THE AIR FORCE CENTURY 1907-2007 AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION DECEMBER 2007 The Air Force Association Established in 1946, the Air Force Association promotes Air Force airpower. Our mission is to EDUCATE the public about the critical role of aerospace power in the defense of our nation, to ADVOCATE aerospace power and a strong national defense, and to SUPPORT the United States Air Force and the Air Force family. AFA is a 501(c)(3) charitable educational organization, in which all donations are tax deductible. With your help we will be able to expand our programs and their impact. We need your support and ongoing financial com- mitment to realize our goals. AFA disseminates information through Air Force Magazine, airforce-magazine.com, the Eaker Institute, public outreach, and na- tional conferences and symposia. Learn more about AFA by visiting us on the Web at www. AFA.org. Cover Image: Image from World War II poster by artist Georges Schreiber. About the Author: After 20 years of service in the US Air Force, John T. Correll joined the staff of Air Force Magazine, journal of the Air Force Association, in 1982. He was editor in chief from 1984 to 2002. He continues to study and write about national defense and air and space power. © 2007 Air Force Association Published by the Air Force Association Produced by the staff of Air Force Magazine 1501 Lee Highway Design by Darcy Harris Arlington VA 22209-1198 Tel: (703) 247-5800 Fax: (703) 247-5853 THE AIR FORCE CENTURY 1907-2007 Air Force Association DECEMBER 2007 By John T. Correll THE AIR FORCE CENTURY 1907-2007 Table of Contents 1 The Rise of an Air Force The nation’s air arm, which began with three people and no airplanes, has marked its 100th anniversary. 3 The First Hundred Years < First Force (1907-1919) Signal Corps No. 1 • Foulois • Enlisted Pilots < Air Corps (1920s-1930s) Mitchell • The Airmail Fiasco • GHQ Air Force • Ups and Downs and Ups < Air Force (1940s) Hap • Tuskegee Airmen • Relative Casualties • Aircraft in World War II < Deterrent Force (1950s) LeMay • What They Really Called Them • ICBMs • Air Force Academy < Flexible Force (1960s) Airey • E-8 and E-9 Supergrades • “Bad” Airplanes < Air and Space Force (1970s-1980s) Air & Space and Aerospace • SNCO Academy < Expeditionary Force (1990s-2007) Revolution in Military Affairs • Over Time, Fewer Fliers in the Force • UAVs: Kettering Bug to Predator 26 Lists of 10 Here are some of the most significant events, aircraft, and places of the past 100 years. 27 And Then They Said. The most notable quotes of a century of airpower. 29 Pass in Review Among those who made history in the first 100 years. THE RISE OF AN AIR FORCE A B-47 takes off. 1 THE RISE OF AN AIR FORCE he organization that would eventually become The Air Force became a separate service in 1947, but the US Air Force started small and progressed that was not all that had changed. The Cold War had begun, slowly. When the Army Signal Corps established and national security was tied to the deterrent power of Tthe Aeronautical Division in August 1907, it nuclear weapons carried by Air Force aircraft. The newest consisted of only three people, soon reduced to two when service had become the first line of defense, which was one of them deserted. difficult for the Army and the Navy, with 175 years of The Aeronautical Division did not get its first airplane tradition and seniority, to accept. Competition for roles until 1909 and did not have its own budget until 1911. and missions—as well as shares of funding—would last In 1913, it had about 20 serviceable airplanes, lagging into the next century. behind the British, the Germans, and the French. Its first USAF, in 1948, became the first service to integrate. surge in growth came in World War I, when the Army Air The Air Force increased its range and speed with jet air- Service, as it had been renamed, sent hundreds of airplanes planes, aerial refueling, and other developments. ICBMs to France and made a creditable showing, shooting down could put a warhead on target in a matter of minutes. 