From Balloons to Drones

Drones have become increasingly key to contemporary warfare, even iconic. But are they really as revolutionary as they appear? Dr. Michael Boyle joins us to discuss his recent book, The Drone Age: How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace. He examines the drone phenomenon as it has currently affected global conflict, and how drones might shape the future.

The War in Syria featured heavy reliance on air power, not just by the US and its allies, but by the Russian Air Force as well. In this exciting episode, Dr. Aaron Stein discusses his new book, The US War Against ISIS, which details how air power played a key role in the conflict against terrorist groups in Syria. He also reveals the fascinating and almost unbelievable engagements between US and Russian aircraft in this complex conflict.

During World War II, the Civil Air Patrol conducted anti-submarine operations, including giving civilian volunteer pilots the authority to drop bombs on enemy targets. To tell us about the role CAP played in the war, we're joined by Dr. Frank A. Blazich, curator of modern military history at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and author of “An Honorable Place in American Air Power”: Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol

Operations, 1942–1943 from Air University Press.

The book is available for free here: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress/Display/Article/2440096/an-honorable-place-in-american-air-power-civil-air-patrol-coastal-patrol-operat/

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the Linebacker campaigns--the last major bombing campaigns of the Vietnam War. To evaluate the legacy of air power's contribution to that war, Brian Laslie discusses his new book, Air Power's Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam.

In World War II, American airmen flew key missions in the China, Burma, India theater. A vastly higher percentage of them were able to survive and return home after being shot down, compared to other theaters. To examine why, and reveal the exciting stories of these airmen and the various people who helped them on the ground, we are joined by Daniel Jackson, author of Fallen Tigers: The Fate of America's Missing Airmen in China During World War II. You can also see more of his work, including a database of downed air crews, oral histories, and more, at: http://www.forgottensquadron.com/

John Glenn captured the hearts and imagination of many Americans as the first US astronaut to orbit the earth, and he had extensive combat experience as a pilot before that. Prolific and celebrated author Jeff Shesol joins us to talk about Glenn, not just about his place in the history of the Cold War, but in deeply personal terms. He explores all this in his new book: 'Mercury Rising

John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War.'

The recent book 'The Bomber Mafia' (by Malcom Gladwell) has generated a lot of interest in the topic of strategic bombing in World War II. On this episode, three of the editors at From Balloons to Drones, Mike Hankins, Brian Laslie, and Luke Truxal, go beyond the book to talk about various issues related to bombing in WW2.

Before and during the Vietnam War, some of the most popular magazines among those who served were pulp fiction men's adventure magazines. Greg Daddis (former US Army Colonel and professor of military history at San Diego State University) is with us to unpack the relationship between fiction and reality, how we talk about wars and choose to remember them, and how constructions of gender really matter. It's the subject of his new book, Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men's Adventure Magazines, from Cambridge University Press.

Lt. Gen. David Deptula (USAF, retired) was the principal attack planner for the Desert Storm coalition air campaign in 1991. Today, 30 years after the Gulf War, he joins us for a talk about that air campaign - planning it, executing it, and evaluating it.

Rebecca Siegel, author of 'To Fly Among the Stars: The Hidden Story of the Flight for Women Astronauts,' joins us for a chat about the Mercury Program and the 13 women who went through astronaut training, but were not allowed to become astronauts. She also tells us about the process of how to make these complex, nuanced histories accessible to a younger audience.