Over the past eight decades, developments in vertical lift aircraft-both helicopters and vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) planes-have given the American military unparalleled capabilities on the modern battlefield. The U.S. has led the world in vertical lift technologies with the help of some of the brightest minds in this field-Igor I. Sikorsky, Arthur M. Young, Frank N. Piasecki, Charles H. Kaman and Stanley Hiller, Jr., to name a few-and by having the industrial prowess to make their concepts reality. This book gives a concise historical survey, including technical specifications, drawings, and photographs of every type of helicopter and V/STOL aircraft developed for the U.S. military, from the earliest examples tested in 1941 and 1942, up to the newest prototypes.

Without the support of airlift, the modern American military machine would be brought to a standstill. Since World War II--beginning with the Cold War and continuing up to the present day--the U.S. armed forces have come increasingly to rely upon airlift for mobility. The power to move and thereafter support a military operation--anywhere in the world, at any time--has become a foundational element of American defense policy. This work provides the reader with a comprehensive historical survey--including technical specifications, drawings, and photographs--of each type of fixed-wing aircraft used by U.S. military forces over a nearly 90-year period to carry out the airlift mission.

The United States of America did not become the world's foremost military air power by accident. Arriving at this position has been a long and difficult learning process that continues to present day. The learning curve--World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and more recently, the War on Terror--has been a steep one. While climbing this curve, the U.S. has not only produced superior military aircraft in greater numbers than its foes but has--in due course--out-trained them, too. This work is designed to provide the reader with a comprehensive historical survey, including technical specifications, drawings, and photographs, of each type of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft used by U.S. military forces over a 98-year period to accomplish the first step of the learning process: the training of pilots and aircrews.

This book provides a concise historical survey of the various types of aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps, Army Air Forces, and Air Force, and the Navy and Marine Corps to accomplish air attack missions since 1926. The text covers four types of fixed-wing aircraft: designated attack aircraft; light, medium, and tactical bombers; fighter-bombers; and adapted attack aircraft. Reports on individual aircraft types include the aircraft's original military requirements, production history, and operational record, usually accompanied by photographs, illustrations, and technical specifications. Four appendices detail aircraft designations and nomenclature used throughout the military, the organizational structure of various military air units, aircraft designs that never made it into official service, and the evolution of attack aircraft weapons and tactics.

Within six months of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy had checked the Japanese Empire's military advance in the Pacific to the extent that the United States could return to its original ""Defeat Germany First"" strategy. That the Navy was able to accomplish this feat with only six fleet aircraft carriers (in the Pacific) and little more than 1,000 combat aircraft was not sheer luck but the culmination of more than two decades of determined preparation. This thorough study, with detailed drawings and photographs, explains and illustrates the trial and error process which went into developing the aircraft, airships, and ships of the interwar period. The critical factors that shaped Naval Aviation after World War I--naval treaties, fleet tactics, government programs, leadership and organization, as well as the emergence of Marine Corps and Coast Guard aviation--are discussed in detail.

Among the world's various military air arms, United States Marine Corps Aviation occupies a historically unique niche. As the aviation component of a combined-arms expeditionary force, it exists primarily to support Marine combat forces on the ground in the accomplishment of their amphibious assault mission. From the "Banana Wars" of the 1920s up to the present day "War on Terror," Marine aviation has undergone a lengthy fine-tuning process not only in terms of the warfare doctrines and tactics applied to its mission, but also in the types of aircraft needed to accomplish the mission. This work is designed to provide the reader with a comprehensive historical survey, including technical specifications, drawings, and photographs, of every type of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft used by Marine aviation from its humble origins prior to World War I all the way up to its current operations in the second decade of the 21st Century.