A Century of American Airpower: From Balloons to Space Force

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The United States Air Force has spent over a century chasing the horizon. What began in 1907 with one officer and two enlisted men watching balloons has become a global force operating fighters that can break the sound barrier, bombers that can circle the earth, and satellites that can see through clouds.

This is the tale of how America learned to fight in three dimensions, then expanded into cyberspace and outer space. Each generation of aircraft tells the story of the threats America faced and the technologies it developed to meet them.

The Dawn of Military Flight

From Balloons to Biplanes

American military aviation didn’t begin with a grand vision. It started with practical curiosity and institutional skepticism. The Union Army had used observation balloons during the Civil War to spot Confederate movements, proving that military value existed in getting above the battlefield.

On August 1, 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps created an Aeronautical Division with one officer and two enlisted men. Their job was handling “all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines, and all kindred subjects.” The bureaucratic language couldn’t hide the uncertainty—nobody really knew what these machines might do.

The division initially focused on lighter-than-air craft like balloons and dirigibles. That changed dramatically in 1909 when the Signal Corps bought its first airplane from the Wright Brothers. The Wright 1909 Military Flyer represented the beginning of American military heavier-than-air flight and now sits in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force as a monument to that pivotal moment.

Growth was slow but steady. The first operational unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, formed in 1913. A year later, the organization became the Aviation Section, Signal Corps. Technology was advancing faster than military doctrine could absorb it. Rapid airplane development consistently outpaced the military establishment’s ability to figure out how to use these machines.

The initial view of aircraft as observation tools—extensions of the Signal Corps’ balloon mission—was about to become obsolete. Global conflict would force a much broader vision.

Trial by Fire in World War I

When America entered World War I in April 1917, its air arm was woefully unprepared. The Aviation Section had only 132 aircraft, all obsolete compared to what European powers had developed during three years of war.

This desperate situation became the driver of progress. Congress passed the Aviation Act in July 1917, appropriating an unprecedented $640 million for military aviation. President Wilson created the United States Army Air Service in May 1918 to manage explosive growth.

Even with new funding and organization, American industry couldn’t produce combat-ready aircraft quickly enough. The Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe relied almost entirely on Allied designs, receiving thousands of aircraft from France and Britain.

The only American-built aircraft to see combat was the De Havilland DH-4, a British design modified for American production with a U.S.-made Liberty engine. The DH-4 became the workhorse for daytime bombing, observation, and artillery spotting.

But it was a flawed machine. A dangerously placed fuel tank between pilot and observer had a tendency to explode when hit, earning the grim nickname “The Flaming Coffin.” Despite its reputation, thousands were produced and it formed the backbone of the American air effort.

Combat experience in WWI established fundamental air warfare principles that would evolve for the next century: tactical support for ground troops, aerial reconnaissance, and the emerging doctrine of strategic bombing.

Billy Mitchell’s Crusade

The war’s end didn’t bring consensus on airpower’s role. The 1920s were defined by fierce public debate over its future, led by the charismatic and controversial Brigadier General Billy Mitchell.

Having commanded air units in France, Mitchell returned as a fervent advocate for an independent Air Force. He argued that airpower was a revolutionary strategic force that should be controlled by aviators, not ground commanders. He envisioned an American air arm matching Britain’s Royal Air Force, which had become a separate service in 1918.

To prove his radical claim that airplanes could render battleships obsolete, Mitchell staged dramatic tests in 1921. His bombers successfully sank several captured warships, culminating in the destruction of the heavily armored German battleship SMS Ostfriesland. This demonstration directly challenged traditional Army and Navy hierarchies.

Mitchell’s crusade was marked by political recklessness. In 1925, after a series of aviation accidents, he publicly accused the War and Navy Departments of “incompetency, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration of the national defense.”

His inflammatory statements led to a highly publicized court-martial, which he used as a platform to expound his airpower theories. Although convicted and ultimately forced to resign, Mitchell became a popular hero. Public outcry and the undeniable logic of his arguments forced action.

