This entry is a subentry of U.S. Air Force.
The United States Air Force (USAF) was formally established by the National Security Act of July 1947. The creators of the USAF envisioned a service capable of winning wars independently by destroying the enemy's warmaking capability. This has remained the primary focus of the air force, whether through the use of nuclear weapons or precision conventional strikes. The air force has been characterized as well by a concentration on the development and employment of new technology to a higher degree than any of the other services.
As early as 1942, leaders of the predecessor organization, the Army Air Forces (AAF), realized that World War II gave them the opportunity to justify their status as a co‐equal service with the army and navy. Commanding Gen. “Hap” Arnold nevertheless restrained his more outspoken subordinates. He intended to earn postwar independence in recognition of a decisive AAF contribution to victory, as well as through the support he garnered from a close relationship with Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall. Arnold demanded maximum efforts from his commanders, and secured ample publicity for those operations. The AAF received increasing autonomy as the war went on, and Arnold's campaign was finally rewarded with army support for air force independence after the war. The harmony between the two services was also strengthened by the fact that Arnold's successor in 1946, Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, had been the principal air commander in Europe for the new army chief of staff, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Arnold put his stamp on the air force in a number of specific ways. He emphasized the decisive nature of air warfare and the importance of anticipating and exploiting new technology. Spaatz followed by reorganizing the postwar AAF into three major functionally defined combat commands based in the United States—Strategic Air Command (SAC), Tactical Air Command (TAC), and Air Defense Command (ADC)—in addition to separate commands for training and support. Overseas theaters had their own air commands as well. This structure worked well enough to be retained by the new USAF when, after a two‐year battle with the navy, which retained naval aviation, it finally achieved independence.
Interservice rivalry continued, however, as postwar military forces and defense budgets were reduced. The Key West Agreement—a gentleman's agreement between the services on roles and missions—of 1948 gave the air force sole responsibility for strategic airpower, but that consensus soon dissolved in budget squabbles. Cutbacks of a strategic “supercarrier” and in naval aviation brought on the “Revolt of the Admirals” in 1949. The navy particularly questioned USAF capability to perform its strategic mission with the massive B‐36 bomber. The navy also argued that atomic attacks on cities were immoral, a claim it conveniently forgot when it established its own potent nuclear forces later.
In the meantime, the development of the air force's combat commands was hampered by budget constraints and personality conflicts. Defense cuts reduced the organization from a planned seventy air groups to only forty‐eight by 1950, and eventually Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington resigned in protest. The AAF had had more than 2.5 million personnel on V‐J Day, but by May 1947, its strength was down to 303,600 military and 110,000 civilians. Emphasis on strategic airpower ensured SAC would get support, but it initially languished under Gen. George Kenney, whose leadership style caused low morale and training readiness at SAC. Not until Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg relieved Kenney and replaced him with Curtis E. LeMay in 1948 did SAC begin to evolve into an elite force.
LeMay's dynamic leadership and personality would keep the USAF primarily focused on its strategic mission for the next two decades. TAC was temporarily absorbed into Continental Air Command in 1949, but was reactivated in 1950 and began to expand its responsibilities to include delivering tactical nuclear weapons. ADC was always a low priority, and though it had established the distant early warning (DEW) Line by 1955, it was slow to get adequate aircraft or personnel. By the time its fighters, missiles, and radar were integrated into an effective homeland defense system, the threat of the Soviets' manned bomber had declined, and it was eventually deactivated in 1980.
Vandenberg's skillful lobbying and the exigencies of the Korean War helped sustain the USAF through the early 1950s. The depleted service was initially forced to rely on many World War II aircraft. By the end of the war, however, most bombing missions were being conducted by jet fighter‐bombers. The most glamorous and challenging roles were filled by the F‐86 interceptor pilots battling MiG‐15s for air superiority, and Sabre jet aces soon became America's—and the air force's—idols. Each service drew very different aerial lessons from its experience. The navy emphasized the failure of interdiction and problems with command and control of joint air operations. The army was dissatisfied with the amount and conduct of close air support. In contrast, the air force trumpeted that airpower had ultimately been successful, claiming its “air pressure” campaign had finally forced the enemy to sign the armistice.
In the decade after the Korean conflict, the emphasis of the air force in the Coldwar remained on deterring and winning a general war against the Soviet Union. SAC's aging B‐29s had been driven out of the daylight skies over North Korea in October 1951, but by the mid‐1950s its B‐47 medium and B‐52 heavy bomber aircraft were the most advanced jet planes of their type in the world. The 1952 budget authorized ninety‐five air force wings, a full third of them to SAC, which was the centerpiece of President Eisenhower's “New Look.” By 1960, it had over 2,000 bombers. Service strength had peaked at 960,000 in 1955, but it was still over 800,000 five years later. Air force interests were also furthered by the selection of Gen. Nathan Twining as first USAF chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in 1957.
As the new decade opened, another technology was becoming the cornerstone of America's deterrent—missiles. Under the capable leadership of Gen. Bernard Schriever, the USAF Ballistic Missile Division guided the service and the missile industry through the completion of four separate launch systems in 1955–62: Atlas, Thor, Titan, and Minuteman. The first SAC missile wing was activated on 1 January 1958; within five years, 13 Atlas squadrons with 127 missiles had been deployed. Along with the new technology came a new way of thinking about general war. Most of the analysis of American nuclear strategy during the 1950s was being conducted by the RAND Corporation, a civilian “think tank” created by the air force after World War II that was independent in title but contracted to do service research. USAF has always led the way in the use of civilian experts and systems analysis to evaluate its technology and operations.
