in Britain). At the same time, this zeal was transferred to their promotion of the strategic bomber as the decisive weapon of war vice surface forces and fighters. The reaction to any challenge of this bomber promotion within the USAAC, no matter how logical, was fanatical opposition.
For example, Captain Claire Chennault, a brilliant and abrasive USAAC fighter theorist, chose to resign his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the face of this emotionally supported bomber doctrine and its outright rejection of fighter doctrine based on WW I experience. To make matters worst, Chennault did not get on well with any authority that disagreed with him and he did not agree that the bomber was dominant. He had to go to China and accept a commission in the Chinese Air Force to prove his ideas on fighter defense and tactics in 1937. WW II proved that Chennault s ideas were correct even if his marketing skills were deficient. His performance with the American Volunteer Group ( Flying Tigers ) in 1941 alone, has assured his place in air war history.
The Senior officers, who controlled the USAAC during the 1930s, were known to the fighter pilots as the Bomber Mafia . This bomber bias was further evidenced by the fact that no head of the U.S. Air Forces was a fighter pilot until the 1980s when General Charles Gabriel became chief. Today with four straight fighter pilots named as Air Force Chief Of Staff, we have come full circle and there is talk today of A Fighter Pilot Mafia .
In Nazi Germany, Adolph Galland, Werner Moelders, etc., like Chennault, were hamstrung by Luftwaffe superiors, who did not understand fighters and how they fit into the air war equation. This blind adherrence to the theories of Douhet by senior Luftwaffe leaders may have cost Germany the war. This failure was exacerbated by another decision based on Spanish Civil War experience to stick with medium bombers for European strategic targets and slow dive bombers for the close support of troops. The Germans never developed a successful heavy bomber or successful long-ranged fighter escort tactics for their strategic bombers.
On the other hand, those who understood fighters and their roles were extremely successful particularly since the beginning of WW II. Fighters and air superiority were crucial in WW II and air supremacy has likewise been foremost in every Israeli success against the Arabs for more than 50 years. This predominance of the fighter continues. The devastating use of fighters by Allied Leaders in Desert Storm was our most recent example.
Our newest, most capable and most expensive fighter, the Lockheed F-22, is in development now, and is scheduled to deploy right after the turn of the century. The lessons of military history are clear. If we are to prevail in tomorrow s world, we need the F-22 armed with state-of-the-art air to air missiles (AAMs), as quickly as available, to help prevent us from losing the next war. For those who insist it is too expensive, I would commend the words of General WT. Sherman who said; War is hell . Sherman was on the winning side and if winning in war can be defined as hell, then losing in hell must be the most expensive thing that can happen to a nation.
Nor are the best machines enough, as an essential ingredient of every fighter weapons system has been the pilots that fly them and the men who maintain them. This human element of the system has proven as essential as the machine itself.
Mr. Gil Robb Wilson, World War I aviator, an ordained Methodist Minister, and an editor and writer for Flying magazine for years, best captured the total essence of fighter flying in the last verse of his poem Briefing :
With God in your guts, Good men at your back, Wings that stay on And - Tallyho 3
He also quite inadvertently provided the title for this book:
Wings That Stay On.
1.. The term fighter , as I use it throughout the text, applies to the fighter weapons system in its entirety which includes the airframe, the pilot (crew) and all of its armament. In WW I, many countries used the term pursuit vice fighter. The U.S. Navy began to use fighter in the 1920s and the universal use of fighter did not appear until WW II. The USAF adopted fighter officially at the end of WW II when they changed the P designation to F ; e.g. P-51 became F-51 .
2.. Quote by the Prime Minister of Britain Stanley Baldwin in 1932. See: John Terraine, A Time For Courage The RAF In The European War 1939-1945, MacMillan Publishing Company, New York, 1985, p. 13.
3.. Gill Robb Wilson, Airman s World: The Briefing .
CHAPTER 1
WORLD WAR I
INTRODUCTION
The premise of this book is that fighter aviation is one of the most important components in air warfare. In fact, we will contend and prove that fighters have been the key in achieving control of the air (air superiority and air supremacy) in almost every past war. Without control of the air, it is extremely difficult to win a conventional war. Few of the original adherents of air power seem to have realized the dominant role of the fighter. 1
NOTE: In this book, for clarity, we will use the term fighter as it is currently used by the U .S. Air Force. Fighter will be used even during discussion of WW I aircraft although WW I terminology was usually chasse , pursuit , or scout . Actually the term might be more appropriately tactical fighter as it encompasses all of the possible missions of fighter aircraft both air-to-air and air-to-ground, to include: air superiority and supremacy, interdiction, and close support.
The early prophets of air power (Douhet, Trenchard and Mitchell) were entranced with the pervasive