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The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

Air Force Historical Studies Office · 863 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 47 …s Independent Force, the whole of the French Air Division (strategic reserve), and Italian and Portuguese…
  • p. 113 …Japanese Air Power The Japanese air forces, divided into separate army and navy air arms, had…
  • p. 119 …naval air service, and a colonial air force.” For their air doctrines, the Italians depended almost…
  • p. 120 …In its first “combat” test during the thirties the Italian Air Force faced no real opposition…
  • p. 121 …The hope was not fulfilled, for numerous weaknesses in the Italian Air Force rapidly came to…
  • p. 122 …The fundamental weakness of the Italian Air Force was not in its theory of air power…
  • p. 197 …naval forces, and within prescribed boundaries to destroy any German and Italian naval, air, and ground…
  • p. 386 …More threatening were Rommel’s forces in North Africa, for the very existence of the air…
  • p. 554 …Chennault, who since 1937 had been serving as special adviser to the Chinese Air Force. Known…
  • p. 705 …Brett, Chief of the Air Corps, to England for study of the problem. Specifically, he was…
  • p. 752 …USSBS, Japanese Air Power. 9. Notes on the Italian Air Force, in special file of Brig…
  • p. 805 …History, First Air Force. 44. History, Caribbean Air Force, 8 May 1941-6 Mar. 1942, p…
  • p. 851 …E S Italian Air Force: 82-85; development, Italian East Africa, 84 Italy, Air Ministry, 82…
  • p. 857 …See Italian Air Force. Reinforcements. See theaters. Renault works, 593 Replacement Control Depot, ~ z t h…
A I R T R A N S P O R T A N D F E R R Y I N G
subject of frequent representations by that organization and the Army
Air Forces. In response to these representations, the War Department
published a directive on 6 June 1942 which attempted to bring some
order into the relations between the Ferrying Command and the
theaters. The Ferrying Command was declared to be “a War Depart-
ment service agency” under the direct control of the Commanding
General, Army Air Forces, who served as agent of the War Depart-
ment. Theater commanders were enjoined to limit interference with
Ferrying Command operations or appropriation of its facilities to
occasions of specific emergency.2o2
This letter, as General George soon pointed out, was entirely toh
weak. The same difficulties continued to be encountered by the Air
Transport Command. It was not easy to convey to theater com-
manders an entirely new concept of control, one which ran contrary
to the traditional understanding of theater prerogatives. Upon the
request of General George, a stronger statement was published in
September 1942, but not until February of the following year would
a War Department directive be issued that was sufficiently forceful
and c o m p r e h e n ~ i v e . ~ ~ ~By the summer of 1942 it was already becoming
clear that, so far as long-range air transport services were concerned,
the world was a single theater of operations.
365

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 863 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.