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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 fact that air force and antiaircraft artillery units, and civilian volun- teers working with the warning service, were at the outbreak of war taking positions in California for an exercise scheduled to begin on I I De~ember.~‘ Once the news of the Japanese attack had been received on the mainland, the Fourth and Second Air Forces, which shared responsi- bility for defending the West Coast, readjusted their forces to provide maximum protection for the major cities3’ In co-operation with the Navy, off shore patrols were promptly instituted to provide warning against carriers and to combat submarines. The aircraft warning serv- ice was put into operation, with civilians hurriedly manning their observation posts. Amateur radio stations were ordered off the air, and unnecessary civilian flying was prohibited. The War Department ordered the immediate movement of reinforcements for the Pacific coast by air and fast trains. The supply of heavy bombers was so limited that it was not found possible to immobilize any large number by assigning them to stations along the coasts. Locally based air units therefore consisted in large part of fighter aircraft, to which were added antiaircraft artillery, barrage balloons, and searchlights. The first reinforcement to reach the Pacific coast consisted of planes of the 1st Pursuit Group, which arrived at San Diego on 8 December; by 2 2 December this entire P-38 group had been transferred from Michigan to California. An additional augmentation of pursuir strength was pro- vided in mid-December by the temporary assignment to the Fourth Air Force of a Marine unit, Air Wing I . Meantime, antiaircraft artil- lery units had begun to reach the West Coast from inland stations, and some regiments which were at ports of embarkation were diverted to coastal defense as~ignments.~~ As these and other forces took up their defensive positions, coastal communities suffered from an “invasion fever” which first showed itself with the calling of an alert in San Francisco on 8 December. In the afternoon of the 8th, rumors of an enemy carrier off the coast led to the closing of schools in Oakland.“’ That evening, while residents of the Bay area were having dinner, radio broadcasting suddenly ceased, and this was followed by a blackout which lasted nearly three hours. In the absence of adequate preparations, sirens on police cars were used to warn the people, and self-appointed neighborhood wardens rushed from door to door to help enforce the blackout. Reports reaching Washington of an attack on San Francisco were 2 7 8
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