History of the missions of army aviation performed in support of the field army.

In recent years Army Aviation has become an essential tactical and logistical tool for Army commanders. Army aircraft now support the land battle by performing a variety of missions throughout the combat zone, though commanders have not always enjoyed the magnitude of organic aviation support which is currently available. It is useful, therefore, to examine the missions which Army Aviation has performed in past years as a means of understanding how Army Aviation has come to have its present capabilities, and what further mission requirements may be desired. The purpose of this thesis, therefore to trace the historical development of Army Aviation in terms of the missions it performs in support of the field army. Army Aviation is defined as "personnel, aircraft, and allied equipment organically assigned to Army organizations by appropriate tables of organization and equipment, tables of distribution, tables of allowances, or other competent authority," and specifically, in this thesis, as those aircraft and aviation units which are organic to elements of a type field army. The field army is selected as the level of command for discussion because at this level of operation are found all of the Army Aviation units which have the basic mission of supporting Army combat operations. In order to trace the evolution of missions performed by Army Aviation, this thesis is divided into chapters, each of which covers an event or period of time which had its own particular effect on Army Aviation. Since the mission capability of Army Aviation during any particular period of time was closely related to the type of aircraft available and to the manner in which aviation units were organized, each chapter includes a discussion of aircraft employed and aviation unit organization concurrent to the period of time being discussed. As an aid in evaluating the overall spectrum of missions performed by Army Aviation, a tabulation of the missions discussed within each time period (chapter) is included. To further aid in evaluating the effect of aircraft characteristics and capabilities on the mission capability of Army Aviation, tabulation of characteristics of all aircraft discussed in t.lle thesis is also included. A consideration of the discussions of the evolution of Army Aviation's mission capability leads to a conclusion that the most important factor which has affected the growth of this capability has been the physical characteristics and capabilities of aircraft and aviation peculiar equipment available at any given point in time. From this conclusion, taken in view of the capabilities of the present family of Army aircraft, the author suggests that logical future developments in Army Aviation will include an expansion of two present capabilities, specifically the groups of missions categorized as aerial tire support and transportation. Consideration of these discussions also leads to a conclusion that inconsistent departmental policy has also affected the growth of Army Aviation's mission capabilities. History shows that the greatest progress in Army Aviation has come about during periods of war. From this conclusion, the author suggests the prudence of recognizing that Army Aviation will perform its missions more effectively in war when modernization and expansion of mission capabilities is accomplished during peacetime, thus reaffirming the validity of the motto of the United States Army Command and General Staff College,"Ad Bellum Pace Parati," (Prepared in Peace for War).