United States Army Air Corps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States Army Air Corps Symbol, also known as the "Hap Arnold wings"

The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the predecessor of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) from 1926-41, which in turn was the forerunner of today's U.S. Air Force (USAF), established in 1947. Although abolished as an organization in 1941, it existed as a branch subordinate to the USAAF from 1941-47.

Today, the Army's Aviation Branch remains a subordinate element of the U.S. Army, although it is unrelated to the original USAAC.

Contents

[edit] Lineage of the United States Air Force

  • ** The Air Corps became a subordinate element of the Army Air Forces on June 20, 1941, and it continued to exist as a combat arm of the Army (similar to Infantry) until disestablished by Congress with the creation of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

[edit] History of the Air Corps

[edit] Creation

The Lassiter Board, a group of General Staff officers, recommended to the Secretary of War in 1923 that the Air Service be replaced by a force of bombardment and pursuit units to carry out independent missions under the command of an Army general headquarters in time of war. The Lampert Committee of the House of Representatives went far beyond this modest proposal in its report to the House in December 1925. After eleven months of extensive hearings, the committee proposed a unified air force independent of the Army and Navy, plus a department of defense to coordinate the three armed services.

Another board, headed by Dwight Morrow, had already reached an opposite conclusion in only two and one-half months. Appointed in September 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge ostensibly to study the "best means of developing and applying aircraft in national defense" but in actuality to minimize the political impact of the pending court-martial of Billy Mitchell and to preempt the findings of the Lampert Committee, the Morrow Board issued its report two weeks before the Lampert Committee's. In accordance with the views of the President, it rejected the idea of a department of defense and a separate department of air, but it recommended several minor reforms including that the air service be renamed the Air Corps to allow it more prestige, that it be given special representation on the General Staff, and that an Assistant Secretary of War for air affairs be appointed.

Congress accepted the Morrow Board proposal, and the Air Corps Act (44 Stat. 780) was enacted on July 2, 1926. The legislation changed the name of the Air Service to the Air Corps, "thereby strengthening the conception of military aviation as an offensive, striking arm rather than an auxiliary service." The act created an additional Assistant Secretary of War to help foster military aeronautics, and it established an air section in each division of the General Staff for a period of three years. Other provisions required that all flying units be commanded by rated personnel and that flight pay be continued. Two additional brigadier generals would serve as assistant chiefs of the Air Corps. The Chief of the Air Service, Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick, then became Chief of the Air Corps.

The position of the air arm within the Department of War remained essentially the same as before, that is, the flying units were under the operational control of the various ground forces corps commands and not the Air Corps, which remained responsible only for procurement of aircraft, maintenance of bases, supply, and training. Even the new position of Assistant Secretary of War for Air, held by F. Trubee Davison from 1926 to 1932, was of little help in promoting autonomy for the air arm.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of the act for the Air Corps was the authorization to carry out a five-year expansion program. However, the lack of funding caused the beginning of the five-year expansion program to be delayed until July 1, 1927. The goal eventually adopted was 1,800 airplanes with 1,650 officers and 15,000 enlisted men, to be reached in regular increments over a five-year period. But even this modest increase never came about as planned because adequate funds were never appropriated in the budget and the coming of the Great Depression forced reductions in pay and modernization. Organizationally the Air Corps did double from seven to fifteen groups. (Origin of first seven groups shown here)

Air Corps Groups added 1927-1937
Group Station Date activated Aircraft type
18th Pursuit Group Wheeler Field, Hawaii January, 1927 PW-9
7th Bomb Group Rockwell Field, California June 1, 1928 LB-7, B-3A
12th Observation Group² Brooks Field, Texas 1930 O-19
20th Pursuit Group Mather Field, California November 15, 1930 P-12
8th Pursuit Group Langley Field, Virginia April 1, 1931 P-6
17th Pursuit Group¹ March Field, California July 1, 1931 P-12
19th Bomb Group Rockwell Field, California June 24, 1932 B-10
16th Pursuit Group Albrook Field, Canal Zone December 1, 1932 P-12
10th Transport Group Patterson Field, Ohio May 20, 1937 C-27 C-33
¹Redesignated 17th Attack Group in 1935
²Disbanded on May 20, 1937
B-6A of 1st Bomb Squadron, 9th BG, 1935
B-6A of 1st Bomb Squadron, 9th BG, 1935

