Airborne (1997) Read Online Free Page A

the end of World War I occurred before Mitchell could carry out his plan, the seed of airborne warfare had been planted in the American military. As a historical footnote, the young officer assigned to study and plan Mitchell’s assault concept was Louis Brereton, who later was to command the 9th Air Force and the 1st Airborne Army during World War II.
    It is a matter of historic record that it only took a few years of development to adapt the airplane from a fairground novelty into a combat weapon. Despite the forward thinking of men like Mitchell, the only major military mission that the airplane did not conduct during the Great War is the one that is of interest to us here: personnel, equipment, and supply transport. In their zeal to become a combat arm, the early air force personnel concentrated their efforts upon procuring better models of pursuit (i.e., fighter), bomber, and reconnaissance aircraft.
    Even today, most airpower advocates still prefer to think in terms of bombers and fighters striking offensively at an enemy, not the seemingly mundane supporting roles of transport and reconnaissance. Yet it is these last two roles that most ground unit commanders find the most worthwhile. This has been the essential debate for over seven decades. Does airpower support ground operations, or supersede them? Wherever your opinion, it is important to remember that airpower is more than just a killing force in warfare. Everyone, even those leaders wearing USAF blue, needs to remember that airpower’s essential value comes from the exploitation of aviation’s full range of possibilities. Even those missions important to mere mortals who walk and fight down in the mud.
    After the First World War it took the vision of men who wanted to make peacetime aviation into a profitable business to cause the birth of real transport aircraft. The first of these efforts took the form of high-speed mail planes, which brought the dream of quick coast-to-coast mail service to reality. As soon as that concept was proven, the idea of doing the same thing with people came into being. You have to remember that coast-to-coast rail service took a minimum of four to six days in the 1920s. Given a propeller-driven aircraft of sufficient range, reliability, and safety, one could potentially reduce that to a day or two. With such aircraft, profitable airlines were possible. One of the first of these aircraft was the famous Ford Tri-Motor, which arrived in 1926. Called the “Tin Goose,” it made regional travel (say, between New York and Boston) in a day not only possible, but routine. European designs like the German Junkers Model 52 (Ju-52) brought similar benefits to airlines overseas.

    A portrait of General Billy Mitchell, the father of American Airpower.
    OFFICIAL U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO
    While an excellent start, these early airliners still failed to meet the real requirements of commercial airlines. Slow speeds, low ceiling limits, short range, and small payloads were just a few of the aircraft limitations that commercial operators felt had to be overcome to make aviation a viable industry. The breakthrough came in the form of two new designs from builders who should be familiar to almost any aviation enthusiast: the Boeing and Douglas Aircraft companies. At the time, these West Coast companies were pale shadows of their current corporate structures. In the 1930s, these two upstart manufacturers changed the world forever with their new ideas for large transport aircraft. The first new design, the Boeing Model 247D, appeared in 1933, and was the model that every modern transport aircraft would follow in the future. Features like all-metal construction, retractable landing gear, and a top speed of over 200 kn/381 kph made the 247D an overnight success for United Airlines, which had ordered the first sixty produced.
    With the Boeing production line completely saturated by orders from United, other airlines like American and TWA turned to Douglas, in