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149-543: The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II , the Invader also saw service during several major Cold War conflicts. A limited number of highly modified United States Air Force aircraft served in Southeast Asia until 1969. It was a fast aircraft capable of carrying

298-676: A medium bomber ) each had variants with 8 or more forward-firing machine guns for ground strafing missions. Later variants of the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber were adapted to the role of ground attack against tanks armed with 37 mm cannon , and the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver (a U.S. Navy dive bomber adopted later in World War II when that design role was beginning to disappear) also was assigned to ground attack sorties using its cannon , bombs and rockets . The light bomber, as

447-933: A segregated basis. A flight training center was set up at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama . Despite the handicap—caused by the segregation policy—of not having an experienced training cadre as with other AAF units, the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves in combat with the 332nd Fighter Group . The Tuskegee training program produced 673 black fighter pilots, 253 B-26 Marauder pilots, and 132 navigators. The vast majority of African-American airmen, however, did not fare as well. Mainly draftees , most did not fly or maintain aircraft. Their largely menial duties, indifferent or hostile leadership, and poor morale led to serious dissatisfaction and several violent incidents. Women served more successfully as part of

596-585: A "disturbing failure to follow through on orders". To streamline the AAF in preparation for war, with a goal of centralized planning and decentralized execution of operations, in October 1941 Arnold submitted to the WDGS essentially the same reorganization plan it had rejected a year before, this time crafted by Chief of Air Staff Brig. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz . When this plan was not given any consideration, Arnold reworded

745-748: A CIA "command ship" with the loss of four Cuban aircrew. The CIA contracted pilots, some employed during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, to fly B-26Ks for ground attack against Simba rebels in the Congo Crisis . Newly remanufactured B-26K Counter-Invaders were delivered to the Congo via Hurlburt Field in 1964. In the 1950s, the French Air Force 's ( Armée de l'air ) bombing groups ( groupe de bombardement ) including Bombardment Group I/19 Gascogne (GB I/19) and GB 1/25 Tunisia , used B-26s, during

894-476: A Chief of Air Staff and three deputies. This wartime structure remained essentially unchanged for the remainder of hostilities. In October 1944 Arnold, to begin a process of reorganization for reducing the structure, proposed to eliminate the AC/AS, Training and move his office into OC&R, changing it to Operations, Training and Requirements (OT&R) but the mergers were never effected. On 23 August 1945, after

1043-538: A Zone of Interior "training and supply agency", but from the start AAF officers viewed this as a "paper" restriction negated by Arnold's place on both the Joint and Combined Chiefs, which gave him strategic planning authority for the AAF, a viewpoint that was formally sanctioned by the War Department in mid-1943 and endorsed by the president. The Circular No. 59 reorganization directed the AAF to operate under

1192-566: A blueprint. After war began, Congress enacted the First War Powers Act on 18 December 1941 endowing President Franklin D. Roosevelt with virtual carte blanche to reorganize the executive branch as he found necessary. Under it, on 28 February 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9082 , based on Marshall's recommendation and the work of McNarney's committee. The EO changed Arnold's title to Commanding General, Army Air Forces effective 9 March 1942, making him co-equal with

1341-626: A bomb load of 50–400 kg. Two of the most famous were the Airco DH.4 designed by Geoffrey de Havilland , and the Breguet 14 designed by Louis Breguet . The same type often also served as reconnaissance aircraft; examples include the Albatros C.III , Avro 504 , DFW C.V , LVG C.II , Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 , Rumpler C.I and Voisin III . The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was even modified as

1490-470: A change of mood at the War Department, and of dubious legality. By November 1941, on the eve of U.S. entry into the war, the division of authority within the Army as a whole, caused by the activation of Army GHQ a year before, had led to a "battle of memos" between it and the WDGS over administering the AAF, prompting Marshall to state that he had "the poorest command post in the Army" when defense commands showed

1639-521: A commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff . The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps, General Headquarters Air Force, and the ground forces' corps area commanders and thus became the first air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel. The peak size of the AAF during World War II

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1788-457: A complex division of administrative control performed by a policy staff, an operating staff, and the support commands (formerly "field activities" of the OCAC). The former field activities operated under a "bureau" structure, with both policy and operating functions vested in staff-type officers who often exercised command and policy authority without responsibility for results, a system held over from

1937-609: A controversial move, the AAF Technical Training Command began leasing resort hotels and apartment buildings for large-scale training sites (accommodation for 90,000 existed in Miami Beach alone). The leases were negotiated for the AAF by the Corps of Engineers, often to the economic detriment of hotel owners in rental rates, wear and tear clauses, and short-notice to terminate leases. In December 1943,

2086-731: A defense reorganization in the post-war period resulted in the passage by the United States Congress of the National Security Act of 1947 with the creation of an independent United States Air Force in September 1947. In its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service. By regulation and executive order, it

2235-429: A deleterious effect on operational training and threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the old Air Corps groups to provide experienced cadres or to absorb graduates of the expanded training program to replace those transferred. Since 1939 the overall level of experience among the combat groups had fallen to such an extent that when the demand for replacements in combat was factored in, the entire operational training system

2384-575: A discrete aircraft type, began to be superseded as World War II opened. The growth of engine power from the 1,000 hp to the 2,000 hp class during the war produced single-engine fighters with greater performance, offensive and defensive capabilities than the light bombers of only a few years earlier. This gave rise to the fighter-bomber type, notably the Fw 190 F and G models, Hawker Typhoon and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt . Multirole twin-engine designs capable of hauling bomb loads greater than 2,000 lbs such as

2533-496: A dozen B-26 Invaders in support of rebel forces. On 18 May 1958, American contract pilot Allen Pope 's blacked-out B-26 was initially hit by antiaircraft ground fire and then brought down by a North American P-51 Mustang flown by Capt. Ignatius Dewanto (the only known air-to-air shoot-down in the history of the Indonesian Air Force ). The capture and trial of Lieutenant Pope brought a quick end to Operation Haik, but

2682-437: A few hours, thus physically (and officially) changing the designation and operational role. The "flat-topped" canopy was changed in late 1944 after about 820 production aircraft, to a clamshell style with greatly improved visibility. Alongside the pilot in an A-26B, a crew member served as navigator and gun loader for the pilot-operated nose guns. In an A-26C, that crew member served as navigator and bombardier , and moved to

2831-639: A few years). During the early stages of World War II , the above-mentioned designs of the late 1930s often saw considerable action. In some cases, they became the basis of newer, faster light bombers, such as the Martin Baltimore ( U.S. designation A-23/A-30 developed from the Maryland), as well as medium bombers with more powerful engines and heavier payloads . Twin-engine light bombers were successful when converted into airborne radar -equipped night fighters during World War II; examples include

