Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

by Robert Coram

In May 1971, Congress issued a blistering report on both the F-14 and F-15 and recommended spending $50 million to begin development of an alternative lightweight fighter. Pentagon generals fumed. There was information in the report that the Air Force and Navy considered proprietary. It had to have come from inside the Pentagon. Talk of the lightweight fighter frightened generals far more than would the sudden appearance of a enemy bomber over the Pentagon. It was all the things that careerists fear. It signified change. It went against everything the Air Force held sacred. The brand-new, expensive, gold-plated F-15 was the hearthrob aircraft, the best in the world, they thought. And now the Fighter Mafia was saying it had a better and— quelle horreur—cheaper airplane. Contractors took the congressional criticism of the F-15 and F-14 as a further sign that the lightweight fighter might be worth pursuing. Boyd cautioned those in his office that contractors always wanted to buy lunches and dinners and could easily corrupt the unwary.