During World War II, the American and British intercepted and read hundreds of thousands of their enemies secret military and diplomatic message transmitted by radio. ULTRA was the designation for the signals intelligence derived from German radio communications encrypted by the ENIGMA cipher machine. At the British Government Code and CipherSchool at BletchleyPark, British and American military personnel, including a young officer named Lewis F. Powell, were indoctrinated in ULTRA intelligence. In "ULTRA and the Army Air Forces in World War II: An Interview with Associate Justice of the U.S....

Detailed first-hand accounts by U.S. Air Force fighter pilots who flew combat missions over North Vietnam. This is a reprint of a 1976 work. During the war in Southeast Asia, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots and crewmen repeatedly were challenged by enemy MIG fighters in the skies over North Vietnam. The ensuing air battles were unique in American history because U.S. fighter and strike forces operated under stringent rules of engagement and faced extremely formidable antiaircraft defenses. Despite these constraints, American airmen managed to emerge from their aerial battles with both victories...

Originally published in 1976. This narrative describes the evacuation of more than 1,400 American soldiers, Marines, and airmen, and Vietnamese men, women, and children from the Kham Duc Special Forces camp in southern I Corps on 12 May 1968. It treats the geographical and topographical setting, the threat to the camp posed by two regiments of the North Vietnamese Army, and the danger to the camp and its inhabitants from the communist seizure of all the high ground around the camp. The monograph devotes individual chapters to the US Army and Marine helicopter rescue efforts, tactical air...

Originally published in 1983. Illustrated with many maps and photographs. Presents the United States Air Forces use of one form of air power, tactical airlift aviation, in the changing limited warfare situation in Vietnam. Covers the period from the decision of President Truman to assist the French in 1950 to the end of United States involvement in 1975.

Originally issued in 1981 by the U.S. Office of Air Force History. Profusely illustrated with maps, charts and photographs throughout. An innovative adaptation of existing aircraft, the gunship was used to interdict enemy reinforcements and protect friendly villages, bases, and forces, especially at night. Ballard's book describes how the fixed-wing gunship evolved from a modified cargo aircraft to a sophisticated weapons system with considerable firepower. The author highlights the tactics, key decisions, and the constant need for adaptation.

Tells the story of the Air Force's involvement in the region from the end of the second World War until the major infusion of American troops into Vietnam in 1965. During these years, and most noticeably after 1961, the Air Force's principal role in Southeast Asia was to advise the Vietnamese Air Force in its struggle against insurgents seeking the collapse of the Saigon government. This story includes some issues of universal applicability to the Air Force: the role of air power in an insurgency, the most effective way to advise a foreign ally, and how to coordinate with other American...

As the final days of Vietnam unfolded, the question was raised, "What happened to the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF)?" This book addresses that question in considerable detail. In order to sift out the story, three periods in the life of VNAF were selected-the Tet offensive of 1968, the Easter offensive of 1972, and lastly the March offensive of 1975. By examining each of these time periods, the factors at work in each period could be isolated so as to determine the performance of the VNAF. The role of the USAF was dominant in the 1968 and 1972 offensives. Although VNAF had grown in size to...

Many documents, articles, and stories have been written about U.S. Air Force operations in Southeast Asia (SEA). However, given the critical in-depth coverage commensurate with our level of involvement. This volume, the first in a USAF Southeast Asia Monograph series, is an attempt to document the story of AIR-POWER -- and the people behind it -- in our nation's longest armed conflict. For eight years American airman fought with a multitude of missions, evolving weaponry, ever changing tactics and maybe most notable --constantly changing constraints. In this volume, authors from the Air War...

In December 1918 Maj. Gen. Mason M. Patrick, Chief of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), directed his newly appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, Col. Edgar S. Gorrell, to prepare a history and final report on U.S. air activities in Europe during World War I. The narratives written and compiled by Gorrell and his staff were submitted by Patrick to Gen. John J. Pershing, Commander in Chief of the AEF. They summarized Air Service activities from the arrival of the first airmen in France in the spring of 1917 until the Armistice on November 11, 1918. The "Final Report" was published...