Army Aviation: Italian Campaign
Looking Back, September 2023 By Mark Albertson 80th Anniversary of World War II Army Aviation: Italian Campaign September 3, 1943, the main weight of the British Eighth Army on Sicily crossed the Straits of Messina to establish a toehold on the Italian mainland. On September 9, elements of Eighth Army and 1st Airborne Division landed at the port of Taranto. That same day, General Mark Clark’s Fifth Army landed up the coast at Salerno. Opening phases of the Italian campaign, featuring the invasion routes by Anglo-American forces. “Fifth Army air artillery officer, Major John T. Walker, organized the Fifth...
Learn MoreArmy Aviation: The Coop That Flew
Looking Back, August 2023 By Mark Albertson Army Aviation: Some Gems from Art and Dottie, 1959 “The Coop That Flew” Development of a new highly mobile, air transportable communications center, designed to direct fast moving U.S. Army forces was announced recently by the Department of the Army. The system, which has an extremely high degree of mobility, can be set down almost anywhere by helicopters, and be flown out immediately for relocation elsewhere. It can also be moved rapidly from place to place on conventional Army trucks. Developed by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, it provides the vital nucleus for...
Learn MoreArmy Aviation: Part I: 70 Years Ago: Korea
Looking Back, May 2023 By Mark Albertson Army Aviation: Part I: 70 Years Ago: Korea The Korean War opened spectacularly on June 25, 1950. In blitzkrieg-like fashion, over 90,000 troops of the North Korean People’s Army, backed by upwards of 150 Soviet-supplied T-34 tanks, crashed over the 38th parallel. However strongman Kim Il-sung’s bid to unify the peninsula failed. For in one of the decisive actions of the war, Kim’s army failed to liquidate the Pusan abscess in the southeast corner of South Korea; which together with General Mac Arthur’s bold stroke at Inchon on September 15, 1950, tilted the...
Learn MoreBranchhood: Part III: Completing the Circle
Looking Back, April 2023 By Mark Albertson Branchhood: Part III: Completing the Circle As with many of Man’s distinguished endeavors, success is attained most always with a decision that is hardly unanimous. Why should the quest for branchhood be any different? And so it was not. Many had concerted opinions for; with others expressing convictions against; while there were some, such as Major General Robert L. Wetzel, commandant of Infantry at Fort Benning who, in Part II of this series, seemed to be mired in No Man’s Land. Yet branchhood was coming, despite the contrarian viewpoints of the naysayers. For...
Learn MoreBranchhood: Part II: Discourse and Debate
Looking Back / Army Aviation, March 2023; By Mark Albertson Branchhood Part II: Discourse and Debate Within a three-and-a-half-year study conducted by the Officer of Personnel Management System in the seventies, Major General George Putnam, Director of Military Personnel Policy, recommended that Army Aviation should be organized as a branch. Such was disapproved by General Bernard Rogers, then Chief of Staff. “Aviation is an ‘entry specialty’ within a combat arms affiliated ‘carrier’ branch, stressing that aviators, . . . ‘must be experts in aviation.’”[1] Yet, even among the Aviation community, opinions varied with regards to branchhood. For instance, Brigadier General...
Learn MoreBranchhood: Part I: Technology, Command and Control
Looking Back / Army Aviation, February 2023; By Mark Albertson Branchhood, By Mark Albertson Part I: Technology, Command and Control Army Aviation breaks friction with the ground, operates in the ground regime, and greatly enhances the capability of the force. . . [1] ***** The remarkable evolution of aerial observation, together with the aerial direction of artillery fire within the United States Army, began with the War Between the States and a military application known to history as the Balloon Corps. The suitable starting date is June 18, 1861, when Thaddeus Lowe lifted off from the Columbia Armory[2] and from the...
Learn MoreWomen in Aviation: Celebrating the Past, Building the Future
Looking Back / Army Aviation, January 2023; By Mark Albertson Branch Update, By Major General Ronald E. Adams Women in Aviation: Celebrating the Past, Building the Future The U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center hosted a Women in Army Aviation Symposium in Late February. Over 90 aviation soldiers of both genders and all ranks traveled to the conference representing DOD-wide backgrounds and experiences. The goal of our symposium was twofold: First, to recognize and celebrate women’s 21 years of service within Army Aviation and second, to identify and discuss current “gender issues” within the branch. There are differing, sometimes contentious, opinions as...
Learn More80th Anniversary of Army Aviation, Operation: TORCH: Grasshoppers Earn Their Wings
Looking Back / Army Aviation, December 2022; By Mark Albertson 80th Anniversary of Army Aviation: Operation: TORCH Grasshoppers Earn Their Wings The lack of success of Army Aviation in its first time at bat against the Germans at Fedala, fueled Hap Arnold’s aversion to seeing Cubs in a combat zone, and, certainly inflamed the AAF’s desire to abort the Air Observation Post program. Work horse of the Air OPs, the Piper L-4 Cub. This plane established itself in a combat theater with the aerial direction of artillery fire, observation and reconnaissance, photo reconnaissance, route column control, light transport, air...
Learn More80th Anniversary of Army Aviation, Combat Debut: Operation: TORCH
Looking Back / Army Aviation, November 2022; By Mark Albertson 80th Anniversary of Army Aviation: Combat Debut: Operation: TORCH It was agreed between London and Washington that the Third Reich posed the greatest threat among the Axis Powers.[1] Yet it was Japan which attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Hitler solved a potential dilemma by declaring war on the United States on December 11, 1941. Therefore what had been, for the most part, a European war was now a global conflict, December 1941, then, is the turning point of what we call the Second World War. ...
Learn MoreSixty Years Ago: The Howze Board Part III
Looking Back / Army Aviation, October 2022; By Mark Albertson Sixty Years Ago: The Howze Board Part III By Mark Albertson * * * * * 1961, Clifton von Kann, recently named Director of Army Aviation, scheduled a briefing with Secretary McNamara on Army Aviation and the importance of tactical aerial assets for the Ground Forces. “McNamara indicated that the briefing helped him to see Army Aviation in a new light and he requested additional paperwork.”[1] A mover and shaker behind the scenes was Robert R. Williams, a West Point grad and member of the Class Before One and, the...
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