The United States Air Force (USAF) turned seventy-seven years-old today. On September 18, 1947, Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first secretary of the Air Force, officially founding a new branch of the U.S. military. General Carl A. Spaatz became the USAF’s first chief of staff eight days later on September 26, 1947.
The origins of the USAF lie in a decision made just four years after the Wright Brothers conducted the world’s first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps created an Aeronautical Division and put it in “charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects.” As aviation technology improved, the army’s air force grew bigger. An independent military arm became virtually inevitable after the Army Air Forces became an autonomous U.S. Army Command in 1942 and then grew substantially throughout the remainder of World War II. On July 26, 1947, President Harry Truman signed the and set in motion the creation of the USAF.
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As technology developed, so too did the air force’s reach. On September 1, 1982, it established Air Force Space Command (AFSC) to oversee military operations in space. That responsibility included not only monitoring ballistic missile launches around the world and placing military assets in space for all the services, but also developing and operating an array of satellite-based communications systems. As space grew in importance as a military domain, calls came to make the air force’s space assets its own service, much as the air force itself grew out of the army. That vision was realized on December 20, 2019, when the United States Space Force (USSF) was established by merging twenty-three air force units. The air force nonetheless retains considerable influence over the much smaller USSF—it handles 75 percent of the new branch’s logistics work.
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The U.S. Air Force has 321,103 active-duty personnel, 71,500 reserve personnel, 106,300 air national guard personnel, and 149,417 civilian personnel. The service flies 5,198 manned aircraft. These planes come in the form of some sixty different airframes, ranging from the B-2 stealth bomber to the F-35 jet fighter to the VC-25, which is better known as Air Force One. Nineteen airmen have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
I asked Col. Todd E. Randolph, an air force officer spending a year as a visiting military fellow in CFR’s David Rockefeller Studies Program, to recommend readings for people wanting to learn more about the air force. He suggested three books:
Charlene E. McGee Smith, Tuskegee Airmen: The Biography of Charles E. McGee: Air Force Fighter Combat Record Holder (1999). Colonel Charles E. McGee fought in World War II, in Korea, and in Vietnam. He holds the record for the highest three-war total of fighter combat missions. He started as a Tuskegee Airmen in the 332nd Fighter Group in World War II, which achieved an unparalleled record of not losing a single bomber under their escort to enemy fighters. Colonel McGee went on to serve in leadership and command positions in war and in peace, flying fighter missions in Korea and Vietnam, earning the Legion of Merit with Cluster, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, and twenty-five Air Medal commendations.
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Winston Greem, The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindberg, and the Epic Age of Flight; (2013). Greem tells the stories of three Model of Honor recipients who led the charge in advancing air flight: Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, and Jimmy Doolittle. Eddie Rickenbacker was a World War I flying ace who shot down twenty-six enemy planes. Jimmy Doolittle led the Tokyo Raid in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attacks, pioneering carrier-based bombing by sea. Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic, proving long-range flight capabilities, and flew combat missions as a civilian in the South Pacific. Greem’s writing captures the can-do attitude of the “greatest generation” that contributed to pushing the U.S. Air Force from an idea to a reality.
Donald L. Miller, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany; (2007). The inspiration behind the Apple TV+ series “Masters of the Air,” Miller’s book recounts the heroic exploits of the American Eighth Air Force in World War II and the young men who conducted the strategic bombing of Axis powers. Masters of the Air captures their struggles, bravery, and resilience as they overcame impossible odds and built a strong core spirit of the new U.S. Air Force.
