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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.
“Italian Air Force”14 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 War Plans Division suggested the latter solution in August, then turned to fruitless efforts to reach an agreement by modifying the present By September, General McNair had become skepti- cal of the possibility of securing the authority requisite for effective functioning of his office.lo0 From the August deliberations on, the AAF favored drastic reorganization. O n 6 October the Air Staff pro- rogued for duration of the emergency all attempts to secure complete independence of the air force.’” This decision served merely to con- centrate all efforts toward achieving a parity with the ground forces, which seemed impossible of attainment under the present status and constituency of GHQ. During the late summer and early fall, various expedients were examined by members of the Air Staff and by con- sultants drawn from the Bureau of the Budget.lo2 On 2 4 October General Spaatz, Chief of the Air Staff, forwarded to W P D a vigorous objection to the existing organization, recommending the abolition of GHQ and the establishment, under the Chief of Staff and a compact General Staff, of autonomous air, ground, and service forces. This proposal met with ‘‘100 per cent non-concurrences.” l o 3 A month later, on 2 5 November, General Arnold recommended to the Chief of Staff a reorganization of the War Department along similar lines and the creation of a military policy staff for the President which should include members from the several services and appropriate civilian agencies.lo4The second part of this scheme lay entirely outside the jurisdiction of General Marshall; but he was “favorably im- pressed” by Arnold’s design for the War Department, and on 28 November he directed WPD to develop a detailed plan incorporating its principal Brig. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, an air officer who had been drawn into the General Staff under the recent liberalizing policy, was put in charge of the project, H e was recalled from his current assignment with the special observers in London, arriving in Washington just after the Japanese attack in the Pacific and just in time to be named to the Roberts Commission to investigate the disaster at Pearl Harb0r.l“ Thus delayed, it was early February before McNarney’s group had determined the general character of the reorganization. The views of the AAF were presented to McNarney by a special com- mittee appointed by Arnold and headed by Lt. Col. B. E. Gates.lo7 General Headquarters was not consulted until 5 February, but Gen- eral McNair had long since been convinced of the impractical nature 2 6 2
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