A History of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) - Reports on Edgar Gorrell, World War II, Pan Am, Airlines, MAC, Military and Emergency Airlift, Cargo, Management, Enhancement, and Desert Shield

A History of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) - Reports on Edgar Gorrell, World War II, Pan Am, Airlines, MAC, Military and Emergency Airlift, Cargo, Management, Enhancement, and Desert Shield PDF

Author: U. S. Military

Publisher:

Published: 2017-09-26

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9781549840524

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This Air Force publication tells the story of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). Rooted in the late 1930s, the CRAF story revolved about two points: the military requirements and the economics of civil air transportation. Subsequently, the CRAF concept crept along for more than fifty years with little to show for the effort, except for a series of agreements and planning documents. The tortured route of defining and redefining of the concept forms the nucleus of the this history. Unremarkable as it appears, the process of coordination with other governmental agencies, the Congress, aviation organizations, and individual airlines was both necessary and unavoidable; there are lessons to be learned from this experience. Although this story appears terribly short on action, it is worth studying to understand how, when, and why the concept failed and finally succeeded. The payoff came during the Persian Gulf War, over the period from August 1990 until January 1991, when the CRAF flew in support of Operation Desert Shield. The CRAF provided the "greatest airlift in history," eclipsing in some aspects even the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift. The statistics were staggering: during those 165 days the CRAF transported some 400,000 troops and 355,000 tons of cargo from the U.S. east coast to the Arabian Peninsula, an average distance of 7,000 miles. By May 1991 CRAF aircraft had transported 60 percent of the troops and 25 percent of the cargo.Chapter I - The Roots of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet * The Army and Air Transport * Enter Edgar Gorrell * War Clouds, Air Transport, and Military Airlift Requirements * Chapter II - The Air Transport Industry in World War II * Pan Am and the British: Showing the Way * Organizing Air Transport for War * Across the Oceans * Summary and Analysis * Chapter III - Birth of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, 1947-1951 * The Airlines and Strategic Military Airlift * CRAF: The Conception * CRAF: The Gestation * Summary and Analysis * Chapter IV - Shaping the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, 1952-1954 * Military Air Transport Service and the Airlines * Introducing the Civil Reserve Air Fleet * Organizing the Civil Reserve Air Fleet * Summary and Analysis * Chapter V - A Period of Redefinition, 1955-1962 * A Redefined Environment: MATS and the Airlines * Redefining CRAF: Structure and Strategy * Strategy Redefined * Summary and Analysis * Chapter VI - An Era of Modernization, 1963-1972 * Refining CRAF Management and Organization * New Contracts * Revisiting the Environment: The Airlines vs. MAC * MAC, the Airlines, and the Vietnam War * The "Competition Issue" Revisited * Summary and Analysis * Chapter VII - CRAF Enhancement, 1973-1979 * The Strategic and Economic Environment * Bonus Awards * CRAF Enhancement * Summary and Analysis * Chapter VIII - Management Challenges in a New Era, 1980-1987 * Airlift Shortfall--Strategic Demand and Economic Reality * Advancing CRAF Enhancement * CRAF Management--Looking Ahead * Summary and Analysis * Chapter IX - CRAF in Operation Desert Shield * Activation of CRAF Stage I * Quest for Additional Commercial Airlift * Conclusion: An Assessment of CRAF * Bibliographic Essay

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force PDF

Author: Stephen Lee McFarland

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

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Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences PDF

Author: Wade H. Shafer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1985-03

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13:

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Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) * at Purdue University in 1 957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an interna tional publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 28 (thesis year 1 983) a total of 10,661 theses titles from 26 Canadian and 197 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 28 reports theses submitted in-1983, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.

A Companion for Aspirant Air Warriors: a Handbook for Personal Professional Study

A Companion for Aspirant Air Warriors: a Handbook for Personal Professional Study PDF

Author: David R. Mets

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9781478351191

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This handbook provides a compact overview of the evolution of military airpower for young company-grade Airmen. It is designed as a primer and perhaps as a companion to a lifetime study of the profession. Military power has three main elements: ideas, people, and materiel. Each chapter follows that model. The narrative describes the main ideas, and a biographical sketch introduces someone who played a key role in that area. The illustrations portray some of the people and materiel involved. On the assumption that most Airmen know who airpower icons like Billy Mitchell and Hap Arnold were, the illustrations show some of the other important but less well-known figures. Of course, no short work can cover all the ideas, people, and materiel associated with each airpower topic, so each chapter also suggests some further reading that will start the officer on the lifetime study of his or her profession. The library call numbers of each work are given at the end of each entry. Air University Press, Air Force Research Institute.