756 German airplanes and penetrating as deep as 160 miles Platforms in air and space provided an unprecedented behind German lines. degree of strategic information. The precision guided After the war, the Air Service was cut back sharply. weapons the Air Force used in Vietnam pointed ahead Unlike the Royal Air Force in Britain, established as a to the coming revolution in military affairs. separate service in 1918, US airmen had to settle for being The Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve the Air Corps, a combatant arm of the Army. had long been important in the Air Force scheme of The interwar years were a constant struggle to secure things, and their roles increased after the Total Force recognition and support for military airpower. Arguments concept was instituted by the Pentagon in 1970. Women on behalf of airpower sometimes went too far, promising moved into more Air Force career fields, and in 1976, more than could actually be accomplished, but the air- the first women entered pilot training. men were not as far wrong as their traditionalist critics, In 1990, the Air Force published a white paper de- who held that airplanes were a passing fad with limited scribing its role as “Global Reach-Global Power,” but value in war. the Cold War was over and some thought there would be A turning point came in 1935, when the Army estab- little for the Air Force to do. That was soon disproved by lished a “General Headquarters Air Force” and put all the Persian Gulf War and the other conflicts of the 1990s, Air Corps tactical units under a single commander who in which airpower carried more of the combat workload was an airman. The Air Corps also overcame opposition than before and demonstrated new levels of weapons ac- and embarked on a long-range bombardment develop- curacy and results. The Air Force reorganized its forces ment. When World War II came, the Air Corps was still for expeditionary operations, making them more ready relatively small but was well-prepared to grow, which it than ever to go where they were needed. did, exponentially. When the War on Terror began, the Air Force was called By 1944, the Army Air Forces had a strength of 2.4 upon to fly patrols above American cities and lead the million, which accounted for 31 percent of total Army strike against terrorist concentrations abroad. It has been personnel. Hap Arnold, head of the AAF, was a member of in action constantly ever since. the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the force was demonstrating As the Air Force observes its 100th anniversary and its its strategic worth both in Europe and in the Pacific. AAF 60th year as a separate service, it is difficult to believe delivery of atomic bombs against Japan brought World that there ever was a serious question about the military War II to a close. value of airpower. 2 KEY DATES IN AIR FORCE HISTORY March 19, 1918. 94th Aero Squadron makes first US operational FIRST FORCE: 1907-19 flights across front lines. Aug. 1, 1907. Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal May 24, 1918. Army Air Service established. Corps, forerunner of US Air Force, established. Sept. 12-16, 1918. Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell leads 1,500 US and Dec. 23, 1907. Signal Corps issues specification for first military allied aircraft in St. Mihiel offensive in France. airplane. Oct. 2, 1918. First test flight of Kettering “Bug” Aerial Torpedo, Aug. 28, 1908. Army buys its first dirigible. world’s first guided missile. Sept. 3, 1908. First test flight of an Army airplane, at Ft. Myer, Oct. 30, 1918. Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker records 26th aerial Va. victory. Sept. 17, 1908. Wright Flyer crashes, killing Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge and injuring Orville Wright. June 3, 1909. First demonstration flight of 1909 Wright Military Flyer. Aug. 2, 1909. Army buys its first airplane from Wright brothers for $30,000. Oct. 26, 1909. Lt. Frederick E. Humphreys becomes first Army pilot to solo. March 31, 1911. Congress makes first appropriation for Army aeronautics, $125,000 for Fiscal Year 1912. April 11, 1911. Army establishes flying school at College Park, Md. Signal Corps No. 1 The 1909 Wright Military Flyer, the World’s first Feb. 23, 1912. Army establishes standards for “Military Avia- military airplane, can still be seen today. It hangs in tor” rating. the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., in essentially the same June 14, 1912. Cpl. Vernon Burge becomes Army’s first enlisted condition it was when the Army Signal Corps retired it pilot. from active duty in 1911. The aircraft, designated Signal Corps No. 1, is a two-place biplane with wooden propellers and a four- March 2, 1913. Flight pay authorized: 35 percent over base cylinder 30.6 horsepower engine. It is a pusher-type pay. aircraft, with the engine and propellers behind the aviators. The airmen sat out in the open with no pro- March 5, 1913. Army’s first aviation unit, 1st Aero Squadron, tection from the elements. organized. This is the airplane in which the Army’s first pi- lots—Lieutenants Frank Lahm, Frederic Humphreys, July 18, 1914. Congress creates Aviation Section of Army Signal and Benjamin Foulois—learned to fly. It is similar in most respects to the first airplane tested by the Army, Corps.