The twentieth century is characterized by the development and implementation of new technologies in the battle field. Development of aviation has meant a change in strategies of waging battle. The British and the U.S. have placed great emphasis on the implementation of aviation in carrying the fight. Thanks to the experience gained during the First World War, and during the interwar small wars, the method of battle implementation of airpower was different from one actor to another during WWII. Their technology and the environments in which it was applied conditioned it. The Britain doctrine was based on Hugh Trenchard approach of how to use airpower. He believed that psychological effect of bombing could affect the morale of people and lead …show more content…
was to force the capitulation of Germany through strategic bombing, the selection of vital German economy targets was of the utmost importance. Thus, General Hap Arnold, who was commander of U.S. Army Air Force during WWII and adept of Mitchell’s view of air war, established Committee of Operations Analysis (COA). COA was tasked to study crucial elements of the German economy. The crucial elements included petroleum, aircraft production, transportation, and food. By bombing these crucial elements, U.S. leadership had planned or desired to destroy the enemy’s economy and not give its chance to recover. Thus, these actions would lead to the unconditional surrender of the enemy. In addition, the Air Staff realized that before any air offensive the Luftwaffe should be defeated in order to obtain air supremacy. This, could be achieved only through bombing German aircraft industry and communication nodes. Another principle of Douhet says, “An independent Air Force should always operate in mass.” Thus, all U.S. aerial raids during the CBO were consisting from heavy bombers B-17 Flying Fortress, and B-24 escorted by P-51 Mustang. From September 1943 to May 1944, the number of operational heavy bombers in the Eighth Air Force increased from 461 to 1,655, and fighter aircraft rose from 274 to 882. This numbers shows that mass concentration of aircraft in the air strike has significant role in order to obtain powerful effect on the enemy. All these theoretical and practical approaches contributed to U.S. Air Force maximum effectiveness during