Congress passed the Air Corps Act of 1926, renaming the Air Service the U.S. Army Air Corps and authorizing a five-year expansion program. While falling short of the full independence Mitchell sought, it was a crucial step acknowledging airpower’s growing importance.

Building an Air Armada

The Air Corps Develops Doctrine

The Air Corps Act of 1926 provided new resources and a mandate for growth, beginning a period of critical development. The Air Corps experimented with technologies that would become foundational to modern operations, including air-to-air refueling.

Most importantly, this era saw development of the first all-metal monoplane bombers, like the Martin B-10, representing a significant leap in speed, range, and durability over fabric-and-wood biplanes.

A major step toward autonomy occurred on March 1, 1935, with establishment of the General Headquarters Air Force at Langley Field, Virginia. This created a centralized air defense and striking force under direct command of the Army Chief of Staff, a significant departure from the previous system where air units were parceled out under local ground commanders.

As war threats grew in Europe and Asia, the need for unified air command became urgent. On June 20, 1941, the War Department created the Army Air Forces, elevating the air arm to equal status with ground forces. General Henry “Hap” Arnold was appointed its chief.

This new structure resulted from an agreement between Arnold and Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, who recognized that the AAF needed autonomy to wage the coming global air war. The implicit understanding was that this was a final stepping stone toward full independence once the war was won.

World War II: The Largest Air Force

The AAF’s growth during World War II was staggering. Leveraging America’s industrial strength and human resources, General Arnold created history’s largest air armada. At peak strength in 1944, the AAF numbered over 2.4 million personnel and operated nearly 80,000 aircraft.

By V-E Day, it had 1.25 million personnel stationed overseas, operating from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide. This massive enterprise was built in less than four years.

The central pillar of AAF strategy in Europe was the Combined Bomber Offensive, a joint effort with Britain’s Royal Air Force. The AAF conducted high-risk precision daylight bombing raids aimed at destroying Germany’s industrial capacity, while the RAF conducted area bombing at night.

These missions were incredibly dangerous. Events like “Black Week” in October 1943 saw such heavy bomber losses that the entire strategic bombing concept required tactical reevaluation.

Victory in the air was a massive human undertaking. A single routine bombing mission required the coordinated effort of at least 500 separate skills. For every pilot in the air, approximately seven personnel on the ground provided essential support—mechanics, armorers, radio operators, cooks, and medics.

The AAF also reflected a more diverse America. Over 150,000 women served in the Women’s Army Corps, filling more than 200 different non-combat jobs within the AAF by 1945. Despite facing systemic segregation and discrimination, the African American pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves in combat, particularly as bomber escorts.

The B-17 and P-51: A Winning Partnership

The AAF’s strategic success in Europe hinged on the symbiotic relationship between two legendary aircraft. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was the backbone of the strategic bombing force.

It was renowned for incredible durability, earning a reputation for absorbing tremendous battle damage and still bringing crews home. The definitive B-17G model bristled with thirteen .50-caliber machine guns and could deliver a normal bomb load of 6,000 pounds on distant targets.

To maximize defensive firepower against German fighters, AAF planners developed tight “box” formations where interlocking fields of fire from dozens of bombers could create a formidable wall of lead.

However, the B-17’s success depended on its “Little Friend”: the North American P-51 Mustang. Early in the war, unescorted bomber raids suffered unsustainable losses. Existing fighters lacked the range to accompany bombers deep into Germany.

The P-51, initially designed for the British with an underpowered Allison engine, was transformed with the integration of a British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, license-built in the U.S. by Packard Motor Company. The resulting P-51D Mustang had the speed, altitude, and range to stay with bombers all the way to Berlin and back.

The arrival of the P-51 in force in late 1943 and early 1944 broke the Luftwaffe’s fighter force, enabling the Combined Bomber Offensive to proceed and paving the way for D-Day. This relationship demonstrated a core airpower principle: no single platform, however powerful, operates in isolation.

The Path to Independence

The AAF’s decisive role in achieving victory in both Europe and the Pacific provided the ultimate argument for independence. The war’s end was precipitated by an event that created a new strategic paradigm.

