USAAF - Organization and Equipment - Tactical Organization

Tactical Organization

The primary combat unit of the Army Air Forces for both administrative and tactical purposes was the group, an organization of three or four flying squadrons and attached or organic ground support elements, which was the rough equivalent of a regiment of the Army Ground Forces. The Army Air Forces fielded a total of 269 combat groups during World War II, and an operational peak of 243 combat groups in 1945.

The Air Service and its successor the Air Corps had established 15 permanent combat groups between 1919 and 1937. With the buildup of the combat force beginning 1 February 1940, the Air Corps expanded from 15 to 30 groups. By the time the United States entered World War II, the number had increased to 67 combat groups, but half were in the process of being organized and were unsuitable for combat. Of the 67 groups formed or being organized, 26 were classified as bombardment: 13 Heavy Bomb groups (B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator), and the rest Medium and Light groups (B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Marauder, and A-20 Havoc). The balance of the force in December 1941 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. After the operational deployment of the 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. The extant training establishment was inadequate in assets, organization, and pedagogy to train units wholesale. The ever increasing numbers of new groups being formed threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the old Air Corps groups to provide experienced cadre as the core of newly activated groups or to absorb graduates of the expanded training program to replace those transferred. The system in place since 1939 had reduced the overall level of experience in all combat groups, and when the demands of units in combat for replacements was factored in, the availability of experienced personnel necessary to form new units appeared headed for a downward spiral.

To avoid this probable crisis, an Operational Training Unit (OTU) system was adopted similar to the system used by the RAF. Under the OTU concept, certain groups were authorized as overstrength "parent" groups. Parent groups (OTU units) provided cadres to newly activated, or "satellite," groups essentially as before. New graduates of training schools fleshed out the satellite groups and restored the parent group to its overstrength size in a continuing pattern. By May 1942 the plan was in operation in all four continental air forces but not until early 1943 were most developmental problems resolved. Cadres detached from the parent group were provided with special instruction on their training responsibilities, initially by the responsible air forces, but after 9 October 1942, by the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) to standardize this training.

By the beginning of 1944, 269 groups had been constituted. 136 had deployed overseas, and of those still in the United States, 77 were also being organized and trained for overseas deployment. The remaining 56 served as OTUs, Replacement Training Units (RTUs) to train personnel replacements, or as continental defense units. Early in 1944, all training was assigned to "base units" and the OTUs and RTUs were inactivated, reducing the number of active groups to 218. However, 25 additional groups were formed during 1944 to bring the AAF to its final wartime structure. Between the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and VE Day in 1945, 148 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.

In February 1945 the AAF fielded 243 combat groups:

• 25 Very Heavy, 72 Heavy, 20 Medium, and 8 Light Bombardment groups;
• 71 Fighter groups;
• 29 Troop Carrier and Combat Cargo groups;
• 13 Reconnaissance groups; and
• 5 Composite groups.

The basic permanent organization of the AAF for both combat and support elements was the squadron. 1,226 combat squadrons were active in the USAAF between 7 December 1941 and 1 September 1945. In 1945 a total of 937 squadrons remained active, with 872 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.