Moore David A. The art of aerial warfare

Air Univ Library, Maxwell, AFB, AL, 2005. — 88 p.The subject of this treatise is war. More specifically, it concerns war conducted in the medium of the air, how it is waged, the effects it produces, and the relationship between this instrument of war and the political oversight it serves. To be clear, though, this treatise is not a checklist for applying airpower in war. It contains no step-by-step instructions for victory. It contains no war stories of daring aviators. It contains no fawning portraits of airpower leaders like Hugh Trenchard, Pete Quesada, or Mike Short. Instead, it mentions the efforts of particular groups of aviators (including the Condor Legion in Spain, the American Volunteer Group in China, and the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain) only to illustrate particular points. For example, it does not address the development of specific aircraft, nor does it contain diagrams or charts. Finally, it does not contain any declarative proclamations as to airpower's decisiveness in war. To explore an issue as broad as aerial warfare inevitably runs the risk of focusing too narrowly on the particulars of the subject (thereby failing to anchor the issue in the larger context of which it is a part) or focusing so expansively as to offer only superficial insight into the constituent elements that make up the whole. Cognizant of these hazards, I have tried to avoid these dangers to consider both the depth and breadth of the issue.