June 6,1944 Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion - like William the Conqueror's before it or the Inchon landing afterwards - will long be studied as a classic in military planning, logistics, and operations. Overlord depended to a remarkable degree upon the use of air power in virtually all its forms. A half-century ago, aircraft were primitive vehicles of war compared to the modern attackers of the Gulf War era, with their precision weapons, advanced navigational, sensor systems, and communications. Yet, the airplane still had a profound impact upon the success of the invasion. Simply...

After nearly eighteen months of the largely unsuccessful bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder, the US Air Force began to look for ways to overcome technological, geographical, and political challenges in North Vietnam and use limited air power more effectively. In 1972 the two Linebacker campaigns joined with other air operations to make a dramatic, although temporary, difference. While they unleashed powerful B-52 area bombers, the campaigns also demonstrated the efficacy of newly developed laser-guided precision bombs.

Drawing upon twenty years of research in classified...

This little known classic history of flight-testing the Xplanes is reborn, sweepingly revised and updated with new and recently released information. Aviation enthusiasts will savor the most detailed account available of record-setting aircraft like the X-1 and XZ-15, flown by Chuck Yeager and other legends, as well as all the cutting-edge NASA and Defense Department programs that perfected the aeronautical concepts and technology used in US military, space, and commercial craft. A completely updated and reinterpreted text, three new chapters, dozens of rare photographs, and the complete...

Originally released in 2006. Contains papers from a symposium on the Korean War held at the U.S. Congress on June 7, 2000. Records the reminiscences and perspectives of veterans and historians participating in the symposium.

Of the many facets of the American war in Southeast Asia debated by U.S. authorities in Washington, by the military services and the public, none has proved more controversial than the air war against North Vietnam. The air wars inauguration with the nickname Rolling Thunder followed an eleven-year American effort to induce communist North Vietnam to sign a peace treaty without openly attacking its territory. Thus, Rolling Thunder was a new military program in what had been a relatively low-key attempt by the United States to win the war within South Vietnam against insurgent communist Viet...

First published in 2000 by the United States Air Force History History and Museums program, this official history deals with the role of the United States Air Force in advising the South Vietnamese Air Force and waging war in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 1968 through 1975. Illustrated with maps and photos.