The Army Air Forces in World WAr ii Air Force AssociATion | mAy 2009 1 About the Air Force Association The Air Force Association, founded in 1946, exists to promote Air Force airpower. We educate the public about the critical role of aerospace power in the defense of our nation, advocate aerospace power and a strong national defense, and support the United States Air Force, the Air Force family, and aerospace education. AFA is a 501(c)(3) independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit educa- tional organization, to which all donations are tax deductible. With your help we will be able to expand our programs and their impact. We need your support and ongoing financial commitment to realize our goals. AFA disseminates information through Air Force Magazine, airforce-magazine.com, the General Billy Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies, national conferences and symposia, and other forms of public outreach. Learn more about AFA by vis- iting us on the Web at www.afa.org. 1501 Lee Highway Arlington VA 22209-1198 Tel: (703) 247-5800 Fax: (703) 247-5853 Published by Air Force Assocation © 2009 Air Force Association Design by Darcy Harris The Army Air Forces in World WAr ii By John T. correll Air Force AssociATion mAy 2009 The Army Air Forces in World WAr ii TABle oF conTenTs 4 EmErgEncE of thE Army Air forcEs 8 chronology: thE AAf And thE Air WAr, 1941-1945 16 nAmEs thAt mAdE history 18 A gAllEry of World WAr ii AircrAft Principal Aircraft of the AAF Major Enemy Aircraft Selected Aircraft of Friendly Forces 22 BAttlEs And EvEnts Pearl Harbor China and the Flying Tigers Doolittle’s Tokyo Raid Flying the Hump Bismarck Sea North Africa Pantelleria The Combined Bomber Offensive Ploesti, Regensburg, and Schweinfurt Big Week Airpower and the Invasion of Europe Mission of the Enola Gay Notable Named Operations 30 off WE go . . . dimEnsions of thE gloBAl forcE Training the Force Arsenal of Democracy The Tuskegee Airmen WASPs and Air WACs Enlisted Aircrews What They Did in the War “There I was ...” 40 hEroEs 42 thE AAf in fActs And figurEs B-17s over Germany. I. Emergence of the Army Air Forces The nation’s air arm went 1918 to form the autonomous Royal tillery, and the Corps of Engineers— through many names and con- Air Force. but like the Artillery, it was regarded figurations before it became The Air Service remained under as subservient to the Infantry. the Army Air Forces in World War II. the thumb of the Army and was per- A big break came in 1935 when In the beginning, the forerunner of ceived to have no mission other than the General Headquarters Air Force the US Air Force was the Aeronauti- to support ground forces. In 1926, was established with a charter that cal Division of the Army Signal Corps. with efforts resurgent in Congress went beyond ground support. It took It became the Army Air Service in to establish an air department, the Air Corps tactical units away from World War I and watched enviously Army redesignated the Air Service Army field commands and put them as the Royal Flying Corps and the the Army Air Corps. It was on an or- under a single organization headed Royal Naval Air Service merged in ganizational par with the Infantry, Ar- by an aviator who reported to the 4 4 Army General Staff. The Air Corps of the war were the carrier victory atomic missions against Hiroshima kept control of training, supply, and at Midway in 1942 and the capture and Nagasaki. policy. The air arm was thus divided in 1944 of island bases from which By the end of the war, the AAF into two parts, but it was a net gain AAF B-29s could strike the Japanese was essentially operating as a sepa- for airpower. homeland. The decisive actions that rate service and was well on its way The Army Air Forces was created brought the war to an end were the toward independence from the Army. June 20, 1941, with both the Air Corps and Air Force Combat Command (for- merly GHQ AF) reporting to the Chief of the AAF. A War Department reor- ganization on March 9, 1942, estab- lished the status of the AAF as equiv- alent to the Army Ground Forces and Army Service Forces. From 1942 on, the Commanding General of