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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. 2 THE UNIVERSITYOF CHICAGOPRESS, CHICAGO8 LONDON The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 5, Canada Copyright 1948 by…
  • p. 48 …An Associated Press dispatch of 10 October gave a contemporary judgment of the importance of this…
  • p. 55 …Air Service (Corps) found it difficult to press vigorously for reorgani- zation and, by default, leadership…
  • p. 56 …In 1919the W a r Department was pressing for a drastic revision of the military establishment…
  • p. 61 …It held that there was no danger of an air attack on the United States and…
  • p. 64 …GHQ Air Forcq a trial than to press for more radical measures, and Howell’s group…
  • p. 75 …Powerful air attacks resolutely pressed home could never be completely stopped, but their effects could best…
  • p. 98 …based air operations in defense of the United States and its overseas posses~ions.’~T w…
  • p. 99 …General Westover’s report concluded that “all Air Force units could be concentrated on either coast…
  • p. 130 …the Admiralty began to press for control of naval air units, while the army attempted to…
  • p. 149 …basic and advanced Responsibility for crew and unit train- ing was vested in the GHQ Air…
  • p. 164 …A m y air units in the Territory existed primarily for the defense of this and…
  • p. 176 …no military alliances were made which would commit the United States to war; the plans only…
  • p. 278 …There were also grounds for hoping that heavy bomber units now based on Darwin might increase…
  • p. 285 …From 1938 the United States had invoked sanctions against Japan in the form of moral em…
  • p. 287 …Over-all Strategy and lmmediate Deployment On 2 2 December, the press announced dramatically the arrival…
  • p. 289 …ground units sent in that direction were not destined for immediate combat. No major invasion of…
  • p. 323 …Seizure of bases in Canada or Mexico for later attacks on the United States. Capture of…
  • p. 366 …United state^,^ and the British them- selves were forced to withdraw some pilots from combat units…
  • p. 380 …Upon the request of the Ferrying Command, the State Depart- ment again pressed for an answer…
  • p. 397 …the summer and fall, first as the United States Middle East Air Force and later as…
  • p. 430 …Attempts had been made to replace these obsolete craft by purchase from the United States, but…
  • p. 440 …But as the Japanese pressed forward the Americans were given no opportunity to get set. The…
  • p. 463 …personnel that would be reassigned to infantry units whose rosters already included many representatives of the…
  • p. 552 …pines and more recently of American air units operating in the Netherlands East Indies, he was…
  • p. 560 …Moreover, examination proved that most of the basic equipment of the units, including badly needed trucks…
  • p. 563 …Grady arrived from the United States for a comprehensive survey of Indian resources with reference to…
  • p. 564 …TO C H I N A graphic units, and unfavorable atmospheric conditions combined to make high…
  • p. 607 …Thus the AAF units engaged in the anti-U-boat war became almost a t once…
  • p. 628 …Army air bombardment units would operate offensively in collaboration with the Royal Air Force, primarily against…
  • p. 658 …was to operate in the United Kingdom.14' All air units initially based there were to…
  • p. 683 …of the units of the infant Eighth until their departure for the United Kingdom several months…
  • p. 691 …The RAF proposed that American fighter units be integrated with its own under a plan eventually…
  • p. 748 …533.) By 1928he was (Patrick, United States in the Air, pp. 190-91.) 38. Charges of…
  • p. 770 …y.W D Press Release, 2 1 June 1941. 9 1 . AR 95-5, 3a. 92…
  • p. 857 …Presque Isle, 344, 347-49, 641, 644-45 Press comment: B-17, 662-63; danger of…
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
support initially. Essential agreement as to policy in this respect was
reached by zo*August, three days after the VIII Bomber Command
had flown its first mission. The document, which reached its final form
on 8 September, is worth quoting in full:
Joint AmericanlBritish Directif On Day Bomber Operations
Involving Fighter Co-operation
A I M
Britain is to achieve continuity in the bombing offensive against the Axis.
ALLOCATlON OF RESPONSlBlLlTY
2 . The primary instrument for night air bombardment is the British
Bomber Command. Day bombardment will be the primary responsibility
of the 8th Air Force.
I . The aim of the day bombardment by Allied Air Forces based in Great
METHODS OF ACHlEVlNG T H E A I M
3. Night bombardment methods will remain as defined in present Air
Ministry directifs to the British Bomber Command. The method of achiev-
ing the aim of day bombardment is by the destruction and damage of precise
targets vital to the Axis war effort.
DEVELOPMENT OF DAY OFFENSIVE
phases:-
4. The day bomber offensive is to be developed in the following three
(a) Phase I
American day bomber forces under British fighter protection rein-
forced by American fighter forces are to attack suitable objectives within
the radius of action of British fighter cover.
(b) Phase t
American day bomber forces under British and American fighter
protection are to attack suitable objectives within the radius of action of
British and American fighter types. In this phase, the direct protection of
the bomber forces is to be provided by American fighter forces. British
fighter forces are to be used principally for diversionary sweeps and with-
drawal cover. During this phase the range characteristic of the American
type fighter aircraft is to be exploited to increase the depth of penetration
of the bomber force and also to widen the frontage of attack. It will be the
responsibility of the 8th Air Force to develop the tactics of deep penetration
of the enemy day fighter defence.
(c) Phase 3
The 8th Air Force will develop its full day bomber offensive re-
ceiving such support and co-operation as may be required from the British
short-range fighter force.
608

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