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143-553: Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces ' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II . Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop an atomic weapon , "Silverplate" eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of the program as well. The original directive for

286-933: 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

429-585: 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

572-476: 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

715-400: A Fat Man) weighed over 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg), so weight was a concern, even with the more powerful engines. Weight reduction was accomplished by removal of all gun turrets and armor plating . This work was done by the 509th Composite Group for the early Silverplate aircraft, but later models were delivered without them. These B-29s represented a significant increase in performance over

858-538: 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

1001-566: 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

1144-601: A bullet-resistant windshield and stronger landing gear. Echols was assistant chief of the Materiel Division at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio from 1939 to 1940. As chief of that division, which was headquartered in Washington, he served from 1940 to 1942. In March 1942, a reorganization changed his title to commanding general, Materiel Command, in the Army Air Forces headquarters—a position changed

1287-470: 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

1430-457: 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

1573-609: 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,

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1716-666: 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

1859-429: 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

2002-530: A demonstration, but he failed to show up for the appointment that Echols had set up with higher Air Corps brass. After that snub, Echols never again gave Hughes a chance to bid on Air Corps projects, not even in October 1941 when Hughes offered the twin-boom D-2 fighter-bomber design. Echols allowed Wright Field engineers to examine the D-2 but they concluded that it would be too heavy for its own engines after incorporating required military features such as armor plate,

2145-687: A directive in January 1948 for the modification of 225 B-29, B-50, and B-36 bombers to carry nuclear weapons, along with eight C-97 Stratofreighter aircraft to carry bomb assembly teams. There were already 32 Silverplate B-29s in service with the Strategic Air Command , so the Air Materiel Command was directed to carry out Saddletree modifications on a further 80 B-29s, 36 B-50As, 23 B-50Bs and 18 B-36Bs. The B-36A could not carry nuclear weapons without major modifications. As

2288-720: 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

2431-466: A highly classified B-29 modification project. The Manhattan Project would deliver full-sized mockups of the weapons shapes to Wright Field by mid-December, where Army Air Forces Materiel Command would modify an aircraft and deliver it for use in bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California . B-29-5-BW 42-6259 (referred to as the "Pullman airplane" from an internal code name assigned it by

2574-615: A host of engine problems, and the early Silverplate bombers were no exception. One was written off after being badly damaged as a result of an engine fire in February 1945. The fuel-injected Wright R-3350-41 engines in the later model bombers delivered in July and August 1945 were greatly improved and far more reliable. This was an important factor in the success of the 509th Composite Group's operations. The Fat Man and Pumpkin bombs (high-explosive filled bombs that resembled and handled like

2717-698: 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

2860-505: 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

3003-466: A nuclear weapons carrier was reassigned to another role in November 1951, ending Silverplate after nearly eight years. Use of the codename Silverplate was discontinued on 12 May 1947 because the codename had become compromised. It was superseded by a new codename, "Saddletree", which was applied to aircraft modifications only. Initially it was intended that Saddletree would refer only to modifications to

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3146-457: A paid Hughes publicist. Echols joined Northrop in 1949 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer. In 1952, Jack Northrop , broken by the cancellation of the B-35 and B-49 projects, gave up running his company to return to pure engineering, and made Echols president and general manager. Under the direction of Echols, Northrop's work force increased from 8,000 to 24,000 employees, and

3289-580: 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

3432-471: 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

3575-502: A real debt of gratitude. United States Air Force Brigadier General Benjamin S. Kelsey dedicated his book The Dragon's Teeth? to Echols, writing in 1981 that his ... influence over so many years permeated so many facets of the development, production, and distribution of the aircraft for the Second World War that he might be called "The Man Who Won World War II." Without his wisdom, courage, and inspirational guidance,