Most early pursuit fighters before 1935 were of the Curtiss P-1 Hawk (1926-1930) and Boeing P-12 (1929-1935) families, and most front-line bombers before the 1934 introduction of the Martin B-10 were variants of Keystone LB-6 (36 planes) and B-3A (127 planes) design.

Transport aircraft of the first ten years of the Air Corps were of largely trimotor design, such as the Atlantic-Fokker C-2 and the Ford C-3, and were procured in such small numbers (66 total) that they were doled out one airplane to a base. As their numbers and utility declined, they were replaced by a series of 50 twin-engine and single-engine small transports, and used for staff duties.

[edit] Doctrine

The formulation of theories of strategic bombing gave new impetus to the argument for an independent air force. Strategic or long-range bombardment was intended to destroy an enemy nation's industry and war-making potential, and only an independent service would have a free hand to do so. But despite what it perceived as "obstruction" from the War Department, much of which was attributable to a shortage of funds, the Air Corps made great strides during the 1930s. A doctrine emerged that stressed precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed long-range aircraft.

This doctrine resulted because of several factors. The Air Corps Tactical School opened in 1926 at Langley Field, then moved in 1931 to Maxwell Field, Alabama, where it taught a 14-week course for mid-career officers that included military aviation theory. The Bombardment Branch, under the direction of its chief, Major Harold Lee George, became influential in the development of doctrine and its dissemination throughout the Air Corps. Nine of its instructors became known throughout the Air Corps as the "Bomber Mafia", eight of whom (including George) went on to be generals during World War II. Conversely, pursuit tacticians, primarily Capt. Claire Chennault, Chief of the school's Pursuit Branch, found their influence waning because of repeated performance failures of pursuit aviation. Finally, the doctrine represented the Air Corps' attempt to develop autonomy from the General Staff, which enforced subordination of the air arm by limiting it to support of ground forces and defense of United States territory.

Test flight of the Boeing Y1B-9 bomber in 1932. At the time it was faster than any existing pursuit plane.
Test flight of the Boeing Y1B-9 bomber in 1932. At the time it was faster than any existing pursuit plane.

New bomber types under development clearly outperformed new pursuit types, particularly in speed and altitude. In both 1932 and 1933, large-scale maneuvers found fighters unable to climb to altitude quickly enough to intercept attacking Y1B-9 and B-10 prototypes, a failure so complete that Brig. Gen. Oscar Westover, following the 1933 maneuvers, actually proposed elimination of pursuits altogether. (Bowman, p.7)

The successful development of the Martin B-10 and subsequent orders for more than 150 (including its B-12 variant) for operational service after 1935 continued the hegemony of the bomber within the AAC. The B-10 featured innovations that became standard for the next decade: an all-metal monoplane, closed cockpits, rotating gun turrets, retractable landing gear, internal bomb bay, and full engine cowlings.

The superiority of bombers resulted in a 1934 feasibility study for a 35-ton 4-engined bomber (the Boeing XB-15) that, while found to be unsuitable for combat, led to the design of the Model 299, later to become the B-17 Flying Fortress, whose first flight was in July 1935.

In 1933 the Air Corps expanded to a tactical strength of 50 squadrons: 21 pursuit, 13 observation, 12 bombardment, and 4 attack. The last open-cockpit fighter used by the USAAC, the P-26, came into service in 1933 and bridged the gap between the biplane and more modern fighters.

