Since the introduction of aircraft to warfare, ground commanders have seen them as a powerful addition to their plans for dislodging and pursuing an enemy or for defending against assaults on friendly positions. For military aviators, battlefield support is one of a range of possible uses of aircraft in attacking hostile forces. Often, more profitable targets are in the enemy's war industries or in the opposing army's rear areas, where supplies and units are exposed on transportation nets leading to a fighting front. This book examines the development of various doctrines on the application of aviation against battlefield targets. Written by several well-known military and aviation historians, these analytical essays present examples of close air-support experience from World War I to the Arab-Israeli war of 1973. .

Developments to 1939 / Lee Kennett -- The Luftwaffe experience, 1939-1941 / Williamson Murray -- Soviet air-ground coordination, 1941-1945 / Kenneth R. Whiting -- The Tunisian campaign, 1942-1943 / David Syrett -- Allied cooperation in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1945 / Alan F. Wilt -- The Battle of France, 1944 / Will A. Jacobs -- American experience in the Southwest Pacific / Joe Gray Taylor -- Korea, 1950-1953 / Allan R. Millet -- Southeast Asia / John J. Sbrega -- The Israeli experience / Brereton Greenhous -- A retrospect on close air support / I.B. Holley, Jr.