Alexander de Seversky

Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Проко́фьев-Се́верский) (June 7, 1894 (N.S.) – August 24, 1974) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer, inventor, and influential advocate of strategic air power.

Quotes

• 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.
  • Victory Through Air Power (1942)

• 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.
  • Victory Through Air Power (1942)
  • (Seversky's criticism of the post-Pearl Harbor plan to use U.S. airpower in the Pacific only to "assist surface operations" instead of for strategic bombing.) Later mentioned by President Eisenhower; indirect speech quoted by Brigadier General Andrew J. Goodpaster, "Memorandum of Conference with the President – Augusta" (November 18, 1959), White House Office, Records of...Andrew J. Goodpaster...1952–1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, p. 8, declassified January 18, 1981:

    The President said he thought we were talking about bows and arrows at a time of gunpowder when we spoke of bombers [like the B-70] in the missile age.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Alexander de Seversky on Wikipedia