the AAF was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alongside the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Chief of Naval Operations. It was de facto recognition that the Air Force mission, centering on long-range strategic bombardment, was inde- pendent of Army ground forces. By 1944, the Army Air Forces had a strength of 2.4 million, which ac- Gen. Carl Spaatz (l) with Gen. George Kenney (c) and Gen. Douglas MacArthur. counted for 31 percent of total Army strength. In 1948, Gen. Carl A. Spaatz—the AAF’s senior commander in the field in World War II and first Chief of the independent Air Force—said, “The war against Germany was funda- mentally an infantry war supported by airpower, much as the war against Japan was fundamentally a naval war supported by air.” That somewhat un- derstates the Air Force contribution and the importance of Allied airpower in the war. The German plan to invade Britain in 1940 failed because the Luftwaffe could not wrest control of the air— a necessary precondition for inva- Gen. H. H. Arnold (l) with Gen. George Marshall. sion—from the Royal Air Force. The relative role of airpower increased I. Emergence of the Army Air Forces steadily. No Allied ground forces were engaged in Western Europe un- til the last 11 months of the war. Up to then, the AAF and the RAF carried the offensive against Germany and its forward bases in Europe. Allied air superiority, provided essentially by the AAF, enabled the D-Day invasion and the ground force advance across Europe. By that time, the capabili- ties of the German war machine had been reduced substantially by Allied air bombardment. In the Pacific, the turning points King George VI (l) with Spaatz, Maj. Gen. Ira Eaker, 5 and Brig. Gen. Newton Longfellow. The Numbered Air Forces Around the World 66 AAF’s Numbered Air Forces in 1945 First Eastern US Seventh Central Pacific Twelfth Italy Second Western US Eighth Great Britain Thirteenth South Pacific Third Southeastern US Ninth France Fourteenth China Fourth Far Western US Tenth India-Burma Fifteenth Italy Fifth Southwest Pacific Eleventh Alaska Twentieth Marianas Sixth Canal Zone 77 II. Chronology: The AAF and the Air War, 1941-1945 B-17 Flying Fortress sits in foreground of devastation at Hickam Field in Hawaii. B-17 of the 381st Bomb Group flies toward target in Europe. 1941 Dec. 8, 1941. US declares war on Ja- Feb. 23, 1942. Brig. Gen. Ira C. Eak- pan. er establishes Headquarters Eighth Dec. 10, 1941. Five B-17s attack Bomber Command in London, first June 20, 1941. Army Air Forces Japanese convoy near the Philippines, American air headquarters in Europe established, consisting of Air Force sink enemy vessel. in World War II. Combat Command (formerly GHQ Air Dec. 11, 1941. Germany and Italy March 7, 1942. First African-Amer- Force) and the Office of the Chief of declare war on US. ican pilots graduate from training at Air Corps. Dec. 16, 1941. Lt. Boyd “Buzz” Wag- Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. Sept. 11, 1941. Air War Plans Divi- ner downs his fifth Japanese airplane March 9, 1942. US Army reorganized sion Plan No. 1 (AWPD-1) forecasts over the Philippines, becomes first into three autonomous commands: requirement for 251 combat groups. AAF ace of World War II. Army Air Forces, Army Ground Forces, Actual AAF wartime strength peaks at Dec. 20, 1941. American Volunteer and Services of Supply (later, Army 243 combat groups. Group—the legendary “Flying Tigers” Service Forces). Dec. 1, 1941. Civil Air Patrol estab- —begins combat operations over Chi- March 13, 1942. First AAF detach- lished. na against Japanese. ment reaches China-Burma-India Dec. 7, 1941. Japanese attack Pearl theater. Harbor, catch US Navy and Army Air 1942 April 2, 1942. Tenth Air Force flies its Forces in Hawaii by surprise, inflict first mission in CBI, bombing Anda- heavy losses in American lives, ships, Feb. 23, 1942. B-17s attack newly man Islands. and airplanes. Nine hours later, AAF established Japanese base at Rabaul April 8, 1942. First flight of supplies bases in Philippines also caught by in Solomon Islands. over “The Hump”—a 500-mile air surprise, with further losses. 8