Author Frank Blazich has spent years researching and compiling disparate records of Civil Air Patrol's short-lived--but influential--coastal patrol operations of World War II, which he synthesizes into the first scholarly monograph that cements the legacy of this unique and vital wartime civil-military cooperative effort. [Dr. Frank Blazich / 2020 / 258 pages / ISBN: 9781585663057 / AU Press Code: B-168]

A Companion for Aspirant Air Warriors: A Handbook for Personal Professional Study traces the evolution of military airpower from its infancy through Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Designed to introduce company-grade Airmen to the ideas, people, and materiel associated with military airpower, this volume and its suggestions for further reading can aid a lifetime study of the knowledge and expertise that define the profession of an Airman. The Companion for Aspirant Air Warriors discusses the role of airpower in each major conflict of the twentieth century, including the Cold War, and twenty-first-century operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also examines topics such as diversity in American airpower, remotely piloted vehicles, and expeditionary airpower. A foldout timeline provides a helpful chronological overview of important airpower concepts, events, and texts. [David R. Mets / 2010 / 185 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-206-7 / AU Press Code: B-119]

A Discourse on Winning and Losing is the first book published on John R. Boyd’s famous same-titled briefing. A maverick fighter pilot devoted to the Air Force and its mission, Boyd challenged orthodoxy including fighter tactics and the theory of how wars were to be fought. Inspiring radically different opinions, he had the courage to state his views—and defend them regardless of consequence. His ideas have influenced the military as well as business, politics, and education. Former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich stated that Boyd “changed American military doctrine and made Desert Storm possible” while former defense secretary James Schlesinger remarked that “the military services should welcome more people like Colonel John Boyd.” [Col John R. Boyd, USAF, Retired; Edited and Compiled by Dr. Grant T. Hammond / 2018 / 400 pages / ISBN: 978585662791 / AU Press Code: B-151]

More than a tool of policy makers to gather intelligence, Air Force reconnaissance efforts shaped early Cold War doctrine and war planning. Dr. Farquhar argues that a lack of information on Soviet strategic capabilities dominated the organization, operational planning, and equipment of the postwar Air Force. To support his assertion, Farquhar traces the development of aerial reconnaissance from the first balloon ascents through World War II as a prelude. He then examines early Cold War peripheral reconnaissance and overflights of the Soviet Union. He explains the evolution of intelligence-gathering technology, bureaucratic growth, and a relative lack of attention paid to electronic warfare before the Korean War. Based primarily on archival sources, the book serves as an excellent reference for air doctrine, intelligence, and electronic warfare in the formative years of the Cold War. [John T. Farquhar / 2004 / 233 pages / ISBN: 1-58566-124-4 / AU Press Code: B-34]

Captain Rodman, an instructor weapon-systems officer at Dyess AFB, Texas, examines the distinctive nature of Fifth Air Force's role in the air war over the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II. Especially notable is Gen George Kenney's innovative use of light attack aircraft as well as both medium and heavy bombardment aircraft, characterized by theater-specific tactics, ordnance, and structural modifications. A War of Their Own also considers the free exchange of aircraft and missions in the Southwest Pacific—a hallmark of that theater—in terms of the conflict between doctrine and tactics that underlay Fifth Air Force's relationship to the prewar Army Air Corps and the postwar Air Force. The author also notes the relevance of the Fifth's experiences to airpower. [Matthew K. Rodman / 2005 / 184 pages / ISBN: 1-58566-135-X / AU Press Code: B-96]

The NATO-led Operation Allied Force was fought in 1999 to stop Serb atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. This war, as noted by the distinguished military historian John Keegan, “marked a real turning point . . . and proved that a war can be won by airpower alone.” Colonels Haave and Haun have organized firsthand accounts of some of the people who provided that airpower—the members of the 40th Expeditionary Operations Group. Their descriptions—a new wingman’s first combat sortie, a support officer's view of a fighter squadron relocation during combat, and a Sandy’s leadership in finding and rescuing a downed F-117 pilot—provide the reader with a legitimate insight into an air war at the tactical level and the airpower that helped convince the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, to capitulate. [Christopher E. Haave and Phil M. Haun / 2003 / 367 pages / ISBN: 1-58566-122-8 / AU Press Code: B-90]

The US Air Force has not had much experience in helping to create an air force for a partner nation. Usually the partner nation would already have an air force and the requisite infrastructure, only needing better airplanes, more training, or additional spare parts for the equipment already on hand. In Iraq, however, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) officially disbanded the country’s air force and the other branches of its armed forces. During the transitional period pending the formal return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people, the CPA re-created the national institutions deemed essential, including a defense force. A handful of USAF advisors deployed to help the Iraqis reconstitute their air force in January 2004. This book summarizes the essentials of that complex sequence of events. This is a story about the ingenuity, flexibility, and perseverance of the USAF Airman-advisors who deployed to Iraq and the Iraqi patriots they trained, mentored, and befriended. [George W. Cully / 2017 / 168 pages / ISBN 9781585662692 / B-147 / AU Press Code: B-147]

In Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century: A Basic Primer, Dr. Clayton K. S. Chun exposes readers to relevant aerospace capabilities, theories, uses, elements of operational planning, and key issues. After introducing basic definitions and concepts, Dr. Chun uses case studies of both successful and unsuccessful applications of aerospace power to illustrate its functions and abilities. Designed primarily for readers new to the subject, Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century also serves as a useful source of information about the strengths and weaknesses of air and space forces. [Clayton K. S. Chun / 2001 / 356 pages / ISBN: 1-58566-091-4 / AU Press Code: B-80]

Major Myers offers a serious alternative to "aerospace folklore." He proposes an indivisible airpower concept and argues that it would result in a far more flexible aerospace force structure—one that gets the most from our increasingly expensive and limited assets and applies the right force at the right place at the right time. [Grover E. Myers / 1986 / 96 pages / ISBN: 1-58566-013-2 / AU Press Code: B-15]

In November 2009, Gen Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, tasked the Air Force Research Institute (AFRI) to answer the following question: What critical capabilities—implemented by the combatant commanders—will the nation require of the Air Force by 2030? The AFRI team identified the nation’s vital interests: commerce; secure energy supplies; freedom of action at sea, in space, in cyberspace, and in the skies; nuclear deterrence; and regional stability. The team analyzed four future world scenarios—a peer competitor, resurgent power, failed state, and jihadist insurgency—in relation to the nation’s vital interests and the 12 Air Force core functions. The resulting analysis led to a synthesis of the core functions into five critical capabilities designed to meet the Air Force’s strategic challenges in 2030: power projection; freedom of action in air, space, and cyberspace; global situational awareness; air diplomacy; and military support to civil authorities. [John A. Shaud, PhD, General, USAF, Retired / 2011, 151 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-210-4 / AU Press Code: B-124]