Alexander de Seversky

"Here ... are the most significant lessons of modern air power: 1. No land or sea operations are possible without first assuming control of the air above. ... 2. Navies have lost their function of strategic offensive. ... The days when battle fleets steamed boldly within striking distance of enemy shores and proceeded to pound them into submission are now relegated to history. Today these fleets can approach only under the shield of a powerful umbrella of land-based air power. ... 3. The blockade of an enemy nation has become a function of air power. ... 4. Only air power can defeat air power. ... 5. Land-based aviation is always superior to ship-borne aviation. ... 6. The striking radius of air power must be equal to the maximum dimensions of the theater of operations. ... 7. In aerial warfare the factor of quality is relatively more decisive than the factor of quantity. ... 8. Aircraft types must be specialized to fit not only the general strategy but the tactical problems of a specific campaign. ... 9. Destruction of enemy morale from the air can be accomplished only by precision bombing. ... As a matter of plain fact, we have neither air power nor airmen, but only flying soldiers and flying sailors who do not even speak the same military language. ... 10. The principle of unity of command, long recognized on land and on sea, applies with no less force to the air. ... 11. Air power must have its own transport."

"It is though a bow-and-arrow army, having been routed by gunpowder, sought to win back lost ground by throwing in yet more bows and arrows."