Air Mobility: A Brief History of the American Experience

by Robert C. Owen

Overview

Global air mobility is an American invention. During the twentieth century, other nations developed capabilities to transport supplies and personnel by air to support deployed military forces. But only the United States mustered the resources and will to create a global transport force and aerial refueling aircraft capable of moving air and ground combat forces of all types to anywhere in the world and supporting them in continuous combat operations. Whether contemplating a bomber campaign or halting another surprise attack, American war planners have depended on transport and tanker aircraft to launch, reinforce, and sustain operations.

Air mobility has also changed the way the United States relates to the world. American leaders use air mobility to signal friends and enemies of their intent and ability to intervene, attack, or defend on short notice and powerfully. Stateside air wings and armored brigades on Sunday can be patrolling the air of any continent on Wednesday and taking up defensive positions on a friend's borders by Friday. This capability affects the diplomacy and the calculations of America and its friends and enemies alike. Moreover, such global mobility has made America the world's philanthropist. From their earliest days, American airlift forces have performed thousands of humanitarian missions, dropping hay to snow-bound cattle, taking stranded pilgrims to Mecca, and delivering food and medicine to tsunami stricken towns.

Air Mobility examines how air power elevated the American military's penchant for speed and ability to maneuver to an art unequalled by any other nation.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597978521
Publisher:	Potomac Books Inc.
Publication date:	08/31/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

ROBERT C. OWEN is a professor in the Department of Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University–Daytona Beach. He teaches courses in aviation operations, law, and history and conducts research in national security affairs independently and as an adjunct to the Rand Corporation and the Air Force Research Institute. Owen holds a master’s degree in African studies from UCLA and a PhD in history from Duke University. He lives in Port Orange, Florida.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Terms and Abbreviations xi

Introduction xv

1 Discovering Air Mobility 1

2 Military Air Transport in the 1920s 5

3 Civil Aviation between the Wars 11

4 Military Air Transport in the 1930s 18

5 Mobilizing Air Transport for Global War 26

6 Air Transport in World War II 33

7 Troop Carrier Aviation in World War II 43

8 Airlift Consolidation in the 1940s 58

9 The Berlin Airlift 70

10 The Korean War 87

11 Troop Carrier Aviation in the 1950s 105

12 Army Aviation in the 1950s 117

13 Air Transport in the 1950s 132

14 The National Military Airlift Hearings 145

15 Inventing the Civil Reserve Airlift Fleet 156

16 Vietnam: The Air Mobility War 171

17 Nickel Grass 190

18 Airlift Consolidation in the 1970s 200

19 Airlift in the 1980s 217

20 Acquisition of the C-17 229

21 The First Gulf War 240

22 Messing with Success: The Reorganization of Air Mobility Forces after the Gulf War 254

23 The 1990s: Years of Steady-State Surge 262

24 The 2000s: Years of Steady-State War 277

25 Haiti 2010: The Way It Works 297

26 The Secret Is People 309

Notes 315

Selected Bibliography 371

Index 379

About the Author 383