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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 yond the capabilities of the combat crews or the local Pan American maintenance The staging of Project X aircraft and crews a t MacDill Field ex- tended over a period of about two months. During that time some fifty-eight heavy bombers of the projected eighty departed for the Far East over the southeastern route, while eight went out over the South Pacific route. In spite of many delays along the way, forty-four of the sixty-six bombers were delivered to the Southwest Pacific area over both routes by late February. Others were diverted to the Tenth Air Force in India after the route from India to Australia was closed; some had served as a source of spare parts to put the others through. Four of the B-17’s were lost completely either in crashes or over the Atlantic, another landed in a swamp a t Belem, one was forced to return to the United States for repairs, and one was delayed in Africa await- ing repairs even as late as May 1 9 4 2 . ~ ~Although none of the bombers reached the Philippines, most of them were put to use in Australia or on other fronts. It was a good record considering the pioneer nature of the job, the inexperienced and poorly trained crews, and the neces- sity for building a ferrying route organization through the South Atlantic and across Africa and India while the movement was in prog- ress. In assuming the major share of responsibility for controlling the movement, the Ferrying Command had gained much valuable experi- ence that would prove useful as the ferrying job increased in scope with the growing intensity of the war in Europe and in the Pacific. After February I 942 all aircraft flight-delivered to the Southwest Pacific were staged at West Coast bases and flown out by way of Hawaii and the chain of island steppingstones extending down to Australia. The number of planes delivered for a time was small, but steady progress was made in the construction or improvement of bases and in the installation of weather and communications facilities in preparation for the heavier movements that would come in the sum- mer and fall.96 Ferrying Command personnel made some of the de- liveries, and in April two LB-~o’swere assigned to the route for the return of ferry crews to the United States. But the Ferrying Com- mand, of which Col. Harold L. George assumed command that same month, continued to be concerned primarily with the problems of the Atlantic air routes. Only gradually would it develop into a truly world-wide and uniform air transport system. With the cutting of the India-Australia air link and the consequent 3 36
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