| United States Air Force |
Introduction
Many things have happened since the first flights of Wright brothers from that small grass strip In Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in December 1903.
The military very soon expressed their interest in these heavier-than-air vehicles and the forerunner of the current USAF was
founded on 1 August 1907 as the Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps. The first aircraft, a Wright Military Flyer,
was accepted on 2 August 1909 and at the end of the month the Signal Corps leases some land at College Park (MD) for their first airfield.
At first only used as reconnaissance aircraft soon the aircraft are equipped with small guns and bombs to do some more damage to possible
enemies. Only a few years later these aircraft see their first wars. In March 1916 the 1st Aero Squadron goes south for punitive actions
against Mexico and Pancho Villa. In the same month the Escadrille Americaine, later renamed Lafayette Escadrille, was formed by American
volunteers in France to help out in World War I. Soon after being renamed US Army Air Forces on 20 June 1941 their biggest challenge
yet started in December 1941 when the United States declared war on Japan and joined World War II. Thousands and thousands
of airmen flew even more missions over Europe, Africa and Asia and successfully beat the suppressors. The War ended by dropping
two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki leading to Japans surrender on 2 September 1945.
Cold War
The development of new aircraft leaped in WWII. The German engineers developed a lot of sophisticated equipment and the US,
and other forces had a good look at them. This all helped to get the first North American XP-86 Sabre jet aircraft in the air on
1 October 1947 from Muroc Dry Lake, California.
The relationship with the Soviet Union worsened at the end of the forties.
Thousands and thousands of aircraft, like F-80s, F-84s, F-86s, F100s, B-47s and B-52s, were manufactured to deter the Russians.
The US had a strong presence in Europe with many airbases in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
It did not take al long time before the Korean war stood at the doorstep which lasted from June 1950 to July 1953.
Next was Vietnam. Many words have been spoken about this war which was a very bad experience for the US
military. Politics did not allow the military to do their job and the American population questioned why
their sons had to fight in a strange country so far away. More than 8500 aircraft were lost by all US
services and many servicemen were killed or captured.
The eighties saw the introduction of a lot of new hardware. President Reagan reinstated the B-1
program and hundreds of F-15's and F-16's were delivered. During that decade
another "sneaky" aircraft was developed, the F-117 stealth fighter. A few years later its big brother,
the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber followed.
It took the American military a long time to get over the political Vietnam "conflict".
They were given the chance in 1990 when the "Mother of all Dictators" invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
Within days dozens of US planes were flown to Saudi Arabia which started an air campaign to bomb the Iraqi invaders.
This time no political intervention and General Norman Schwarzkopf was given a free hand during 'Desert Storm'.
Because of that and the Coalition Forces outclassed Iraq by state-of-the-art equipment and far better training this resulted in a quick liberation of Kuwait.
After the Cold War
In the same period there was a small revolution in the Soviet Union.
The communist party had to step down and more liberal people came to power. The relationship with the US
improved eventually leading to a large reduction of the US forces and closure of many US bases in Europe.
The USAF had to rethink their strategy as a large tank fighting battle over central Europe was no longer a current scenario.
Now they have to prepare for fighting simultaneously at two locations anywhere on the globe. This was evident at the
end of the nineties when the US still had a strong presence in the Middle East and President Milosovic of
Yugoslavia ordered the slaughtering of the Albanian population in the province of Kosovo.
The UN ordered intervention and the biggest deployment since "Desert Storm" went to the Balkan.
A devastating blow hit the US on 11th September 2001 when fanatics destroyed
the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon by using commercial
airliners as cruise missiles. Many people were killed and a worldwide hunt
for the attackers began. It was soon clear that Osama Bin Laden and his Al
Qaeda organisation were behinds this and the US started to hunt them down by
starting a large air campaign over Afghanistan. After approximately two
months most terrorists were killed, captured or had fled the country so a
new government could take their place.
Now
Because of all the deployments the moral among the troops became low. Many servicemen were away from home for more than
120 days a year, which is not good for family life! That is why the Expeditional Air Force (EAF) was introduced. Now everybody knows
in advance when the have to deploy and for how long. Also the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command are involved in the
EAF to release the regular forces.
Modernization of the fleet is underway, although because of skyrocketing prices of new military hardware not everything desired can be bought. The last C-141 Starlifter was retired in 2006 and the majority of the C-17A Globemaster IIIs have been delivered. Two Langley AFB (VA) squadrons have transitioned to the F-22A Raptor and the Elmendorf AFB (AK) is up next to receiving two squadrons. The Air Force would like to buy more of both types, but budget restrictions will probably not allow it.
About fifty C-130Js have been delivered by August 2006 and a couple of dozen more are on order. The Air Force still has to decide whether it wants to upgrade the current fleet of C-130E and C-130H, against ever increasing costs, or buy more factory fresh C-130Js. The tanker problem has still not been solved. The proposed KC-767 lease never went ahead and a new program has been written. Hopefully sometime in the 2007/2008 timeframe a final choice will be made so the Air Force can start replacing the old KC-135.
The Joint Strike Fighter is now known as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The first one is about to make its first flight sometime in 2007, but production has been postponed by Congress as to want to see first if everything will work as advertised.
In the mean time over T-6A Texan II have been delivered to the Air Education and training Command and the end for the T-37B is in sight. Only the 14th FTW at Colombus AFB (MS) and the 80th FTW at Sheppard AFB (TX) make full use of the Tweety Bird. Also sneaking in after a lot of problems is the revolutionary V-22 Osprey. Four have been delivered to the school at Kirtland AFB (NM) and the first deliveries for an operational unit are planned for the end of 2006.
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Photo: Sonja de Wit
Photo: Iwan Bögels
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