Elwood Richard Quesada - Pioneer of Tactical Airpower in World War II and Post War Difficulties

Pioneer of Tactical Airpower in World War II and Post War Difficulties

During his time as a junior officer he became interested in the concept of close air support of ground forces, which was thoroughly developed by the 9th during his time as commander in North Africa and Europe.

Quesada was instrumental in developing many of the principles of tactical air-ground warfare for the Ninth Air Force during the European campaign. Innovations attributed to him included adapting a microwave early warning radar (MEW) for real-time direction of fighter bombers that were already in-flight, as well as placing pilots as forward air controllers inside tanks equipped with VHF aircraft radios on the front lines. This latter technique allowed for direct ground communication with overhead fighter-bombers by personnel who understood what pilots needed to identify ground targets. Besides reducing friendly fire incidents, such tactics allowed attacking ground troops to use close air support with greater precision and speed, allowing for air cover to take the place of artillery support in a rapid armored advance. These improved tactics enormously expanded the contributions of tactical airpower to the Allied defeat of Germany on the Western Front.

The end of World War II would emphasize the importance of strategic bombers, however. Post-war military budgets reflected the predominance of strategic bombers over tactical aircraft, as the Cold War nuclear standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union seemed to indicate that tactical airpower would be of little importance in future wars. Strategic airpower advocates such as General Curtis LeMay would gain a lock on the military budgets for the Air Force in the post-World War II years, and the U.S. Air Force's ability to engage in tactical air warfare would suffer all the way through the Korean and Vietnam Wars until a resurgence of interest and improved budgetary priorities in the 1970s.

In 1947, Quesada was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as the first commander of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) in the newly independent U.S. Air Force. However, Quesada quickly became disillusioned as he saw how TAC was being ignored while funding and promotions were largely going to the Strategic Air Command. In December 1948, Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg stripped TAC of its planes and pilots and reduced its status to that of a planning headquarters under the newly formed Continental Air Command.

Quesada thus asked for re-assignment and was given a dead-end job by Vandenberg as head of a committee to find ways to combine the Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard. Quesada was removed from this job after only two months, as his blunt and impatient nature only served to stir up controversy in this near-impossible task. This episode led to his request for early retirement from the Air Force, which came about at the age of 47 in 1951.

The onset of the Korean War would result in the re-formation of TAC, which would be headed by Quesada's friend, General Otto P. Weyland, who had also been a champion of tactical airpower with XIX TAC during World War II.