The Air Corps was called upon in early 1934 to deliver the mail in the wake of a scandal involving the postmaster general and heads of the airlines. Despite an embarrassing performance that resulted in a number of crashes and fatalities, the investigating boards that followed recommended organizational and modernization changes that again set the Air Corps on the path to autonomy and eventual separation from the Army.

Main article: Air Mail Scandal

[edit] GHQ Air Force

U.S. aircraft roundel from interwar years to early World War II
U.S. aircraft roundel from interwar years to early World War II

The next major step toward creation of a separate air force was taken on March 1, 1935 with the creation of a centralized operational air force, commanded by an aviator and answering to the Chief of Staff of the Army. Called General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force, this command took all combat air units in the United States out of the control of corps area commanders, where they had resided since 1920, and organized them administratively into four geographical districts (which later became the first four numbered air forces) and operationally into a strike force of three wings. The General Staff perceived its creation as an attempt to lessen Air Corps autonomy, not increase it, however, and GHQ Air Force was a "coordinate component" along with the Air Corps, and not subject to its control. However all its members, along with members of units stationed overseas and under the control of local ground commanders, remained part of the Air Corps. This dual status and division of authority hampered the development of Air Corps for the next six years, as it had the Air Service during World War I, and was not overcome until the necessity of expanding the force occurred with the onset of World War II.

The GHQ Air Force remained small in comparison to European air forces. On its first day of existence, the command consisted of 60 bombers, 42 attack aircraft, 146 pursuits, and 24 transports. Lines of authority were also difficult as GHQ Air Force controlled only combat flying units within the continental United States, with the Air Corps still responsible for training, aircraft development, doctrine, and supply, and the ground forces corps area commanders still controlling their installations and the support personnel manning them. The commanders of GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps, Major Generals Frank Maxwell Andrews and Oscar Westover respectively, clashed philosophically over the direction in which the air arm was heading, adding to the difficulties, with Andrews in favor of autonomy and Westover espousing subordination to the Army chain of command. The air arm embraced strategic bombing as its primary doctrine after the creation of GHQ Air Force, but could only buy a few of the new four-engined B-17 Flying Fortresses, so that by 1938 there were still only thirteen on hand and orders for more had been suspended.

Interception of the Rex. The navigator for the mission was 1st Lt. Curtis LeMay
Interception of the Rex. The navigator for the mission was 1st Lt. Curtis LeMay

In January 1936, the AAC contracted with Boeing for thirteen Y1B-17 prototypes, enough to equip one squadron for operational testing, with deliveries made from January to August 1937. The cost of the aircraft disturbed both Army Secretary Harry Woodring, who denied requests for further purchases, and Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig, who in 1938 reversed plans for five squadrons of B-17s (67 airplanes) to be purchased with carryover funds. The Air Corps also incurred the enmity of the Navy by widely publicizing an interception on May 12, 1938, of the Italian ocean liner Rex by three B-17s while it was 725 miles off-shore of New York City; Craig placed a 100-mile restriction on all off-shore flights in response.

Even with the doctrine of strategic bombardment as its priority, the Air Corps sought to modernize its tactical combat force under GHQ Air Force, bringing into service the Northrop A-17 and Douglas B-18 Bolo in 1936, Seversky P-35 in 1937, and the Curtiss P-36 in 1938. However all of these aircraft were obsolete by the time they came into service, and development of more modern airplanes continued.

The separation of the combat organization (GHQ Air Force) from the logistic organization (Air Corps) created serious problems of coordination. To correct this condition and coinciding with a change of command at GHQ Air Force, the combat force was placed under the new Chief of the Air Corps, Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, in March 1939, but divisions were not entirely resolved. The two organizations were separated again on November 19, 1940, when its flying units were again placed under direct control of the Army Chief of Staff (then George C. Marshall) and its airfields under local corps commanders. However Arnold had joined the General Staff as acting "Deputy Chief of Staff for Air" on November 11, 1940, a position that enabled him to coordinate the two sections of the air arm until the organizational problems were repaired.

