Who had a better idea of the threat from the air, Douhet or Spaight?

Essay August 3 2006

The Ideas of Douhet and Spaight

Abstract

At the dawn of what can fairly be called the age of modern aviation and indeed the modern age of warfare that coincided with it , there emerged what many people in retrospect now call The Prophets of Aviation ' meaning that the theories and practices of these early individuals shaped the future direction of aviation , and more specifically the use of it in warfare , for decades to come , and to some extent even today (Advocates of Strategic Bombing . Two of the

most prominent Prophets from the viewpoints of history and impact are James Molony Spaight and Giulio Douhet . Both made immeasurable contributions in the fields of aviation and warfare . In this , the theories and contributions of these men will be presented and compared with the ultimate goal of attempting to determine , in retrospect , which man had the best ideas

Douhet and Spaight in Historical Context

In to adequately analyze and compare these two men , it is important to first understand the historical context within which these men lived . For well over four years , World War I raged on throughout Europe , but beyond the bs of that continent , the effects were widely felt . By and large , World War I was fought through trench warfare , by which men hid below ground in crudely dug trenches and tried to advance and gain advantage over their enemy . In this type of fighting , however , a great deal of life and limb was commonly lost for the gain of a few inches of territory , if any . Clearly , this bloody ineffective and crude method of warfare is something that humanity would avoid in the future if possible in any way . However , the reality of human relations is that war is a constant possibility . Therefore following World War I , military experts sought ways of waging war that ironically enough , would produce a decisive victory without quite so much blood , time and resources squandered . Also during this time aviation had made great advances , having been in existence several decades after the original invention of the airplane by Americans Orville and Wilbur Wright . Therefore , the time was right for military planners to explore the possibility of the use of the airplane as an effective military weapon . During this time , the air power prophets , chief among them Englishman James Molony Spaight and Italian Giulio Douhet , came into prominence

The Innovations and Ideas of Douhet

Italian General Giulio Douhet , as was previously stated , was one of the prominent military leaders of the early 1900s as well as one of the early innovators who put forth ideas concerning the use of air power as a military weapon . The overriding philosophy that drove Douhet 's avocation of new ways to fight militarily was to completely abandon the previous ways that war was fought , and to embrace the latest technology to win battles , and ultimately wars , before the enemy has time to engage in an effective defense , or worse yet , win the...