". . . the most thorough exposition of these two
conflicts that I have ever read. . . . I cannot re-
commend this book too highly."—Brig. Gen. Robinson
Risner, USAF (Ret.)
"Tactical bombing," Gen. Jimmy Doolittle reportedly
observed, "is breaking the milk bottle. Strategic bomb-
ing is killing the cow." Most nations have historically
chosen between building tactical and strategic air
forces; rarely has a state given equal weight to both.
The advantages of tactical air power are obvious today
as small wars and petty tyrants bedevil us, but in a
Cold War world split between continental superpowers,
strategic bombing took precedence, with calamitous
consequences.
In the 1960s, the U.S. Air Force lacked the equipment and
properly trained pilots to assure air superiority because
the Tactical Air Command (TAC) had become little more than
a handmaiden to the Strategic Air Command (SAC). TAC focus-
ed primarily on the interdiction of enemy bombers and virtually
ignored its other responsibilities. Its aircraft were designed
to shoot at large, lumbering bombers and not to engage in dog
fights with highly maneuverable MiGs.
Hannah shows how a tactical air force that won a victory
in World War II deteriorated into a second-rate force fly-
ing aging aircraft during the early years of the Cold War,
recovered briefly over Korea, then slid into obsolescence
during the 1950s. His explanation of why America's fighter
aircraft did not work in Vietnam is instructive and unsettl-
ing.
Hannah explains how TAC struggled through the war in Vietnam
to emerge in the 1970s as the best tactical air force in the
world. He side-steps politics and inter-service rivalries to
focus on the nuts and bolts of tactical air power. The result
is a factual, informative account of how an air force first
loses its way then finds its mission again.
_________________________________________________________
CRAIG C. HANNAH holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering
from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in history from Texas
Tech University. He is currently a program engineer in the construct-
ion equipment industry in Lubbock, Texas, and serves as a director
for the Texas Air Museum.
Number Seventy-six: Texas A&M University Military History
Series
