Case Studies in Strategic Bombardment

Washington DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1998. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Good. xiv, 665, [1] pages. Illustrations. Maps. Charts. Tables. Contributors. Index. Cover has some curving, wear and soiling. Minor damp staining at bottom edge for a few pages at the front. This volume is the third in a series of historical case studies of important air power missions and it addresses the most controversial (and arguably most significant) air power mission of all--strategic bombardment. From "Boom" Trenchard and "Billy" Mitchell to John Warden and Charles Horner, the vision of air power prophets and airmen is tested against the reality of bureaucratic inertia, aircraft capability, technological advances, and bombing accuracy. In each era a practitioner of the art appears, such as Harris, Spaatz, LeMay, or Horner, who in some measure modifies prevailing doctrine and stretches the paradigm of his time and circumstances to achieve extraordinary results. R. Cargill Hall is Emeritus Chief Historian of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence arm of the Department of Defense. Previously he served in various history positions for the Air Force History and Museums Program. Still earlier he served as historian at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.