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! ===Combat units=== [[File:Oer the ramparts we watch.jpg|thumb|USAAF recruiting poster]] The primary combat unit of the Army Air Forces for both administrative and tactical purposes was the [[Group (military unit)|group]], an organization of three or four flying [[Squadron (aviation)|squadrons]]<ref group=n>Generally, very heavy bombardment (B-29) and fighter groups had three flying squadrons assigned while all other types had four. Composite groups had as few as two (509th Composite) and as many as six flying squadrons (the three air commando groups).</ref> and attached or organic ground support elements, which was the rough equivalent of a [[regiment]] of the [[Army Ground Forces]].<ref name="goss58">Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, p. 58.</ref> 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.<ref name="maurer7">Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 7</ref> The [[United States Army Air Service|Air Service]] and its successor the [[United States Army Air Corps|Air Corps]] had established 15 permanent combat groups between 1919 and 1937.<ref name="maurer7"/> With the buildup of the combat force beginning 1 February 1940, 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.<ref>Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, p. 485</ref><ref>Spaatz, "Strategic Airpower in the European War".</ref><ref group=n>Spaatz calculated combat-ready groups, both overseas and in the strategic reserve, at 43.5 at the end of January 1942.</ref> Of the 67 combat groups, 26 were classified as bombardment: 13 ''Heavy Bomb'' groups ([[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17 Flying Fortress]] and [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24 Liberator]]), and the rest ''Medium'' and ''Light'' groups ([[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell]], [[Martin B-26 Marauder|B-26 Marauder]], and [[Douglas A-20 Havoc|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.<ref name="maurer8">Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 8.</ref><ref group=n>In May 1942 "transport" became the designation for non-combat groups that were part of Air Transport Command.</ref> After the operational deployment of the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29 Superfortress]] bomber, ''Very Heavy Bombardment'' units were added to 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 a standard of combat proficiency had barely surpassed the total originally authorized by the first expansion program in 1940.<ref>White (1949), p. 8.</ref> 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 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 was threatened.<ref name="cc600"/> [[File:US roundel 1943-1947.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|USAAF insignia from July 1943 to January 1947]] To avoid this probable crisis, an Operational Training Unit (OTU) system was adopted as it had been by the RAF. Under the American OTU concept, certain experienced groups were authorized as overstrength "parent" groups. A parent group (OTU unit) provided approximately 20% of its seasoned personnel as cadre to a newly activated, or "satellite", group. Cadres detached to the newly activated satellite group were first provided with special instruction on their training responsibilities, initially by the responsible air forces, but after 9 October 1942, by the [[Army Air Forces Tactical Center|Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics]] (AAFSAT) to standardize curriculum and instruction.<ref name="cc600">Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, pp. 600β602.</ref> New graduates of training schools fleshed out the satellite group and also restored the parent group to its overstrength size. The parent group was responsible for the organization and training of its satellite, normally a process six months in length that began the day of detachment of the cadre, the first half of the process bringing the new unit up to strength, the second half devoted to flying training, with the final six weeks concentrating on fighting as a unit.<ref>White (1949), p. 15.</ref> The plan was first adopted in February 1942 by the AFCC's [[Second Air Force|Second]] and [[Third Air Force]]s, which had only training responsibilities during World War II.<ref>Layman (1946), p. 14</ref> The creation of an "operating staff" on 9 March 1942 reorganization of the AAF and the dissolution of the AFCC halted the planned establishment of an Operational Training Command to oversee the program. Spaatz, last commanding general of the AFCC, was temporarily given supervisory responsibility for OTU while the new directorates were brought up to speed,<ref>Layman (1946), p. 23</ref> but after April 1942 the sub-directorates having jurisdiction over the training<ref group=n>Subordinate to the Directorate of Military Requirements, they were the Directorate of Bombardment (heavy and medium bombers) and Directorate of Air Defense (fighters). A third sub-directorate, Ground-Air Support (observation and light/dive bombers), had less influence on the process due to a confused status over its role. (White, p. 20)</ref> tended to tell the air forces not only what to do, but how to do it. When the operating staff and its directorates were abolished in March 1943, control of OTU/RTU activities was placed under the ''Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Training'' and administered by the ''Unit Training Division''.<ref>Layman (1946), pp. 38β40</ref><ref>White (1949), p. 20</ref> In May 1942 the plan was extended to all four continental air forces but not until early 1943 were most developmental problems resolved.