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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.
“The Wash”17 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 operating bases south of Langley Field and for increased mobility on the part of the units under his command in order that advantage might be taken of a wider operating area.2s Any doubts regarding the necessity for extending the antisubma- rine activity of the AAF and for increasing the mobility of its units were dispelled during the next two months by the Germans them- selves who began rapidly to shift the emphasis of their attack toward the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean areas. This move on the part of the enemy found American defenses again unprepared, and the shift in operating area was accompanied by a sharp rise in the number of merchant ships lost in the coastal waters. In April, twenty-three ships were lost in the Eastern Sea Frontier, as compared to two in the Gulf Sea Frontier. In May, the number lost to submarine action in the former dropped to five, while the corresponding figure for the latter rose to forty-one. This total of forty-six merchant vessels lost during the month represents the high point in the U-boat offensive in the two home sea frontiers.2T In answer to an urgent request from the commander of the Gulf Sea Frontier for air reinforcement, a detachment of twenty B-18’s was sent south; and shortly thereafter, on 26 May, Maj. Gen. Follett Bradley, commanding general of the First Air Force, set up the Gulf Task Force of the I Bomber Command. This new organization was composed initially of the detachment of B-r 8’s mentioned above, to- gether with two observation squadrons (the 97th and 66th) and all units of the Civil Air Patrol then engaged in antisubmarine patrol in the Gulf Sea Frontier. Its headquarters, temporarily located at Charleston, South Carolina, was ultimately established a t Miami, Florida. The command relationship between the Gulf Task Force and the Gulf Sea Frontier was similar to that which existed between the I Bomber Command and the Eastern Sea Frontier.28 It soon became evident that the need for Army air patrol in the Gulf area exceeded the ability of this small task force to meet it. Accordingly, a few days after it had been established, General Arnold requested the Third Air Force to use certain of its training units for antisubmarine patrol in the course of their regular overwater training missions, such flights to be directed by the Gulf Task Force. For its part, Third Air Force, various units of which had maintained sporadic patrols of the Florida and Gulf areas since December 1941,proposed to place eight B- I 7’s, operating from Barksdale Field, Louisiana, and 5 3 0
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