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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.
“King”32 pages
D E F E N S E O F T H E W E S T E R N H E M I S P H E R E the First Air Force took over responsibility for defense operations along the entire extent of the Atlantic coast. This arrangement lasted until the fall of 1943, when the danger of air attack had greatly de- creased and the First and Fourth Air Forces were reassigned to the AAF.14‘ Much earlier-in March I 942-the Eastern Defense Command had ceased to be a theater of operation^.^^' Although the actual direction of air defense operations was thus assigned to the theater commands, the AAF retained vital responsibili- ties for training and experimental development. In the reorganization of the W a r Department in March 1942, the reconstituted AAF staff included a director of Air Defense.143T o this post was assigned Col. Gordon P. Saville, whose energy and vision had been in large part responsible for the rapid progress made in 1941 toward the creation of an aircraft warning service. His experience in the experimental work of the Air Defense Command and firsthand observation of the operation of British defenses had convinced him that progress in the development of an American defense depended on indoctrination of key personnel in the latest techniques of controlled interception. Accordingly, he secured the establishment (March 1942) of the Air Defense Operational Training Unit, later renamed the Fighter Com- mand School. This unit set up in Florida an ideal air defense net based on the British system, using VHF radio and modern radar equip- ment.144T h e R A F sent skilled officers and technicians to act in an advisory capacity, but care was taken to adjust tactical procedures to American usages. In addition to indoctrinating command and staff members in the latest defense methods, the school trained radar units and tested equipment. Its responsibilities included study of the tactical and materiel requirements of overseas commands as well as the de- mands of continental defense. At the expense of existing task forces, the few specialists available were held for training of the large number of technicians that would be required for later T h e organizational adjustments directed on 30 December I 941 had been accomplished by the end of February 1942, and thereafter the pattern of continental air defenses became increasingly clear. Along the Pacific coast from Canada to Mexico a “vital air defense zone” of approximately I 50 miles depth and extending 2 0 0 miles seaward was created by the Western Defense Command, and a similar zone along the Atlantic coast was established by the Eastern Defense Command.146 Air operations within the western zone were directed by the Fourth 2 9 5
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