The ‘Bomber Mafia’ were a close-knit group of American military personnel who flew long-range heavy bomber aircraft in WWII. The term “Bomber Mafia’ was used before and after WWII by those in the US military who did not share their belief, and were frustrated by the insistence of the men in the close-knit unit, that the heavy bomber should take a primary position in planning and funding.

The close-knit group succeeded in their goal to have extensive bomber fleets in the US military, but they failed in their strategy to achieve pinpoint targeting precision bombing during WWII.

Their strategic doctrine, changed by war and their experience, helped shape the mission of the new Air Force and its Strategic Command. Precision bombs remained in the U.S. military and with greater accuracy in the 1990s, the present guided bombs, called laser-guided missiles promote minimal collateral damage.

Malcolm Gladwell (born 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker who has been a staff writer for ‘The New Yorker’ since 1996. He has published a number of books, many of which have been on the ‘The New York Times’ Best Seller List. He is also the host of the podcast ‘Revisionist History’.

His book ‘The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War’ is a 2021 book that tells the story of the ‘Bomber Mafia’ in WWII and their high-altitude precision aerial bombardment strategy as a means to limit civilian casualties.

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