3718-589: 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,

3861-851: A single 33-foot (10 m) bomb bay configured. The length of the initial gun-type bomb shape was approximately 17 feet (5.2 m), necessitating that it be carried in the aft bomb bay, with some of its length protruding into the forward bay. The implosion-type bomb was mounted in the forward bay. New bomb suspensions and bracing were attached for both shape types, and separate twin-release mechanisms were mounted in each bay, using modified glider tow-cable attach-and-release mechanisms. The Pullman B-29 flew into Muroc on 20 February 1944, and testing began on 28 February. Twenty-four drops were carried out before tests were discontinued so that improvements could be made to Thin Man. The bombs failed to release immediately, frustrating calibration tests. In what turned out to be

4004-473: 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

4147-428: 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

4290-458: 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

4433-670: A total of 145 B-29s were modified to carry nuclear weapons, and 117 of these were assigned to operational units. In October 1951, in anticipation of a major build-up of the USAF to 95 groups, and of delays in the B-47 program, the Air Materiel Command was ordered to modify an additional 180 B-29s then in storage to carry the Mark 4 , Mark 5 , Mark 6 , and Mark 8 nuclear bombs . Modifications were carried out in Oklahoma City and Sacramento. By

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4576-459: A year later to assistant chief of staff for materiel, maintenance and distribution. Until April 1945 Echols continued to play the major role in the production of the prime tools of American airpower. The real impetus to aircraft production came in May 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt went to Congress with a call for a program of no less than 50,000 "military and naval" aircraft per year for

4719-471: 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

4862-584: The Army Service Forces ), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had 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

5005-456: 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

5148-718: The B-50D bomber, an upgraded revision of the B-29. The re-equipment of the 97th Bombardment Wing was part of an expansion of the atomic strike force to ten wings during 1949. Within a year all were converted to TB-29 trainers. One other Silverplate B-29, on temporary assignment in the United Kingdom, was converted into a weather reconnaissance aircraft (WB-29) and transferred to the 9th Bombardment Wing at Travis Air Force Base in California. The last Silverplate B-29 in service as

5291-530: The Lancaster B.I Special to carry the 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) Tallboy bomb . After repair of the Pullman B-29 at Wright Field, testing resumed with three Thin Man and nine Fat Man shapes dropped in the last two weeks of June 1944. High speed photographs revealed that the tail fins folded under pressure, resulting in an erratic descent. Various combinations of stabilizer boxes and fins were tested on

5434-567: 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

5577-690: 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

5720-464: The cyclotron at University of California, Berkeley . When the Hanford Site production reactors came on-line in early 1944, the mix of plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 obtained was found to have a high rate of spontaneous fission. To avoid pre-detonation, the muzzle velocity of the gun-type design needed to be greatly raised, making it impractically long. Thin Man as a plutonium-based design

5863-451: The 393d beginning in April. The final eight were not delivered until after the two atomic bomb missions in August. Two were given to the 216th while the remaining six were assigned to the 509th at Wendover as replacements for any bombers lost while operating from Tinian Naval Base . Ironically, no bombers were lost during operations from Tinian, but five of these six were lost in crashes over

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6006-430: The 509th Composite Group's aircraft. One B-29 incurred minor battle damage in operations. Including the Pullman B-29, a total of 46 Silverplate B-29s were produced during World War II. Of these, 29 were assigned to the 509th Composite Group during World War II, with 15 used to carry out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . An additional 19 Silverplate B-29s were ordered in July 1945, which were delivered between

6149-605: 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

6292-484: The AAF during World War II 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

6435-450: 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

6578-468: 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

6721-590: 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

6864-579: The Air Corps Experimental Engineering Section and the Procurement Section before becoming the chief engineer of the Materiel Division from 1934 to 1938. In January 1936, Echols telephoned Howard Hughes to say the Air Corps was interested in purchasing the record-breaking Hughes H-1 Racer as a pursuit plane—it was faster than anything they had. Hughes agreed to fly the aircraft to Wright Field for

7007-529: 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

7150-501: 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

7293-480: 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

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7436-490: 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