2980-720: A general autonomy within the War Department (similar to that of the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy ) until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a strong proponent of airpower, understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, in recognition of importance of

3129-580: A large bomb load. A range of guns could be fitted to produce a formidable ground-attack aircraft. A redesignation of the type from A-26 to B-26 has led to confusion with the earlier and unrelated Martin B-26 Marauder , which had already been withdrawn from service when the designation was reused. The A-26 was Douglas Aircraft's successor to the A-20 (DB-7) Havoc, also known as Douglas Boston. Designed by Ed Heinemann , Robert Donovan, and Ted R. Smith ,

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3278-698: A major reorganization and consolidation on 29 March 1943. The four main directorates and seventeen subordinate directorates (the "operating staff") were abolished as an unnecessary level of authority, and execution of policies was removed from the staffs to be assigned solely to field organizations along functional lines. The policy functions of the directorates were reorganized and consolidated into offices regrouped along conventional military lines under six assistant chiefs of air staff (AC/AS): Personnel; Intelligence; Operations, Commitments, and Requirements (OC&R); Materiel, Maintenance, and Distribution (MM&D); Plans; and Training. Command of Headquarters AAF resided in

3427-505: A multiplicity of branches and organizations, reduced the WDGS greatly in size, and proportionally increased the representation of the air forces members on it to 50%. In addition to dissolving both Army General Headquarters and the chiefs of the combat arms , and assigning their training functions to the Army Ground Forces, War Department Circular 59 reorganized the Army Air Forces, disbanding both Air Force Combat Command and

3576-523: A perception of resistance and even obstruction then by the bureaucracy in the War Department General Staff (WDGS), much of which was attributable to lack of funds, the Air Corps later made great strides in the 1930s, both organizationally and in doctrine. A strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. A major step toward

3725-529: A pioneering night fighter in attempts to shoot down German Zeppelins . By the early 1930s many air forces were seeking to replace their older biplane aircraft (for example, the RAF 's Hawker Hart and VVS 's Polikarpov R-5 ) with more modern and higher performance monoplane designs. Specialised light bomber designs were single-engine or twin-engine aircraft with a bomb load of about 500–1,000 kg. Typical single-engine light bombers of this era included

3874-471: A proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Arnold's proposal was immediately opposed by the General Staff in all respects, rehashing its traditional doctrinal argument that, in the event of war, the Air Corps would have no mission independent of support of the ground forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that

4023-491: A self-defense measure; even the bomb load was minimised towards this design goal. Early examples were the Bristol Blenheim and Dornier Do 17 (both introduced in 1937). A weakness of the fast bomber design concept was that improvements in the speed of bombers were, in most cases, quickly matched in subsequent fighter designs (which would additionally eclipse the load -carrying ability of light bomber aircraft within

4172-589: A separate air force came in March 1935, when the command of all combat air units within the Continental United States (CONUS) was centralized under a single organization called the "General Headquarters Air Force" . Since 1920, control of aviation units had resided with commanders of the corps areas (a peacetime ground forces administrative echelon), following the model established by commanding General John J. Pershing during World War I. In 1924,

4321-511: A similar bomb load as the Invader) medium bomber. The substantial increases in performance, load -carrying ability, and multirole versatility of new combat aircraft designs (including the advent of jet aircraft ) by the end of World War II signaled the end of the dedicated light bomber type. Attack aircraft , strike fighters , counter-insurgency aircraft and combat UAVs are types which today carry out technologically enhanced equivalents of

4470-473: A standard of combat proficiency had barely surpassed the total originally authorized by the first expansion program in 1940. The extant training establishment, in essence a "self-training" system, was inadequate in assets, organization, and pedagogy to train units wholesale. Individual training of freshly minted pilots occupied an inordinate amount of the available time to the detriment of unit proficiency. The ever-increasing numbers of new groups being formed had

4619-428: A structure for the additional command echelons required by a vastly increased force, and to end an increasingly divisive administrative battle within the Army over control of aviation doctrine and organization that had been ongoing since the creation of an aviation section within the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914. The AAF succeeded both the Air Corps, which had been the statutory military aviation branch since 1926 and

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4768-458: A temporary, nonstandard, headquarters in August 1944. This provisional fighter wing was set up to separate control of its P-38 groups from its P-51 groups. This headquarters was referred to as "XV Fighter Command (Provisional)". Eight air divisions served as an additional layer of command and control for the vast organization, capable of acting independently if the need arose. Inclusive within

4917-577: A wing during pull-out from a demonstration strafing pass. The aircraft was participating in a demonstration of the Special Air Warfare Center's counterinsurgency capabilities, and completed a strafing run demonstration before the incident. SAWC presented the demonstration on an average of twice each month for the previous two years. B-26 aircraft used by USAF Commandos in Vietnam were grounded 8 April 1964 following an investigation into

5066-861: Is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force , today one of the six armed forces of the United States . The AAF was a component of the United States Army , which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces , the United States Army Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces ), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had

5215-459: The 17th Bomb Wing . During their time as an active unit, the 452nd flew 15,000 sorties (7,000 at night) with a loss of 85 crewmen. B-26s were credited with the destruction of 38,500 vehicles, 406 locomotives, 3,700 railway trucks, and seven enemy aircraft on the ground. On 14 September 1951, Captain John S. Walmsley Jr. attacked a supply train. After all his guns simultaneously jammed, he illuminated

5364-826: The 641st Bombardment Squadron of the 409th Bombardment Group . Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Light bomber The earliest light bombers were intended to drop their bombs in level flight over a target. During World War I some air forces began to distinguish between light bombers and the earliest purpose-built attack aircraft which carried out ground attack, close air support , anti-shipping and similar missions. After World War I, attack aircraft were typically identifiable by their ability to carry multiple fixed machine guns , automatic cannons and rockets in addition to bombs . Light bombers have often served as attack aircraft and vice versa. Purpose-built light bombers disappeared from military aviation by

5513-471: The Air Transport Command made deliveries of almost 270,000 aircraft worldwide while losing only 1,013 in the process. The operation of the stateside depots was done largely by more than 300,000 civilian maintenance employees, many of them women, freeing a like number of Air Forces mechanics for overseas duty. In all facets of the service, more than 420,000 civilian personnel were employed by

5662-456: The Army Service Forces , but the AAF increasingly exerted influence on the curricula of these courses in anticipation of future independence. African-Americans comprised approximately six per cent of this force (145,242 personnel in June 1944). In 1940, pressured by Eleanor Roosevelt and some Northern members of Congress , General Arnold agreed to accept blacks for pilot training, albeit on

