The Paths of Heaven: The Evolution of Airpower Theory

by Philip S Melinger

Even though Airpower has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure even to professional military officers. It is important for airmen to understand the theory of airpower. Airpower may not always provide the only solution to a problem, but the advantages of speed, range, flexibility and vantage point offered through the air and space environment make airpower a powerful instrument for meeting the needs of the nation. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.

This book is a valuable means of increasing our expertise in the employment of airpower. It offers an outstanding overview of airpower theories and will serve as the basic text on this vital subject. It will serve as a primer and an analytical treatment of airpower theory for students of modern war. The contributors, all from the School of Advanced Airpower Studies 1 the descendant of the Air Corps Tactical School 1 at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, USA, are highly qualified experts to tackle this subject.

Genres: Military Fiction

650 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting with Italian air power theorist Guilio Douhet, The Paths of Heaven looks at how air power theory has evolved - from the first use of aircraft in military roles through to the advent of ‘space power.’ The stalemate and attrition of the First World War sharpened the appetite for a strategic weapon that could render surface based warfare a thing of the past. Douhet’s 1920s vision saw air power as a means to strike a fast and terrorising blow in a total war scenario, where the role of enemy combatants and non-combatants became blurred, and civilian casualties were considered an unfortunate but necessary factor in avoiding a costly and protracted land battle. The views of other early air theorists are also explored – many of which also saw air power as an inherently offensive and strategic weapon and were also believers in its psychological effects. There are of course some differences of opinion – Trenchard saw the primary role of aircraft as one of interdiction, while Slessor envisioned a more symbiotic relationship between the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
The interwar years are explored in terms of the political infighting and the formation of air doctrine that led to the air forces of the Second World War – particularly in regards to the United States and its Air Corps Tactical School. There is some interesting reading of colourful characters such as Billy Mitchell (who was later court martialled for ‘treasonable administration of the national defense’) and Alexander de Seversky (a New York socialite whose ideas were the basis of a Disney film Victory through Air Power). Some lessons of World War II are explained: to reach the vital centres of Germany, Allied airpower had to ‘attrit’ the Luftwaffe from the sky-and needed long-range fighters (P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts) to do it. In other words the limitations of strategic bombing were exposed. Vietnam demonstrated that airpower’s effectiveness against modern industrialised societies implied its lack of effectiveness against poor, agrarian societies.
The book also looks at the impact of nuclear strategy and space power and the issues regarding counterinsurgency operations. For example, MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), the physical differences in terms of propulsion and manoeuvre of space flight, and the fact that guerrilla forces negate superior government firepower by operating in small, dispersed groups that do not provide lucrative targets. All in all, Paths of Heaven is a fascinating study of air power from 1914 until now.