In August 1945, two B-29 Superfortress bombers, the Enola Gay and Bockscar, dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan’s surrender and ending World War II.

The atomic bomb was the ultimate justification for a separate air force. This weapon demonstrated destructive power so profound that it transcended traditional Army and Navy roles. It introduced national power that could be delivered by a small number of aircraft, a mission uniquely suited to a service focused on strategic airpower.

Recognizing this new reality, Congress passed the National Security Act of 1947. President Harry Truman signed it into law, and on September 18, 1947, the Department of the Air Force was officially created, establishing the United States Air Force as a fully independent and co-equal branch.

W. Stuart Symington was sworn in as the first Secretary of the Air Force, and General Carl A. Spaatz became the first Air Force Chief of Staff. After 40 years of struggle and evolution, American airpower finally had its own service.

The Cold War Shield

Nuclear Deterrence and SAC

The newly independent USAF immediately reorganized to confront the Soviet threat. The service was built around four key commands: Strategic Air Command responsible for nuclear strike forces; Air Defense Command tasked with protecting North American airspace; Tactical Air Command focused on tactical air support; and Military Air Transport Service handling global airlift.

Of these, Strategic Air Command was preeminent. Under General Curtis LeMay’s demanding leadership, SAC became the literal and symbolic shield of the West. Its motto was “Peace is Our Profession,” reflecting its paradoxical mission: preventing global war by maintaining a constant, credible threat of “massive retaliation.”

SAC operated two legs of the U.S. nuclear triad: a massive fleet of strategic bombers and a vast arsenal of land-based ICBMs. To ensure readiness, SAC maintained a portion of its bomber and tanker force on continuous ground alert, capable of being airborne within 15 minutes of warning.

At its peak size in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, SAC comprised nearly 283,000 personnel.

The B-52: Icon of American Power

The enduring icon of SAC’s power was the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. First flown in 1952 and entering service in 1955, the B-52 was designed as a high-altitude, long-range nuclear bomber.

With eight jet engines and a massive 185-foot wingspan, the B-52 had an unrefueled combat range of over 8,800 miles and could carry up to 70,000 pounds of nuclear or conventional weapons. Its incredible versatility and continuous modernization have kept it as the backbone of the bomber force for over 60 years, with plans to keep the B-52H flying through 2050.

The B-52’s longevity testifies to the wisdom of its designers and the Air Force’s ability to adapt existing platforms to new missions rather than always starting from scratch.

Jet Combat Over Korea

The Cold War turned hot in Korea. The Korean War (1950–1953) was the USAF’s first major test as an independent service and the world’s first large-scale jet-versus-jet air war.

The conflict quickly revealed new era challenges. In November 1950, the sudden appearance of the swept-wing, Soviet-made MiG-15 fighter over the Yalu River shocked American forces. The MiG-15 outperformed straight-wing American jets like the F-80 Shooting Star, threatening communist air control.

The USAF responded by rushing its own swept-wing fighter, the North American F-86 Sabre, to the front lines. The ensuing aerial battles in northwestern Korea, known as “MiG Alley,” became legendary.

The MiG-15 held advantages in climb rate, service ceiling, and armament, but the F-86 was faster in a dive, had a better roll rate, and featured a superior radar-ranging gunsight. The decisive factor was superior training, tactics, and aggressiveness of American pilots, many of whom were WWII combat veterans.

By war’s end, F-86 pilots had shot down 792 MiGs for a loss of fewer than 80 Sabres, establishing a remarkable kill ratio often cited as 8:1 or 10:1.

Eyes Behind the Iron Curtain

While SAC bombers stood ready for a war everyone hoped would never come, a secret, high-stakes intelligence war was fought daily. The Soviet Union’s extreme secrecy created a critical intelligence gap for the United States.

To peer behind the Iron Curtain, the CIA partnered with Lockheed’s legendary “Skunk Works” division, led by engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. This “black world” of classified projects became a powerful technological accelerator, producing aircraft decades ahead of their time.

The first product was the Lockheed U-2, nicknamed the “Dragon Lady.” Essentially a jet-powered glider with enormous wings, the U-2 was designed to fly surveillance missions above 70,000 feet, initially believed beyond the reach of Soviet fighters and surface-to-air missiles.

