Strike from the Sky; The History of Battlefield Air Attack 1911-1945

Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xx, 323, [1] pages. Photographs, Maps, Drawings, Diagrams. Glossary. Source Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Inscribed and dated by the author on title page. This is one of the Smithsonian History of Aviation Series. Dr. Richard P. Hallion is Senior Adviser for Air and Space Issues, Directorate for Security, Counterintelligence and Special Programs Oversight, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He is responsible for analysis and insight regarding the conceptualization, evolution and utilization of sensitive national technological programs and related subject areas. He has broad experience in science and technology museum development, research and management analysis, and has served as a consultant to professional organizations. He has flown as a mission observer in a range of military and civilian fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. Dr. Hallion is the author and editor of numerous books relating to aerospace technology and military operations, as well as articles and essays for a variety of professional journals. "Strike from the Sky chronicles the history of battlefield air attack from 1911, when the airplane was first used in war, to the end of World War II. . . . [Hallion's work] is a very useful study of the role of aircraft in battlefield support operations in major and limited wars in the first half of the 20th century. The author's discussion of the doctrine, command and control, operational circumstances, and aircraft technology of battlefield air operations traces the development of this crucial but often-neglected aspect of air power. The importance of these operations in the first and second world wars and in smaller conflicts of the interwar era, including the Russo-Polish War, British colonial operations, the American intervention in Nicaragua, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, and the Spanish Civil War becomes evident in Hallion's fast-paced narrative."
—Technology and Culture.