On Thursday 21 August at 6pm, Colonel Matt Dietz PhD will explore air combat through tactics and technology. This lecture will be hosted virtually via Crowdcast.

Debates around the best fighter aircraft have raged among pilots, aviation enthusiasts,  historians, and aviation engineers since the inception of combat aircraft. The term “best” is, of  course, extremely subjective. Dozens of factors influence the combat performance of an aircraft and dozens more influence its success in combat. Kill ratio is not the only, or even most reliable,  measure of an aircraft’s success in combat. Therefore, determining the “best” fighter aircraft is  usually a debate around personal preferences, design aesthetics, branch of service, or some other  subjective criteria. The subjectivity of the debate is challenging to overcome. Still, when  examining air combat across past decades, a few aircraft rise to the top due to their popularity  among pilots, success in combat—two things which often go hand in hand—or just simply a  mystique which captures the public and warfighters alike. 

“Ace Makers” uses John Boyd’s EM diagram research, applied historically, along with  pilot anecdotes to examine how and why some aircraft came to dominate their era. When these  aircraft rose to prominence, the race to supply newer designs to the combat arena accelerated. As  a result, air combat tactics evolved and adapted to the new reality. This adaptation led, in turn, to  new technological developments to gain or regain a combat advantage and the cycle began anew. Despite the changes and adaptations, trends and threads are common among aircraft who  dominated their era and became Ace Makers.

Matt Dietz is a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and currently a Department Head at the United  States Air Force Academy and has a PhD from in Military History, Policy, and Strategy. His  book, Eagles Overhead: The History of US Air Force Airborne Forward Air Controllers, from  the Meuse-Argonne to Mosul, is a critical history of US Air Force Airborne Forward Air  Controllers and exams their role in US military conflicts from World War I to Operation Inherent  Resolve. As an Air Force F-15E instructor pilot he logged more than 2,500 flight hours during  his career, deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Inherent Resolve. He served as a NATO planner for Operation Unified Protector and was the Director of Operations for US Air Forces Central Command.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Col Dietz has an MA in History from Sam Houston State  University and a Master’s of Military Operational Art and Science from Air University. He has attended the Clements Center’s Summer Seminar in Statecraft and History, MIT Seminar in AI  Leadership, and The North Carolina Flagler Business School’s Executive Leadership Seminar.  He presents regularly on US military strategy and operations, and American foreign policy.

Virtual Lecture: Ace Makers: Exploring Air Combat through Tactics and Technology