[zipper]

The pendulum began to swing in the postwar era, when Harvard Business School grad Robert McNamara and his "whiz kids" became famous for using mathematical modeling, game theory and complex statistical analysis for the Army Air Corps, doing things like improving fuel-transport times and scheduling more-efficient bombing raids.

???

The Army Air Corps never made it to the end of WWII. They became the Army Air Force even before the war ended, and in 1947 became a separate branch of service, the Air Force.

McNamara & his whiz kids were Vietnam-era, certainly had nothing to do with the Army Air Corps (pronounced "corpse" if you're a marxist).

As for the whiz kids being the types that developed FedEx, wrong again. Fred Smith got a C minus on his paper outlining his hub-and-spoke idea for distributing packages overnight from one of those "whiz kid" type professors.

[Portcall24]

You’re correct about Army Air Corps and the “whiz kids” were definitely Vietnam...but, as a Captain, he did conduct statistical analysis on bombing raids for LeMay during WWII, mostly in the Pacific theater. I could tell you what I think about the SOB but my momma taught not to speak harshly about the departed...thankfully.

[Will88]

McNamara & his whiz kids were Vietnam-era,

There was a 'whiz kids' group that became well known during WWII by addressing military matters, and then they branched off into other areas after the war. Not sure if McNamara was one of them.