The I Bomber Command (later XX Bomber Command) was an intermediate command of the

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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It trained

bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or cities and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended obje ...

units and

aircrew Aircrew are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions In commercial aviatio ...

s for deployment to combat theaters. From shortly after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

until its assets were transferred to

Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, whi ...

in October 1942, it conducted

antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations a ...

off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. The command was activated again for a brief period in 1943, again as a bomber training command, located in the southwestern United States. It was disbanded in October 1943.

History

Initial activation and involvement in antisubmarine warfare

GHQ Air Force The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

(GHQ, AF) had been established with two major combat functions, to maintain a striking force against long range targets, and the

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

of the United States. In the spring of 1941, GHQ, AF reorganized its Northeast Air District as

1st Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern & Air Forces Space; 1 AF-AFNORTH & AFSPACE) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission i ...

. To carry out its mission of training and maintaining a strike force, 1st Air Force organized 1st Bomber Command at

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Langley Wakeman Collyer (1885–1947), one ...

, Virginia in September 1941, shortly before the

. The command was originally established to control and train

organizations assigned to

.Both organizations were established with

arabic numerals The ten Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the most commonly used symbols for writing numbers. The term often also implies a positional notation number with a decimal base, in particular when contrasted with Roman numera ...

in their names. In September 1942, the Army established that Numbered Air Forces would be identified with spelled out numbers and commands with

roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

. It drew its cadre from the 2d Bombardment Wing, which was inactivated the same day, and whose subordinate units were reassigned to the command. Shortly after the attack, The best trained units in the command moved to critical defense areas or were identified for early shipment overseas. In November 1941, an increase in German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

activity brought a

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

request for reinforcement of Army bomber forces in Newfoundland. In the first week of December, the command dispatched the 49th Bombardment Squadron to meet the Navy request. Then the command's

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, New York. Within a month after the declaration of war by the United States against Germany,

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

submarines A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...

began operating in American coastal waters. By March 1942 fifty-three ships had been sunk in the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier. Defense plans drawn up before the war began assigned the Navy responsibility for operations beyond the coastline, with

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

aircraft serving in a supporting role. Because naval aviation that could perform long range patrols was nearly non-existent along the Atlantic coast in early 1942, the burden for aerial antisubmarine patrols fell on the

(AAF), which had available long range and very long range aircraft,At the time, 600 miles was considered "long range" and 1000 miles was "very long range." Warnock, p. 2 but whose crews had not been trained for the mission. Moreover, the AAF's long range planes were armed with bombs, rather than

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s. As a result, the Commander of the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier requested the Army's

Eastern Defense Command The Eastern Defense Command was first established as the Northeast Defense Command on 17 March 1941 as one of four U.S. Army continental defense commands to plan and prepare for and execute defense against enemy attack in the months before Ameri ...

to undertake offshore patrols with all available aircraft. The first patrols were performed by elements of I Bomber Command, which would be the primary AAF command involved in

(ASW) in early 1942, with assistance from I Air Support Command. However, although I Bomber Command was primarily involved in conducting ASW, it was doing so on an emergency basis, and was subject to withdrawal from these duties to perform its primary

function. The command used

Douglas B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American twin-engined medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Airc ...

and

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allies of World War ...

s to patrol as far out as 300 miles, and

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

es to patrol to 600 miles from shore, but in early operations was only able to maintain six aircraft on patrol. For patrols closer to the shore, the command relied on the civilian pilots of the new

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

. In March 1942, the command received its first planes equipped with

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

. It soon became apparent that if the AAF were to continue with the ASW mission, its units would have to be organized under a specially trained and equipped command. The personnel and assets of I Bomber Command were transferred to the newly created

on 15 October 1942.

Return to bomber training

The command was reactivated as a bomber training command at

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, Texas in May 1943 and assigned to

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

, which was training all heavy bomber units and

s for the AAF. It was renamed the XX Bomber Command in August 1943, avoiding duplication with another I Bomber Command, which would be located at

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...

, New York later in August. The command was disbanded in October 1943.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 1st Bomber Command on 4 September 1941 *: Activated on 5 September 1941 * Redesignated I Bomber Command on 18 September 1942 *: Inactivated on 15 October 1942 * Activated on 1 May 1943 *: Redesignated XX Bomber Command c. 15 August 1943 *: Disbanded on 6 October 1943When the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

became a separate service in September 1947, former Air Corps units were transferred to it, including units like the command, that had been disbanded.

Assignments

* First Air Force, 5 September 1941 – 15 October 1942 * Second Air Force, 1 May – 6 October 1943

Components

Groups * 1st Pursuit Group, 5 September – 9 December 1941 * 2d Bombardment Group, 5 September 1941 – 15 October 1942 Haulman says transfer occurred on 13 October 1942, but AAF Antisubmarine Command was not activated until 15 October. * 13th Bombardment Group: 5 September 1941 – 15 October 1942 * 22d Bombardment Group, 5 September 1941 – February 1942 * 34th Bombardment Group, 5 September 1941 – 27 January 1942 * 43d Bombardment Group, c. 5 September 1941 – c. 28 March 1942 * 45th Bombardment Group: 5 January – 15 October 1942 * 46th Bombardment Group, 15 May – 6 October 1943 Squadron *

124th Observation Squadron The 124th Attack Squadron is a unit of the Iowa Air National Guard 132d Wing. It is assigned to Des Moines International Airport (Des Moines ANGB), Iowa and was formerly equipped with F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The unit is reequipping with ...

: attached 3 July – 15 October 1942Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 349

Stations

* Langley Field, Virginia, 5 September 1941 * New York City, New York, 12 December 1941 – 15 October 1942 * El Paso, Texas, 1 May – 16 October 1943

Campaign

References

Notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite web, url=http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100924-006.pdf, last1=Warnock, first1=Timothy, title=The Battle Against the U-Boat in the American Theater, publisher=Air Force History Support Office, location=Bolling AFB, DC, access-date=22 June 2015, archive-date=7 March 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307231053/http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100924-006.pdf, url-status=dead 01 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943