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The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

Air Force Historical Studies Office · 863 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 5 …With the end of the war, Headquarters approved a plan for writing and publishing a seven…
  • p. 8 …The first hectic months after Pearl Harbor left little time in a military headquarters for consideration…
  • p. 9 …Department calling for the appointment by AAF Headquarters of a historian in accordance with the President…
  • p. 10 …After returning to Headquarters at the close of 1942, Colonel Williams found the pressure of a…
  • p. 11 …T h e first of those points, of course, was AAF Headquarters itself. Though the Army…
  • p. 12 …But, in developing a system of historical reporting from other headquarters, the “supporting docu- ments” received…
  • p. 13 …in the hurried atmosphere of a military headquarters, and it depended for its support upon men…
  • p. 14 …In most cases, however, the offer of professional assistance from AAF Headquarters was welcomed, though occasionally…
  • p. 15 …close of hostilities to bring into AAF Headquarters certain of the field per- sonnel for the…
  • p. 18 …Goss served as historian with the Fourth Air Force and was subsequently brought into AAF Headquarters…
  • p. 19 …Air Service Command, USSTAF, was assigned to Headquarters, USSTAF. Finally there remains something to be told…
  • p. 21 …Simpson of the Office of Air Force History, Headquarters, United States Air Force. Colonel Paul has…
  • p. 29 …JAPANESEINSTALLATIONS ON NORTHHEAD,KISKA,JULY1942 HEADQUARTERS,3 STH FIGHTERGROUP,PORT MORESBY,1942 HEADQUARTERS,3 gTH FIGHTERGROUP…
  • p. 45 …and his inspections took him to various headquarters, to depots and airfields, to-and over-the…
  • p. 53 …bulk of offensive air units to General Headquarters. The War Department resisted in turn every proposal…
  • p. 197 …The First Air Force, with headquarters at Mitchel Field, New York, was acting as a major…
  • p. 205 …The approved peacetime garrisons called for one heavy bombardment squadron and a group headquarters at Bermuda…
  • p. 209 …P-36’s in crates, and the headquarters squadron of the 28th Composite Group took up…
  • p. 210 …Defense Command, which forwarded the material to headquarters of the Western Defense Command at San Francisco…
  • p. 213 …Martin, was organized tactically into the 18th Bombardment Wing, with headquarters at Hickam Field, and the…
  • p. 214 …provided the separate squadrons with an air headquarters. Expansion of the Air Corps brought about a…
  • p. 221 …4th Composite Group, consisted of the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, the 3d Pursuit Squadron, and the…
  • p. 222 …AAF Headquarters felt that a striking force of heavy bombers would be a necessary part of…
  • p. 226 …during a series of conferences at AAF Headquarters in Washington. On 16 November the military air…
  • p. 230 …The watchers were instructed to transmit their observations by telephone or telegraph to headquarters of the…
  • p. 232 …which prevailed over the preference of general headquarters for a more northern and presumably more secure…
  • p. 252 …It would appear that the files of General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area, are also i n…
  • p. 254 …to General Headquarters, General Brereton states that he returned to his own headquarters a t Nielson…
  • p. 255 …George, chief of staff, V Interceptor Command, reported to headquarters “that there are 54 airplanes in…
  • p. 257 …The Summary of Activi- ties for Headquarters, Far East Air Force, notes: “11:56 General Brereton…
  • p. 268 …At I I I 5 , inter- ceptor headquarters received specific warning of enemy aircraft approaching from…
  • p. 270 …with a tele- phone line to operations headquarters. Until the Del Monte base could be greatly…
  • p. 272 …O n another occasion, 2 7th Group headquarters was falsely informed by telephone that its A…
  • p. 275 …two PBY’s to establish a new headquarters in Au~tralia.~’By +he 29th of December…
  • p. 281 …mission.” lo* General Brereton established a temporary headquarters at Darwin. Though the aim of all operations…
  • p. 288 …the air planners and from which AAF Headquarters was never to deviate. The translation of the…
  • p. 308 …General Headquarters was of recent origin, but the desirability of such a staff in the event…
  • p. 310 …both unit and individual training.88 General Headquarters’ responsibility for air force training was limited to…
  • p. 311 …WPD’s judgment that relations between General Headquarters and the Army Air Forces were “in- definite…
  • p. 312 …Gates.lo7 General Headquarters was not consulted until 5 February, but Gen- eral McNair had long…