General Arnold, at the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1939, oversaw an expansion of the Air Corps that saw it double in size from 15 to 30 groups by the end of 1940. The problems of lack of unity of command, however, were again exacerbated in March 1941 when the commander of GHQ Air Force, Delos C. Emmons, who had begun his tour junior to Arnold, was promoted to lieutenant general, forcing him to report to and act under an inferior in rank (both Arnold and his acting replacement as chief of the Air Corps, George H. Brett, were major generals). On June 20, 1941, to end the divisions, the War Department revised Army Regulation 95-5 to create the Army Air Forces with the Air Corps and GHQAF (the latter redesignated as Combat Command) as its major components, authorized an Air Staff to manage planning and execution of expansion of the air arm, and named Arnold as Chief of the Army Air Forces.

During World War II the role of the Air Corps changed again. On March 9, 1942, with the issuance of War Circular 59, the Air Corps was further subordinated to the USAAF as a combatant arm (as Infantry and Field Artillery were subordinate combatant arms of the Army Ground Forces) and the office of Chief of the Air Corps was abolished. The required Congressional disestablishment of the Army Air Corps itself did not occur until July 26, 1947, with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 502).

[edit] Modernization and expansion of the force

[edit] New aircraft

Douglas C-39 transport
Douglas C-39 transport

The Air Corps tested and employed a profusion of pursuit, observation, and bomber aircraft during its 15-year history. The advent of the all-metal monoplane, enclosed cockpits, retracting landing gear, enclosed bomb bays, and the emergence of strategic bombardment doctrine led to many designs in the mid and late 1930s that were still in use when the United States entered World War II. Among the key technology developed were oxygen and cabin pressurization systems, engine superchargers (systems essential for high-altitude combat), and the Norden bombsight.

As a consequence of the Air Mail Scandal, the Baker Board reviewing the performance of the Air Corps recognized that civilian aircraft were far superior to planes developed solely to Air Corps specifications. Following up on its recommendation, the Air Corps purchased and tested a Douglas DC-2 as the XC-32, which subsequently became the flying headquarters of Gen. Andrews. The XC-32 so exceeded Air Corps specifications that 17 were purchased to equip the first operational transport unit, the 10th Transport Group, activated in June 1937 at Patterson field, Ohio. In 1939 the Air Corps recognized the importance of modern air transports and purchased 35 DC-2/DC-3 hybrids, designated the C-39, the forerunner of the thousands of C-47 Skytrains that served in World War II.

Notable fighters developed during the late 1930s were the P-40 (first flown October 1938), P-38 (January 1939), P-39 (April 1939), P-51 (October 1940), and P-47 (May 1941). Bombers developed during this period were the A-20 (first flown October 1938), B-25 (January 1939), B-24 (December 1939), and B-26 (November 1940). Except for the B-24, P-47 and P-51, all had production deliveries begun before June 1941. Three other long-range bombers began development during this period, though only mockups were produced before World War II: B-29 (study begun in 1938), B-32 (June 1940), and B-36 (April 1941).

Main article: Military aircraft of the United States

[edit] Expansion of the Air Corps

In a special message to Congress on 12 January 1939, President Roosevelt advised that the threat of a new war made the recommendations of the Baker Board inadequate for American defense and requested approval of a 6,000-plane Air Corps. $300 million was allocated for the Air Corps, half of which was dedicated to purchasing planes to raise the inventory from 2,500 to 5,500 airplanes, and the other half for new personnel, training facilities, and bases.

General Arnold transferred a group of experienced officers to his headquarters as an air staff to lay out a plan over the winter of 1938-1939 that would increase the Air Corps to 50,000 men by June 1941. When war broke out in September 1939 the plan was already halfway to its goal in manpower, but with only 800 first-line combat aircraft. The Air Corps had 76 bases, including 21 major installations and depots. Plans were revised for an accelerated expansion, and by the end of 1940 the Air Corps had 156 airfields and nearly 100,000 men. 20 civilian flight schools and eight technical training schools were contracted to provide additional training facilities, and Pan American Airways was enlisted to provide meteorolgical and navigation training until military schools could be established.