Entering service in 1956, U-2s provided invaluable intelligence, revealing that the “bomber gap” and “missile gap” touted by the Soviets were largely propaganda. The U-2’s most critical mission came on October 14, 1962, when Major Richard S. Heyser flew over Cuba and photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites, initiating the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On October 27, at the crisis height, a U-2 flown by Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was shot down over Cuba by a Soviet SAM, killing the pilot and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.

When the U-2 became vulnerable, the need for an even more advanced platform led to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. A marvel of engineering, the SR-71 could fly at more than Mach 3 (over 2,200 mph) at altitudes above 85,000 feet.

Built primarily from titanium to withstand extreme heat of high-speed flight, the SR-71 was so fast that the standard procedure for evading missiles was simply to accelerate. Throughout its operational career, not a single SR-71 was ever lost to hostile fire.

Vietnam: A Different Kind of War

The Vietnam War presented the USAF with a different challenge: a protracted, unconventional conflict where air superiority wasn’t seriously contested but achieving strategic objectives proved frustratingly elusive.

The workhorse was the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. A large, powerful, twin-engine jet, the F-4 was a true multi-role aircraft, serving as the primary air superiority fighter, ground-attack bomber, and reconnaissance platform.

In its ground-attack role, an F-4 could carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordnance—twice the normal bomb load of a WWII B-17. However, early F-4 models lacked an internal cannon, a significant disadvantage in close-range dogfights with more maneuverable North Vietnamese MiGs.

This doctrinal misstep, which prioritized missile combat over gunfighting, led to disappointing kill ratios early in the war and forced the USAF to reintroduce gun pods and eventually build internal cannons into later variants.

Strategic assets were also adapted for conventional fighting. B-52s were modified under the “Big Belly” program to carry massive conventional bomb loads. A modified B-52D could carry 84 500-pound bombs internally, plus more on external wing racks.

Beginning in 1965, Operation Arc Light saw B-52s fly thousands of sorties from bases in Guam and Thailand, conducting “carpet bombing” raids against enemy bases, supply depots, and troop concentrations.

The Wild Weasel Innovation

One of the war’s most significant tactical innovations was the “Wild Weasel” mission. North Vietnam was protected by a dense, sophisticated integrated air defense system of Soviet-supplied SAMs.

To counter this threat, the USAF developed a specialized mission for Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. Wild Weasel crews, flying specially modified aircraft like the F-105 Thunderchief and eventually the F-4G Phantom II, had the dangerous job of being “first in, last out.”

They would deliberately fly into enemy airspace to bait SAM sites into turning on their guidance radars. Once detected, the Wild Weasel crew would launch an anti-radiation missile that would home in on the signal and destroy the radar, blinding the SAM site and clearing corridors for the main strike force.

The Digital Revolution

Desert Storm: Airpower’s Coming-Out Party

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended the Cold War, but a new era of conflict began almost immediately. The Persian Gulf War served as a powerful demonstration of a new American way of war, validating two decades of investment in advanced technologies developed to counter the Warsaw Pact.

Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the United States assembled a massive international coalition. Operation Desert Storm, beginning January 17, 1991, was initiated not with a ground invasion but with an air campaign of unprecedented sophistication.

For 43 days, coalition air forces, with the USAF flying 59% of sorties, systematically dismantled Iraq’s military and infrastructure. The air war was so decisive that when the ground campaign commenced, it took only 100 hours to achieve objectives and liberate Kuwait.

The first priority was gaining air control. This mission fell to the McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle. In the war’s opening days, F-15 pilots swept the skies, establishing total air supremacy. Every fixed-wing aircraft destroyed in air-to-air combat was an Eagle kill, achieved without a single F-15C being lost in air combat.

The Stealth Revolution

The undisputed star of the air war was the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk. The world’s first operational stealth aircraft, the F-117 was developed in extreme secrecy by the Skunk Works in the 1970s, its existence only publicly acknowledged in 1988.

