Air Power
Created | Updated Jun 26, 2005
Book Review: (part of the Popular Science Book Project - A4166336)
Air Power - Stephen Budiansky
(From Kitty Hawk to Gulf War II - a history of people, ideas and machines that transformed war in the century of flight.)
Beginning with an examination of the very early days of aeroplanes, this book concentrates on the military uses and abuses of flight.
In addition to technical information on various machines and general advances in aviation technology (particularly the rapid pace of wartime advances), much attention is also paid to the politics involved in consolidating and developing air forces in the inter-war years, and the development of various air-warfare philosophies in Germany, Britain and America.
Understandably, advances in technology and tactics during WWII occupy a sizeable fraction of the book, but the coverage does continue through to the near present, considering lessons learned, ignored or re-learned in various conflicts.
The post-war information is largely US-centred, though that is reasonably understandable, given the relative size of US air forces, and the ease of giving a solid overview of various political and service viewpoints.
Overall, a substantial and well-written book, giving a pretty balanced view of technology and approaches to military aviation, neither gung-ho nor overly negative, and showing how the machinery was sometimes rather more capable than the strategists.
Air Power - Stephen Budiansky
(From Kitty Hawk to Gulf War II - a history of people, ideas and machines that transformed war in the century of flight.)
Beginning with an examination of the very early days of aeroplanes, this book concentrates on the military uses and abuses of flight.
In addition to technical information on various machines and general advances in aviation technology (particularly the rapid pace of wartime advances), much attention is also paid to the politics involved in consolidating and developing air forces in the inter-war years, and the development of various air-warfare philosophies in Germany, Britain and America.
Understandably, advances in technology and tactics during WWII occupy a sizeable fraction of the book, but the coverage does continue through to the near present, considering lessons learned, ignored or re-learned in various conflicts.
The post-war information is largely US-centred, though that is reasonably understandable, given the relative size of US air forces, and the ease of giving a solid overview of various political and service viewpoints.
Overall, a substantial and well-written book, giving a pretty balanced view of technology and approaches to military aviation, neither gung-ho nor overly negative, and showing how the machinery was sometimes rather more capable than the strategists.
