Harnessing the Airplane: American and British Cavalry Responses to a New Technology, 1903-1939

At its dawn in the early 20th century, the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry: What do we do with the airplane? Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information.

“Harnessing the Airplane” by Dr. Lori A. Henning, assistant professor of history at St. Bonaventure, compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge. This book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces.

Henning shows that the American and British experiences with military aviation differed. The nascent British aviation service made quicker inroads into reconnaissance and scouting, even though the British cavalry was the older institution with more established traditions. The American cavalry, despite its youth, contested the control of reconnaissance as late as the 1930s, years after similar arguments ended in Britain.

“Harnessing the Airplane: American and British Cavalry Responses to a New Technology, 1903-1939” was published by the University of Oklahoma Press.