Its bizarre, angular appearance wasn’t designed for aerodynamic performance but to deflect incoming radar waves away from the emitter, making it nearly invisible to detection. This shape, combined with special radar-absorbent material, gave the 50,000-pound aircraft a radar cross-section roughly the size of a small bird.

On Desert Storm’s opening night, while other aircraft attacked peripheral targets, F-117s flew unopposed into the heart of Baghdad, one of the world’s most heavily defended cities. They surgically destroyed key command and control bunkers, communications centers, and air defense headquarters, effectively blinding Iraqi leadership from the outset.

The F-117’s impact was disproportionate to its numbers. Although Nighthawks flew only 2% of total combat sorties, they were assigned over 40% of strategic targets in the war’s initial phase. The F-117 fleet flew 1,271 combat sorties and delivered over 2,000 tons of precision ordnance, all without a single aircraft being lost or damaged by enemy action.

The Precision Revolution

The second key technology defining the Gulf War was widespread use of Precision-Guided Munitions. While “smart weapons” like laser-guided bombs had been introduced during Vietnam, Desert Storm was the first conflict where they were employed on a massive scale with mature technology.

The effect was revolutionary. Video footage of laser-guided bombs flying down air shafts or hitting bridges with pinpoint accuracy became the war’s defining imagery. PGMs accounted for only 9% of total munitions tonnage dropped by coalition forces, yet they were responsible for 75% of all successful hits on Iraqi targets.

This unprecedented accuracy meant that a single F-117 carrying two 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs could achieve what previously required large formations dropping dozens or hundreds of unguided “dumb” bombs.

The conflict also marked the first time space-based assets were truly indispensable to a terrestrial air campaign. The Global Positioning System provided pinpoint navigation for aircraft and targeting data for munitions, while satellite communications coordinated the vast coalition air effort.

This deep integration of air and space operations led many to call Desert Storm the first “space war,” demonstrating that airpower and spacepower were now inextricably linked.

The 21st Century Air Force

The Rise of Unmanned Aircraft

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, triggered a fundamental shift in USAF operational focus. The ensuing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq weren’t conventional wars against nation-state armies but sprawling counter-insurgency operations.

This new warfare demanded new airpower: one defined by persistent presence. The key requirement was maintaining 24/7 surveillance over vast areas to find and track small, mobile groups of insurgents, then strike fleeting targets with precision and immediacy.

This need was met by the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. Beginning as an unarmed reconnaissance drone, the Predator was armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and transformed into a formidable “hunter-killer” platform.

For the first time, a single platform could find, fix, track, target, and engage an enemy while its crew was located safely thousands of miles away in a ground control station. This de-coupling of pilot from aircraft was a fundamental shift in aviation.

It removed immediate physical risk to aircrew and, more importantly, overcame limits of human endurance. An RPA could loiter over a target area for more than 24 hours, with fresh crews simply taking over shifts on the ground.

The Predator’s success led to its successor, the larger, faster, and more heavily armed MQ-9 Reaper. The Reaper is a multi-role aircraft capable of carrying a mix of Hellfire missiles and precision bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-38 JDAMs.

Fifth-Generation Fighters

While RPAs dominated counter-insurgency fighting, the Air Force simultaneously invested in the next generation of manned fighters to ensure dominance against peer adversaries. Fifth-generation fighters are defined by transformational technologies including all-aspect stealth, advanced avionics with sensor fusion, and supercruise.

The first was the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Designed as a pure air dominance fighter to replace the F-15 Eagle, the F-22 combines stealth, speed, and extreme maneuverability with a sophisticated sensor suite.

Its integrated avionics fuse data from multiple sensors to provide unparalleled situational awareness, enabling the F-22 to detect, track, and engage enemy aircraft long before being detected itself. In realistic training exercises, the F-22 has demonstrated overwhelming superiority, achieving kill ratios as high as 108-to-0 against top fourth-generation fighters.

The second fifth-generation aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, represents a fundamental shift from viewing aircraft as standalone platforms to seeing them as advanced sensing nodes in larger battle networks.

