The XIII Bomber Command was an inactive

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

formation. It was last assigned to

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...

, based at

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, ...

, Philippines. It was inactivated on 15 March 1946.

History

XIII Bomber Command was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

command and control organization for Thirteenth Air Force. Its mission was to provide command and control authority of Army Air Force bombardment organizations within the Thirteenth Air Force Area of Responsibility. Participated in the following campaigns: Central Pacific; China Defensive; Guadalcanal; New Guinea; Northern Solomons; Eastern Mandates; Bismarck Archipelago; Western Pacific; Leyte; Luzon; Southern Philippines; China Offensive.

Lineage

* Constituted as the XIII Bomber Command on 14 December 1942 : Activated on 13 January 1943 : Inactivated on 15 March 1946 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 451

Assignments

, 13 January 1943 – 15 March 1946

Stations

* Pekoa Airfield,

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

, New Hebrides, 13 January 1943 *

Carney Airfield Carney Airfield is a former World War II airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It is located near Koli Point about six miles from Henderson Field, close to the Metapona River to the east and the Naumbu River to the west ...

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...

, Solomon Islands, 20 August 1943 *

Momote Airfield Momote Airport is an airport on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea. It also serves Manus Island, which is connected to Los Negros by a bridge. History Hayne Airfield Built by the Imperial Japanese at Momote during Wor ...

Los Negros Island Los Negros Island is the third largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is significant because it contains the main airport of Manus Province on its eastern coastline, at Momote. It is connected to Lorengau, the capital of the province, on Manus Is ...

, Admiralty Islands, June 1944 *

Wakde Airfield Wakde Airfield is a World War II airfield located on Wakde Island, off the northern coast of New Guinea in Papua, Indonesia. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today is almost totally returned to its natural state. History The airfiel ...

, Wakde, Netherlands East Indies. 3 September 1944 *

Wama Airfield Leo Wattimena Airport, formerly known as Pitu Airport is a private airport located on the southern coast of Morotai Island, North Maluku North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Isl ...

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

, Netherlands East Indies. 17 October 1944 *

, Philippines, 27 August 1945 – 15 March 1946

Components

; Groups * 5th Bombardment Group, 13 January 1943 – 15 December 1945 *

11th Bombardment Group An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country calling code Count ...

, 9 November 1943 – 15 March 1946 *

42d Bombardment Group 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest co ...

, 22 April 1943 – 25 December 1945 (attached to 308th Bombardment Wing, c. 24 August 1944;

310th Bombardment Wing 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 CE ('31) * 2031 CE ('31) Music * ''Thirty One'' (Jana Kramer album), 2015 * ''Thirty One'' (Jarryd James album), 2015 * "Thirty One", a song by Karma to Burn from the album ''Wild, ...

, 3 September 1944;

Thirteenth Air Task Force In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...

, c. 15 September 1944;

XIII Fighter Command The XIII Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. It was last assigned to Thirteenth Air Force, based at Manila, Luzon, Philippines. It was inactivated on 15 March 1946. History XIII Fighter Command was a World War II comm ...

, 1 October 1944; XIII Bomber Command Rear Echelon, 9 January – 24 February 1945; XIII Fighter Command, c. 22 March – c. September 1945) * 307th Bombardment Group, February 1943 – December 1945 * 494th Bombardment Group: under operational control 20–27 March 1945) ; Squadrons *

5th Tactical Air Communications Squadron Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

: 20 October – 28 November 1945 *

9th Tactical Air Communications Squadron The United States Air Force's 9th Air Support Operations Squadron is a combat support unit located at Fort Hood, Texas. The squadron provides tactical command and control of airpower assets to the Joint Forces Air Component Commander and Joint F ...

: 20 October – 28 November 1945 *

14th Tow Target Squadron 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 and preceding 15. In relation to the word "four" ( 4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a stella octangula numb ...

: c. November – 27 December 1945 * 342d Fighter Squadron: attached c. 25 August – 22 September 1944 * 550th Night Fighter Squadron: attached 14 February – 7 April 1945Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 654

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * {{USAAF 13th Air Force World War II 13 Command Bomb Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946