7579-597: 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

7722-492: 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

7865-458: 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

8008-508: 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

8151-470: The Air Force's responsibilities in these fields than you have. The task could never have been done had not the Army Air Forces been represented in these matters by an officer having the full confidence of the Congress, the departments and civilian agencies of government, industry and labor. This trust, as well as my own, has been yours and deservedly. The country, the Army Air Forces and I, personally, owe you

8294-657: The Army Air Corps had ordered 1000 wooden gliders , each capable of carrying 50 soldiers. One of Echols's most important yet little known roles was his membership from 1943 to 1945 on the Air Production Board and on the executive committee of the War Production Board . He represented the Army Air Forces in the committee task of coordination of all production, and the establishment of priorities for use of tools, materiel and manpower within

8437-554: 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

8580-496: 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

8723-640: The B-29s, but it came to be used for modifications to B-50 and B-36 bombers as well. Saddletree modifications included a new bomb bay frame and hoist and replaced the British FG bomb release with the newly developed U-1 pneumatic bomb release mechanism. Due to delays in the delivery of the B-50s, Saddletree commenced in February 1948. In all, 6,000 hours of work was carried out on each of the 36 B-50s by Sacramento Air Materiel Area. The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued

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8866-524: The Engineering Division of Army Air Forces Materiel Command) was delivered to the 468th Bombardment Group at Smoky Hill Army Airfield in Kansas on 30 November 1943 and was flown to Wright Field on 2 December. Modifications to the bomb bays of 42-6259 were extensive and time-consuming. Its four 12-foot (3.7 m) bomb bay doors and the fuselage section between the bays were removed and

9009-514: The Fat Man shape to eliminate its persistent wobble until an arrangement dubbed a "California Parachute"—a cubical tail box with eight fins within the sheetmetal box "frame", 45° apart from each other (four " orthogonal " fins, and four more, one at each 45° angle to each corner)—was approved. The Thin Man gun-type design was at that time based on the fissibility of the very pure plutonium-239 isotope so far only produced in microgram quantities by

9152-658: 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

9295-557: 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

9438-464: 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

9581-527: 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

9724-435: 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

9867-413: The Tinian bombers). The pair of historic weapons delivery aircraft, named Enola Gay and Bockscar , are currently displayed in museums. The only other United States Air Force combat unit to use the Silverplate B-29 was the 97th Bombardment Wing at Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas . In mid-1949 it received 27 of the aircraft from the 509th Bombardment Wing when the latter transitioned to

10010-493: 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

10153-430: 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

10296-473: 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

10439-477: The aircraft which were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Including the Pullman B-29, 46 Silverplate B-29s were produced during and after World War II. An additional 19 Silverplate B-29s were ordered in July 1945, which were delivered between the end of the war and the end of 1947. Thus, 65 Silverplate B-29s were made. The use of the Silverplate codename was discontinued after

10582-481: 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,

10725-470: The anticipated enemy was the Soviet Union , the aircraft also required "winterization" to allow them to operate from Arctic bases. On 16 April 1948, the codeword "Gem" was allocated to all modifications and improvements to provide atomic strike capability. The project included 36 B-29s, and the modification of 36 others to have an air refueling capability. With the addition of the 80 Saddletree B-29s,

10868-502: The battles of Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne . At the rank of captain, Echols served as Chief of Air Service, I Corps , for the final drive against German forces. Echols's educational and military preparation for his later specialization included attendance at the Army Industrial College , Command and General Staff School , Army War College , and Air Corps Tactical School . He served in

11011-417: The bombs and the aircraft. Seventeen production Silverplate aircraft were ordered in August 1944 to allow the 509th Composite Group to train with the type of aircraft they would fly in combat, and for the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit to test bomb configurations. These were followed by 28 more aircraft that were ordered in February 1945 for operational use by the 509th Composite Group. This batch included

11154-471: 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

11297-430: 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

11440-518: 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

11583-636: 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

11726-469: The company's backlog of orders advanced from $ 70 million to $ 557 million at the time of his sudden death on May 15, 1954. General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold said of Echols in May 1945: No one knows better than you the terrific problems we have faced in the development and perfection of our equipment and in obtaining the necessary production. I know of no one who could have carried

