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The silent revolution
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The Great War (World War I 1914-1918) was a cataclysm that still continues to define our world through ghostly echoes. In that totally encompassing war, the steel of modern warfare collided violently with the crumbling values of old. The result was a mad institution of mechanized death that imprisoned Europe for four long years. Trenches scarred the earth in intricate patterns of defense that sliced from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier. Antiquated offensive strategies were stubbornly modified into a pragmatic system of defensive fortification because of the horrendous attrition on all sides. In early stages of the war, the cavalry was utilized with disastrous results. Even the fastest warrior on horseback was no match for the fields of fire created by the machine gun. After thousands of years, the traditional notions of cavalry were obsolete.
Millions of men were killed and maimed in the muddy and lifeless landscape of the Great War. The battles were pointless contests for only a few hundred yards of shell-torn earth. In struggles such as the meat grinder that was Verdun, men became faceless masses led to an ignoble slaughter. It was simply murder on a scale the world had never seen.
It was high above the rotting death of the trenches that the fighter pilot myth was born. The hopeless struggle and despair below served as fertile soil for propaganda that glorified these new "Knights of the Air." These campaigns were extremely effective. For example, almost everyone today knows of the exploits of Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. If that name does not immediately conjure familiarity, think of the cartoon Charlie Brown. His dog Snoopy has been fighting Richthofen (otherwise known as the Red Baron) to no avail for years.
The legend of the chivalry and individual heroism of the fighter pilot grew into the ages. The bitter truth about the horrors of war remained a mere shadow of the towering tales of the fighter pilot. Who could forget the epic stakes of the Battle of Britain? How about the first jet battles over the skies of Korea? The stories of dogfights involving MiGs and F-4 Phantoms over the jungles of Vietnam provide a stark contrast to the confusing engagements that a soldier faced below. Fictionalized popular accounts elevate this grand story even higher. We all know about the exploits of Maverick, Goose, Iceman, and Hollywood as they compete to be "the best of the best" in the movie "Top Gun."
Quietly and very slowly, such bombast is being relegated to the same historical realm now occupied by the obsolete cavalry. The new breed of warrior that is replacing the fighter pilot sits in a cubicle located thousands of miles from the action. They control pilotless drones fighting in remote locales that they will never experience firsthand. This new pilot fights a war with real weapons, kills real people, and then drives home in their Honda Civic at the end of the day.
Unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are now purchased by the U.S. Air Force in numbers that far outweigh the quantity of aircraft that require a pilot. The synthesis of man and machine now takes place via a network that links the two over a vast distance. The drone pilot never feels the g forces of a dogfight. The stress of combat for them are completely mental. They know that their actions result in life or death and they see it in real time through a video monitor. They fire a weapon from their cubicle in Nevada and half a world away an insurgent explodes into bloody pieces before their eyes. This is the modern face of war.
It is a very good possibility that in the next generation of air combat, the fighter pilot will be no more. This mountainous bravado will be viewed with melancholy by those born decades out of step with time. In their wake will be the anonymous drone operator sitting in their cubicle. It is a strange epitaph to a long history of legend peppered sparingly with the truth.
Fighter pilots are becoming the horse-powered cavalry of the aviation world. They are drifting into history before our eyes. Now they can only look to the past with longing, just like the last cavalry men of the Great War dreamed of their heroes in the American Civil War. In that war, the flamboyant Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart personified a spirit that defined the quintessential cavalryman. The personal glory, insatiable ego and aggressive brashness that marked his character also serve to describe the ideal fighter pilot. Like General Stuart, the fighter pilot will probably be relegated to the confines of historical accounts. They both will have had their last charge long ago.
This enormous chapter in aviation history is just beginning to close. A new chapter is being written involving aerial weapons beyond anyone's wildest imagination. One feels a sense of loss to behold this paradigm shift. The leather jackets, g suits, and aviator glasses of the fighter pilot will eventually only be viewed in museums. The aviation community will lament this change, but time and innovation will keep marching on. The progression of technology has never cared for the melancholy of those who are trampled in the name of necessity.
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