At this stage, public opinion support of airpower reached unprecedented highs, but General Arnold made a decision to postpone any attempts to exploit the opportunity to push for an independent Air Force. Assured of a free hand by Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, Arnold felt it would "be a serious mistake to change the existing setup" in the midst of the crucial expansion effort.

[edit] Organization of the Air Corps

[edit] Army Air Corps, March 1, 1935

SOURCE: Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units of World War II
P-26A of 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG 1934-1936
P-26A of 34th Pursuit Squadron, 17th PG 1934-1936

[edit] General Headquarters Air Force

(Maj. Gen. Frank Andrews, Langley Field, Virginia)

Martin B-12A (variant of the B-10) of 31st Bomb Squadron, 7th BG, Hamilton Field, California
Martin B-12A (variant of the B-10) of 31st Bomb Squadron, 7th BG, Hamilton Field, California
A-12 Shrike of the 13th Attack Squadron, 3rd AG, Barksdale Field, Louisiana
A-12 Shrike of the 13th Attack Squadron, 3rd AG, Barksdale Field, Louisiana
  • 3rd Wing (Col. Gerald C. Brant, Barksdale Field, Louisiana)
    • 3rd Attack Group, Barksdale Field, Louisiana
      • 8th, 13th, & 90th Attack Squadrons
    • 20th Pursuit Group, Barksdale Field, Louisiana
      • 55th, 77th & 79th Pursuit Squadrons
  • 21st Airship Group, Scott Field, Illinois
    • 9th Airship Squadron, Scott Field
    • 19th Airship Squadron, Langley Field

[edit] Other flying units

O-46A At Wright Field
O-46A At Wright Field
  • Second Corps Area, Mitchel Field, New York
    • 97th Observation Squadron (from 2nd Wing)
  • Sixth Corps Area, Scott Field, Illinois
    • 15th Observation Squadron (from 2nd Wing)
  • Ninth Corps Area, Crissy Field, California
    • 91st Observation Squadron (from 1st Wing)
  • 12th Observation Group, Brooks Field, Texas
    • 11th Observation Squadron (from 1st Wing)
    • 22nd Observation Squadron (from 1st Wing)
    • 88th Observation Squadron (long-range amphibian)
P-12E of 6th Pursuit Squadron, 18th PG 1935-1938, Wheeler Field, Hawaii
P-12E of 6th Pursuit Squadron, 18th PG 1935-1938, Wheeler Field, Hawaii

[edit] Overseas units

[edit] Annual strength

Strength as of June 30 of each year
Year Strength Year Strength Year Strength
1927 9,979 1932 14,650 1937 18,572
1928 10,518 1933 14,817 1938 20,196
1929 12,080 1934 15,621 1939 22,387
1930 13,305 1935 15,945 1940 51,185
1931 14,485 1936 16,863 1941 152,125

[edit] Chiefs of the Air Corps

[edit] Army Aviation today

Main article: United States Army Aviation Branch

Today, the Army's aviation assets are consolidated as the Army Aviation Branch, an administrative body of the Army established in 1983 which serves to organize, train, equip and operate the Army's light aircraft and helicopter assets. Its primary function is the tactical support of the army by providing tactical direct fire support and transport services. An updated version of the Key West Agreement governs the division of responsibility for air assets between the Army and the Air Force (the Army is precluded from operating fixed-wing aircraft in the airlift or close air support roles).

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

v • d • e
Lists relating to aviation
General
Military
Accidents/incidents
Records
v • d • e
United States Air Force
Portal:United States Air Force
Leadership
Organization
Commands:

(ANG) · Groups (ANG) · Squadrons (ANG)
Personnel and training
Civilian auxiliary
Uniforms and equipment
History and traditions


Preceded by
United States Army Air Service		 United States Army Air Corps
1926-1941		 Succeeded by
United States Army Air Forces