<ref group=n>An example of early difficulties with the "parent and satellite" plan was the [[33rd Operations Group|33rd Fighter Group]] at [[Mitchel Field]], which was the first complete parent unit formed in June 1942. It began the training of the [[324th Fighter Group|324th]], [[325th Operations Group|325th]], and [[327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing|327th Fighter Groups]] but was assigned to [[Operation Torch]] 9 Allied invasion of French North Africa) and the [[Twelfth Air Force]] on 19 September 1942. The barely organized 327th FG had to assume the OTU duties formerly conducted by the 33rd. (Mayock, p. 47)</ref> Before the system matured, each air force became predominant in one type of OTU training, heavy bomber in the Second Air Force, medium and light bomber in the Third, and fighters in the [[First Air Force|First]] and [[Fourth Air Force|Fourth]] (which also had an air defense responsibility), but eventually both fighter and bombardment OTU were conducted in all four. When the bulk of new groups (and several parent groups) had been sent overseas, replacement training (RTU)<ref group=n>Begun in May 1942 with the designation of one 4AF fighter group to be overstrength as a pool for fighter pilot replacements, RTUs were also overstrength groups (most of the 32 OTUs eventually became RTUs) that instructed new air crew in transition and team training. RTUs distributed graduates as individual replacements or replacement crews to combat units and thereby obviated having such replacements drawn from organized units or training staffs in the United States, as was done for infantry replacements. (Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, pp. 602β605)</ref> took precedence over OTU and except for three B-29 groups,<ref group=n>The [[497th Bombardment Group|497th]], [[498th Nuclear Systems Wing|498th]], and [[500th Air Expeditionary Group|500th BGs]] of the [[73d Air Division|73rd Bomb Wing]]. They were trained by the last active B-29 OTU, the [[472d Bombardment Group|472nd BG]].</ref> no new satellites were formed after October 1943.<ref>White (1949), pp. 17β18.</ref> In December 1943, 56 groups were assigned to the strategic reserve as OTU parent units or RTUs,<ref name="sd7"/> and the AAF had reached its maximum size, 269 groups. 136 were deployed overseas and of those still in the United States, 77 were also being organized and trained for overseas deployment. In the spring of 1944 all operational and replacement training was reassigned to "base units" of the respective CONUS air forces,<ref group=n>On 23 February 1944 the AAF directed adoption of the base unit structure for all of its CONUS installations (and generally at non-combat bases worldwide soon following) because of an inherent inflexibility in combat group and squadron TO&Es. "Base units" were administrative organizations that combined all permanent party units at an airbase, including flying, into a single organization tailored in size of personnel and equipment to the needs of that base and its parent command. Staff functions in the base units were performed by directors of administration, operations, and materiel. The units were commonly seen in designations as "AAF Base Units". Personnel from discontinued OTU and RTU groups were merged into base units as "Combat Crew Training Stations". (White p. 17; Craven and Cate Vol. 6, pp. 75, 603β604)</ref> resulting in the inactivation or disbanding between 31 March and 1 May 1944 of 49 OTU/RTU groups, which reduced the number of active groups to 218. However, additional groups were formed in the following months to bring the AAF to its final wartime structure.<ref name="maurer7"/><ref name="sd7"/> In February 1945 the AAF fielded 243 combat groups: * 125 [[Bombardment group]]s (25 Very Heavy, 72 Heavy, 20 Medium, and 8 Light); * 71 Fighter groups;<ref group=n>10 of the fighter groups in 1945 were classified as "twin-engine". (Rickard)</ref> * 29 Troop Carrier and Combat Cargo groups;<ref group=n>The [[419th Operations Group|419th TCG]] was not a flying unit but managed transportation terminals in the Pacific. The four combat cargo groups, numbered 1β4, served in the [[China Burma India Theater of World War II#USAAF Order of Battle|CBI]] and [[Fifth Air Force#Order of battle, 1945|5AF]] in 1944β45. Two were later redesignated troop carrier groups and became part of the USAF.</ref> * 13 Reconnaissance groups;<ref group=n>The totals include 12 designated reconnaissance groups plus the [[25th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing|25h Bomb Group (Recon)]].</ref> and * 5 Composite groups.<ref name="maurer8"/><ref group=n>The five composite groups were the [[509th Operations Group|509th CG]] (B-29/C-54), [[28th Operations Group|28th BG]] (B-24/B-25), and the [[1st Special Operations Wing|1st]], [[352d Special Operations Group|2nd]] and [[353d Special Operations Group|3rd Air Commando Groups]]. The air commando groups were created for service in the [[China Burma India Theater of World War II#USAAF Order of Battle|CBI]] and [[Fifth Air Force#Order of battle, 1945|5AF]] with one troop carrier, two reduced-strength fighter, and three liaison squadrons each. (''AAF Statistical Digest'', p. 2) A medium bomb group, the [[477th Fighter Group|477th BG]], converted to a P-47/B-25 composite group in June 1945.</ref> Between the [[Operation Overlord|Invasion of Normandy]] in June 1944 and [[Victory in Europe Day|the end of the war in Europe]] in 1945, 149 combat groups fought against Germany, while by August 1945, when all combat operations ended, 86 groups were deployed in the Pacific and Far East. The European force was then either performing occupation duties or re-deploying to the United States.