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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.
“Independence Day”9 pages
T H E E I G H T H A I R F O R C E by 8 January for assignment to the new air force were the 17th Bombardment Group (M), the 48th Bombardment Group (L), the 20th and 52d Pursuit Groups,” the 68th Observation Group, and the 7th Photo Squadron. Additional units not then available were to be activated by the commanding general of the Air Force Combat Command (AFCC) , under whose direction the organization and train- ing of the Eighth Air Force was p l a ~ e d . ~O n 19 January, the W a r Department ordered that the AFCC activate the headquarters and headquarters squadrons of the Eighth Air Force, VIII Air Force Base Command, VIII Bomber Command, and VIII Interceptor C ~ m m a n d . ~ Meanwhile, the Air Staff planned that the several units would move into a concentration and training area within the United States on or about I February. Task Force GYMNAST had been accorded a priority D rating by the AAF, with three other air task forces sched- uled ahead of it.t T h e AFCC delegated to the First and Third Air Forces the actual task of establishing the major headquarters units.‘ T h e Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Eighth Air Force was activated by the Third Air Force on 2 8 January at Savannah Army Air Base in Georgia. As in the case of the commander, Colonel Duncan, most of the personnel was drawn from the headquarters of the I11 Air Support Command. At the same time, the I11 Air Force Base Com- mand supplied the initial personnel for the VIII Air Force Base Command.‘ T h e VIII Bomber Command was activated at Langley Field, Virginia, by the First Air Force on I February, and on the same day the VIII Interceptor Command was activated at Selfridge Field, Michigan. According to plan, the VIII Bomber Command was promptly moved to Savannah and the VIII Interceptor Command to Charleston, transfers which had been effected by the middle of February.8 As these moves indicate, the southeastern states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had been selected as a con- centration and training area, where units initially were stationed on bases and airports at Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Columbia, Florence, and Augusta. T h e plan called for the new air force to re- main under the control of the commanding general, AFCC until the Pursuit units were redesignated “fighter” in May 1942. t On to January, the task forces with higher priorities were Task Force X (Aus- tralia), Task Force FIVE ISLANDS (South Pacific), and Task Force BR (United Kingdom). 61 3
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