Air Power

No single human invention has transformed war more than the airplane—not even the atomic bomb. Even before the Wright Brothers’ first flight, predictions abounded of the devastating and terrible consequences this new invention would have as an engine of war. Soaring over the battlefield, the airplane became an unstoppable force that left no spot on earth safe from attack. Drawing on combat memoirs, letters, diaries, archival records, museum collections, and eyewitness accounts by the men who fought—and the men who developed the breakthrough inventions and concepts—acclaimed author Stephen Budiansky weaves a vivid and dramatic account of the airplane’s revolutionary transformation of modern warfare.

On the web: http://www.budiansky.com/

Author's note

Part 1: Kitty Hawk to Saint-Mihiel, 1900-1918

1. Visions 3
2. Bogeymen 32
3. Realities 55
4. Grand plans 90

Part 2: Versailles to Madrid, 1919-1939

5. Lessons learned and mislearned 125
6. The quest for precision 153
7. The fight for the fighter 184

Part 3: Warsaw to Nagasaki, 1939-1945

8 Finest hour 219
9 Air versus sea 255
10 The temporary triumph of tactical aviation 281
11 The allied bomber offensive 308

Part 4: Omaha to Baghdad, 1946-2003

12 Strategic air command 345
13 Hard knocks 376
14 Precision, at last 406

Notes 443
Bibliography 485
Index

"A truly fascinating and insightful perspective on the history of air power."  —Norman R. Augustine, former chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation

"A splendid job." —The Wall Street Journal

Stephen Budiansky, journalist and military historian, is the author of nine books about history, science, and nature, including Air Power: The Men, Machines, and Ideas That Revolutionized War, from Kitty Hawk to Gulf War II. He publishes frequently in The New York Times and The Washington Post and currently serves as a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly.