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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
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 ferrying organization for the flight to Scotland. By ferrying these bombers under their own power, vital shipping space was saved and factory-to-combat delivery time was cut from approximately three months to less than ten days." The British ferrying service was well under way when the Lend- Lease Act became law on I I March 1941.Improving weather condi- tions in the spring of 1941 and increasing aircraft production made possible a speedup in trans-Atlantic deliveries, but the Atlantic ferry- ing organization, or ATFERO as it became known when taken over directly by the British Ministry of Aircraft Production, experienced considerable difficulty in recruiting a sufficient number of pilots and other crew members to maintain schedules. The War Department at the time was attempting, not too successfully, to assist the British in employing additional pilots in the United state^,^ and the British them- selves were forced to withdraw some pilots from combat units for ferrying duty. A solution to the problem was made possible by the Lend-Lease Act. On 2 1 April, General Arnold wired from London, where he was then conferring with British officials as to means of ex- tending aid, proposing that the United States Army Air Corps take over responsibility for the ferrying of British aircraft from the fac- tories to Montreal. T w o major ends to be achieved were set forth in the message. American military pilots would be able to acquire highly useful training in flying the latest types of combat aircraft; and civilian pilots then employed by the factories would be released for service with ATFERO in delivering the aircraft across the Atlantic.6 Hard pressed for pilots, the British received General Arnold's proposal with enthusiasm and readily consented to give official sanction to American use of British-owned aircraft for training purposes within the United States.' In the course of discussions between representatives of the two countries during the month that followed, consideration was given to a plan favored by the War Department by which the United States would take over control of the whole ferrying operation from the factories to Britain. But to certain features of this plan Brig. Gen. Carl Spaatz, then on the staff of the Chief of the Air Corps, raised objections which seemed convincing.8 President Roosevelt decided to adopt the more modest proposal of General Arnold of 2 1 April and to leave to the British the job of flying the aircraft across the Atlantic. On 28 May the President directed the Secretary of War to take full respon- 3 '4
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