Air Power History articles

Recent articles from Air Power History

Racing against invasion: engineering a kamikaze "cruise missile".
June 22, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the summer of 2007, I was a volunteer researcher at the Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), when a bomb-shaped aircraft featuring two cockpits was pulled out of storage for inspection on the...

Technology not realized: Army Air Forces radar employment in the early Pacific War.
June 22, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Japan's stunning employment of air power on the first day of the Pacific War, in 1941, is readily acknowledged by most; but its corollary--the failure of U.S. air power in the Philippines and Hawaii is often overlooked. While this failure of American air power may...

The A-1C(M) gunsight: a case study of technological innovation in the United States Air Force.(Case study)
June 22, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The A-1C(M) lead-computing sight was the first fighter gunsight to employ radar ranging. It was widely used in Korea where it received a mixed reception by the F-86 pilots who depended upon it. Many of the younger, less experienced pilots found it a godsend, while...

Establishing the U.S. Air Force Academy: the early years.
June 22, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Almost from the beginning of military aviation, American airmen dreamed of having a service independent from land and sea control, and also of a military school, an air academy, that would educate young men on the unique features of air power and how it should be...

From Berlin to Baghdad: America's Search for Purpose in the Post-Cold War World.(Book review)
June 22, 2009... From Berlin to Baghdad: America's Search for Purpose in the Post-Cold War World. By Hal Brands. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2008. Notes. Index. Bibliography. Pp. vii, 416. $45.00 ISBN 0-8131-2462-9 The story is familiar. America's Cold War conflict with the worldwide...