5811-527: The Breda Ba.65 , Ilyushin Il-2 Šturmovík , Northrop A-17 , and Vultee V-11 initially differed little in armament and operational role from light bombers. As World War II progressed, specialised attack designs became increasingly focused on low altitude strafing of surface targets, armed with automatic cannons , heavy machine guns and newly-developed rockets ; the A-20 and B-25 Mitchell (type-classed as

5960-454: The Bristol Blenheim , Douglas A-20 Havoc (as the P-70), and Dornier Do 17 . Light bombers were selected as a basis for night fighters during this time because early airborne radar systems, used to find and track targets in the dark, were bulky and often required a dedicated operator in the crew ; most smaller day fighters of that era were unsuited to such extra weight and personnel. Conversely,

6109-673: The Douglas A-1 Skyraider . The B-26s were withdrawn from service in February 1964 after two accidents related to wing-spar fatigue, one during combat in Southeast Asia in August 1963 and one during a demonstration at Eglin AFB , Florida, in February 1964. On 11 February 1964, two pilots from the 1st Air Commando Wing stationed at Florida's Hurlburt Field died in the crash of a B-26 on Range 52 at Eglin AFB after it lost

Douglas A-26 Invader - Misplaced Pages Continue

6258-645: The Fairey Battle , Kawasaki Ki-32 (later known by the Allied reporting name "Mary"), Mitsubishi Ki-30 ("Ann"), Mitsubishi Ki-51 ("Sonia"), PZL.23 Karaś , and Sukhoi Su-2 . Contemporaneous twin-engine light bombers included the Bristol Blenheim , Douglas B-23 Dragon , Kawasaki Ki-48 ("Lily"), Martin Maryland (also known as the A-22), Lockheed Hudson , Tupolev SB , and Mitsubishi G3M ("Nell"). While

6407-534: The Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific theater . The A-26 first saw action on 23 June 1944, when four aircraft attached to the 3rd Bombardment Group 's 13th Squadron ("The Grim Reapers"), bombed Japanese -held islands near Manokwari . Aircrew from "The Grim Reapers", while evaluating these four A-26Bs, noted that downward views from the cockpit were significantly hindered by the nature of

6556-576: The First Indochina War , lent to France by the USAF. Haiphong Cat Bi -based Douglas B-26 Invaders operated over Dien Bien Phu in March and April 1954 during the siege of Dien Bien Phu . In this period, a massive use of Philippines -based USAF B-29s against the Viet Minh heavy artillery, including the potential use of nuclear weapons, was planned by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff with

6705-462: The Fuerza Aérea de Liberación (FAL) attacked three Cuban airfields to destroy FAR combat aircraft on the ground. On 17 April 1961, FAL B-26s supported the seaborne Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. The conflict ended on 19 April, after the loss of nine FAL B-26s, ten Cuban exiles, and four American aircrew in combat. The FAR flew B-26Cs in the conflict, one of which was downed by friendly fire from

6854-508: The Ho Chi Minh trail . Two of these aircraft were modified with a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) system under project Lonesome Tiger, as a part of Operation Shed Light . In early 1961, about 20 B-26Bs, most converted from B-26C configuration, were "sanitized" at Duke Field (also known as Auxiliary Field Three at Eglin AFB), Florida. They had defensive armament removed, and were fitted with

7003-748: The Indonesian invasion of East Timor . In 1977, the last two flying aircraft were retired. The Portuguese Air Force purchased Invaders covertly for use in Portuguese Angola in 1965, during the Portuguese Colonial War . B-26s were used in support of the Dragon operations to liberate Western hostages held by Simba terrorists during the Congo Crisis. Biafra used two provisionally armed ("provo") B-26s in combat during

7152-564: The Italian Caproni Ca 30 and British Bristol T.B.8 , both built in 1913. The T.B.8 was a single engine biplane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company . It was fitted with a prismatic bombsight in the front cockpit and a cylindrical bomb carrier in the lower forward fuselage capable of carrying 12 x 10 lb (12 x 4.5 kg) bombs, which could be dropped individually or all together. The T.B.8

7301-530: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning , Junkers Ju 88 and de Havilland Mosquito also supplanted earlier 1930s-era light bomber designs during the war. One of the last light bombers to be introduced in World War II, the U.S. Douglas A-26 Invader , replaced the earlier A-20 Havoc type and also was designated by the USAAF as a replacement for its Martin B-26 Marauder (which had the same engines and

7450-622: The National Air and Space Museum . B-26 Invaders of the 3rd Bombardment Group , operating from bases in southern Japan, were among the first USAF aircraft engaged in the Korean War , carrying out missions over South Korea on 27 and 28 June, before carrying out the first USAF bombing mission on North Korea on 29 June 1950, bombing an airfield near Pyongyang . On 10 August 1950, the Air Force Reserve 's 452d Bombardment Wing

7599-624: The Nigerian Civil War in 1967, flown, among others, by Jan Zumbach . Many of the A-26/B-26 Invader's production run of 2,452 were early A-26Bs and A-26Cs. Since 1945, over 300 A-26s have been on the FAA U.S. Civil Aircraft Register. Perhaps up to 100 of those were probably only registered for ferry flights from USAF bases such as Davis-Monthan AFB , AZ, and Hill AFB , UT, to civil airports and stored as candidates for sale on

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7748-752: The Petlyakov Pe-3 , which had been designed as a night fighter, was often used a light bomber. Many other aircraft which originally had been designed as fighters or other mission-specific bombers but fit the size, performance and payload requirements for the light bomber role would also be adapted to perform such missions during World War II. Most dive bombers , such as the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and Vultee Vengeance were light bombers by definition, as these aircraft typically carried bomb loads of one ton or less. Likewise, many torpedo bombers were light bombers according to their size and warload and it

7897-444: The Quartermaster Corps and then by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , because of a lack of familiarity with Air Corps requirements. The outbreak of war in Europe and the resulting need for a wide variety of facilities for both operations and training within the Continental United States necessitated comprehensive changes of policy, first in September 1941 by giving the responsibility for acquisition and development of bases directly to

8046-615: The United States Air Force , James Robinson Risner and Charles E. Yeager . Air crew needs resulted in the successful training of 43,000 bombardiers , 49,000 navigators , and 309,000 flexible gunners, many of whom also specialized in other aspects of air crew duties. 7,800 men qualified as B-29 flight engineers and 1,000 more as radar operators in night fighters , all of whom received commissions. Almost 1.4 million men received technical training as aircraft mechanics, electronics specialists, and other technicians. Non-aircraft related support services were provided by airmen trained by

8195-523: The propeller spinners on production aircraft. During testing, the nose wheel was found to be structurally inadequate and strengthened. The early A-26 versions were built in two forms After about 1,570 production aircraft, three guns were installed in each wing, coinciding with the introduction of the "eight-gun nose" for A-26Bs, giving some versions as many as 14 .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in fixed forward mounts. An A-26C nose section could be replaced with an A-26B nose section, or vice versa, in