  • p. 315 …In reality the influence of AAF Headquarters on the actual conduct of the war went far…
  • p. 344 …The director of Air Defense at AAF Headquarters concurred in every detail with the findings and…
  • p. 346 …With its headquarters a t San Francisco, the command included an extensive area of nine western…
  • p. 378 …The headquarters was established a t the main base a t Accra on 8 October 1941…
  • p. 400 …Here, in January 1942, the headquarters of the newly activated North Atlantic Sector of the Ferrying…
  • p. 405 …into the bases.‘38 Army Air Forces Headquarters, the Ferrying Command, and other interested AAF agencies…
  • p. 425 …was to be maintained between all major headquarters, logistical facilities would be shared, and local commanders…
  • p. 426 …O n 18 January, he located his headquarters at Lembang, ten miles north of Bandoeng in…
  • p. 434 …the United States and it was the headquarters of USAFIA, whose responsibility in January became chiefly…
  • p. 435 …the 2 I st Air Flotilla and headquarters detach- ments-moved to Davao during the first…
  • p. 442 …officers at Brisbane and of headquarters in Wash- ington throughout January. Australian and Dutch forces were…
  • p. 445 …organization, but co-ordination between its own headquarters and the Dutch interceptor control remained imperfect. T…
  • p. 454 …In Java, General Wavell closed his personal headquarters on 2 5 Feb- ruary, at which time…
  • p. 462 …Final Efforts in the Philippines When General Brereton’s headquarters had been moved to Austra- lia…
  • p. 482 …He proposed the establishment of air headquarters in each defensive area, prepared to accept and operate…
  • p. 486 …AAF Headquarters had been prompt to recognize the need for properly equipped photographic squadrons, and shortly…
  • p. 491 …In fact, A-3 of AAF Headquarters already had prepared a squadron, the 68th, which was…
  • p. 517 …Emmons, commanding the Hawaiian Depart- ment, appealed to AAF Headquarters for additional planes, and these were…
  • p. 546 HEADQUARTERS, 3STH FIGHTER GROUP, PORT MORESBY, 1942
  • p. 547 HEADQUARTERS, 35TH FIGHTER GROUP, PORT MORESBY, 1942
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
in Greenland by this time, and two companies of aviation engineers
were hurriedly constructing the facilities necessary for air defense of
G~eenland.’~
American defense preparations in Iceland were accorded a degree
of urgency not given to those in Greenland, even though more than
2 5 , 0 0 0 British troops were protecting the island. On 5 July 1941
President Roosevelt, in oral orders to the Army Chief of Staff and the
Chief of Naval Operations, directed that one Army pursuit squadron
with the necessary maintenance and administrative detachments be
sent to Iceland as soon as practicable. The 33d Pursuit Squadron was
immediately prepared for shipment, and on 2 5 July the air echelon,
with thirty p-40’~and three primary training planes, boarded the
carrier W a s p a t Norfolk, Virginia. T w o days later an air base squad-
ron sailed from New York for Iceland, and American planes shortly
were operating from the Reykjavik airdrome in southwestern Iceland.
The air service contingent was augmented in November by 2 I officers
and 336 enlisted men from the First Air Force, comprising ordnance,
weather, aircraft warning, and materiel units.” American ground
forces were also arriving in Iceland, but complete relief of British
forces was not expected to be accomplished before May 1942; until
that time the defense of Iceland was the joint responsibility of all air,
ground, and naval forces stationed there.
Prior to the outbreak of hostilities in December 1941,American
forces in Iceland were operating under orders which stipulated that
the approach of any Axis forces to within fifty miles of the island
would be deemed “conclusive evidence of hostile intent” and would
justify attack by the American defenders. The mission of Army avia-
tion, operating under the Iceland Base commander, included inde-
pendent action againsr sea, land, and air objectives, support of land
and naval forces in offensive and defensive operations, aerial recon-
naissance and photographic operations, and transportation of supplies
and personnel. The 33d Pursuit Squadron was of course incapable of
carrying out all phases of the mission, and plans were being made for
shipment of a bombardment squadron, an observation squadron, and
an additional pursuit squadron.“
Reinforcement was delayed both by the shortage of trained squad-
rons in the United States and by the lack of proper aviation facilities
in Iceland. British forces had prepared two airfields for limited opera-
tions and had formed a coastal observation network of thirty-nine
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