John B Wilbourne

Joint Air War: John K. Cannon and the Air War in the Mediterranean John B Wilbourne

This is a biography of General John K. Cannon. Cannon began his career as an infantry officer during World War I. After the Great War, he joined the Air Corps, spending much of the inter-war years in various training commands. He grew to prominence in World War II, serving in the Mediterranean theater of operations. More than any other American air officer, Cannon's wartime service traced the learning curve of Allied tactical aviation. First apprenticing under the British and then commanding the Twelfth Air Force, Cannon helped originate or refine many of the ideas, procedures, and lessons of close air support and battlefield interdiction. After the war, he played an instrumental role resurrecting the Tactical Air Command from a moribund state as its commander in the early 1950s. During the war and after, he leveraged his keen mind and winning personality to maintain positive relations not only with other air leaders--who might otherwise have had a guarded opinion of his tactical aviation credentials, but also ground officers--who surely had reason to critique air leaders of any ilk in the inter-service squabbles common to the day. There is much to learn from Cannon's legacy, both as an officer and an Air Force leader. Regardless of uniform, military officers can apply lessons from Cannon's life to help better conduct joint operations today and in the future.