Air University Review, September-October 1983
Major Earl H. Tilford, Jr.
History provides us with an image of military leadership that stresses the commander’s role in war. To many, military history is Alexander the Great charging the enemy at the head of his cavalry, Robert E. Lee guiding his tattered gray brigades to victory at Chancellorsville, or Teddy Roosevelt leading his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill.
The first great air power leaders appeared on the stage of history during World War I, and once again the emphasis is on combat in the examples of leadership that have been preserved for posterity in writings about World War I. Virtually everyone is familiar with the exploits of Germany’s Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, who led his Flying Circus through deadly encounters over the Western Front, creating an image of the fighter pilot as a modern knight of the air. Giulio Douhet, an Italian officer during the war, continued to develop his ideas on the use of air forces and became one of air power’s first intellectual leaders after the war. America’s war effort thrust to the fore men like Benjamin Foulois and Billy Mitchell, who led our air service in war and then worked in peace to establish the foundations for an independent Air Force. These were men who had a vision of what had to be done, and they did it.
Between 1919 and 1939, other American air leaders developed the doctrines, strategies, and tactics that would be employed by the USAAF in the Second World War. Men like "Hap" Arnold, Carl Spaatz, Haywood Hansell, and Claire Chennault possessed the technical knowledge necessary to wed the new machines of war to new forms of warfare.
During the Second World War, we had first-rate leadership throughout the air service. At the top level, Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker typified this leadership. While commanding the famous 8th Air Force, he helped convince President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill that daylight precision bombardment of German industrial targets was an appropriate application of air power. At lower levels, that leadership took the form of a commander’s voice crackling over the radio to urge tight formation flying as German fighters swarmed over the bomber formation or maintenance NCOs and officers coaxing exhausted ground crews into extra efforts in the small hours of the morning, extra efforts that meant another operational fighter for the next day’s mission.
When the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb, air power became a decisive arm of combat. During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, a number of men led the Air Force into a new era when technological advances quickened the pace of change in weaponry, tactics, strategy, and force structure. Vision, flexibility, determination, and courage were the hallmarks of leaders like Hoyt Vandenberg and Curtis LeMay. Both had proved themselves in tough World War II leadership roles, and both provided leadership after the war in establishing and developing the Air Force as an independent service.
Leadership is a vital part of today’s Air Force from top to bottom. Top leaders advise with Congress, make policy, and set the tone of our service. At the operating level, others motivate people and guide their units toward the accomplishment of the many Air Force missions. Today, company grade officers and noncommissioned officers with leadership ability are as essential as colonels and generals who have a vision of what has to be done and the courage to make the vision a reality. Indeed, today as in the past, we need leaders.
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.Air & Space Power Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor