.The AF has always been forced to reinvent itself with changing threats, different theaters of operation and enemies with unorthodox tactics .LeMay's successful efforts to turn a ragtag WW2 bomber force into well disciplined squadrons was a win win fathering SAC as we all know..Korea was a test bed for new high performance aircraft yet left over low and slow WW2 recips proved their ability to handle a mutitude of tasks which only they could accomplish..
..Enter the long Vietnam war where early on we were shocked into a wake up call for reinventing the wheel.again...No guns on fast movers was a total misread of the threat which proved costly to many aircrews but then the light bulb came on again with hard point gunpods on wing stations first then the transition to self contained internal weaponry. Again we see the use of old vs new prosecuting the war with renewed technology upgrades such as retrofitting old DC-3's with mini guns for the gunship program I was proud to have been a part of..
..The Air Force is certainly not perfect which is an understatement be it by design or intervention however as with other branches has boxed itself into mainly trial and error mode relying on outside sourcing for policy making.
