This month, the LeMay Center highlights the Airman’s perspective, as demonstrated by Col John Boyd’s determination to maintain control of the air.
Col Boyd served with distinction in air-to-air combat during the Korean War and as an instructor in the Fighter Weapons School (FWS) at Nellis AFB, NV. By the late 1950’s, he earned renown status as one of the finest fighter pilots in the Air Force due to his natural intuition for aerial maneuver and ability to maximize the capabilities of his aircraft (F-86 in Korea and F-100 at the FWS).
Col Boyd was also a deep and careful thinker. In fact, by the midpoint of his weapons school assignment, his classroom instruction was largely based on personal notes derived from experiences on the FWS range. Always competitive, Boyd offered a standing challenge at the FWS that he could outmaneuver anyone in a dogfight by getting on their tail “in position” to shoot the challenger down within 40 seconds or pay them $40. In his five years at FWS, he never lost that bet. It was this tenacity that led Col Boyd to distill his insights into the groundbreaking Aerial Attack Study. The study was the first realistic and detailed manual for basic fighter maneuvers. It became the core of air-to-air combat training academics after its first release in 1960.
Following his assignment at the FWS, Col Boyd attended Georgia Tech University to earn a degree in engineering. There, he expanded his Attack Study insights into a more general theory borrowed from thermodynamics: an aircraft’s position at any time can be described as an energy state and aerial maneuver can be described as the transfer of potential energy into kinetic energy and vice versa. During his follow-on assignment to Eglin AFB, Col Boyd and mathematician colleague Mr. Tom Christie created mathematical graphs of aircraft performance envelopes. These graphs could be compared with performance envelopes of other aircraft (e.g., Soviet MiGs) to discern areas of relative advantage and disadvantage. Boyd called this energy maneuverability (EM) theory.
Col Boyd’s and Mr. Christie’s deliberations revealed that Department of Defense 1960’s era aircraft, such as the F-105, F-4, and F-111, while adequate in air-to-ground roles, were significantly disadvantaged in air-to-air maneuvering when compared with most Soviet aircraft of the day. As an airpower advocate, Col Boyd believed in air superiority and gaining control of the air through counterair operations. He advanced this belief by developing fighter aircraft based on EM theories of relative advantage. In subsequent duty on the Air Staff, Col Boyd convinced Air Force leaders of EM theory efficacy to help design the world’s premier fourth-generation fighters, the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. In later life, he developed encompassing theories of maneuver warfare and conflict in his Discourse on Winning and Losing. Twenty-eight years after his death, his broad warfighting ideas continue to influence all the Services and joint doctrine.
Why it matters today: As a fighter pilot, Col John Boyd was never fully satisfied with his flying. He constantly thought about how he could improve his performance. This air-minded approach extended beyond the cockpit and into his thinking on airpower—he was never finished with his ideas. He regarded every theorem, model, or insight as incomplete. He constantly strived to maintain superiority over an enemy, a competitor, or even his own position through improved decision-making. Similarly, the Airman’s perspective is predicated on staying ahead and gaining control of the air to enable effective airpower application. Col Boyd’s work is also incorporated in the commander’s decision cycle presented in our modern C2 doctrine. Finally, Col Boyd exemplifies the Air Force core value of “excellence in all we do”—his legacy inspires Airmen to continually develop themselves for the advancement of airpower. The Airman’s perspective and our core values are established in Air Force Doctrine Publication (AFDP) 1, The Air Force, and the commander’s decision cycle is further detailed in AFDP 3-0.1, Command and Control. For a recent podcast that incorporates additional details on the Airman’s perspective, listen to Lt Gen Spain in Deciphering Doctrine – Ep 25, or checkout our entire podcast library on DVIDShub, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, or at www.doctrine.af.mil.