8344-437: The 11 February incident. B-26 aircraft in use by the South Vietnamese Air Force were also grounded in accordance with the U.S. ruling. In response to this, the On Mark Engineering Company of Van Nuys, California , was selected by the USAF to extensively upgrade the Invader for its new counterinsurgency role. The first production flight of the B-26K was on 30 May 1964 at the Van Nuys Airport . On Mark converted 40 Invaders to

8493-425: The 3rd Bomb Wing ( Kunsan (K-8) ) in night activity only, dividing the target areas, with the 452nd taking the eastern half and the 3rd the western. For their efforts in the Korean War, they received two unit citations and the Korean Presidential Citation. They also received credit for eight campaign operations. In May 1952, they were inactivated. Their aircraft and equipment along with their personnel were absorbed by

8642-451: The 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing flew critical weather observation and reconnaissance missions in supporting roles. The first B-26s to arrive in Southeast Asia deployed to Takhli RTAFB , Thailand in December 1960. These unmarked aircraft, operated under the auspices of the U.S. CIA ( Central Intelligence Agency ), were augmented by an additional 16 aircraft— 12 B-26Bs and B-26Cs plus four RB-26Cs under Operation Millpond . Their mission

8791-471: The A-26 Invader. The first group to convert to the A-26B was 416th Bombardment Group . With it, they entered combat on 17 November, and the 409th Bombardment Group , whose A-26s became operational in late November. Due to a shortage of A-26C variants, the groups flew a combined A-20/A-26 unit until deliveries of the glass-nosed version caught up. Besides bombing and strafing, tactical reconnaissance and night interdiction missions were successful. In contrast to

8940-537: The AAF created a reserve pool that held qualified pilot candidates until they could be called to active duty, rather than losing them in the draft. By 1944, this pool became surplus, and 24,000 were sent to the Army Ground Forces for retraining as infantry , and 6,000 to the Army Service Forces . Pilot standards were changed to reduce the minimum age from 20 to 18, and eliminated the educational requirement of at least two years of college. Two fighter pilot beneficiaries of this change went on to become brigadier generals in

9089-450: The AAF for the first time in its history, and then in April 1942 by delegation of the enormous task by Headquarters AAF to its user field commands and numbered air forces. In addition to the construction of new permanent bases and the building of numerous bombing and gunnery ranges, the AAF utilized civilian pilot schools, training courses conducted at college and factory sites, and officer training detachments at colleges. In early 1942, in

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9238-416: The AAF reached a war-time peak of 783 airfields in the Continental United States. At the end of the war, the AAF was using almost 20 million acres of land, an area as large as Massachusetts , Connecticut , Vermont , and New Hampshire combined. By the end of World War II, the USAAF had created 16 numbered air forces ( First through Fifteenth and Twentieth ) distributed worldwide to prosecute

9387-458: The AAF. The huge increases in aircraft inventory resulted in a similar increase in personnel, expanding sixteen-fold in less than three years following its formation, and changed the personnel policies under which the Air Service and Air Corps had operated since the National Defense Act of 1920. No longer could pilots represent 90% of commissioned officers. The need for large numbers of specialists in administration and technical services resulted in

9536-477: The Air Corps expanded from 15 to 30 groups by the end of the year. On 7 December 1941 the number of activated combat groups had reached 67, with 49 still within the Continental United States. Of the CONUS groups (the "strategic reserve"), 21 were engaged in operational training or still being organized and were unsuitable for deployment. Of the 67 combat groups, 26 were classified as bombardment: 13 Heavy Bomb groups ( B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator ), and

9685-438: The Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting "Deputy Chief of Staff for Air" but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four geographical air defense districts on 19 October 1940

9834-480: The Air Corps in October 1940 saw fifteen new general officer billets created. By the end of World War II, 320 generals were authorized for service within the wartime AAF. The Air Corps operated 156 installations at the beginning of 1941. An airbase expansion program had been underway since 1939, attempting to keep pace with the increase in personnel, units, and aircraft, using existing municipal and private facilities where possible, but it had been mismanaged, first by

9983-435: The Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. Airpower advocates achieved a centralized control of air units under an air commander, while the WDGS divided authority within the air arm and assured a continuing policy of support of ground operations as its primary role. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a strike force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic , Pacific, and Gulf coasts but

10132-475: The Air Corps still had only 800 first-line combat aircraft and 76 bases, including 21 major installations and depots. American fighter aircraft were inferior to the British Spitfire and Hurricane , and German Messerschmitt Bf 110 and 109 . Ralph Ingersoll wrote in late 1940 after visiting Britain that the "best American fighter planes already delivered to the British are used by them either as advanced trainers—or for fighting equally obsolete Italian planes in

10281-443: The Air Corps years. The concept of an "operating staff", or directorates, was modeled on the RAF system that had been much admired by the observer groups sent over in 1941, and resulted from a desire to place experts in various aspects of military aviation into key positions of implementation. However functions often overlapped, communication and coordination between the divisions failed or was ignored, policy prerogatives were usurped by

10430-458: The Air Corps". A lawyer and a banker, Lovett had prior experience with the aviation industry that translated into realistic production goals and harmony in integrating the plans of the AAF with those of the Army as a whole. Lovett initially believed that President Roosevelt's demand following the attack on Pearl Harbor for 60,000 airplanes in 1942 and 125,000 in 1943 was grossly ambitious. However, working closely with General Arnold and engaging

10579-444: The Air Corps, while 82 per cent of enlisted members assigned to AAF units and bases had the Air Corps as their combat arm branch. While officially the air arm was the Army Air Forces , the term Air Corps persisted colloquially among the public as well as veteran airmen; in addition, the singular Air Force often crept into popular and even official use, reflected by the designation Air Force Combat Command in 1941–42. This misnomer

10728-554: The Army Chief of Staff. This "contrast between theory and fact is...fundamental to an understanding of the AAF." The roots of the Army Air Forces arose in the formulation of theories of strategic bombing at the Air Corps Tactical School that gave new impetus to arguments for an independent air force, beginning with those espoused by Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial . Despite

10877-496: The Army General Headquarters had the power to detach units from AFCC at will by creating task forces, the WDGS still controlled the AAF budget and finances, and the AAF had no jurisdiction over units of the Army Service Forces providing "housekeeping services" as support nor of air units, bases, and personnel located outside the continental United States. Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy

11026-747: The DC-130A variant of the C-130 Hercules . The Navy designation was JD-1 and JD-1D until 1962, then the JD-1 was redesignated UB-26J. The JD-1D was also used under the designation of DB-26J. The CIA also used the type for covert operations. The last A-26 in active US service was assigned to the Air National Guard ; that aircraft was retired from military service in 1972 by the USAF and the National Guard Bureau , and donated to

