Why did the USAF go from being dominated by bombers to being dominated by fighters?
Believe it or not, there was once a time when there were more B-52's than fighters. Fighters (or interceptors as they were called back then) were seen as a purely defensive measure. It was assumed that bombers would be doing all the real work and the fighters would just be something like a goal-keeper for protecting the homeland.
What happened?
>>29809574
LeMay called it quits, ICBM's became the new hotness, and the hippies ruined everything and made being a bomber pilot uncool.
SALT treaties because "muh nukes" ,the end of the Cold War and "this is totally not a bomber guize" bombers like this thing
>>29809574
>Believe it or not, there was once a time when there were more B-52's than fighters. Fighters (or interceptors as they were called back then)
kek.
>>29809690
The F-111 might have been a bomber but it was a medium range bomber, not a long-range bomber like the B-52. You can't fly from the US to Russia and back in an F-111.
(Unless you start from Alaska or Hawaii)
>>29809574
The failure of Douhet Theory.
>>29809753
It's a strike aircraft. It's primary purpose was interdiction.
>>29809574
Bombers were surpassed by ICBMs.
Also, there's a difference between interceptors and fighters. Interceptors were aircraft specifically for shooting down bombers.
Pic related, this is an aircraft made to destroy large, heavy bombers, not fighter aircraft.
>>29809574
Bombing isn't all that effective in the modern context.
>>29809574
>Why did the USAF go from being dominated by bombers to being dominated by fighters?
It didn't. It plans to acquire thousands of F-35 bombers.
>>29809574
That's a difficult story, and deals with the rise and fall of the Strategic Air Command. Long story short, the bomber generals which had controlled the USAF since its inception through most of the Cold War were replaced by combat experienced fighter generals.
>>29809656
SAC. WILL. BE. BACK.
>>29809656
The good days. When SAC ran the Air Force and USAF was king of the services.
>>29810005
SAC Commanders had experience too. Tough motherfuckers.
>>29809860
Ironically, COIN warfare has given worth to heavy bombers again since range and payload translates to loiter time and ammo.
>>29810571
But no based LeMay
I never understood why people like LeMay so much. He made a lot of dumb decisions like insist the Air Force use a M15 revolver instead of the M1911 and didn't look so hot during the Cuban missile crisis.
>>29811105
LeMay helped give us the AR-15. That's part of it.
>>29811105
He firebombed the fuck out of the nips.
>>29809574
Most situations are better suited for multi role aircraft than heavy bombers, especially when a large number of those heavy bombers either need to be repainted after each flight or can't carry the cheaper munitions internally.
>>29811105
>flew a bunch of missions fucking shit up in ww2
>advocate for nuking of japan
>go into sac
>become hardass leader who took it from shitty limpdick status to the pride of the US military
>took no shit, smoked cigars and drank like a motherfucker
>brought us the B52/B47
>helped with US nuclear strategy pre-icbm
>hell of a leader, a lot of men under his command said he was a total hardass but they would gladly follow him into battle
>be 4 star general with a shitload of awards before leaving
>get out of AF
>stay hardass smoking, drinking, outspoken motherfucker until death
the dude was a fucking badass.
also this
>>29812146
>>29812173
>be a country made of paper houses, soaked in gasoline, surrounded by tinderwood
>pick a fight with America
Japan's not the brightest bunch around, but they did give us Anri Okita, so they're OK in my book.
The soulless progressives of WW2 who thought mass murdering civilians was acceptable, as long as the civilians are on the "wrong side" eventually disappeared.
We should dig up their graves & shit on their skeletons
>In reality, LeMay had enthusiastically supported racial integration in the U.S. military both publicly and privately.
And like all these evil fucking progressives who gleely firebombed civilians or pushed for nuclear war, they were nigger lovers
>>29812173
Yeah it was such a ground breaking idea that no one else could have ever come up with. What an overrated general.
>>29812939
Come back when your balls drop you edgy little shit.
