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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.
“King”32 pages
T H E A I R C O R P S P R E P A R E S F O R W A R , 1 9 3 9 - 4 1 tained in regard to secret weapons; and the possible interference of foreign orders with production for the Air Corps.91 Under the “Cash and Carry” act, various Air Corps models, some obsolescent, some more modern, were released to France, England, and other nations. O n 2 5 March 1940, a more liberal foreign release policy was adopted, which authorized the sale to foreign states of certain stipulated modern types” as soon as a superior type or model could be furnished to the Air Corps.’* T h e crisis brought on by Ger- man victories during the next three months greatly stimulated the demand for planes on the part both of Britain and the United States. T h e British assumed all aircraft contracts of the fallen French govern- ment, and with these and their own orders their program called for about 14,000 planes. T h e Air Corps’ new 54-group program called for a total delivery, by I April 1942, of 2 1,470 tactical and training planes. These huge orders, plus Navy demands, could not be filled within the time limits set. Since English combat needs on the eve of the Battle of Britain seemed more urgent than our own expansion requirements, it was agreed on 2 3 July that the Air Corps should defer the delivery of 8,586 planes in favor of the British.g3 This agreement did not enjoin the British from placing additional orders; and in the face of what might develop into serious competition, the Air Corps feared that its own program might further be retarded. T o insure a systematic and equitable allocation of aircraft and engines, an organization which came to be known as the Joint Aircraft Committee (JAC) was established on I 3 September. It included repre- sentatives of the three principal customers of the American aircraft manufacturers-the British Purchasing Commission, the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics, and the Air Corps. T h e Chief of the Air Corps, whose office had taken the initiative in securing authorization for the JAC, served as its chairman. Eventually the functions of the committee were greatly extended. In January 1941it was given control over all foreign contracts for aircraft materiel, and it became possible then to integrate all production plans into a single Existing legislation precluded the extension of loans to foreign powers for financing the purchase of weapons in the United States, and as British dollar credit shrank it became obvious that some new method must be sought if the effort to supply Britain with arms was B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26, A-ZOA,P-40, 0 - 5 2 , PT-IJB, PT-17, PT-18, PT-19, BT-13, BT-14.
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