The Bomber Mafia is Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, and it documents the revolutionary founding of the United States Air Force, and the way it changed war forever. It also follows the enormous engineering feats required to create a reality from the vision of the pioneers of flight and thinkers who saw the potential of war planes and weapons systems. 

“Because airpower was young, the faculty of the Tactical School was young—in their twenties and thirties, full of the ambition of youth. They got drunk on the weekends, flew warplanes for fun, and raced each other in their cars. Their motto was: Proficimus more irretenti: “We make progress unhindered by custom.” The leaders of the Air Corps Tactical School were labeled “the Bomber Mafia.”

Gladwell covers some of the fundamental knowledge on the modern Air Force through fascinating characters. I also appreciated the section on design of the Air Force Academy chapel.

“The chapel’s architect was a brilliant modernist out of Chicago named Walter Netsch. He was given the same creative freedom and limitless budget that the Air Force usually gives to the people who come up with stealth fighters.”

“This is a group of people who desperately want to differentiate themselves as much as possible from the older branches of military service, the Army and the Navy. And, further, the Air Force is utterly uninterested in heritage and tradition. On the contrary, it wants to be modern.”

The Air Force is modern by design, and Gladwell tells a gripping story around it. I highly recommend it.