“Mission Control”60+ pages
- p. 40 …On recommendation of an American
mission sent to Europe in June under newly commissioned Col.
Raynal…
- p. 50 …a r I1 and its self-
conceived mission can be appreciated only in light of a…
- p. 52 …In the lower grades, where promotion was controlled inexorably
by seniority, Air Service pilots found themselves…
- p. 56 …complete control of the Army and form
an integral part thereof.” Yet the Crowell mission, appointed…
- p. 60 …The Lampert Committee went far beyond
its designated mission, bringing under review the whole province of…
- p. 63 …to it a more or less independent mission. Experi-
ence in World War I seemed to…
- p. 65 …Command respon-
sibility for that mission within the Air Corps devolved upon the Com-
manding General…
- p. 66 …Navy in further-
awe of their respective missions. The Air Corps Tactical School
claimed for air…
- p. 69 …which fights for and gains control of the air,’’ and to calculate
a well-balanced air…
- p. 71 …Mitchell could still believe that “it was an established fact that
the principal mission of an…
- p. 80 …based on the fundamental doctrine that their mission is to aid
the ground forces to gain…
- p. 81 …The mission of the Army was defense of the United States and
its outlying territories, but…
- p. 129 …assigned to the air force an
independent mission of strategic bombing. Accordingly, in March
1918 the…
- p. 155 …By taking
control of French or English colonial possessions, victorious Axis
powers might lodge themselves at…
- p. 175 …T h e planners were concerned only with the mission of the
US. Army and Navy…
- p. 235 …Long-standing
differences between the Army and Navy over jurisdictional control of
offshore patrol had brought…
- p. 241 …And because the chain of command in both Pacific areas
and in Washington vested ultimate control…
- p. 270 …Other combat activity by pursuit piiots was
incidental to scheduled reconnaissance missions, as when on I…
- p. 273 …Atlantic and India,” would come under his control at Bangal~re.’~
It soon became evident, however…
- p. 295 …American forces in Burma, and
later in India, had as a primary mission the promotion of…
- p. 306 …The mission of the MAB
was to keep current estimates of U.S.-British munitions resources…
- p. 308 …of a “nucleus of GHQ.” Its original mission was to direct the
training of the tactical…
- p. 314 …The field forces remained under
the control of the General Staff, and the War Plans Division…
- p. 316 …General Arnold’s control of the US. Air Force is as com-
plete, virtually, as is…
- p. 317 …it also made possible a certain indirect
control from Washington through letters written more often in…
- p. 343 …To permit effective control of fighter planes at
night or during bad weather would have required…
- p. 368 …constituted as of 29 May.’l The mission of the new
command was, first, “to move…
- p. 379 …A North
African military mission under Brig. Gen. Russell H. Maxwell had
been established at Cairo…
- p. 397 …In helping to prepare HALPRO for overseas movement by air and
in controlling the flight along…
- p. 412 …to perform a series of remarkable special
missions. Shuttling between Australia, the Philippines, the Nether-
lands…
- p. 426 …formation
of task forces to undertake specific missions, and for their command
he was to designate…
- p. 441 …But of these, four missions
involving a total of seventeen bombers were abortive because of un…
- p. 458 …During
January and February the bomber command dispatched approxi-
mately sixty heavy bomber missions, for a…
- p. 464 …attempting a take-off for yet another mission of relief.’
If the Americans on Bataan and…
- p. 472 …naval control, during which time
six of the planes flew the first American bomber mission against…
- p. 475 …Such missions, however, could be flown only with the greatest
expenditure of time and effort. Until…
- p. 500 …remain in the Far East under the control of General S t i l ~ e l…
- p. 503 …But circumstances beyond the control of the
aircrews were against the flight.
Although a fortuitous and…
- p. 525 …of Midway, nor had it
retained operational control of the few planes actually sent up to…
- p. 527 …If the vulnerable PBY's were shot down while executing their
search mission, this was a…
- p. 549 …those who had flown their first combat mission
in April had to fight a feeling of…
- p. 571 …largest mission to date comprised a total of six bombers-
would remain under theater control but…
- p. 589 …This, the Army felt, might lead ultimately to Navy control of all air
forces. As late…
- p. 620 …At the same time, it initiated projects peculiar to
its own mission and by the end…
- p. 621 …It would
work in conjunction with naval forces and under their operational
control “wherever this may…
- p. 646 …the British
Joint Staff Mission a t Washington, the American Military Mission
at London.” The American…
- p. 647 …General Chaney opened his headquarters in the American Embassy
building on 19 May 1941.'' His mission…
- p. 648 …Air forces would have two missions: to pro-
vide, in certain areas, an “air defense, integrated…
- p. 649 …Because AAF bombers would have the special mission, in co-operation
with the RAF, of attacking…
- p. 651 …Military Mission in
London-under direct control of the commanding general of U S .
