XX Bomber Command and the first B-29 groups were deployed in December 1943 to airfields in India for Operation Matterhorn operations against Japan.Ī football team made up of Second Air Force personnel defeated Hardin–Simmons University in the 1943 Sun Bowl. Under the newly organized XX Bomber Command, B-29 aircraft were received from Boeing's manufacturing plants and new combat groups were organized and trained. After most of the heavy bombardment groups had completed OTU training, the Second Air Force conducted replacement training of heavy bombardment combat crews and acquired a new mission of operational and replacement training of very heavy bombardment ( B-29 Superfortress) groups and crews.ĭesignated the Second Air Force on 18 September 1942, starting in mid-1943 the unit's training of B-17 and B-24 replacement crews began to be phased out, and reassigned to First, Third and Fourth Air Forces as the command began ramping up training of B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bomb groups, destined for Twentieth Air Force. Nearly all new heavy bomb groups organized after Pearl Harbor were organized and trained by Second Air Force OTU units, then were deployed to combat commands around the world. It received graduates from Army Air Forces Training Command flight schools navigator training flexible gunnery schools and various technical schools, organized them into newly activated combat groups and squadrons, and conducted operational unit training (OTU) and replacement training (RTU) to prepare groups and replacements for deployment overseas to combat theaters.Īs the Second Air Force it became predominantly the training organization of B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment groups. In January 1942, the 2d Air Force was withdrawn from the Western Defense Command and assigned the operational training of units, crews, and replacements for bombardment, fighter, and reconnaissance operations. In late January 1942, elements of the B-25 Mitchell-equipped 17th Bombardment Group at Pendleton Field, Oregon were reassigned to Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina ostensibly to fly antisubmarine patrols off the southeast coast of the United States, but in actuality came to prepare for the Doolittle Raid against Japan. It appears that immediately after 7 December 1941, only the 7th, 17th, 39th and 42d Bombardment Groups under II Bomber Command were available for this duty. However, on 5 January 1942, it was returned to the Air Force Combat Command (a redesignation of GHQAF after creation of the United States Army Air Forces on 20 January 1941), and later placed directly under Headquarters AAF when Air Force Combat Command was dissolved in March 1942.įrom December 1941, 2d Air Force organized air defense for the northwest Pacific Ocean coastline of the United States (1940–1941) and flew antisubmarine patrols along coastal areas until October 1942. On 11 December 1941, four days after the Pearl Harbor attack, 2d Air Force was placed under Western Defense Command. Second Air Force region of the United States, World War II "Second to None…Train, Develop, Inspire!" Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, U.S. To provide basic military training and technical training for enlisted Airmen and non-flying officers United States Army ( Army Air Forces, 20 June 1941 – 18 September 1947 Army Air Corps 19 October 1940 – 20 June 1941) United States Air Force (18 September 1947 – present) 18 September 1942 – 30 March 1946 (as Second Air Force)Ģ6 March 1941 – 18 September 1942 (as 2 Air Force)ġ9 October 1940 – 26 March 1941 (as Northwest Air District)
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