Military Studies: Airpower Theory

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the superiority of air power that had evolved from the military of William Mitchell and Giulio Douhet. In the author's view, by understanding the balance of naval and air power in these theories, Mitchell provides the most comprehensive theory that uses air power as a separate, but unified naval approach to modern warfare. By also analyzing the limited naval strategies of Julian Corbett and A. T. Mahan, the author states that one can realize that Mitchell's theory of air power in conjunction with a strong navy is the ideal approach to an effective military force.

From the Paper:

"In World War II, the integration of the navy and the air force during the Pacific arena of fighting was extremely important due to the nature of air dominance that was needed to move the navy about so that they could drop soldiers onto the land. This initiative was part of Mitchell's understanding of a cooperative balance (Mitchell's desire to separate, but not to isolate the different sectors of the military) between navy and air power (Jones 2004, 24) that would help create scenarios where the enemy would have to build a greater air force in order to deal with heavy bombing on their land forces if they did not. By taking Douhet's theories on air power through bombing techniques, it became essential for militaries to build far more aggressive and efficient ways to dominate the skies. Mitchell was essential able to begin processing the way that air power would have to be the dominant strategy to help understand why and how wars of the future would be fought."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Errington, Nielson. 1995. Navies and Global Defense: Theories and Strategies. Praeger, London.
• Grant, Zalin. 2005. Over the Beach: The Air War in Vietnam. Norton, New York.
• Hallion, Richard. 1997. Storm Over Iraq: Air power and the Gulf War. Smithsonian: Washington, D.C.
• Jones, Johnny. 2004. William Mitchell's Air Power. University Press of the Pacific: Ingram, Tennessee.
• Miller, Donald. 2006. Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany. Simon & Schuster, New York.

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