Document created: 13 January 04
Air University Review,
March-April 1972
In a memorandum of 27 February 1947, Major General Muir S. Fairchild, then Commanding General of Air University, first formulated what were to be the guiding principles for a “journal of Air Power.” Soon thereafter, so that it could be put into the hands of Air University’s first graduates, the Air University Quarterly Review was born with the Spring issue of 1947. Thus, with this present number, twenty-five years and some 106 issues later, Air University Review, direct descendant of that first Quarterly Review, completes a quarter of a century of publication.
Much has changed through the years, of course. Perhaps most noticeably, the little blueback Quarterly gave way in 1963 to a larger, more attractive format, with a shorter title, Air University Review, published on a bimonthly basis. Early in its history the Review went hemisphere-wide with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese editions for distribution in Latin America. Yet despite these and many other changes, the Review continues to follow—perhaps with surprising closeness—that early mandate from General Fairchild:
This journal of Air Power will not be just another news-magazine, nor is it intended as a periodical of interest only to the Air University. Rather, it will be a professional publication in the highest sense of the word and will reflect not only the high scholastic standards and educational accomplishments of the Air University, but also—and more important, perhaps—the best professional thought concerning global concepts and doctrines of air strategy and tactics.
Thus, in certain respects, the Air University Quarterly Review will be an extension of the concepts and doctrines developed at the Air University and which underlie its program of instruction.
We have found this a tenable editorial philosophy, one that frees us from overconcern with much day-to-day trivia and enables us to extend our range and grow with our parent institution, Air University. That the guideline has more than parochial effectiveness is attested by the fact that for the last fifteen years we have been designated “the professional journal of the United States Air Force.”
Another tradition of the Review—and one that has been a source of strength for the publication and of particular gratification to the editors—has been the continuing support of many fine writers and aerospace thinkers. Two from the long list of contributors who have been published in our pages more than once appear again in this anniversary issue: Brigadier General Noel F. Parrish, USAF (Ret), who, starting with Volume 1, Number 1, has made almost a dozen contributions to our pages through the years; and Major General Robert N. Ginsburgh, USAF, who has written for us several times since 1964. (Both generals are former commanders of Aerospace Studies Institute, of which the Review was a division for about a decade.)
General Parrish’s contribution in this issue constitutes another departure from our norm: we reprint an article—his first Review article, written when he was a colonel and a student in the new Air Command and Staff School, just as it appeared in that prototype journal of air power. We feel that the article still has remarkable impact and immediacy these twenty-five years later and think you will agree. Perhaps, from time to time as space allows, other still-cogent articles from our past will be reprinted—not for their curiosity but rather for their continuing usefulness.
Meanwhile, on with our second quarter-century.
The Editor
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this
document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression,
academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official
position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air
Force or the Air University.
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