LeMay became USAF chief of staff in 1961, ensuring the predominance of strategic bomber proponents over more tactically focused “fighter jockeys” (a schism that affects most air services, with air transporters the lowest‐ranking members of the flying caste) until the beginnings of the Vietnam War. As a result, in the 1960s USAF found itself again with the wrong aircraft and tactics to meet the needs of a limited war. In Vietnam as in Korea, it chafed under political constraints, had problems with joint air control, and failed in its interdiction campaign. However, the late success of Operation Linebacker II enabled air force leaders to claim they had again brought an enemy to the peace table, and to use it to justify their performance as an example of what could have been accomplished if airpower had been applied with less restraint.
Despite such confident rhetoric, the air force did much to reform itself after Vietnam as it entered the trying decade of the 1970s. SAC's influence declined, and the service focused more on its other missions. USAF strength hovered around 800,000 throughout the 1960s, but by 1975 it had declined by 200,000, and it was down to close to 550,000 by 1980. USAF provided two chairmen of the JCS during that time: Gen. George Brown, who as USAF chief of staff had changed regulations so others besides pilots could hold important commands; and Gen. David Jones, later instrumental in creating the Goldwater‐Nichols Act. The service also began to consider the use of space, eventually creating its own Space Command in 1983, and providing the impetus for the unified U.S. Space Command established by the Department of Defense, despite navy objections, in 1984. Though it was a difficult period for military budgets and programs, air force leaders proved very farsighted in developing technologies. They fielded the capable F‐15 Eagle and supplemented it with the lighter and cheaper F‐16; developed a specialized close air support aircraft in the A‐10 as well as a new strategic missile, the Peacekeeper; and laid the foundations for Tomahawk cruise missiles, new strategic bombers like the B‐1, and stealth aircraft like the F‐117. The appearance of the C‐5A Galaxy significantly expanded national airlift capabilities.
Structural reforms also would have important future implications. Innovative training programs such as Red Flag honed the skills of active duty combat flyers, while the USAF response to Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger's call for a “Total Force” in 1973 considerably increased the readiness of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. The air force has remained the most successful of all the services in keeping reserve elements prepared and integrating them into active plans and operations.
A new set of thinkers typified by Col. John Warden began to consider the proper application of this new force and technology, including precision‐guided munitions first used in Vietnam. The “smart” bombs employed against the Iraqis in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 demonstrated a combination of accuracy and penetrating power unique in the history of warfare. The service also coordinated more closely with the army in developing doctrinal concepts of “Air‐Land Battle.” Though the USAF was down to 530,000 personnel as the Cold War came to an end, the defense buildup under President Ronald Reagan had created the best trained and most technologically advanced air service in the world.
All the aforementioned factors came to bear in the impressive USAF performance in the Persian Gulf War. Aerial operations also demonstrated great improvement in the command and control of joint airpower, though the navy and Marines continued to resist the complete integration of their assets under a joint forces air component commander. Again air force leaders claimed the decisive role in winning the war. Service historians even claimed that airpower could now seize and hold ground without ground support. Media images were misleading, however, and the Gulf War Air Power Survey commissioned by USAF to verify its claims revealed numerous flaws in the conduct and results of the air campaign.
Disputes about the decisiveness of airpower swirled throughout the budget battles of the early 1990s, as Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak oversaw a reduction and reorganization of his service. By late 1997, active duty strength was down to around 370,000, supplemented by more than 155,000 civilians. SAC and TAC were disbanded, as their nuclear forces came under the new unified Strategic Command, while a new USAF Air Combat Command absorbed everything else. As air force leaders fought to get more B‐2 stealth strategic bombers and the new F‐22 to replace the F‐15 and F‐16, strategic airlift assets of the Air Mobility Command received increased funding in recognition of the increased need for Continental United States (CONUS) deployments as overseas bases closed. Plans to replace the A‐10 with multirole F‐16s made economic sense to the air force, but awoke old fears in the army that close air support was being relegated to a low priority. As USAF tried to exploit a perceived revolution in military affairs with continued emphasis on precision and the exploitation of new information technologies, it also had to come to grips with reduced budgets and a lack of appreciation for the strategic airpower that had been its raison d’être. The future holds much promise and many challenges for the premier air force in the world.
[See also Air and Space Defense; Air Force: Combat Organizations; Strategy: Air Warfare Strategy; Strategy: Nuclear Warfare Strategy.]
Bibliography
- Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon, 1983.
- Herman S. Wolk, Planning and Organizing the Postwar Air Force, 1943–1947, 1984.
- John L. Frisbee, ed., Makers of the United States Air Force, 1989.
- Robert Frank Futrell, Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine,
2 vols., 1989. - Allan R. Millett and Peter Maslowski, For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America, 1984; rev. and exp. ed. 1994.
- Walton S. Moody, Building a Strategic Air Force, 1996.
- Walter J. Boyne, Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the United States Air Force, 1947–1997, 1997