<ref name="maurer7"/><ref name="sd7">''AAF Statistical Digest'', Table 1 β Combat Groups Overseas by Location and in Continental US by State of Training, By Type of Group: Dec 1941 to Aug 1945</ref> With the partial demobilization of the forces in Europe, the total of active groups in the AAF had been reduced to 213. Nearly all of the discontinued units were heavy bombardment groups (B-17 and B-24), which numbered only 35 at the war's end. The remainder had been inactivated or redesignated as very heavy bombardment (B-29).<ref name="sd7"/> The basic permanent organization of the AAF for combat elements was the squadron.<ref name="goss58"/> 1,226 combat squadrons were active in the USAAF between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.<ref>Maurer ''Combat Squadrons'', v.</ref><ref group=n>The 1226 figure is for TO&E squadrons only. Not included in the total of flying squadrons are more than 100 Air Transport Command, advanced flight training, and flexible squadrons of AAF Base Units between 1 August 1944 and the end of the war.</ref> At the end of hostilities in 1945 a total of 933 squadrons remained active, with 868 assigned to the various groups. 65 squadrons, mostly [[reconnaissance]] and [[night fighter]], were not assigned to groups but as separate units under higher command echelons.<ref name="maurer8"/> {| align=center class="wikitable" |+Composition of AAF Combat Units (20 February 1945)<ref name="goss59">Craven and Cate, Vol. 6, p. 59. The source reproduces the original table in ''Army Air Forces Statistical Digest, World War II'', p. 1</ref> |- ! Type of unit || Type of aircraft || Number of aircraft || Number of crews || Men per crew || Total personnel || Officers || Enlisted |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | Very heavy bombardment group ||align=center|[[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29]]|| align=center|45||align=center|60||align=center|11||align=center|2,078||align=center|462||align=center|1,816 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | Heavy bombardment group||align=center|[[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17]], [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24]]||align=center|72||align=center|96||align=center|9 to 11||align=center|2,261||align=center|465||align=center|1,796 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" | Medium bombardment group||align=center|[[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25]], [[Martin B-26 Marauder|B-26]]||align=center|96||align=center|96||align=center|5 or 6||align=center|1,759||align=center|393||align=center|1,386 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Light bombardment group||align=center|[[Douglas A-20 Havoc|A-20]], [[Douglas A-26 Invader|A-26]]||align=center|96||align=center|96||align=center|3 or 4||align=center|1,304||align=center|211||align=center|1,093 |- |Single-engine fighter group||align=center|[[Curtiss P-40 Warhawk|P-40]], [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt|P-47]]<br />[[North American P-51 Mustang|P-51]]||align=center|111 to 126||align=center|108 to 126||align=center|1||align=center|994||align=center|183||align=center|811 |- |Twin-engine fighter group||align=center|[[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|P-38]]||align=center|111 to 126||align=center|108 to 126||align=center|1||align=center|1,081||align=center|183||align=center|838 |-style="background: #cccccc;" |Troop carrier group||align=center|[[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|C-47]]||align=center|80β110||align=center|128||align=center|4 or 5||align=center|1,837||align=center|514||align=center|1,323 |-style="background: #cccccc;" |Combat cargo group||align=center|[[Curtiss C-46 Commando|C-46]], C-47||align=center|125||align=center|150||align=center|4||align=center|883||align=center|350||align=center|533 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Night fighter squadron<ref name="fightcomp" group=T>Night fighter squadrons were not organized into groups</ref> ||align=center|[[Northrop P-61 Black Widow|P-61]], [[Douglas A-20 Havoc|P-70]]||align=center|18||align=center|16||align=center|2 or 3||align=center|288||align=center|50||align=center|238 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Tactical reconnaissance squadron<ref name="reccecomp" group=T>For reconnaissance units, the organization of squadrons rather than groups is shown because groups did not have a standard number or types of squadrons assigned</ref>||align=center|[[North American P-51 Mustang|F-6]], P-40<br />[[Piper J-3 Cub|L-4]], [[Stinson L-5 Sentinel|L-5]]||align=center|27||align=center|23||align=center|1||align=center|233||align=center|39||align=center|194 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Photo reconnaissance squadron<ref name="reccecomp" group=T/>||align=center|[[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|F-5]]|| align="center" |24||align=center|21||align=center|1||align=center|347||align=center|50||align=center|297 |-style="background: #eeeeee;" |Combat mapping squadron<ref name="reccecomp" group=T/>||align=center|[[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|F-7]], [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|F-9]]||align=center|18||align=center|16||align=center|8||align=center|474||align=center|77||align=center|397 |} {{reflist|group=T}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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