Looking Skyward: The Emergence of an Airminded Culture in the U.S. Army

This brief study of the earliest American airmen and their influence on the development of an airminded culture is a work in progress. Historians have heretofore given this subject only incomplete attention, and there remains a rich opportunity for further rewarding scholarship on the topic. It is hoped that continued research in this area will strengthen the interim conclusions presented here, adding historical depth to the legacy of those men who dedicated their careers to building a United States Air Force. This essay relies primarily on articles that appeared in contemporary professional journals and popular periodicals. Airmen laid out a collective argument from which emerge several identifiable themes crude tenets about the application of airpower as a weapon of war. Conclusions posit these themes as the reflection of a coherent airminded perspective and discuss their historical relevance as a benchmark for later efforts to further develop American air power. Secondary support is drawn from extant historical monographs that provide an account of military aviation's early development.