Winged Crusade
The Quest for American Air and Space Power
Edited by Michael Robert Terry
With a Foreword by Walter J. Boyne
ISBN 1-879176-43-2 (Paper); xvi+216 pp.; index; $29.95
Military History Symposium Series of the United States Air Force Academy, Vol. 9
Mark K. Wells, Series Editor
Winged Crusade, a collection of essays from the United States Air Force Academy’s 20th Military History Symposium, commemorates far more than simply the centennial of flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The volume also uses the story of the Wrights’ seven-year quest for flight as a framework to understand the subsequent transformation of American air and space power. The term "crusade" in this context acknowledges not only their vigorous and concerted efforts towards sustained, controlled, and powered flight but also celebrates their curiosity, imagination, and undaunted courage. The Wright brothers’ success connected the American pioneering spirit with mankind’s age-old desire for flight and clearly captured the imagination of the world. Much of what followed over the decades featured Americans in central roles. Even if advances in aeronautics took place elsewhere and featured incredible creativity by those in other lands—as they most certainly did—the contrails of this effort inevitably seem to track back to the extraordinary vision of Americans. By analyzing the historical context of the quest for American air and space power and its many-faceted dimensions, this volume of essays by nine leading air and space historians provides a comprehensive understanding of that continuing endeavor.
Contents: Foreword / Walter J. Boyne; Introduction: Winged Crusade / Michael Robert Terry and Vance R. Skarstedt; Wright Brothers: Pattern for American Air and Space Power—Innovation and Legacy of Ingenuity / Tom D. Crouch; Who’s in Control? A Century of Organizing for Air War / Herman S. Wolk; Forging American Air Power: Patrick, Arnold, and Doolittle / Dik Alan Daso; An American Way of War: The Quest for High-Altitude Daylight Strategic Bombing / Tami Davis Biddle; Luftwaffe Intelligence: How It Viewed the United States Army Air Forces / James S. Corum; The Aircraft That Decided World War II: Aeronautical Engineering and Grand Strategy, 1933-1945, the American Dimension / John F. Guilmartin, Jr.; Rolling Thunder and Linebacker Campaigns: The North Vietnamese View / Merle L. Pribbenow II; Jet Aircraft and Defense Imperatives, World War II to Vietnam / Thomas A. Keaney; General Bernard Schriever: "Father of Air Force Missiles and Space Power" / Jacob Neufeld
Michael Robert Terry, Major, USAF (Ret.), a 1974 Air Force Academy graduate and command pilot with 2,600 hours of flight time, is Assistant Professor of History and Deputy for Cadet Heritage, Department of History, USAF Academy, where he chairs and teaches numerous courses on air and space power, unconventional warfare, and military history.
Walter J. Boyne is chairman of the board of directors of the National Aeronautic Association, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and a command pilot with 5,000 flying hours in a score of different aircraft. He has written forty-three books, some of which have appeared on both the non-fiction and fiction best seller lists of the New York Times. Boyne was co-founder and chairman of the board of Wingspan, The Aviation Channel, and has been active on many media programs. He is scheduled to be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007. Look inside this bookRead Reviews
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