DC Wings - Beyond the Wild Blue A History of the USAF (1997) Part 3 Vietnam the Endless Abyss

Beyond the Wild Blue is the most accurate rendition of the history of the United States Air Force that has ever been seen on the television or video. By a brilliant combination of archival film research and intensely personal interviews with many of the most important figures in the history of the Air Force, John Honey and Walter Boyne have produced a vivid and fast moving portrait of service which went from the ruins of World War II demobilization to become the principal weapon of the world's only Superpower. Beyond the Wild Blue presents a comprehensive survey of all the great aircraft and missiles of the United States, as flown by the great aces, and as led into battle by a series of first rate leaders. The quality of their effort was underlined by the powerful air war plan executed against Iraq by the United States Air Force and its coalition allies. Even as the entire world watched in real time as Air Force Lockheed F-117s Stealth Fighters streaked through the flak filled skies of Baghdad to destroy Iraq's command system, the Strategic Air Command was poised to combat any threat of intervention by the still powerful Soviet Union. Beyond the Wild Blue tells the exciting almost unbelievable story of how the USAF reached the pinnacle of power through the bravery of its air crews and merit of its research and development programs.

Part 3 Vietnam the Endless Abyss

The Korean Conflict took the USAF in a different direction, but provided no roadmap for winning the new war in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the Air Force faces a “politicized command structure” and micro-management of its operations from the White House. Ill-defined war goals and micro-management from Washington offered little hope of success in Southeast Asia.

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