11175-581: The French as Operation Vulture , but was cancelled by the governments, while at the conclusion of the battle, some of the beleaguered French troops managed to escape through the jungle to neighboring Thailand. Concerned about Indonesian President Sukarno 's communist leanings, the CIA started Operation Haik in 1958 to overthrow his Guided Democracy in Indonesia regime. The covert operation committed at least

11324-721: The GHQ Air Force, which had been activated in 1935 to quiet the demands of airmen for an independent Air Force similar to the Royal Air Force which had already been established in the United Kingdom . Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of their army or navy (such as the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe ), the AAF remained a part of the Army until

11473-557: The General Staff planned for a wartime activation of an Army general headquarters (GHQ), similar to the American Expeditionary Forces model of World War I , with a GHQ Air Force as a subordinate component. Both were created in 1933 when a small conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup d'état but was not activated. The activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that

11622-634: The Invader's second combat test, so ferried A-26s arrived in Europe in late September 1944 for assignment to the Ninth Air Force . The initial deployment involved 18 aircraft and crews assigned to the 553d Squadron of the 386th Bomb Group. This unit flew their first mission on 6 September 1944. No aircraft were lost on the eight test missions, and the Ninth Air Force announced they were satisfied, eventually replacing their A-20s and B-26s with

11771-513: The Low Countries in May 1940, Roosevelt asked Congress for a supplemental appropriation of nearly a billion dollars, a production program of 50,000 aircraft a year, and a military air force of 50,000 aircraft (of which 36,500 would be Army). Accelerated programs followed in the Air Corps that repeatedly revised expansion goals, resulting in plans for 84 combat groups, 7,799 combat aircraft, and

11920-527: The Middle East. That is all they are good for." RAF crews he interviewed said that by spring 1941 a fighter engaging Germans had to have the capability to reach 400 mph in speed, fight at 30,000–35,000 feet, be simple to take off, provide armor for the pilot, and carry 12 machine guns or six cannons, all attributes lacking in American aircraft. Following the successful German invasion of France and

12069-592: The Mitsubishi G3M was classified by the Imperial Japanese Navy as a medium bomber , it was a land-based day bomber with bomb loads as small as 800 kg (1,800 lb) and had a secondary role as a torpedo bomber . Many of these aircraft were also used in other non-offensive roles, such as reconnaissance and maritime patrol . A sub-type of light bomber also emerged in the 1930s, the fast bomber (German Schnellbomber ), which prioritised speed as

12218-543: The Office of Chief of the Air Corps (OCAC), eliminating all its training and organizational functions, which removed an entire layer of authority. Taking their former functions were eleven numbered air forces (later raised to sixteen) and six support commands (which became eight in January 1943). The circular also restated the mission of the AAF, in theory removing from it responsibility for strategic planning and making it only

12367-768: The On Mark Marketeer (1957), and the pressurized On Mark Marksman (1961) were products of this effort. A significant conversion was the Rock Island Monarch 26, while less numerous and more basic conversions for executive operations were carried out by Wold Engineering, LB Smith Aircraft Corp., R. G. LeTourneau Inc, Rhodes-Berry Company and Lockheed Aircraft Service Inc. Garrett AiResearch used two A-26 variants as testbeds for turbine engines; see also XA-26F above. Data from McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920: Volume I . General characteristics Performance Armament In July 2005,

12516-619: The Pacific that operated either the A-20 or B-25 received the A-26 for trials in limited quantities. The 319th Bomb Group was fully converted to the A-26 in March 1945, when it commenced operations with the 3rd BG. In August, after a few dozen A-26 missions, it became evident that the war was coming to an abrupt close, and operations began to wind down. The 319th officially ceased combat operations on 12 August 1945. Douglas needed better results from

12665-575: The Pacific-based units, the A-26 was well received by pilots and crew alike, and by 1945, the 9th AF had 11,567 missions, dropping 18,054 tons of bombs, recording seven confirmed kills while losing 67 aircraft. In Italy, the Twelfth Air Force 's 47th Bomb Group also received the A-26 starting in January 1945. They were used against German transport links, and for direct support and interdiction against tanks and troop concentrations in

12814-547: The Philippines for modifications, although not with night systems similar to those modified for Black Watch. The two aircraft returned from Black Watch to Farm Gate were redesignated RB-26L to distinguish them from other modified RB-26Cs, and were assigned to Project Sweet Sue . Farm Gate's B-26s operated alongside the other primary strike aircraft of the time, the T-28 Trojan , before both aircraft types were replaced by

12963-669: The Po Valley in the final campaigns in Italy. With the establishment of the United States Air Force (USAF) as an independent service in 1947, the Strategic Air Command operated the again redesignated B-26 as an RB-26 reconnaissance aircraft in service 1949 to 1950. U.S. Air Forces in Europe continued operating the B-26 until 1957. Tactical Air Command operated the aircraft as both a B-26 and later designated back to A-26;

13112-597: The WAACs and WACs as AAF personnel, more than 1,000 as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), and 6,500 as nurses in the Army Air Forces, including 500 flight nurses. 7,601 "Air WACs" served overseas in April 1945, and women performed in more than 200 job categories. The Air Corps Act of July 1926 increased the number of general officers authorized in the Army's air arm from two to four. The activation of GHQAF in March 1935 doubled that number to eight and pre-war expansion of

13261-430: The air forces and to avoid binding legislation from Congress, the War Department revised the army regulation governing the organization of Army aviation, AR 95–5. Arnold assumed the title of Chief of the Army Air Forces , creating an echelon of command over all military aviation components for the first time and ending the dual status of the Air Corps and GHQ Air Force, which was renamed Air Force Combat Command (AFCC) in

13410-533: The air forces, commands and divisions were administrative headquarters called wings to control groups (operational units; see section below). As the number of groups increased, the number of wings needed to control them multiplied, with 91 ultimately activated, 69 of which were still active at the end of the war. As part of the Air Service and Air Corps, wings had been composite organizations, that is, composed of groups with different types of missions. Most of

13559-481: The annual addition to the force of 30,000 new pilots and 100,000 technical personnel. The accelerated expansion programs resulted in a force of 156 airfields and 152,125 personnel at the time of the creation of the Army Air Forces. In its expansion during World War II, the AAF became the world's most powerful air force. From the Air Corps of 1939, with 20,000 men and 2,400 planes, to the nearly autonomous AAF of 1944, with almost 2.4 million personnel and 80,000 aircraft,

13708-598: The archaeological television program Time Team of the UK's Channel 4 , along with members of RAF Millom Museum , took part in a major project to excavate the crash sites of two A-26 Invader aircraft after the aircraft collided shortly after take-off over marshes close to the then USAAF BAD 2 airbase at Warton in Lancashire on 29 November 1944. The aircraft, A-26B-10-DT 43-22298 and A-26B-15-DT 43-22336 , were en route to Brétigny, Oise , in northern France for service with

