Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force, 1907-1960. Volume 1.

摘要

This history seeks to discover and record the mainstream of thought within the United States Air Force (and its predecessors) concerning the role to be played by air and aerospace power in a deadly struggle for national survival. It seeks to trace the development of a theme of institutional thought, describe the organizational framework in which the thinking took place, and identify individual thinkers and their ideas. In great measure this chronology is the story of dedicated professional men who were attempting to discover the capabilities and limitations of new forms of air and aerospace power and to relate these new characteristics of military power to the defense of the United States and its national interests. The story begins with the first heavier-than- air flight in 1903 and closes at the end of 1984. This ending date permits a coverage of Air Force thinking about counterinsurgency warfare and the military operations in Southeast Asia. This revised two-volume history is an extended version of Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: A History of Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force, 1907-1964, which the author completed during 1961-64. This original book was first published in 1971 by the Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University, in a two-volume format; it was reprinted in 1974 as a single volume in the numbered-text series of the Air University as AU-19. In view of a continuing demand for the book, the author was brought back from retirement at the end of September 1982 with a two-year contract calling for revision of the original book as necessary to bring it up to date, as of 1984.