Brigadier General Kenneth Newton Walker (17 July 1898 – 5 January 1943) was a United States Army aviator. He was also a United States Army Air Forces general who had a significant influence on the development of airpower doctrine. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor in World War II.
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Walker joined the United States Army in 1917. It was after the American entry into World War I. He trained as an aviator and became a flying instructor. In 1920 and after the end of the war, he received a commission in the Regular Army. After service in various capacities he graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1929. Then he served as an instructor there. He supported the creation of a separate air organization for strategic bombardment. He published articles on the subject and becoming part of a clique known as the "Bomber Mafia". They argued for bombers over other forms of military aviation.
Even after he was promoted to Brigadier General, Walker frequently flew combat missions over New Guinea. For this he received the Silver Star. On 5 January 1943, he was shot down and killed leading a daylight bombing raid over Rabaul. It was for this action he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In January 1948, Roswell Army Air Field in Roswell, New Mexico, was renamed Walker Air Force Base in honor of Walker.[1] The base was closed on 30 June 1967.[2] Walker Hall and its Walker Air Power Room are at Maxwell Air Force Base. They are also named after him. It is the home of the Air Force Doctrine Development and Education Center.[1] The Walker Papers is an Air Force Fellows program. It annually honors the top three research papers produced by Air Force Fellows with the Walker Series award. The Walker Series recognizes the contributions each Fellow has made to research supporting air and space power and its use in the implementation of US strategic policy.[3]
- Biddle, Tami Davis (2004). Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare: The Evolution of British and American Ideas About Strategic Bombing, 1914–1945. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12010-2.
- Boyne, Walter (September 2003). "The Tactical School". Air Force Magazine. 86 (9). Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Byrd, Martha (1997). Kenneth N. Walker: Airpower's Untempered Crusader (PDF). Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. OCLC 39709748. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Cline, Ray S. (1951). Washington Command Post: The Operations Division. United States Army in World War II. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, Department of the Army. ISBN 0-16-001900-1. OCLC 53302987. CMH pub 1-2.
- Clodfelter, Mark (January 1994). "Pinpointing Devastation: American Air Campaign Planning Before Pearl Harbor". The Journal of Military History. 58 (1): 75–101. doi:10.2307/2944180. JSTOR 2944180.
- Cate, James Lea; Williams, E. Kathleen (1948). "The Air Corps Prepares for War 1939–41". In Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea (eds.). Vol. I, Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942. The Army Air Forces in World War II. University of Chicago Press. pp. 151–193. OCLC 222565036. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Fogerty, Dr Robert O. (1953). USAF Historical Study 91, Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers 1917–1952 (PDF). Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Gamble, Bruce (2010). Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1941 - April 1943. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-2350-2. OCLC 437298983.
- Hansell, Haywood (1972). The Air Plan That Defeated Hitler. Atlanta, Georgia: Arno Press. OCLC 579354.
- Johnson, David E. (1998). Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917–1945. Cornell Studies in Security Affairs. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8847-8. OCLC 38602804.
- Kenney, George C. (1949). General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War (PDF). New York, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. ISBN 0-912799-44-7. OCLC 1227801. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Kreis, John F., ed. (1996). Piercing the Fog: Intelligence and Army Air Forces Operations in World War II. Bolling Air Force Base, District of Columbia: Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 1-4102-1438-9. OCLC 32396801.
- Meilinger, Phillip (October 1998). "U.S. Air Force Leaders: A Biographical Tour". The Journal of Military History. 62 (4): 833–870. doi:10.2307/120180. JSTOR 120180.
- Rodman, Matthew K. (2005). A War of Their Own: Bombers over the Southwest Pacific (PDF). Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. ISBN 1-58566-135-X. OCLC 475083118. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Severs, Hugh G. (1997). The Controversy Behind the Air Corps Tactical School's Strategic Bombardment Theory: An Analysis of the Bombardment Versus Pursuit Aviation Data between 1930–1939. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. OCLC 227967331. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Tate, James P. (1998). The Army and its Air Corps: Army Policy toward Aviation 1919–1941. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. ISBN 0-16-061379-5. OCLC 39380518. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Tonnell, Brian W. (2002). Will the Bombers Always Get Through? The Air Force and its Reliance on Technology. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University. OCLC 74261555. Archived from the original on April 8, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- Walker, Kenneth N. (August 1933). "Bombardment Aviation: Bulwark of National Defense". US Air Services. XVIII (8): 15–19.
- Watson, Richard L. (1950). "The Battle of the Bismarck Sea". In Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea (eds.). Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. The Army Air Forces in World War II. University of Chicago Press. pp. 129–162. OCLC 30194835. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
United States of America
United States Army Air Corps
Brigadier General
