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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.
“United Press”36 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 western Europe in the spring of 1943, a plan for the build-up and accommodation of American forces in the United Kingdom had been initiated in late April under the code name of BOLER0.lDoCom- bined committees of British and American members, their province falling entirely in the field of logistics, were set up in Washington and London to expedite arrangements for the build-up. Composed of key staff officers of the several planning agencies concerned, these committees served to co-ordinate the effort on the highest level. With April 1943 set tentatively as the target date for ROUNDUP, the Operations Division of the War Department and AAF Head- quarters in May 1942 drafted plans to place by that time I,OOO,OOO American troops in the United Kingdom. The troop basis was broken down to provide 525,000 ground troops, 240,000 air force troops, and 235,000 for Services of Supply.1D1Within the limit thus set, the AAF by I 3 May had developed a “Rough Estimate-Tentative” which called for the placing in the United Kingdom prior to I April 1943 of twenty-one heavy bombardment groups, eight medium bombard- ment groups, nine light bombardment groups, seventeen pursuit groups, six observation groups, and eight transport groups-the grand total being sixty-nine groups plus supporting service units.lgz As the figures themselves indicate, the force would represent a balance be- tween the requirements of a previously planned program of strategic bombardment and of the tactical operations to be expected in the actual invasion of Europe. A further development and refinement of these studies enabled General Arnold during his conferences with Air Chief Marshal Portal in late May to present a “Programme of Arrival of U.S. Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom” which provided for a flow into the theater by March 1943 of sixty-six combat groups, exclusive of ob- servation squadrons, and of 3,649 airplanes. The breakdown had been adjusted as follows: for bombardment, nineteen heavy, twelve me- dium, and twelve light groups; for pursuit, fifteen groups; and for transport, eight. The proposed build-up would advance from fifteen groups in July to thirty-five in November and to sixty-six in March. General Arnold anticipated that by I April 1943 the Eighth would have in combat units 700 heavy bombers, 800 medium bombers, 342 light bombers, and 960 fighters.Ig3 At the time of General Arnold’s departure from London for home on 2 June 1942, the actual strength 6 5 2
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