11869-625: 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,

12012-634: 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

12155-412: The designation Project 98146-S. The first three of these second increment Silverplate B-29s were delivered to the USAAF in mid-October and flown to Wendover. They were fitted with British single-point bomb releases mounted on a re-designed H-frame suspension rack fitted in the forward bomb bay, so that additional fuel tanks could be carried in the aft bay. A new crew position, called the "weaponeer station",

12298-448: 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

12441-469: 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

12584-466: The director of the Manhattan Project , and General Henry H. Arnold , the chief of USAAF, wished to use an American plane if this was at all possible. The superior range and high-altitude performance of the B-29 made it much a better choice, and after the B-29 began to be modified in November 1943 for carrying the atomic bomb, the suggestion for using the Lancaster never came up again. The first B-29

12727-620: 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

12870-447: 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

13013-460: The end of the war, and the end of 1947. By this time only 13 of the original 46 were still operational. Thus, a total of 65 Silverplate B-29s were made, of which 32 were operational at the start of 1948. Martin-Omaha produced 57 Silverplate B-29s. The other 8 were built by Boeing-Wichita. Of these 65 bombers, 31 were eventually converted to other configurations, 16 were placed in storage and later scrapped, and 12 were lost in accidents (including four of

13156-555: 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

13299-493: The estimated cost of the Silverplate project at around $ 60 million. 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

13442-682: 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

13585-426: The following year and a half to June 1944, Echols supervised another tripling of production. From 1941 on, United States aircraft production was much greater than the combined output of Japan and Germany, and the force of 3,305 combat planes in December 1941 grew to 41,000 in August 1945. Not all of these aircraft were of self-powered metal construction: in March 1942, Echols told the joint Senate–House committee that

13728-410: 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

13871-660: 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

14014-405: The last test flight of the series on 16 March, a Thin Man was prematurely released while the B-29 was still en route to the test range and fell onto the bomb bay doors, severely damaging the aircraft. The modified glider mechanisms had apparently caused all four malfunctions, because of the weight of the bombs, and were replaced with British Type G single-point attachments and Type F releases used on

14157-486: The military requirements around which the B-29 Superfortress was to be built. As Boeing was testing the first prototype, Echols surprised Chief Engineer Wellwood Beall of Boeing by telling him that the Army Air Forces intended to spend $ 2 billion on the bomber. The first production model was completed in July 1943 and 11 months later B-29s were bombing Japan. While at Wright Field and in Washington, Echols

14300-550: 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

14443-485: The nation's airpower potential. As president of the Aircraft Industries Association (AIA) from 1947 to 1949, his reputation for vision, decisiveness and good humor became even more widely appreciated. In August 1947, Echols was called before a War Investigating committee led by Senator Homer Ferguson , to uncover misconduct in wartime contracts given to Howard Hughes. Echols testified that

14586-547: The nation's defense. (The Air Corps and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics agreed that the Navy would get 12,500 of these.) A year and a half later, on December 7, 1941, the airframe weight of U.S. aircraft production increased sixfold—from the rate of 20,000,000 lb (9,100,000 kg) per year, to 120,000,000 lb (54,000,000 kg). By November 1942 the production rate had tripled again, to 50,000 aircraft per year. In

14729-441: The national war program. Helping to determine the relative strength of air versus land and sea forces of the United States were one of Echols's responsibilities, as was the task of deciding relative strengths of fighter aircraft to light-, medium- and heavy bomber forces. In early 1939, a combination of Army Air Forces tactical staff under General Arnold and Materiel Division engineers under then-Lieutenant Colonel Echols, prescribed

14872-402: 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

15015-474: The next few years. The final wartime Silverplates incorporated all technical improvements to B-29 aircraft, as well as the final series of Silverplate modifications that included Curtiss Electric reversible-pitch propellers and pneumatic actuators for rapid opening and closing of bomb bay doors. The British F-type bomb release and G-type attachment were installed, along with dual electrical and mechanical bomb release mechanisms. Early model B-29s were plagued by

