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Article: Command of the air: as aircraft have changed, so has the way air power is used. But the goal remains.(A Centennial of Flight Special Feature)
- Article from:
- Airman
- Article date:
- October 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1912, Giulio Douhet led the first Italian air battalion in the dawning days before World War I. The airplane was a new weapon in the military arsenal, and Douhet was one of a handful who saw its potential.
He made his observations at a time when warfare was about to change. The wholesale carnage of trench warfare appalled many military leaders and politicians. After centuries of human warfare, the concept was still the same: land armies trying to break the resistance of an enemy by direct frontline conflict.
But the aircraft, he said, changed all that. The aircraft meant the pitched battles and trench warfare would be a thing of the past because it ...