In this illustrated study, an acknowledged expert charts the development of close air support and battlefield air interdiction in theory and practice during World War II.
In World War I the use of aircraft to support ground operations was in its infancy, and it was only after the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 that close air support (CAS) and battlefield air interdiction (BAI) began to evolve towards a recognizably modern form. Using innovative all-new artwork from renowned illustrator Adam Tooby, Richard P. Hallion shows how the Blitzkrieg campaigns of 1939-41 saw the highly effective deployment of German dive-bombers, while the British, French and Soviet air forces strove to counter the Luftwaffe's CAS measures with variable degrees of success.
The British and Americans developed their own CAS doctrine in the Mediterranean during 1941-43, further refining it during the campaigns in Western Europe in 1944-45. Meanwhile during the fighting in Asia and the Pacific, the Japanese and their Allied opponents employed CAS techniques.
Full-colour tactical diagrams, carefully chosen archive photographs and insightful analysis reveal how by 1945, Allied CAS doctrine had reached new levels of sophistication, boosted by the growing availability of dedicated aircraft, ordnance and communications technology.
Hallion, Richard P.: -
Richard P. Hallion holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Maryland, and has completed specialized governmental and national security programs at the Federal Executive Institute, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has been a Curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum; a Historian with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Air Force; the Harold Keith Johnson Chair of Military History at the Army War College; the Charles Lindbergh Professor at the National Air and Space Museum; a Senior Issues and Policy Analyst for the Secretary of the Air Force; the Air Force Historian; a Senior Advisor for Air and Space Issues for the Air Force's Directorate for Security, Counterintelligence, and Special Programs; a Special Advisor for Aerospace Technology for the Air Force Chief Scientist; a Senior Advisor to the Science and Technology Policy Institute of the Institute for Defense Analyses; a Research Associate in Aeronautics for the National Air and Space Museum; and a Trustee of Florida Polytechnic University.
He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Member of the Order of Daedalians who has flown as a mission observer in a wide range of military aircraft. He lives in Florida.
Tooby, Adam: - Adam Tooby is an internationally renowned digital artist and illustrator. His work can be found in publications worldwide and as box art for model aircraft kits. He also runs a successful illustration studio and aviation prints business. He is based in Cheshire, UK. To buy artwork, or contact the artist, visit http: //www.adamtooby.com/.