13857-470: The capabilities of the Invader were not lost on the Indonesian government. In 1959, the government purchased six aircraft at Davis-Monthan AFB , which were ferried to Indonesia in full military markings during mid-1960. Used in a number of actions against rebels in various areas, these aircraft went on to long follow-up careers. The last operational flights of three final survivors were in 1976, supporting

14006-522: The capacity of the American automotive industry brought about an effort that produced almost 100,000 aircraft in 1944. The AAF reached its wartime inventory peak of nearly 80,000 aircraft in July 1944, 41% of them first line combat aircraft, before trimming back to 73,000 at the end of the year following a large reduction in the number of trainers needed. The logistical demands of this armada were met by

14155-430: The capitulation of Japan, realignment took place with the complete elimination of OC&R. The now five assistant chiefs of air staff were designated AC/AS-1 through -5 corresponding to Personnel, Intelligence, Operations and Training, Materiel and Supply, and Plans. Most personnel of the Army Air Forces were drawn from the Air Corps. In May 1945, 88 per cent of officers serving in the Army Air Forces were commissioned in

14304-411: The civil or overseas military markets. The initial main civil uses were as "executive" personnel transports with minimal modifications such as removal of military features, bomb-bay doors sealed shut, passenger-entry stairs in bomb bay, and the conversion of the fuselage to accept six to eight passengers. Improvements developed considerably until the early 1960s, when purpose-built executive types such as

14453-518: The commanders of GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps, Major Generals Frank M. Andrews and Oscar Westover respectively, clashed philosophically over the direction in which the air arm was moving, exacerbating the difficulties. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a reorganization study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in

14602-573: The commanding generals of the new Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply , the other two components of the Army of the United States . The War Department issued Circular No. 59 on 2 March that carried out the executive order, intended (as with the creation of the Air Service in World War I) as a wartime expedient to expire six months after the end of the war. The three components replaced

14751-625: The creation of the Air Service Command on 17 October 1941 to provide service units and maintain 250 depots in the United States; the elevation of the Materiel Division to full command status on 9 March 1942 to develop and procure aircraft, equipment, and parts; and the merger of these commands into the Air Technical Service Command on 31 August 1944. In addition to carrying personnel and cargo,

14900-634: The creation of the Army Air Forces, caused an immediate reassessment of U.S. defense strategy and policy. The need for an offensive strategy to defeat the Axis Powers required further enlargement and modernization of all the military services, including the new AAF. In addition, the invasion produced a new Lend lease partner in Russia, creating even greater demands on an already struggling American aircraft production. An offensive strategy required several types of urgent and sustained effort. In addition to

15049-649: The design – especially the positioning of the engines – which made the A-26B unsuitable for its intended role of ground attack. In response to such evaluations, General George Kenney , commander of the Far East Air Forces , stated: "We do not want the A-26 under any circumstances as a replacement for anything." Nevertheless, development continued. While the 3rd BG was waiting suitably modified A-26s, it requested additional Douglas A-20 Havocs , although both types were used in composite flights. Some USAAF units in

15198-498: The developers invested a great deal of time and effort in their attempts to get the system to work, delaying production. As might be expected, the complex system was difficult to maintain in the field. Douglas officially delivered the first production model A-26B aircraft to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 10 September 1943. These were sent for field evaluation in actual combat operations, with

15347-448: The development and manufacture of aircraft in massive numbers, the Army Air Forces had to establish a global logistics network to supply, maintain, and repair the huge force; recruit and train personnel; and sustain the health, welfare, and morale of its troops. The process was driven by the pace of aircraft production, not the training program, and was ably aided by the direction of Lovett, who for all practical purposes became "Secretary of

15496-469: The direct control of Headquarters Army Air Forces. At the end of 1942 and again in the spring of 1943 the AAF listed nine support commands before it began a process of consolidation that streamlined the number to five at the end of the war. These commands were: "In 1943 the AAF met a new personnel problem, to which it applied an original solution: to interview, rehabilitate, and reassign men returning from overseas. [To do this], an AAF Redistribution Center

15645-620: The directorates, and they became overburdened with detail, all contributing to the diversion of the directorates from their original purpose. The system of directorates in particular handicapped the developing operational training program (see Combat units below), preventing establishment of an OTU command and having a tendency to micromanage because of the lack of centralized control. Four main directorates—Military Requirements, Technical Services, Personnel, and Management Control—were created, each with multiple sub-directorates, and eventually more than thirty offices were authorized to issue orders in

15794-447: The dormant struggle for an independent United States Air Force. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a "simpler system" and a unified command. Working with Arnold and Robert A. Lovett , recently appointed to the long-vacant position of Assistant Secretary of War for Air, he reached a consensus that quasi-autonomy for the air forces was preferable to immediate separation. On 20 June 1941, to grant additional autonomy to

15943-729: The eight-gun nose, underwing drop tanks, and rocket racks. They were flown to a CIA-run base in Guatemala, where training was under way for B-26, C-46, and C-54 Cuban exile air crews by personnel from the Alabama Air National Guard . After transfer to Nicaragua in early April 1961, they were painted in the markings of the Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria (FAR), the air force of the Cuban government. On 15 April 1961, crewed by Cuban exiles, eight B-26s of

16092-486: The end of World War II, as advancements in propulsion and aeronautical design enabled newer attack/strike aircraft, fighter-bombers , and multirole aircraft types to deliver equal or greater bomb loads while also having superior performance, range and defensive capabilities. Modern aircraft carrying out similar missions include light attack aircraft , strike fighters , and counter-insurgency aircraft . The first aircraft purposely designed for bombing missions were

16241-467: The end of these missions. The aircraft from Laos participated in the early phase of the Vietnam War with the USAF, but with Vietnamese markings as part of Project Farm Gate. Although Farm Gate operated B-26Bs, B-26Cs, and genuine RB-26Cs, many of these aircraft were operated under the designation RB-26C, although they were used in a combat capacity. During 1963, two RB-26Cs were sent to Clark AB in

16390-555: The establishment of an Officer Candidate School in Miami Beach, Florida , and the direct commissioning of thousands of professionals. Even so, 193,000 new pilots entered the AAF during World War II, while 124,000 other candidates failed at some point during training or were killed in accidents. The requirements for new pilots resulted in a massive expansion of the Aviation Cadet program, which had so many volunteers that

16539-682: The famous iconic " Why We Fight " series, as an animated map graphic of equal prominence to that of the Army and Navy. The Air Corps at the direction of President Roosevelt began a rapid expansion from the spring of 1939 forward, partly from the Civilian Pilot Training Program created at the end of 1938, with the goal of providing an adequate air force for defense of the Western Hemisphere. An initial "25-group program", announced in April 1939, called for 50,000 men. However, when war broke out in September 1939

