MacArthur's Airman : General George C. Kenney and the War in the Southwest Pacific (Modern War Studies)

As General MacArthur's air commander in the southwest Pacific, General George C. Kenney has long been regarded as a key to American military success in that theater of the Second World War. Yet MacArthur's Airman is the first extensive treatment he has received from a historian. Using both official documents and Kenney's own private papers, Griffith reveals his subject to be a pioneer in the development of air warfare. Kenney employed flexible tactics to fit local circumstances but retained a consistent belief in the purpose of air power: to limit an enemy's ability to hurt friendly troops. This meant controlling the skies and attacking far behind the front lines. Flanking an enemy is a traditional battle strategy going back to the days of classical warfare, and Kenney understood that the development of reliable combat planes provided a critical new opportunity to employ the oldest trick in the book.

Griffith offers a few biographical details on the Canadian-born Kenney, but mostly concentrates on the command-level experience of airborne warfare, from actual operations to planning missions, gathering intelligence, and maintaining morale. In all, MacArthur's Airman represents an important contribution to our understanding of the war in the Pacific. --John J. Miller