15158-479: 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

15301-961: 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

15444-609: The other agency to discontinue its use of the codename. Los Alamos' Thin Man and Fat Man code names were adopted by the USAAF for the weapons. A cover story was devised that Silverplate was about modifying a Pullman car for use by President Franklin Roosevelt (Thin Man) and United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Fat Man) on a secret tour of the United States. The USAAF sent instructions to its Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field , Ohio , on 30 November 1943 for

15587-477: The planes assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron (now part of the 509th Composite Group ) were transferred to the 216th to meet an increase in its testing tempo. Rather than attempt to modify the existing aircraft a few at a time, a decision was made to start a new production series. The first five of this third increment, known as Project 98228-S, also went to the test unit. The order totaled an additional 28 aircraft, with delivery of 15 designated combat models for

15730-532: The president's son, Elliott Roosevelt , who as an Army Air Forces major and lieutenant colonel had flown the successful P-38 Lightning photo reconnaissance variant during the North Africa campaign , had put political pressure on the AAF in 1943 to purchase the unneeded Hughes XF-11 photo reconnaissance aircraft over the objections of Echols and Chief of Air Staff Barney M. Giles . The committee uncovered more than $ 5,000 in entertainment spent on Roosevelt by

15873-487: The previous United States Army Air Corps and 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

16016-609: The program as well. The airplane modification project fell under the purview of the Manhattan Project's Project Alberta after March 1945. The original codename for the project was "Silver Plated," but continued usage of the term shortened it to the one word "Silverplate". For security reasons, the codename "Silverplate" was not officially registered. Confusion then resulted when the War Department allocated "Silverplate" to another project. Arnold's office had to order

16159-609: The project had as its subject line "Silver Plated Project," but continued usage of the term shortened it to "Silverplate". Testing began with scale models at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia , in August 1943. Modifications began on a prototype Silverplate B-29 known as the "Pullman" in November 1943, and it was used for bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California commencing in March 1944. The testing resulted in further modifications to both

16302-524: 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

16445-658: The proposed weapons shapes: the tubular shape of the Thin Man , or the oval shape of the Fat Man . Prior to the decision to use the B-29, serious consideration was given to using the British Avro Lancaster with its cavernous 33-foot (10 m) bomb bay to deliver the weapon. It would have required much less modification but would have necessitated additional training for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) crews. Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr. ,

16588-442: 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

16731-420: 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

16874-524: 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

17017-400: The standard variants. Flying at 30,000 feet (9,100 m) put the B-29s above the effective range of Japanese flak . Each Pumpkin bomb mission was conducted by a formation of three aircraft in the hope of convincing the Japanese military that small groups of B-29s did not justify a strong response. This strategy proved successful, and Japanese fighters only occasionally attempted to intercept

17160-456: The time the aircraft were all delivered in September 1953, the B-29 was being phased out, and the modified aircraft went back into storage without seeing further service. In 1945, a B-29 bomber cost $ 782,000. It cost $ 32,000 to upgrade an aircraft to Silverplate configuration, so the total cost of a Silverplate bomber was $ 814,000. The total cost of the 65 wartime Silverplate B-29s was therefore $ 53 million. Adding $ 7 million for logistics, this put

17303-603: The war, but modifications continued under a new codename, Saddletree. Another 80 aircraft were modified under this program. The last group of B-29s was modified in 1953 but never saw further service. The Silverplate project was initiated in June 1943 when Norman Ramsey Jr. from the Los Alamos Laboratory 's E-7 Group identified the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as the only airplane in the United States inventory capable of carrying either type of

17446-494: 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

17589-461: 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

17732-630: 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

17875-755: The weapons that the combat crews used would have been fewer and less potent. The respect that he enjoyed from the aircraft industry, Congress, his superiors, and most of all from his subordinates was due primarily to his impeccable integrity. A Falcon Scholarship in honor of Echols is sponsored each year by Northrop for a student seeking United States Air Force Academy admission with the intention of becoming an Air Force officer. Echols married Margaret Elizabeth Bailey (1892–1990) of Rockport, Texas on December 28, 1920, in El Paso . They had one daughter, Mary Beirne Echols, born November 28, 1926, in Dayton. The Echols family