16688-494: The final variant was designated B-26K until 1966, then it again became the A-26A. This final version continued in service through the late 1960s with active-duty special-operations TAC units, and through 1972 with TAC-gained special-operations units of the Air National Guard . The U.S. Navy obtained Invaders from the USAF to use these aircraft in their utility squadrons (VU) for target towing and general utility until superseded by

16837-410: The force array. In the first half of 1942 the Army Air Forces expanded rapidly as the necessity of a much larger air force than planned was immediately realized. Authorization for the total number of combat groups required to fight the war nearly doubled in February to 115. In July it jumped to 224, and a month later to 273. When the U.S. entered the war, however, the number of groups actually trained to

16986-436: The former light bomber role. United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF or AAF ) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1947). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and

17135-660: The ground forces by March 1942. In the spring of 1941, the success in Europe of air operations conducted under centralized control (as exemplified by the British Royal Air Force and the German Wehrmacht 's military air arm, the Luftwaffe ) made clear that the splintering of authority in the American air forces, characterized as " hydra -headed" by one congressman, had caused a disturbing lack of clear channels of command. Less than five months after

17284-416: The innovative NACA 65-215 laminar-flow airfoil wing of the A-26 was the work of project aerodynamics expert A.M.O. Smith . The Douglas XA-26 prototype (AAC Ser. No. 41-19504) first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field , El Segundo , with test pilot Benny Howard at the controls. Flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling but engine-cooling problems led to cowling changes and elimination of

17433-550: The name of the commanding general. Among the headquarters directorates were Technical Services, Air Defense, Base Services, Ground-Air Support, Management Control, Military Equipment, Military Requirements , and Procurement & Distribution. A "strong and growing dissatisfaction" with the organization led to an attempt by Lovett in September 1942 to make the system work by bringing the Directorate of Management Control and several traditional offices that had been moved to

17582-620: The new B-26K Counter-Invader standard of upgraded engines, propellers, and brakes, remanufactured wings, and wing-tip fuel tanks for use by the 609th Special Operations Squadron . In May 1966, the B-26K was again redesignated A-26A for political reasons (Thailand did not allow U.S. bombers in-country at the time, so the Invaders were redesignated again with an "A", for attack aircraft ), and deployed in Thailand to help disrupt supplies moving along

17731-402: The new organization. The AAF gained the formal "Air Staff" long opposed by the General Staff, and a single air commander, but still did not have equal status with the Army ground forces, and air units continued to report through two chains of command. The commanding general of AFCC gained control of his stations and court martial authority over his personnel, but under the new field manual FM-5

17880-466: The nose section to bomb. A few A-26Cs were fitted with dual flight controls, some parts of which could be disabled in flight for access to the nose section. Access for the bombardier was through the lower section of the right instrument panel; he normally sat next to the pilot. This was similar to British designs such as the Lancaster , Blenheim / Beaufort , Wellington , etc. A tractor-style "jump seat"

18029-479: The operating staff, including the Air Judge Advocate and Budget Officer, back under the policy staff umbrella. When this adjustment failed to resolve the problems, the system was scrapped and all functions combined into a single restructured air staff. The hierarchical "command" principle, in which a single commander has direct final accountability but delegates authority to staff, was adopted AAF-wide in

18178-961: The operational command was designated by the Roman numeral of its parent numbered air force. For instance, the Eighth Air Force listed the VIII Bomber Command and the VIII Fighter Command as subordinate operational commands. Roman numbered commands within numbered air forces also included "support", "base", and other services commands to support the operational units, such as the VIII Air Force Service and VIII Air Force Composite Commands also part of Eighth Air Force during its history. The Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces did not field subordinate commands during World War II. Fifteenth Air Force organized

18327-524: The proposal the following month which, in the face of Marshall's dissatisfaction with Army GHQ, the War Plans Division accepted. Just before Pearl Harbor, Marshall recalled an Air Corps officer, Brig. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney , from an observer group in England and appointed him to chair a "War Department Reorganization Committee" within the War Plans Division, using Arnold's and Spaatz's plan as

18476-409: The rear compartment, with traversing and elevating/depressing periscope sights on each end. The gunner sat on a seat facing rearwards looking into a binocular periscope sight mounted on the column, controlling the guns with a pair of handles on the sides of the column. Aimed above the centerline of the aircraft, the mirror in the center of the column 'flipped', showing the gunner a limited view similar to

18625-442: The rejection of Arnold's reorganization proposal, a joint U.S.-British strategic planning agreement ( ABC-1 ) refuted the General Staff's argument that the Air Corps had no wartime mission except to support ground forces. A struggle with the General Staff over control of air defense of the United States had been won by airmen and vested in four command units called "numbered air forces", but the bureaucratic conflict threatened to renew

18774-488: The rest Medium and Light groups ( B-25 Mitchell , B-26 Marauder , and A-20 Havoc ). The balance of the force included 26 Pursuit groups (renamed fighter group in May 1942), 9 Observation (renamed Reconnaissance ) groups, and 6 Transport (renamed Troop Carrier or Combat Cargo ) groups. After the operational deployment of the B-29 Superfortress bomber, Very Heavy Bombardment units were added to

18923-524: The role of the Army Air Forces, Arnold was given a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff , the planning staff that served as the focal point of American strategic planning during the war, in order that the United States would have an air representative in staff talks with their British counterparts on the Combined Chiefs . In effect the head of the AAF gained equality with Marshall. While this step

19072-452: The target with his searchlight to enable his wingmen to destroy the train. Walmsley was shot down, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor . Invaders carried out the last USAF bombing mission of the war 24 minutes before the armistice agreement was signed on 27 July 1953. In addition to the standard attack versions of the B-26 for night interdiction missions, modified WB-26s and RB-26s of

19221-443: The turboprop Gulfstream I became available. During the mid-1950s, A-26s were tested and used as air tankers for suppression of forest and wildland fires, and briefly used borate-based retardants, hence the inaccurate and unofficial term "borate bombers". Borate was later discontinued due to its undesirable ecologic effects, replaced with retardant mixtures of water, clays, fertilizers, and red dyes. That use of A-26s on USDA contracts

19370-432: The view the upper periscope was seeing. As he pressed the handles downward, and as the bead passed the centerline, the mirror automatically flipped, transferring the sight "seamlessly" to the lower periscope. The guns aimed in the approximate direction the periscope was aimed, automatically transferring between upper and lower turrets as required, and computing for parallax and other factors. While novel and sound in principle,

