The Command of The Air (USAF Warrior Studies)

This reprint of the 1942 English translation of Douhet's works, while titled “Command of the Air”, actually consists of five separate works: the original 1921 edition of “Command of the Air”, a second edition of 1927, a 1928 monograph titled “Probable Aspects of Future War”, a polemical article of 1929 called “Recapitulation”' and the 1930 study “The War of 19-.” By transporting ourselves back to the 1920s, past not only the Vietnam and Korean Wars, but nearly two decades before World War II, we become silent observers of the unfolding drama of airpower's history. Knowing that transpired after Douhet wrote, we can test our understanding, find the assumptions and conclusions of Douhet that proved false, and read with wonder those that proved true. Some of what he wrote today seems almost timeless, 'principles' perhaps of the employment of aircraft in war. Giulio Douhet was a prophet. From the perspective of today, he still bears pondering. Serious thinking about the nature of war and the role of aerospace power will not in our lifetime cease to be of value.

Richard H. Kohn is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Richard H. Kohn is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.