Today, the man on the street has a simple solution to our military problems, a solution he feels is right up there in the skies. He thinks that if we get enough planes carrying enough bombs, preferably atom bombs, no aggressor will dare strike. He believes that long range heavy bombers are launching paralyzing attacks against enemy industry. Plus interceptor and fighter planes. For our own defense, is complete air power. And so the man on the street is depending largely on what the military dictionary terms Strategic Air power. But the men planning and creating americas air strength. The man on the street is only half right. Our best military minds know that strategic and defensive of air power are not enough to take and hold aggressor territory. We require Tactical Air Power, the kind that works hand in hand with the army and navy. Since in the final analysis, this is the only way to win a war. Our great part of the United States air force is devoted to Tactical Air Power. Historic line. Litchfield, virginia. Cradle of the air age has been given the mission of serving as headquarters for the Tactical Air Command here in joint planning conferences with the army and navy. All worked out in detail the principles and techniques of Tactical Air Power principles and techniques adding up to five distinct types of air combat missions. Achieving air superiority and close air support. Interdiction. Air aerial reconnaissance. Troop carrier and air supply. Just a lot of words to the layman, but to the pilots who fly the missions. These words hold real meaning. Achieving air superiority means just what it says. Getting the upper hand in the skies over the battle area. We have Fighter Pilots did just that time and again in World War Two to prove that mastery of the air is necessary for the success of ground operations to gain air superiority. We knocked a lot of enemy planes out of the air witl air air force down the side. Whenever possible. We fighting them in their own backyard. We didnt drive the enemy completely out of the sky, but we made it difficult, if not impossible, for them to mount air offensive against our Surface Forces. Once air superiority was ours, we continue daily Tactical Operations to keep it that way. While we work the air over. Reconnaissance planes were busy to aiming cameras instead of guns. Out in the pacific, we recon pilots were always glad to sit down on the Landing Strip because we carried no guns. Our only protection was speed. We went in fast and came out fast with mighty important information. It was our business to fly deep behind enemy lines, to find their weak points as well as our strong points and record it all on film. The exposed negatives we brought back were rushed to laboratories for development to become exhibit a for ground, naval and air forces in planning future campaigns. Yes, we got the pictures, the kind that had a lot to do with our victories in World War Two. Pictures showing troop concentrations for two locations, roads and bridges, rail failures, warehouses and other key installations. On the basis of our reconnaissance, the crews of the tactical bombers went out to blast the targets spotted one, according to the manuals that plastering we bomber pilots did in europe was known as interdiction. The idea was to isolate the battlefield, to seal it off as much as possible, to prevent the enemy from getting supplies and reinforcements to their troops in the battle area. The way we did in those weeks before dday interdiction. The targets included enemy highway, marshaling yards, bridges, supply depots, munitions. At first, to confuse the enemy, we banned down our attacks over a wide area. Later, when there wasnt much they could do about it, even if they guessed what we were up to, we concentrated on the specific area our Ground Troops plan to attack. We could not always completely isolate the battlefield, but we did interrupt any supply, transportation and communication to make it easier for our Ground Troops. When they moved in. And when the Ground Troops moved in, we Fighter Pilots were right in there to give them a helping hand, take a situation where the guys were attacking and having a tough time once they let us know where the hotspots were, we dropped over to street and bombed the enemy position. We we could make it a pushover, but we did make it possible to annex Enemy Territory faster and with fewer losses and when battle plans called for Airborne Troops and supplies, that was another mission for the Tactical Air CommandTroop Carrier and air supply. That was our job. We transferred the pilots, flew the sky trains on schedule to deliver the troops wherever they were doing the most good behind the enemy lines or when necessary, reinforce our main army in an emergency. When normal means of supply were not available, we delivered by air equipment and supplies needed by our Service Forces to carry on the fight. Yes, as world war to prove the goal of tactical air is to help our Surface Forces fight and win. Today in throughout the country, air force bases are moving in high gear to implement a comprehensive plan of tactical air operations. A vast, organized mission is at work, speeding the development of essential materiel trained manpower and advanced techniques in an effort involving hundreds of specialized