Unleash the Fighters (September 1940 - May 1945)

Germany and Japan depended on air forces that were closely integrated with land and naval forces; they downplayed the advantage of a large strategic bombers, and were late in appreciating the need for a defensive error system against Allied strategic bombing. By contrast Britain and the United States had a more complex approach that gave enormous weight to strategic bombing, as well as tactical control of the battlefield and adequate air defenses. They both built a strategic force of a large long-range bombers that could carry the air war to the enemy's homeland. Simultaneously they built tactical air forces that could win air superiority over the battlefields, thereby giving vital assistance to ground troops. They both built a powerful naval-air component based on aircraft carriers, as did Japan; these played the central role in the war at sea