Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air Power in World War II [Paperback]

This book is easy to get into and very informative. The story of Gen. Pete Quesada and the tactical air arm in the European Theater of Operations in WW II is something that anyone interested in military history should read. This aspect of the war is often overlooked, which should not be the case. The working together of ground and tactical air assets should be a top priority for military planners as well as anyone connected with the ground troops.

I had to read some of the book for class but it was good enough that I read the entire thing.

Elwood Quesada was one of those nearly forgotten pioneers of tactical air power during World War II. With the Ninth Air Force, Quesada would develop the concept of close air support to levels very similar to how it is practiced even today. Two key innovations were the use of Microwave Early Warning (MEW) radar and the technology for "combat column cover". MEW radar was originally a field radar designed for defensive purposes, to warn of an enemy air attack. As German aircraft rapidly became scarce, the radar came to be used for air traffic control, to keep track of and direct fighter-bombers in the air to fresh targets in real time. The second innovation was to provide radios that could talk directly to the planes (a simple idea, which had never been done before!) in the tanks of the attacking columns. The combination of the two meant that U.S. Army units could call in close air support on top of an enemy position in minutes, a capability that no other army, including the British, had during World War II.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book does leave some holes in its treatment of the history of U.S. tactical air power. U.S. and British air power during WWII in general was not very good at destroying tanks - the available weapons (bombs and rockets) were simply too inaccurate. But it did have a tremendous effect on the Germans' ability to mount cohesive counterattacks and severely restricted their freedom of movement and destroyed their supplies.

Also, although Quesada pioneered the main techniques for close air support during WWII, Gen. Otto Weyland of XIX TAC would become its greatest practitioner, working closely with Patton and the Third Army, and contributing tremendously to the success of the Third Army.

Thus, two additional excellent books to read are "Air Power at the Battlefront" by Ian Gooderson and "Patton's Air Force" by David Spires. The first book gives a much more accurate look at Allied tactical air power, and the second points out that Patton's tremendous success was due in no small part to the contributions of Weyland's XIX TAC.

Two other fascinating points in this biography of Elwood Quesada are his postwar battles with pretty boy Hoyt Vandenberg, and his marriage to Kate Putnam, heiress to the Pulitzer fortune.

Vandenberg was appointed the head of the Ninth Air Force during WWII despite knowing nothing about tactical air power and later became the Chief of Staff for the new US Air Force. Vandenberg was the classic example of how far you can get in life if you look good, talk good, and play a great game of golf. He was also responsible for starting the USAAF's long slide away from having the proper equipment and weapons to do close air support the right way. Quesada was forced out of the Air Force by Vandenberg. Weyland would be exiled to non-combat jobs until the Korean War forced Vandenberg to bring him back as he now needed somebody who actually knew how to do tactical air support.

Yes, they ended up naming that missile base outside of Santa Barbara after this dumbkin pretty boy, Vandenberg Air Force Base. Something I think about every time they test fire off one of those Minutemen missiles and I see the missile contrails in the sky (they can be quite colorful and beautiful). They should rename the base after somebody more deserving.

Quesada's marriage to the widowed Kate Putnam allowed him to tap into the high society of the rich and famous. Which is why he could quit the Air Force whereas Weyland had to stay in and swallow his pride for several years. Quesada would go on to many different jobs and pursuits, none lasting more than three years or so.

A fascinating story of a fascinating man during the critical birth period of the U.S. Air Force.