Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power

Today, air power is a vital component of the U.S. armed forces. James Libbey, in Alexander P. de Seversky and the Quest for Air Power , highlights the contributions of an aviation pioneer who made much of it possible. Graduating from the Imperial Russian Naval Academy at the start of World War I, de Seversky lost a leg in his first combat mission. He still shot down thirteen German planes and became the empire’s most decorated combat naval pilot. De Seversky elected to escape Soviet Russia after