Designed as a multi-role fighter for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, plus numerous international partners, the F-35’s greatest strength is conducting information warfare. Its advanced sensors gather immense amounts of battlespace data, which powerful processors fuse into a single, coherent battlefield picture.

The F-35 can securely share this data with other air, ground, and naval assets, making the entire joint force more lethal and survivable. This has led to the F-35 being described as a “quarterback of the skies,” a force multiplier whose value is measured as much by network enhancement as by weapons carried.

The Birth of Space Force

The U.S. military’s dependence on space-based assets—for GPS, satellite communications, missile warning, and intelligence—grew exponentially after proving indispensable in the Gulf War. By the late 2010s, it became clear that potential adversaries, particularly China and Russia, were actively developing counter-space capabilities designed to deny the U.S. access to space in conflicts.

This recognition that space was no longer a benign environment but a contested warfighting domain led to a historic decision. On December 20, 2019, the U.S. Space Force was established as the first new branch of the armed services in over 70 years.

Organized under the Department of the Air Force, the Space Force is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping “Guardians” to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and provide critical space capabilities to the joint force.

Cyberspace Operations

Just as space became a formalized domain, so did cyberspace. The Air Force’s reliance on complex, networked computer systems for everything from aircraft flight controls and mission planning to global logistics and intelligence makes cyberspace a critical operational domain and potential vulnerability.

Today, dedicated corps of Cyberspace Operations Officers and enlisted specialists form the front lines of this digital battlefield. Their mission is twofold: defensive and offensive.

Defensively, they design, build, and protect Air Force networks and weapon systems from intrusion and attack. Offensively, they plan and execute cyberspace operations to disrupt, deny, or degrade adversary capabilities, making them indispensable in 21st-century warfare.

Aircraft Evolution by Era

The progression of Air Force aircraft over more than a century reveals how technology, threats, and missions have evolved together. Each generation of aircraft reflects the challenges of its time and the solutions engineers and operators developed.

This table illustrates the dramatic progression from early observation aircraft carrying a few hundred pounds of bombs to modern multi-role fighters that can carry 18,000 pounds of precision weapons while remaining virtually invisible to enemy radars and sharing targeting data across the entire joint force.

Looking Forward

The U.S. Air Force’s century-long evolution from a handful of observers in balloons to a global force operating in air, space, and cyberspace reflects America’s broader transformation from a regional power to a global superpower.

Each generation of aircraft tells a story of adaptation to new threats and exploitation of new technologies. The canvas-and-wire biplanes of World War I gave way to the all-metal bombers of World War II, which evolved into the jet fighters of Korea, the supersonic interceptors of the Cold War, the stealth attackers of the Gulf War, and the networked systems of today.

The pattern continues. As potential adversaries develop new capabilities—hypersonic weapons, advanced air defenses, counter-space systems—the Air Force and Space Force are already working on next-generation responses. Concepts like the Next Generation Air Dominance program and the B-21 Raider stealth bomber represent the next chapters in this ongoing story.

The fundamental mission remains unchanged from those first Army aviators in 1907: provide decision-makers with the information and capabilities needed to protect American interests. But the means of accomplishing that mission have expanded from looking over the next hill to monitoring the entire globe from space and cyberspace.

The U.S. Air Force’s history is ultimately the story of how America learned to think in three dimensions, then expanded that thinking to encompass domains that didn’t even exist when the Wright Brothers first took flight. It’s a story of continuous adaptation, technological innovation, and the persistent human drive to push beyond the next horizon.

In an era when the next major conflict may be decided by satellites, cyber attacks, and unmanned systems as much as traditional aircraft, the lessons of the past century remain relevant: technological superiority alone isn’t enough. Success requires the institutional flexibility to adapt, the operational creativity to exploit new capabilities, and the strategic vision to understand how changing technologies reshape the nature of conflict itself.

The Air Force that emerged from World War II with its doctrine of strategic bombing dominated the Cold War through nuclear deterrence, adapted to counter-insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now transforming again to meet the challenges of great power competition in the 21st century. That capacity for reinvention, more than any single aircraft or weapon system, may be American airpower’s greatest strength.

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