The Bomber Mafia

During the First World War, the long years of trench warfare-inspired standoff, attrition and slaughter led early aviation leaders to realize the potential of airpower and strategic bombing as a means to shorten wars by gaining superiority from the skies. Among them, brigadier general Billy Mitchell was one of the first to appreciate the destructive potential of bomber warfare, and when Gen. John J. “Black Jack Pershing arrived in France to assume the command of the American Expeditionary Forces, Mitchell approached him about using airpower to knock out German airfields and supply depots behind enemy lines, which marked the genesis of the Bomber Mafia that would come to preeminence during the interwar years of 1919 to 1939.

Future of American Air Power

By the end of World War One, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold, Gen. Ira Eaker and Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz became fast disciples of Mitchell, who is now known as the Father of American airpower, while in Great Britain, Air Marshal Hugh Trenchard, Sir Charles Portal, Sir Arthur Harris and Sidney Bufton became deep believers in strategic bombing to shorten the duration and overall bloodshed of wars. Known collectively as the Bomber Mafia, most drafted their ideas about strategic bombing from a number of international sources, including Italian air commander Gen. Giulio Douhet, who published his masterwork on the subject, The Command of the Air in 1921.

Interwar Advances

By the start of the Second World War, advances in fighter and bomber design had developed rapidly during the interwar period, leading to enormous improvements that allowed bombers to fly higher and faster, with substantially improved payloads. Bombsight technology had also improved, thanks to the work of Carl L. Norden and his Norden Bombsight, and although his initial claims of accuracy proved anything but, bombing accuracy within a chosen target would improve to 70% by the end of the war, while average bomb accuracy over the full course of the war remained at a miserable 20%. All told, Allied air forces dropped some 2.7 million tons of bombs on Axis-held territories, comprising 1,440,000 bomber sorties and 2,680,000 fighter sorties. By war’s end, the Allies’ heavy reliance on the strategic bombing of German cities and factories combined with the Allies’ superior rates of attrition and arms production to bring the bloodiest conflict in human history to a merciful end.