Archie, Flak, AAA, and SAM; A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air Defenses

xx, 198, [2] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Format is approximately 6.875 inches by 9.5 inches. Cover has some wear and soiling. Kenneth P. Werrell graduated in the second class of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1960 and went on to pilot a weather reconnaissance aircraft flying into 44 Pacific typhoons and observing the last above-ground nuclear test. After leaving the service in 1965, he attended Duke University earning a M.A. and Ph.D. in history. The title refers to the name that airmen use and have used to describe ground fire against aircraft: ARCHIE in World War I (from the British), FLAK in World War II and Korea (from the Germans), AAA throughout but especially in Vietnam (from the American abbreviation for antiaircraft artillery), and most recently SAM (from the US abbreviation for surface-to-air missiles). This study concentrates on how these weapons developed and how they impacted both US and non-US air operations. Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action."[1] They include ground and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures (e.g. barrage balloons). It may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be 'homeland defence'. NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight.…