United States Army Air Forces

Examples of United States Army Air Forces in the following topics:

• Nimitz in the Central Pacific

  • Chester Nimitz, fleet admiral of the United States Navy, played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces.
  • In addition, Nimitz also ordered the United States Army Air Forces to mine the Japanese ports and waterways by air with B-29 Superfortresses in a successful mission called Operation Starvation, which severely interrupted the Japanese logistics.
  • Admiral Chester Nimitz, representing the United States, signs the instrument of surrender, September 2, 1945.
  • Nimitz was a five-star admiral of the United States Navy.
  • He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for United States and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.

• African Americans in WWII

  • Army, most African American soldiers still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores (except for some separate tank battalions and Army Air Forces escort fighters). 
  • Officially, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces.
  • All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Army Air Field, and were educated at Tuskegee University, located near Tuskegee, Alabama.
  • He later went on to become the first African American general in the United States Air Force.
  • A 1993 study commissioned by the United States Army investigated racial discrimination in the awarding of medals.

• Defending the Nation

  • The United States has the largest defense budget in the world.
  • As of 2011, the United States spends about 550 billion annually to fund its military forces, and appropriates approximately 160 billion to fund Overseas Contingency Operations.
  • Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States.
  • They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
  • The United States military is the second largest in the world, after the People's Liberation Army of China.

• United States in the World

  • The United States interacts with foreign nations and sets standards for its organizations, corporations and individual citizens.
  • The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence.
  • The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
  • American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets.
  • Discuss the role and influence of the United States on world politics

• Mobilization and the Development of the West

  • Margaret Craighill became the first female doctor to become a commissioned officer in the United States Army Medical Corps.
  • The Army established the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942, which served overseas in North Africa.
  • In 1943, the Women's Army Corps recruited a unit of Chinese-American women to serve with the Army Air Forces as "Air WACs. " The first two women to enlist in the unit were Hazel (Toy) Nakashima and Jit Wong.
  • Air WACs served in a large variety of jobs, including aerial photo interpretation, air traffic control, and weather forecasting.
  • Discuss women's increasing involvement in the army, air force, navy, marines, and coast guard, paying special attention to the involvement of women of color.

• Coxey's Army

  • Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey.
  • Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey.
  • They marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history up to that time.
  • Coxey and other leaders of the movement were arrested the next day for walking on the grass of the United States Capitol.
  • While the protesters never made it to the capital, the military intervention they provoked proved to be a rehearsal for the federal force that broke the Pullman Strike later that year.

• American Arrival in Europe

  • The United States also  supported the Allies in Europe during the Battle of Atlantic (1939-1945) prior to its official entry into the war.
  • From September 1941, convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces aided by ships and aircraft of the United States.
  • The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch in North Africa on 8 November 1942 although in mid-1942, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived in the UK and carried out a few raids across the English Channel.
  • From 1942, numerous bombing runs were launched by the United States aimed at the industrial heart of Germany.
  • Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), and British General Bernard Montgomery was named as commander of the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces involved in the invasion.

• Providing National Security

  • National security, a concept which developed mainly in the United States after World War II, is the protection of the state and its citizens through a variety of means, including military might, economic power, diplomacy, and power projection.
  • There are a variety of governmental departments and agencies within the United States that are responsible for developing policies to ensure national security.
  • Armed Forces.
  • The Department—headed by the Secretary of Defense—has three subordinate military departments: the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force.
  • The Central Intelligence Agency is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.

• Changing Roles for Women

  • The domestic war effort in the United States swept millions of women into the workforce.
  • In 1944, when victory seemed assured for the United States, government-sponsored propaganda changed by urging women back to working in the home.
  • Margaret Craighill became the first female doctor to become a commissioned officer in the United States Army Medical Corps.
  • In 1943, the Women's Army Corps recruited a unit of Chinese-American women to serve with the Army Air Forces as "Air WACs."
  • That year, the first female officer of the United States Marine Corps was commissioned, and the first detachment of female marines was sent to Hawaii for duty in 1945.

• The Allied Drive Toward Berlin

  • By the end of the month, Allied forces were close to the Rhine's west bank.
  • By V-E Day, the US 12th Army Group was a force of four armies (First, Third, Ninth and Fifteenth) that numbered over 1.3 million men.
  • German Army Group G surrendered to US forces at Haar, in Bavaria, on May 5.
  • As the operational commander of some of these forces was Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, the new Reichspräsident (head of state) of the Third Reich, this signaled that the European war was over.
  • United States Army soldiers supported by a M4 Sherman tank move through a smoke filled street in Wernberg, Germany during April 1945.