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

D E P L O Y M E N T O N T H E E V E O F H O S T I L I T I E S
at Bellows Field, a road distance of some twenty-eight miles from
Hickam. T h e 15th and 18th Pursuit Groups, components of the pur-
suit wing, were stationed a t Wheeler, although one squadron was in
training at Haleiwa, a small field in the northern section of the island.
Two air base groups, a transport squadron, maintenance companies,
and service detachments made up the remainder of the air force.”
In addition to the major airfields on Oahu, emergency and auxil-
iary fields had been prepared on other islands of the Hawaiian group,
including Kauai, Lanai, Hawaii, Maui, and M010kai.~~Of the 2 3 1
military aircraft assigned to the air force on 7 December, approxi-
mately half the number could be considered up-to-date models.
Twelve B-I ~D’s,twelve A-ZOA’S,twelve P-~oC’S,and eighty-seven
P-4oB’s comprised the more modern aircraft, while thirty-three
B-I 8A’s, thirty-nine P - ~ ~ A ’ s ,fourteen P - 2 6 ’ ~ ~and an assortment of
observation, training, and attack planes made up the remainder of the
T h e Hawaiian Air Force had existed as an integrated command
only slightly more than one year. From the time of the arrival of the
first tactical squadron in 1917 to 1931, when the military air com-
ponent in the territory comprised some seven tactical squadrons and
two service squadrons, the air units had been loosely attached to the
Army’s Hawaiian Department without benefit of an air commander.
In 1931 an important administrative step was taken in formation of
the I 8th Composite Wing, which provided the separate squadrons
with an air headquarters. Expansion of the Air Corps brought about
a need for further reorganization in Hawaii, and on I November
I 940 the Hawaiian Air Force was activated and its bombardment
and pursuit units were organized into separate wings. Although the
air force remained under the command of the Hawaiian Department,
it had acquired the integrated structure necessary for efficient opera-
t i ~ n . ~ ’
Since 1935 the W a r Department had given first priority to the
Hawaiian Islands in the distribution of troops and munitions among
overseas garrisons. But, upon the outbreak of war in Europe, the
necessity for giving attention to bases in the North Atlantic and the
Caribbean, together with the urgent demands of a vast program of
expansion, had altered peacetime priorities; and not until early 1941
was it possible to send modem planes and additional antiaircraft artil-
* See map, p. 196.
‘ 7 ’