Historical Dictionary of the United States Air Force and Its Antecedents

The Historical Dictionary of the United States Air Force and Its Antecedents presents terms of the significant events, important leaders, and technological improvements that define the evolution of the United States Air Force. From just three airmen in 1907, the USAF passed through a peak of 2.4 million service persons during World War II to reach its present strength of around 381,000 officers and airmen. Those 381,000 people are members of the most powerful and proficient military arm in history. Since World War II, the Air Force has fought three major conflicts: the Korean Air War, the Vietnam Air War, and the Persian Gulf Air War. It has also conducted numerous contingency operations such as the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the raid on Libya, and the Bosnian Crisis. This volume documents the USAF presence in all of these conflicts as well as the state of the force during peace time including the Cold War tensions. Dictionary entries present concise, accurate information on aircraft and weapons, operations and wars, different organizational forms and bureaucracies, and the politics which governed as the Air Force sought its independence.