Field Forces…
- p. 654 …They consider that function their primary mission here and are not
willing to surrender it.1le…
- p. 659 …bombardment missions,
either by direct coverage or by synchronized fighter sweeps. Strategic
control of AAF operations…
- p. 669 …o n ~ . ~ ’ ~Such operations under the RAF control system required
numerous modifications for the plane-about…
- p. 683 …not
be adequate to carry out the mission intended for it under GYM-
NAST. H e…
- p. 684 …T o adapt the Eighth Air Force to its new mission required a con-
siderable reshuffling…
- p. 717 …develop-
ment of adequate machinery for the control of combat operations by
establishing the Provisional I…
- p. 728 …2 , 27 AUGUST 2942
HE Eighth Air Force flew its first mission in an atmosphere
charged…
- p. 730 …in preparation for initial operations under RAF control.
Each of the three squadrons was attached for…
- p. 731 …Policy concerning the pro-
vision and control of fighter escort had not yet been determined,
but…
- p. 735 …Shortly before 1900 hours, watchers on the control tower
spotted a cluster of specks to the…
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 t
It is difficult even to establish the chronology of events for that
morning or to give anything more than the approximate time of those
events on which agreement exists. The most detailed general account
is that of Brereton, and for much of the detail given by him there exists
independent orr rob oration.^^ O n the main points a t issue, moreover,
support for much of his account is provided without complete agree-
ment by a file of the daily Summary of Activities of the Headquarters,
Far East Air Force, extending from 8 December 1941to 2 4 February
1942, when General Brereton relinquished command in Java on the
eve of his departure for India to assume command of American air
operations in that area. These daily summaries leave little if any ques-
tion that they represent a detailed record compiled closer to the
events described than any comprehensive account known to exist. In
the following narrative they have been weighted accordingly.*
After his early morning report to General Headquarters, General
Brereton states that he returned to his own headquarters a t Nielson
‘These summaries acquire in the absence of other comparable records such an
importance as to justify at this point an attempt to describe them and the way in
which they reached the files of the Air Historical Office. They were transmitted to
that office after the termination of hostilities by AAF historical officers assigned to
the China-Burma-India theater. Presumably, they represent a record carried to India
by General Brereton or b other FEAF personnel who accompanied him to India, and
presumably they were l e J there at the time of his hurried departure in June 1942 for
the Middle East. (See below, p . 512-13.) Similar1 , records of early activity in India
reached the Air Historical Of&e through the e L r t s of the historical officer of the
Ninth Air Force, which General Brereton later commanded in ETO. The FEAF
summaries, which are typed out on loose sheets of two different sizes and of varying
weight and texture, all of them carbon copies except for the inserted notes of a stag
conference held on 19 December, are bound together by an acco fastener within an
ordinary manila cover. O n the cover has been written in ink, possibly by historical
personnel in the theater, “Early History 10th AAF”; but that has been struck out and
in its place appears “General Brereton’s Headquarters diary 8 Dec 41-24 Feb 42,” and
below that in pencil is written “Activity Report of FEAF.” Other markings were
apparently made by the filing personnel of the historical office. The historian is given
some pause by the fact that the daily summaries from 8 December through 13
December give the year as 1942 with corrections in ink for 8, 9, and 10 December.
The year appears without change as 1941for 14 December at which point the weight
of the paper changes, but reverts thereafter to 1942 until the entries for 16 December.
From that date forward the year is rendered correctly in the original typing. Since
one often writes by mistake the preceding year but rarely if ever puts down the new
year ahead of time, the likelihood that entries for the earlier dates were compiled at
some later time must be considered. Perhaps they represent a compilation taken from
available records for assistance in the preparation of such a report as is understood to
have been made by General Brereton in late January or early February (see note 3 2 ) ;
perhaps they are copies made from the original by a careless typist; perhaps there is
some other explanation. Whatever the case, the fullness and exactness of detail given,
together with the fact that at so many points independent corroboration can be had,
lead to the conclusion that the document represents a valuable record compiled closer
to the events described than any other known source of comparable scope.
206