“Nevers”44 pages
- p. 43 …cavalry mounted on gas driven flying horses” never arrived to
“sweep the Germans from the sky…
- p. 46 …Mitchell never received an American air force commensurate with
the ambitious idens of air power which…
- p. 49 …This project, like so many others, had lagged, and the Air Service was
never equipped during…
- p. 50 …the Army or the Air Corps?” but never, “Are
you in the Army or the Corps…
- p. 55 …any Air Service officers, and I have never heard
anybody yet-any Air Service officer-against…
- p. 69 …But one axiom,
with its corollaries, never varied. T o him the airplane was first and…
- p. 75 …Powerful air attacks resolutely pressed home could never be
completely stopped, but their effects could best…
- p. 94 …rate for the time being, the decision never-
theless left an open question as to how…
- p. 121 …large-scale warfare; production of combat types never exceeded 300
aircraft a month. The pattern of…
- p. 122 …the German Air Force, the
Regia Aeronautica never exhibited sufficient power to be decisive in
the…
- p. 133 …Except for a few raids against French
factories, the force had never been employed in a…
- p. 140 …into
a complete war economy production was never equal to the demands
of our own forces…
- p. 150 …Long-term needs
of the Air Corps and the sudden availability of funds in quantities
never…
- p. 181 …Actually, the Air Staff had
never approved of the method followed in RAINBOW No. 5 . l…
- p. 217 …Members of the Hawaiian Air Force, who had never flown
heavy bombers, began to receive intensive…
- p. 219 …were not then satisfactory for permanent garrisons. Never-
theless, the commander of the Hawaiian Department, Lt…
- p. 227 …T h e planes never reached their destination. Other
bombardment units were being prepared for transfer…
- p. 241 …responsible officers, a few crucial points
have never been satisfactorily explained.
T h e general pattern…
- p. 277 …motors, sole-
noids, and gun mounts-were never found. After many hours of fruit-
less search…
- p. 288 …planners and
from which AAF Headquarters was never to deviate.
The translation of the accepted grand…
- p. 303 …the principal features of the plan
were never challenged, it was subsequently revised in a draft…
- p. 309 …W a r Plans Division was
never incorporated into GHQ and remained a potential rival to…
- p. 336 …the shooting and wrote that they were never
able to make out an airplane.g6It is…
- p. 412 …As it happened, the B-24's never
returned to India, but, instead, remained in the…
- p. 457 …Meanwhile the Edsall with the remaining
pilots had headed for Java, never to be heard from…
- p. 492 …Squadron was assigned, but which it would never reach, going from
Australia to Tongatabu; ( 3 ) Christmas…
- p. 500 …deck of a carrier presented a problem never
before challenged by Army planes. Hence an accelerated…
- p. 502 …the bows and wetting the flight deck. Never before had this been
accomplished, yet now it…
- p. 509 …Island, in the
Louisiade Archipelago.” They were never needed, for on 7-8 May
the two…
- p. 513 …exist, it was at a point which never reached the
aircrews, for on the operational level…
- p. 524 …handicaps under which
AAF planes had operated. Never were more than fourteen B- I 7’s…
- p. 527 …AAF planners clung firmly to their belief that
proper observance of economy of force would never…
- p. 531 …Crews which had
previously never loaded torpedoes now for the first time fitted these
weapons into…
- p. 544 …But the Japanese never at
any time based their bombers in appreciable numbers a t either…
- p. 548 …26's in torpedo-dropping, but they never would be put into
All told, the record…
- p. 556 …until it had been thoroughly trained and never to com-
mit it piecemeal. General Magruder had…
- p. 560 …pressed into service against the Germans," and never reached the
CBI." Colonel Haynes had reached India…
- p. 606 …reason that the Antilles Air Task Force
never evolved, as did I Bomber Command, into an…
- p. 614 …that reason deserving a high
priority, could never dispose of the U-boat menace but must…
- p. 635 …In Washington the Munitions Assign-
ments Board t had never considered this schedule as more than…
- p. 670 …they bombed from 39,200 feet, and never
below 30,000. By AAF standards they had…
- p. 672 …Goering had never put enough bombers over England,
nor had he concentrated his forces on the…
- p. 690 …of co-operation and combined action probably never
before equaled by the military forces of two…
- p. 729 …shoot at aerial targets, and several
had never operated a turret in the air. This deficiency…
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
keeping with the theories of Douhet, but official policy regarded the
airplane primarily as a tactical weapon for use in support of ground
forces. The doctrinal position of army chiefs did not overlook the
possible aid to be provided by independent strategic operations, but
such efforts definitely came second to air support for the ground
forces; and, at a time when plans were being drafted for a quick con-
quest and exploitation of neighboring countries, there naturally existed
a disposition to frown upon proposals for destruction by strategic
bombardment of targets which otherwise might be promptly con-
verted into German assets. Indeed, some question remains as to how
far the German airmen themselves explored in their thinking the prob-
lems and potentialities of strategic bombardment. In any case, their
job was first to act as an advance striking force, then to operate in
direct support of an invading army. For that job they were well
equipped, trained, and organized. Though the Luftwaff e hardly proved
to be so overwhelming a force as its advance notices indicated, it was
without question a tough and skillful enemy.”
Following a series of retirements, including that of von Blomberg,
Hitler in February 1 9 3 8 assumed direct command of all the German
armed forces. Under this arrangement the Luftwaffe, along with the
army and navy, had direct access to the Fuehrer, while the Defense
Ministry and the German Supreme Military Staff became Hitler’s
advisers. But this chancre brought no essential alteration in the air
force mission.23 Operationally and administratively the Luftwaff e
had been organized on a geographical basis, and in February 1 9 3 8
four air fleets were established, each composed of a number of air
divisions. Each of these air divisions constituted a balanced force of
bomber, fighter, and reconnaissance units and could be shifted from
one fleet to another as the occasion required. In administration, supply,
and maintenance, the provisions reflected an emphasis on operational
m~bility.’~German aircraft were generally satisfactory and some
possessed outstanding qualities, but they were mainly fighters, trans-
port planes, and bombers suited to the requirements of close support
for ground armies.25In the fighter class the Messerschmitt 109 was the
main reliance, though a few squadrons had been equipped with the
longer-ranged and speedier twin-engine Me- I I 0. There were no four-
engine bombers comparable to the American B-17 or the British Stir-
ling; German bombers were two-engine mediums, chiefly the Heinkel
I I I and the Dornier 17, and to these was added the Junkers 87, the
D.
88