A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...

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Aerial refueling. A Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter nourishes a Boeing B-47 Stratojet, the USAF’s first swept-wing jet bomber. The B-47, as capable as the B-29 and the B-36 of carrying atomic weapons, played important roles in SAC and the Cold War. Eighteen solid rockets mounted at the rear of its fuselage, which was dedicated almost completely to bomb and fuel containment, maximized takeoff performance. The B-47 served with the USAF from 1947 to 1969. later in late August, it exploded an atomic bomb of its own, causing Americans grave national security concerns. Almost before the Truman administration could respond, it faced a new crisis in Korea. Limited War In Korea When North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, in a surprise attack, they awakened the United States to the dangers of brushfire war in the nuclear age. The earlier crisis of 1948 in Berlin, Communist successes in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and China in 1949, and news of the Soviet explosion of an atomic device in 1949, had prompted the National Security Council (NSC) to issue a secret directive, NSC-68, in April 1950. It judged the Soviet Union to be bent on world domination. NSC-68 called for a massive increase in defense spending of 20 percent of the gross national product if necessary, the development of a hydrogen bomb, and the containment of Communism. The sustained American-led buildup of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe was unmistakable evidence of containment, but Korea would be the first test of revitalized American resolve. 45
Principal American air commanders at the outset of the Korean War, Major General Earle Partridge, lef, Fifth Air Force, and Lieutenant General George Stratemeyer, right, Far Eastern Air Forces (FEAF). A heavy reliance on the nuclear strike force left the Air Force ill- prepared to deal with a conventional war on the other side of the globe. Moreover, when Congress approved the use of force to repel the North Korean invasion on June 30, 1950, the absence of a formal declaration of war introduced the Air Force to the new tribulations of limited war. The few air combat units of Major General Earle Partridge’s Fifth Air Force, the main combat force of Lieutenant General George Stratemeyer’s Far Eastern Air Forces (FEAF), launched interdiction raids against advancing North Korean units from bases in Japan in an attempt to slow their head- long rush down the Korean peninsula. Armed reconnaissance by fighters against targets of opportunity increased their effectiveness. The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council had called on mem- ber nations to aid South Korea on June 27, but for a time, the U.S. Air Force’s thin aluminum line was the only help harassed American and Republic of Korean ground forces could expect. B-26s of the 3d Bom- bardment Wing from Johnson Air Base in Japan put the interdiction effort on an around-the-clock basis with night intruder operations beginning on the night of June 27. B-29s of the 19th Bombardment Group, based at Kadena, Okinawa, added heavy bombs the next day. Continuing interdiction strikes (40 percent of all missions) against overextended North Korean supply lines and desperate ground action supported by air strikes (60 percent of all missions) saved U.N. forces trapped in the Pusan Peri- meter. This success in direct support of U.N. troops freed Air Force units for strikes against strategic targets in North Korea. Accurate bombing in all weather conditions and North Korea’s small size allowed the B-29s to all but eliminate its industrial base by September 1950. General Douglas MacArthur, named Commander in Chief of the U.N. Command in Korea on July 8, launched a surprise amphibious land- 46
Page 2 and 3: A Concise History of the U.S. Air F
Page 4 and 5: The Genesis of American Air Power T
Page 6 and 7: vivid contrast to aerial achievemen
Page 8 and 9: For sale by the US. Government Prin
Page 10 and 11: In the United States an outpouring
Page 12 and 13: commander, General John Pershing, c
Page 14 and 15: Early Military Aviation Leaders The
Page 16 and 17: served him well at St. Mihiel in Se
Page 18 and 19: No one in the Air Service was parti
Page 20 and 21: direct or indirect support of other
Page 22 and 23: Interwar Aircraft In amazing techno
Page 24 and 25: AF) on March 1, 1935. This first Am
Page 26 and 27: World War 11-Global Conflict Despit
Page 28 and 29: 35 percent of America’s total inv
Page 30 and 31: Principal American participants at
Page 32 and 33: ought to bear against attacking fig
Page 34 and 35: scheduled by the Allies for late sp
Page 37 and 38: Despite heroic efforts to restore p
Page 39 and 40: Molding the Line in the Pacific Top
Page 41 and 42: America’s Air War in Asia Right,
Page 43 and 44: Hansell’s XXI Bomber Command, the
Page 45 and 46: nance, radar, jets, rockets, and a
Page 47 and 48: The newly independent U.S. Air Forc
Page 49: In addition, vast distances to targ
Page 53 and 54: Korean War fighters. North American
Page 55 and 56: Air Force attacked 78 cities and to
Page 57 and 58: Atlas, lef, and Titan I, right, int
Page 59 and 60: off at a moment’s notice; another
Page 61 and 62: Union. A more capable SR-71 Blackbi
Page 63 and 64: clude, “We’re eyeball to eyebal
Page 65 and 66: Vietnam-based Viet Cong, the other
Page 67 and 68: ombed, the two most famous were the
Page 69 and 70: Transport Aircraft in Vietnam The U
Page 71 and 72: The Tet offensive proved a military
Page 73 and 74: The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strate
Page 75 and 76: meant that warheads could be smalle
Page 77 and 78: Beginning in March 1985, Soviet Com
Page 79 and 80: on an enemy army to isolate it on t
Page 81 and 82: America’s Air War in the Gulf
Page 83 and 84: tionally-televised attack by two F-
Page 85 and 86: 2 percent of combat sorties. Their
Page 87 and 88: in the next. An innovator behind fi
Page 89: Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fig

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