19519-494: The war, plus a general air force within the continental United States to support the whole and provide air defense. The latter was formally organized as the Continental Air Forces and activated on 15 December 1944, although it did not formally take jurisdiction of its component air forces until the end of the war in Europe. Half of the numbered air forces were created de novo as the service expanded during

19668-461: The war-time Army Air Forces. The AAF was willing to experiment with its allotment from the unpopular Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and became an early and determined supporter of full military status for women in the Army ( Women's Army Corps or WACs). WACs serving in the AAF became such an accepted and valuable part of the service they earned the distinction of being commonly (but unofficially) known as "Air WACs". Nearly 40,000 women served in

19817-511: The war. Some grew out of earlier commands as the service expanded in size and hierarchy (for example, the V Air Support Command became the Ninth Air Force in April 1942), and higher echelons such as United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) in Europe and U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific became necessary to control the whole. Within numbered air forces, operational commands were created to divide administrative control of units by function (eg fighters and bombers). The numbering of

19966-404: The wings of World War II, however, were composed of groups with like functions (denoted as bombardment , fighter , reconnaissance , training , antisubmarine , troop carrier , and replacement ). The six support commands organized between March 1941 and April 1942 to support and supply the numbered air forces remained on the same chain of command echelon as the numbered air forces, under

20115-622: Was a remarkable expansion. Robert A. Lovett, the Assistant Secretary of War for Air, together with Arnold, presided over an increase greater than for either the ground Army or the Navy, while at the same time dispatching combat air forces to the battlefronts. "The Evolution of the Department of the Air Force" – Air Force Historical Studies Office The German invasion of the Soviet Union , occurring only two days after

20264-589: Was a subordinate agency of the United States Department of War (as were the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces) tasked only with organizing, training, and equipping combat units and limited in responsibility to the continental United States. In reality, Headquarters AAF controlled the conduct of all aspects of the air war in every part of the world, determining air policy and issuing orders without transmitting them through

20413-615: Was activated for Korean service. It flew its first missions in November 1950 from Itazuke, Japan, providing daylight support, with the 3rd Bomb Wing, consisting of the 8th, 13th, and 90th Bomb Squadrons, flying night missions. Because of the Chinese intervention, they were forced to find another base, so they moved to Miho Air Base on the west coast of Honshū. In early 1951, they moved to Pusan East (K-9) Air Base , continuing their daylight and night-intruder missions. In June 1951, they joined

20562-542: Was also used on official recruiting posters (see image above) and was important in promoting the idea of an "Air Force" as an independent service. Jimmy Stewart , a Hollywood movie star serving as an AAF pilot, used the terms "Air Corps" and "Air Forces" interchangeably in the narration of the 1942 recruiting short " Winning Your Wings " . The term "Air Force" also appeared prominently in Frank Capra 's 1945 War Department indoctrination film " War Comes to America " , of

20711-577: Was assisting the Royal Lao Government in fighting the Pathet Lao . The repercussions from the Bay of Pigs invasion meant no combat missions are known flown, although RB-26Cs operated over Laos until the end of 1961. Then, the aircraft operated in South Vietnam under Project Farm Gate . The only other deployment of B-26 aircraft to Laos prior to the introduction of the B-26K/A-26A was the deployment of two RB-26C aircraft modified for night reconnaissance during May–July 1962 under Project Black Watch . These aircraft, drawn from Farm Gate stocks, were returned at

20860-409: Was behind the "navigator's seat". In most missions, a third crew member in the rear gunner's compartment operated the remote-controlled dorsal and ventral gun turrets, with access to-and-from the cockpit via the bomb bay only if that was empty. The gunner operated both dorsal and ventral turrets via a novel, complex and unreliable dual-ended periscope sight, a vertical column running through the center of

21009-492: Was common for these aircraft to also be used for level bombing missions. The Bristol Beaufort , Nakajima B5N and Grumman TBF Avenger , while designed as torpedo bombers, saw some action purely in the light bomber role. Types designed before the war as heavy fighters were also frequently adapted as light bombers, including the Messerschmitt Bf 110 , Potez 633 , Fokker G.I , Kawasaki Ki-45 , Bristol Beaufighter , and Lockheed P-38 Lightning . Light attack aircraft such as

21158-461: Was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii and the Panama Canal . The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with a subordinate organization of 54 groups. The likelihood of U.S. participation in World War II prompted the most radical reorganization of the aviation branch in its history, developing a structure that both unified command of all air elements and gave it total autonomy and equality with

21307-474: Was discontinued in major regions by about 1973, after many of the A-26 air tankers found willing purchasers in Canada. Much early development of conversions was carried out by Grand Central Aircraft, whose drawings and personnel were taken up by the On Mark Engineering Company of Van Nuys, California, from about 1955. By the 1960s, On Mark had an exclusive license from Douglas Aircraft Company for manufacture and sale of parts for A-26s. The on Mark Executive (1956),

21456-407: Was established on 7 August 1943, and given command status on 1 June 1944. as the AAF Personnel Distribution Command. This organization was ordered discontinued, effective 30 June 1946." The primary combat unit of the Army Air Forces for both administrative and tactical purposes was the group , an organization of three or four flying squadrons and attached or organic ground support elements, which

21605-434: Was never officially recognized by the United States Navy , and was bitterly disputed behind the scenes at every opportunity, it nevertheless succeeded as a pragmatic foundation for the future separation of the Air Force. Under the revision of AR 95–5, the Army Air Forces consisted of three major components: Headquarters AAF, Air Force Combat Command, and the Air Corps. Yet the reforms were incomplete, subject to reversal with

21754-400: Was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By " V-E Day ", the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide. The Army Air Forces was created in June 1941 to provide the air arm greater autonomy in which to expand more efficiently, to provide

21903-508: Was purchased for use both by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The Eastbourne RNAS Squadron , operating the T.B.3, carried out the first bombing attack of World War I: on 25 November 1914, under the command of Charles Rumney Samson , the squadron attacked coastal gun batteries operated by German Empire forces, at Middelkerke , Belgium . Most bombers used on World War I battlefields were in fact light bombers: typically single- engine biplanes with

22052-464: Was small in comparison to European air forces. Lines of authority were difficult, at best, since GHQ Air Force controlled only operations of its combat units while the Air Corps was still responsible for doctrine, acquisition of aircraft, and training. Corps area commanders continued to exercise control over airfields and administration of personnel, and in the overseas departments, operational control of units as well. Between March 1935 and September 1938,

22201-404: Was the rough equivalent of a regiment of the Army Ground Forces . The Army Air Forces fielded a total of 318 combat groups at some point during World War II, with an operational force of 243 combat groups in 1945. The Air Service and its successor the Air Corps had established 15 permanent combat groups between 1919 and 1937. With the buildup of the combat force beginning 1 February 1940,

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