Episode Details

This week the U.S. Air Force celebrated its birthday, marking 75 years since it gained its hard-won independence from the U.S. Army. This independence remains not only about who is in command of who, but perhaps more importantly it is also about identity and culture. What lessons can the newest branch of the military, the U.S. Space Force, take from the Air Force experience to launch itself into an independent trajectory? To get the answers, Laura Winter is joined by Michael Hankins, Curator for U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps post-World War II Aviation, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; Brian Laslie, Command Historian and Associate Professor Department of History, United States Air Force Academy; and M.V. “Coyote” Smith, Associate Professor, Strategic Space Studies, Department of Space Power, United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College.