USAF Logistic Preparations for Limited War, 1958-1961, discusses a vital military problem that faced the Air Force during these years of international crises. When the full meaning of the limited war threat was recognized it became necessary to provide logistic readiness for limited war operations while firmly maintaining the capability to wage general war. The author, Charles H. Hildreth, has discussed the causes for the change in policy, efforts to improve the war readiness materiel posture, availability of conventional weapons, procurement of aircraft, training of crews, and airlift...

USAF Manpower Trends, 1960-1963, is an account of Air Force efforts to adjust to requirements for a high quality technical and professional force and to the ever-growing demands from the Administration and Congress for greater economy in the use of manpower. Continuing technological developments and changes in national military strategy dictated the recruiting and holding of better trained people, shifts in personnel assignments, and modifications in the mission of many Air Force units. Perhaps most immediately significant were preparations to meet the Berlin and Cuban crises of 1961 and 1962...

This study was prepared in response to an Air Staff request for a history of command and control procedures used in close air support (CAS). The writer, Mr. Riley Sunderland, is co-author of the official Army history of the China-Burma-India Theater, World War II, and wrote 5 RAND Corp. studies of the Communist insurgency in Malaya. He begins with brief comment on the invention of close air support during World War I, then moves on to the evolution of the modern Tactical Air Control System (TACS) from the late 1930's to the present. Only major developments are treated to keep the subject...

Command and Control for North American Air Defense, 1959-1963, is the third in a series of studies prepared by the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) on command and control. This study discusses the issues and problems involved in centralizing authority and control over forces responsible for maintaining airspace vigilance in peacetime and combating any aircraft attack, as distinct from space (missile) attacks. Preliminary sections summarize the steps taken to remove the doctrinal and structural barriers which long served to dissipate the ability of air defense commanders to...

The Changing Character of Air Force Manpower, 1958-1959, is an account or the Air Force's efforts to fit its personnel to its changing weapons. This meant a search for higher quality of abilities in both its military and civilian manpower and a quest tor improved manpower controls. The education for future careers in the Air Force involved new concepts in all phases of training. And the problems or the reserve forces required growing attention from the Air Force. Prepared as a chapter for inclusion in the History of Headquarters USAF, Fiscal Year 1959, this study is being issued separately to...

The Air Force and the Worldwide Military Command and Control System, 1961-1965, is a companion volume to Arthur K. Marmor's USAF Command and Control Problems, 1958-1961. It seeks to trace major developments in the continuing effort to provide the nation's leaders with command and control facilities for assessing and responding to crises which require, or might require, commitment of America's military forces. Since decisions on most of these developments are made by the President or the Office of the Secretary of Defense it is frequently difficult to pinpoint the Air Force role in them. They...

The Quest for an Advanced Manned Strategic Bomber: USAF Plans and Policies 1961-1966, is an account of the USAF effort to find a replacement for the B-52 and, though with lesser urgency, the B-58. Although three successive Chiefs of Staff, Generals Thomas D. White, Curtis E. LeMay and John P. McConnell, have given top priority to this effort, the Air Force has not yet obtained permission to develop an advanced manned bomber. Instead, it has received approval for a bomber version of the F-111 to replace the older model B-52's. This study examines the principal manned bomber programs in...

In a Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, USAF, dated 16 July 1962, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Research and Development) requested that the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) be directed to accomplish a "two pronged project" which would document and analyze the "Air Force in-house laboratory posture." The first AFCHO response to this request, the Memorandum stated, should be "a review of actions taken by the Air Force since the 14 October memorandum of the Secretary of Defense in strengthening the in-house laboratories." The study presented in the...

The Air Force and Contract Management, 1961-1965 deals with the impact of a study project initiated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to improve the management of Department of Defense contracts. It briefly describes the Air Force's contract management organization and general approach to performing the function, the recommendations emerging from the study, and the decision by OSD to centralize contract management within a new Defense agency. USAF organizational changes that followed--including transfer of thousands of USAF contract management personnel and some 38,000 contracts to...

This study highlights USAF plans, policies, and operations in Southeast Asia during 1965, especially as they were significantly changed by the President's key decisions to bomb North Vietnam and transform the U.S. advisory role in South Vietnam to one of active military support. The author focuses on USAF participation in the development of policy for prosecuting the war, the build-up of U.S. military strength in the theater, and the gradually intensified air operations against enemy forces in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and Laos. USAF Plans and Operations in Southeast Asia, 1965 follows...