Germany's 1940 defeat of the Armee de l'Air, perhaps the world's pre-eminent air force at the close of World War I, is commonly attributed to incompetent French leadership. Drawing on primary French sources not previously available to historians, Cain argues that in the 1930s the French Air Force was intellectually and operationally constrained, owing to an insufficient interest in and understanding of aviation by the Army and Navy high commands and the French government. But there was certainly no shortage of qualified officers who understood the capabilities of a modern air force in warfare. Through this analysis, Cain brings a measure of balance to European interwar history. Lt Col Anthony Christopher Cain, USAF, was recognized by the Air Education and Training Command as Educator of the Year in 1995. He is a veteran B-52 radar navigator with more than 3000 flying hours and he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross while flying 26 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Smithsonian Books
ISBN-13
9781588340108
eBay Product ID (ePID)
88233648
Product Key Features
Author
Anthony Christopher Cain
Publication Name
The Forgotten Air Force: French Air Doctrine in the 1930s