United States Army Air Forces Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Growth, installations=== 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 the [[Quartermaster Corps (United States Army)|Quartermaster Corps]] and then by the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]], because of a lack of familiarity with Air Corps requirements.<ref>Craven and Cate Vol. 6, pp. 134β136.</ref> 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 the AAF for the first time in its history,<ref>Craven and Cate Vol. 6, pp. 141β142.</ref> and then in April 1942 by delegation of the enormous task by Headquarters AAF to its user field commands and numbered air forces.<ref>Craven and Cate Vol. 6, pp. 145 and 150.</ref> 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 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).<ref>Futrell, Historical Study 69, p. 112.</ref> The [[lease]]s 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.<ref>Futrell, Historical Study 69, p. 167.</ref> In December 1943, the AAF reached a war-time peak of 783 airfields in the Continental United States.<ref name="Futrell p. 156">Futrell, Historical Study 69, p. 156.</ref> 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.<ref>Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, pp. 120β121</ref> ====Installations==== {| align=center class="wikitable" |- |+CONUS installations<ref>Futrell, Historical Study 69, Chart I, p. 169.</ref> |- ! Type of facility||align=center| 7 December 1941 ||align=center| 31 December 1941 ||align=center| 31 December 1942 ||align=center| 31 December 1943 ||align=center| 31 December 1944 || [[VE Day]] || [[VJ Day]] |- | ''Total all installations''||align=center|''181''|| align=center|''197''||align=center|''1,270''||align=center|''1,419''||align=center|''1,506''||align=center|''1,473''||align=center|''1,377'' |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | '''Main bases'''||align=center|114||align=center|151||align=center|345||align=center|345||align=center|377||align=center|356||align=center|344 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | '''Satellite bases'''||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|71||align=center|116||align=center|37||align=center|56||align=center|57 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |'''Auxiliary fields'''||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|198||align=center|322||align=center|309||align=center|291||align=center|269 |- |''Total CONUS airfields''||align=center|''114''||align=center|''151''||align=center|''614''||align=center|''783''||align=center|''723''||align=center|''703''||align=center|''670'' |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |'''Bombing & gunnery ranges'''||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|unk||align=center|-||align=center|480||align=center|473||align=center|433 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |'''Hospitals''' & other owned facilities||align=center|67||align=center|46||align=center|29||align=center|32||align=center|44||align=center|30||align=center|30 |- |Contract pilot schools||align=center|unk||align=center|unk||align=center|69||align=center|66||align=center|14||align=center|14||align=center|6 |- |Rented office space||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|unk||align=center|unk||align=center|79||align=center|109||align=center|103 |- |Leased hotels & apartment bldgs||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|464||align=center|216||align=center|75||align=center|75||align=center|75 |- |Civilian & factory tech schools||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|66||align=center|47||align=center|21||align=center|17||align=center|16 |-style= |College training detachments||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|16||align=center|234||align=center|2||align=center|1||align=center|1 |- |Specialized storage depots||align=center|-||align=center|-||align=center|12||align=center|41||align=center|68||align=center|51||align=center|43 |} {| align=center class="wikitable" |- |+Overseas airfields <ref>''AAF Statistical Digest'', Table 217 β Airfields outside CONUS 1941β1945.</ref> |- ! Location || 31 December 1941 || 31 December 1942 || 31 December 1943 || 31 December 1944 || [[VE Day]] || [[VJ Day]] |- | US possessions|| align=center|19||align=center|60||align=center|70||align=center|89||align=center|130||align=center|128 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | North America||align=center|7||align=center|74||align=center|83||align=center|67||align=center|66||align=center|62 |- | Atlantic islands||align=center|5||align=center|27||align=center|-||align=center|20||align=center|21||align=center|21 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |South America||align=center|-||align=center|27||align=center|28||align=center|22||align=center|32||align=center|32 |- |Africa||align=center|-||align=center|73||align=center|94||align=center|45||align=center|31||align=center|21 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Europe||align=center|-||align=center|33||align=center|119||align=center|302||align=center|392||align=center|196 |- |Australia||align=center|-||align=center|20||align=center|35||align=center|10||align=center|7||align=center|3 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Pacific islands||align=center|-||align=center|21||align=center|65||align=center|100||align=center|57||align=center|56 |- |Asia||align=center|-||align=center|23||align=center|65||align=center|96||align=center|175||align=center|115 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |'''Total overseas'''||align=center|'''31'''||align=center|'''358'''||align=center|'''559'''||align=center|'''751'''||align=center|'''911'''||align=center|'''634''' |} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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