Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare: The Evolution of British and American Ideas about Strategic Bombing, 1914-1945

418 Pages·2002·11.43 MB·English

by  Tami Davis Biddle

RHETORIC AND REALITY IN AIR WARFARE
PRINCETON STUDIES IN
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS
Series Editors
Jack L. Snyder
Marc Trachtenberg
Fareed Zakaria
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RHETORIC AND REALITY
IN AIR WARFARE
THE EVOLUTION OF BRITISH AND
AMERICAN IDEAS ABOUT
STRATEGIC BOMBING, 1914 – 1945
Tami Davis Biddle
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright(cid:1) 2002 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Biddle, Tami Davis, 1959–
Rhetoric and reality in air warfare : the evolution of British and American ideas about
strategic bombing, 1914–1945 / Tami Davis Biddle.
p. cm. (Princeton studies in international history and politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-08909-4
1. Bombing, Aerial—Great Britain. 2. Bombing, Aerial—United States. 3. Strategic
bombers—Great Britain. 4. Strategic bombers—United States. I. Title. II. Series.
UG705.G7 B54 2002
358.4(cid:2)2—dc21 2001036865
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid-free paper. (cid:1)
www.pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Chapter One
The Beginning: Strategic Bombing in the First World War 11
Chapter Two
Britain in the Interwar Years 69
Chapter Three
The United States in the Interwar Years 128
Chapter Four
Rhetoric and Reality, 1939–1942 176
Chapter Five
The Combined Bomber Offensive, 1943–1945 214
Conclusion 289
Notes 303
Bibliography of Archival Sources 387
Index 391
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Acknowledgments
When I was a freshman in college, Carey Joynt convinced me that
women could and should study national security policy—and then en-
couraged me to follow that path. Philip Towle furthered my interest in
the topic. I have been blessed with unusually attentive and supportive
mentors—scholars who take their teaching role very seriously—both
during my graduate training and while a junior faculty member. Gaddis
Smith made me want to become a historian, made sure I had a chance
to become one, and then encouraged me all through graduate school.
Paul Kennedy, who advised this project when it was a doctoral thesis,
was an inspired role model for me in every sense. My Duke colleague
Alex Roland has been no less an inspiring role model, and has helped to
make working in the field of military history both a pleasure and a
privilege. I thank him for his unfailing willingness to read drafts of my
work and to offer—always—incisive advice.
Those who aided me and influenced my thinking in the early stages of
this project include: Ashton Carter, Stephen Van Evera, Sir Michael
Howard, Robert O’Neill, Noble Frankland, Ramsay D. Potts, David
MacIsaac, and the late Lord Zuckerman. I am particularly indebted to
Air Commodore Henry Probert, RAF (ret.), former head of the Air His-
torical Branch, RAF, who offered patient guidance to a novice re-
searcher who first turned up in his office many years ago.
No project of this nature can be undertaken without substantial fi-
nancial assistance. For their support of my work over the years I am
greatly indebted to: Yale University, the Social Science Research Coun-
cil, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Belfer
Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the
U.S. Air Force Historical Research Center, The Brookings Institution,
the National Air and Space Museum, and Duke University. Luke Arant,
Lisa Kellmeyer, and D’Arcy Brissman provided able research assistance;
Wayne Lee helped bring me into the computer age. Teresa Lawson and
Kathy Goldgeier offered excellent editorial guidance on the final manu-
script. I thank the U.S. Army’s Military History Institute for support
through the Harold K. Johnson Visiting Professorship, 2001–2002.
Over the years I have benefited enormously from the resources and
assistance made available to me by the staffs of the Air Historical
Branch, RAF (UK), the Office of Air Force History (USA), the Air Force
Historical Research Center (USA), the RAF Museum (UK), the National
Air and Space Museum (USA), the National Defence Headquarters
(Canada), the Library of Congress (USA), the Public Record Office
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
(UK), the National Archives and Records Administration (USA), the
National Library of Canada, the U.S. Army War College Library, and
the Christ Church Library, Oxford. Special thanks go to Alec Douglas
and Stephen J. Harris of the National Defence Headquarters, and Peter
Elliott of the RAF Museum. I owe, as well, many thanks to the out-
standing staff of Perkins Library at Duke University, especially Ken Ber-
ger and Margaret Brill. I thank Marc Trachtenberg and Chuck Myers
for their interest in my work; I thank Linda Truilo, Bill Laznovsky, and
Sylvia Coates for their help in transforming a manuscript into a book.
It is hard for me to imagine writing this book without the generous
assistance and guidance of Sebastian Cox, the current head of the Air
Historical Branch, RAF, who helped with the research process, made
sure that I had ready access to key materials, and offered expert criti-
cism all along the way. The voice in my ear these many years, he made
this a better book than it otherwise would have been. Hays Parks very
generously shared research materials with me, offered advice, support,
and friendship—and cheered me on generally. John Ferris and Eliot Co-
hen provided invaluable commentary on the manuscript while it was
still a dissertation; I am indebted to them for their many helpful insights
and suggestions. Vincent Orange taught me to think in new ways, and
became a good friend in the process. The late Edward Thomas was a
source of lasting inspiration to me.
George K. Williams, whose knowledge of this topic is both broad and
deep, very generously read every word of the manuscript and offered
excellent commentary and superb editorial advice; indeed, some of the
nicest turns of phrase in the book derive from his inspired suggestions.
Robert Jervis twice read the manuscript carefully—offering thoughtful
and perceptive assistance both times; his influence on my thinking about
this topic was significant. My colleagues I. B. Holley and Richard Kohn
helped me on many occasions. Lynn Eden had faith in me, and helped
me have faith in myself.
I thank Mary Short, Chris Traugott, Ivan and Evelyn Oelrich, David
Herrmann, and Sam Williamson for their loyal friendship, unwavering
support, and unfailing ability to make me laugh and smile. Though Pe-
ter Schmeisser left this world far too soon, he gave those of us who
knew him a gift beyond imagining. I thank my parents, Barton and
Jacqueline Davis, and my aunt, Anna M. Morgan, for their dedicated
love and support over the years. Finally, I thank my husband, Stephen
Biddle, whose influence can be found throughout the pages that follow.
He gave me the courage I needed to undertake and complete this proj-
ect. Without his devoted support, advice, encouragement, and for-
bearance, it never would have been possible. With my deepest thanks
and affection, I dedicate the book to him.
RHETORIC AND REALITY IN AIR WARFARE