Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Brains of the Air Force: Laurence Kuter and the Making of the United States Air Force

Higley, Joel
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469180142

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History.
This study examines the establishment of the United States Air Force as an independent service, through the lens of General Laurence Kuter. Covering from his birth through the end of the Second World War, it yields five observations. First, Laurence “Larry” Kuter played an unappreciated role in shaping the United States Air Force and its antecedents. Second, the Air Corps Tactical School’s impact on its students was likely minimal, but the school’s impact on its faculty—particularly its most junior members—was almost inestimable. Third, fighter pilots dominated the senior ranks of the Air Force and its antecedents from the Interwar Period through well into the 1950s. Fourth, the Army’s interwar personnel policies had disproportionately negative impacts on Air Corps development, but very positive impacts on Kuter’s career. The effects of those policies, combined with the massive army air corps/army air forces expansion from 1939 through 1944, provided a greater justification for service independence than strategic bombing did. Finally, the first major war that the Air Force fought, wherein it had reasonably full control over the selection and professional development of its people, all the way up to its senior leaders, was the First Gulf War in 1991.
Peter Mansoor (Advisor)
Paula Baker (Committee Member)
Mark Grimsley (Committee Member)
533 p.
Biographies; Military History
airpower; Second World War; World War II; Air Force; Cold War

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Higley, J. (2016). The Brains of the Air Force: Laurence Kuter and the Making of the United States Air Force [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469180142

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Higley, Joel. The Brains of the Air Force: Laurence Kuter and the Making of the United States Air Force. 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469180142.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Higley, Joel. "The Brains of the Air Force: Laurence Kuter and the Making of the United States Air Force." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469180142

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1469180142
487
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.