skills. The design of better airplanes is being fostered by the men who actually use them, and behind the men who fly the planes is a core of technicians who attend of the thousands of jobs that go to make up the tactical air machine in every phase, realistic thinking and planning is evident. The constant aim is for higher efficiency. For efficiency typified by the use of radar devices which make it possible to guide our planes day or night in any kind of weather, in anticipation of tomorrows Troop Carrier requirements. New and faster air transport is being developed. Take the famous packet we transport pilots call it the flying boxcar. It looks like one and carries almost as big alone. But even the packet is a baby compared with the mammoth blow master in its 10th thousand cubic feet of cargo space, you can load 25 tons of military vehicles, mobile field guns or tanks. As a Troop Carrier, the globemaster will accommodate 200 troops and airfield equipment. This must be what general forrest had in mind when he said get there first is with the most. On a reconnaissance planes fitted with high powered cameras and radar are going aloft daily to work on recon problems under simulated battle conditions. One of the latest Aeronautical Technology is the new rf. Aids can travel at near sonic speed. This new speed coupled with the ability to fly at High Altitude forms, an unbeatable combination, one that can live in the air, carry out vital intelligence missions, and survive. The aim is to obtain more and better information, inform action that can be of use to surface and air forces in, for example, reconnaissance information given to a tactical bomber Group Becomes the basis for planning a mission of interdict. The method for isolating the battle area is worked out in mind at the tail. The means for translating method into action are the pilots and crews who man the all purpose part typical of the new aircraft being created for tactical bombing is the b 45 tornado or a jet engines. They deliver all the power we need to left a big bomb load and get to the target in a hurry. Of course, the bombs we have now pack a much bigger wallop and the size of the bomb load still surprises me over time. A tornado is now sitting duck. I know i fly one. Its not only fast and maneuver one, but carries enough guns and armament to give a good account of itself in any combat mission flying, strafing or bombing, following the rule and practice makes perfect bomber crews carry out practice bombing exercises, duplicating actual tactical missions. The constant aim is for greater accuracy at advance speeds. Speed is the word most often used to describe a fighter plane, but it only begins to tell about the performance of the newest tactical air fighters. There werent many of us Fighter Pilots who we expected to be flying jets faster than the speed of sound. Yet with all that speed, we keep carrying more and more armament, guns, rockets are. Now take the f 84 of thunder jet. Frankly its smoothness and stability in flight was a big surprise. Even to an old hand like me. You get the feeling youre on a stationary platform when youre aiming guns, rockets or bombs. Its like shooting ducks from your own front porch. And. What equipment and planes and men trained in special techniques are only the Raw Materials for winning war. It takes sound and realistic principles. Plan, study in and practice the full scale maneuvers with Surface Forces to fuze all the elements of tactical air into effective, coordinated battle operations in the popular view, the airmen are supposed to have the glamorous job, just as in football, its the high flying backfield to make the touchdowns and bask in the limelight. But as the tactical. Air command says, its the Ground Troops who carry the ball for the touchdown. And is the air force and navy who do the blocking to help pave the way for them. So thats exactly the way its going to work. And this maneuver first, teamwork repeatedly proves its value and carefully controlled maneuvers of a simulated Battle Ground and beachheads. And though the Ground Troops may not realize it, they are basking in the limelight for the prime purpose of Tactical Air Power in battle. As in these maneuvers, is to help them advance and take territory. And the Ground Troops know they can look to the skies for tactical air support later. As an arrow, i say you left 185 to mile concentration of tanks behind red on the counter. I see. All right. And whos ready to move ahead . Ready to take more aggressive territory, thanks to air. Ground, the teamwork timed with the push forward, tactical air transport, literally rain supplies and troops to help the main body of Surface Forces carry on to victory. Yes, the evidence of our nations air power is there in the skies for all to see. What you must do understand is true strength. The man on the street must look to the skies for more than a big show of heavy bombers designed for long range strategic attacks and for more than interceptor and fighter planes to defend our shores. Let the man on the screen take a page from the book of our military leaders. Let him look for the bombers and fighters, reconnaissance planes and transports of tactics, all air power for the combination of strategic, defensive and Tactical Air Power rests must security of our nation