18018-435: The weapons, and that the USAAF form and train a special unit to deliver the bombs. Arnold delegated responsibility for this to Major General Oliver P. Echols . In turn, Echols designated Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson as the project officer. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B-29 to enable it to drop a nuclear weapon , Silverplate eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of

18161-404: 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

18304-622: 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

18447-589: 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

18590-542: 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

18733-497: Was available that could carry the 17-foot (5.2 m) long Thin Man, so a 9-foot (2.7 m) scale model was used. The results were disappointing – the bomb fell in a flat spin – but the need for a thorough test program was demonstrated. Groves met with Arnold again in September 1943. He informed Arnold that there was now a second bomb shape under consideration, the Fat Man, and he formally requested that further tests be carried out, that not more than three B-29s be modified to carry

18876-581: 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

19019-437: Was created in the cockpit with a panel to monitor the release and detonation of the bomb during the actual combat drops. Fourteen production aircraft were assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron for training, and three to the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit for bomb drop testing. By February 1945 the 17 aircraft of the second increment were in need of upgrades, particularly those of the 216th Army Air Force Base Unit. Four of

19162-557: Was delivered to the USAAF on 1 July 1943, and Groves met with Arnold later that month. Groves briefed Arnold on the Manhattan Project and asked for his help in testing the ballistics of the project's proposed bomb shapes. Arnold and the head of the Ordnance Division at Los Alamos, Captain William S. Parsons , arranged for tests to be carried out at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia , in August 1943. No aircraft

19305-498: 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

19448-643: Was flown to Wendover Army Air Field in Utah in September 1944. It carried out further drop testing with the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit until it was damaged in a landing accident in December. On 22 August 1944, to meet the requirements of the USAAF group about to be formed to train in the atomic mission, a production phase of Silverplate B-29s was ordered from the Glenn L. Martin Company 's modification center at Offutt Field , south of Omaha, Nebraska , under

19591-864: Was known in the profession as the man chiefly responsible for the long, hard process of bringing a plane into being—planes such as the B-24 Liberator , the B-17 Flying Fortress , the B-50 Superfortress and the B-36 Peacemaker . He helped with the initial planning that led to the B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress and the earliest American jet aircraft. Echols participated in the decision to have General Electric reproduce Frank Whittle 's W.2B jet engine for American jet fighter designs. In May 1945, Echols

19734-502: 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

19877-778: Was sent to Germany to re-assemble and administer local government, public health, safety and welfare programs, to supervise education and religion, and to direct all communications. Echols served successively as Chief, Internal Affairs for the U.S. Control Council for Germany, as assistant deputy military governor in Germany, and director of Civil Affairs Division of the War Department Special Staff. Echols helped select government specialists for occupation duty in Japan. Major General Echols retired on December 1, 1946. In civilian life, Echols continued to help strengthen

20020-464: 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,

20163-460: 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,

20306-539: Was therefore abandoned, and the weapon was re-designed to use uranium-235 . The muzzle velocity required was much lower, reducing the barrel length of the resulting bomb, code-named Little Boy , to less than 10 feet (3.0 m). This allowed the device to fit into a standard B-29 bomb bay, so the Pullman was modified to its original configuration with the rear bomb bay of a standard B-29 design. All subsequent Silverplates were also configured in this manner. The Pullman B-29

20449-756: Was threatened. Oliver P. Echols Oliver Patton Echols was born on March 4, 1892, in Charlottesville, Virginia , to William Holding Echols , a university professor. Oliver Echols attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Virginia , studying aviation engineering. Echols enlisted in 1916 and served in World War I with the United States Army Air Service , American Expeditionary Force , from August 1917 to April 1919, participating as an aviator in

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