In 1917, when Billy Mitchell was told Captain Manfred Baron von Richthofen’s opinion of aircombat, ‘’. . . find the enemy and shoot him down, anything else is nonsense.”, he frowned,then grinned. It was the same counsel he advised his pilots – ”Search, find, and kill quickly,before you’re found, shot down, and killed. You want to go home, don’t you?”Military colleagues and rivals, as well as some of the top Axis leaders, saw clearly thatGeneral Douglas MacArthur was the greatest strategist of World War II, and that his campaign
in the South-West Pacific was a masterpiece. With Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief
of the US Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC), at his side, MacArthur embarked that summer on offensiveswhose conception demonstrated a strategic grasp of the highest order. His plan was to strike,first, at one point, then at another, thus depriving the enemy of his advantage behind hisinterior lines. Everything hinged on America’s rapidly growing fleet of aircraft carriers and theopportunities they offered for concentrating overwhelming air-strength at any given point. Inshort, it consisted of a carefully planned game of leapfrog from island to island, aimed atbypassing and isolating an ever-growing number of Japanese garrisons and carrying theattackers to within air-striking distance, first of the Philippines, the key to the China Seas, thento Japan itself. Intrinsic to such planning, of course, was the need to also develop amphibiouswarfare techniques, advanced strategies for our submarines to destroy theirs, and create betterand better cargo supplying plans.Carrier attack aircraft have been the main striking arm of the U.S. Navy for decades. Thisfabulous book by Norman Friedman tells the history of these aircraft. Based largely onpreviously classified Navy documents, it focuses on what the Navy sought in its attack bombersrather than what various companies simply offered to the sea service. Typically, the Navy helddesign competitions, and in this book, Norman presents many of the often-unknown designsdifferent companies created to meet the Navy’ needs. He also describes the development ofweapons and tactics that shaped aircraft designs and the nature of air operations.Author Friedman begins with the rise of the torpedo and dive-bomber in the 1920s,measuring the impact of each on WWII. He points out the declassification of key documents, itnow being possible to see how and why the Navy’s innovative air operations during theVietnam War ultimately triumphed over the integrated air defense system built by the NorthVietnamese. Such successes had important impacts during future operations, such as the attackon Libya in 1986.Not all the bombers the Navy bought succeeded, however. Navy official records, most hardlyused by historians, provide insight into how and why some airplanes succeeded whileothers failed. Told through the 1970s, as limited by security, the story is based almost entirelyon the Navy’s own internal documents, including those setting carrier and aircraft policy andthose describing design competitions. Later, developments are described based on publicinformation.Meanwhile, “ATTACK AVIATION” is intense and dangerous. It necessitates the directengagement of ground targets at low altitude. Attack aircraft are usually fighters or fighter-sized aircraft, with one or two engines, and one or two crew. RG’s book provides an overviewhistory of American “Attack aviation”, from its inception to the present, including both ourNavy and Air Force. The pillars of the narrative are several case studies that characterize theevolution of technology and tactics over time from the files of the SBD Dauntless, AD Skyraider,A-4 Skyhawk, A-7 Corrsair II, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and F/A—18 Hornet. Each of the casescontains first-person accounts that include a description of the aircraft’s origin, competitive
procurement, major attack features, and combat employment.
RG has extensive in-combat experiences, i.e., 325 missions, DFC, Silver Star, and an in-depthunderstanding of doctrine, having taught future pilots at the Air Force Academy, and gainedfirst-person exposure to the policy and engineering aspects of the aircraft procurement processwhile serving at the Pentagon and later as a private consultant working in collaboration withthe US Navy. This is a story about flying as told by naval aviators, Air Force fighter pilots, and
the men who built the airplanes the pilots flew.
