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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Invaders”15 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 of national preparation. Along with other arms and services, the Air Corps underwent a vast expansion. In measures contemplated and en- acted for hemisphere defense, its long-range bombers were accorded a significant role. In aid to the Allies, air materiel was the most im- portant item, and the Air Corps shared its planes and related equip- ment, often to the detriment of its own expansion program, with potential allies. And finally, in combined and joint plans the Air Corps assumed heavy responsibilities, particularly for strategic bombardment. A brief consideration of these four aspects of the preparation for war will not only reveal the state of preparedness of the Army Air Forces by 7 December 1941,but will illuminate much of the actual conduct of the war thereafter. Expansion of the Air Corps The presidential message to Congress of I 2 January 193.9 marked the beginning of a period of Air Corps expansion which aid not reach its peak until 1944. Asserting that “increased range, increased speed, increased capacity of airplanes abroad have changed our requirements for defensive aviation,” President Roosevelt strongly urged that $300,- ooo,ooo be appropriated for the purchase of aircraft for the Army.‘ The existing force, which the President described as “utterly inade- quate,” consisted of approximately I ,700 tactical and training planes, some 1,600Air Corps officers, and 18,000enlisted men.? Within three months Congress had passed an emergency Army air defense bill sub- stantially as requested, authorizing the procurement of 3,25 I aircraft. This act approved a total Air Corps strength of 5,500 planes, 3,203 officers, and 45,000 enlisted men. The appropriation amounted to half as much as the Air Corps had received in the fourteen preceding fiscal years; approved strength for officers was doubled, for enlisted men was increased by 1 5 0 per cent. Because the Air Corps had anticipated these authorizations, there was little delay in inaugurating its expansion program. As early as autumn of 1938 the Chief of the Air Corps had asked American air- craft manufacturers to prepare for an unprecedented growth, though no orders could then be guaranteed to them.’ By the time the new ap- propriations had been approved, contracts were being negotiated and tooling-up had begun. But the procurement of aircraft and related materiel items was only one of three major tasks confronting the Air Corps. Simultaneously personnel had to be recruited and trained, and 104
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