Page 337 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

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u.s. air forCe doCtrine:. tHe searCH for deCisive effeCt

Italian airmen and chose the Italian Caproni heavy bomber to equip the American
Expeditionary force.
In November 1917 Major Edgar Gorrell, tasked to study organization and
equipment for the American Air Service, enthusiastically passed on ideas from
British and Italian allies on the use of heavy bombers in the strategic role to attack
enemy industries and vital targets far behind the front lines. An outline plan for
strategic bombing was presented to General Foulois of the AEF Air Service who
endorsed the plan and forwarded it Pershing. 5
As the American presence in Europe grew through 1917 and an aviation
headquarters set up, Pershing appointed Colonel William Kenly as the chief of
the American air service in France. Mitchell, promoted to colonel, was seen as an
energetic and capable officer, but was also seen as too young and too undisciplined
to be an effective manager. Kenly, followed later by another non-airman General
Mason Patrick, had the managerial and leadership skills to develop the force and to
use the young enthusiasts like Mitchell and Gorrell to the best advantage. 6
The American Expeditionary Force air plan of 1918 conformed largely to General
Pershing’s view that the main purpose of airpower was close support of the armies
in the field. The plan was to build 202 American squadrons of which 101 would be
observation squadrons (also capable as light bombers), and 60 fighter squadrons.
But the bombing mission had not been ignored and a force of 41 bomber squadrons
was proposed. The bomber force proposal was the result of a June 1918 study on the
7
possibilities of strategic bombardment by the Director of Military Aeronautics.
By the fall of 1918 American airpower performed creditably in supporting the
US Armies in the St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne offensives. In September 1918 the
Americans launched their first large scale ground offensive to drive the Germans from
the St. Mihiel salient. Mitchell, now promoted to brigadier general, was given commend
of 1,418 airplanes (one half of them French) to support the offensive. Mitchell and the
American air units performed very creditably providing support to the ground troops
8
and demonstrated that American airpower had matured as a capable combat force.
American bombers also flew a few long range strike missions into Germany, but the
war ended before this aspect of American airpower could be explored.
By the end of World War I the Americans were in possession of one of the World’s
major air forces and had created a modern airframe and aircraft engine industry. The
next question was how the force would develop.
9
5
Conrad Crane, Bombs, Cities and Civilians: American Airpower Strategy in World War II (Law-
rence: University Press of Kansas, 1993) p. 12.
6
An excellent biography of General Patrick is Robert White, Mason Patrick and the Fight for Air
Service Independence (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001).
7
Ibid. p. 12.
8
Budiansky, p. 114.
9
On lessons learned by American airmen in World War I see I.B. Holley, Ideas and Weapons (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1953) reprint (Washington GPO, 1983).