The V Fighter Command is a disbanded

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 ...

headquarters. It was established as the 2nd Interceptor Command in June 1941, with responsibility for

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 northwest United States and training fighter units in its area of responsibility. 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 ...

, the Army formed

Western Defense Command Western Defense Command (WDC) was established on 17 March 1941 as the command formation of the United States Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast region of the United States during Wo ...

, with responsibility for the entire Pacific coast. All air defense functions were transferred to 4th Interceptor Command, and the command was slated for transfer to the

Southwest Pacific Theater The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia, its mandate Territory of New Guin ...

as 5th Fighter Command. The command moved to Australia, where it was assigned to

Fifth Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organ ...

. The command controlled fighter forces, moving forward through New Guinea and the Philippines. On

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on wh ...

it was located on

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

. In the fall of 1945, it moved to

Fukuoka Air Base — formerly known as Itazuke Air Base — is an international airport located east of Hakata Station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. The facility has two runways and covers 355 hectares (877 acres) of land. Fukuoka Airport is the principal a ...

, where it served in the occupation forces in Japan until it was inactivated on 31 May 1946.

History

Background

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

of the United States. In the spring of 1941, the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...

established four strategic defense areas and GHQ, AF reorganized its Northwest Air District as

2nd 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 ...

with responsibility for air defense planning and organization in the western and northwestern mountains. 2nd Air Force activated 2nd Interceptor Command at

Fort George Wright Fort George Wright is a land area in the northwest United States, located in Spokane, Washington's West Hills neighborhood. It is named after General George Wright, who had been stationed in the area. History In 1895, local residents purchas ...

, Washington on 4 June 1941, under the command of Brigadier General Carlyle N. Walsh. Two weeks later, the command moved to

Fort Lawton Fort Lawton was a United States Army Military base, post located in the Magnolia, Seattle, Washington, Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington overlooking Puget Sound. In 1973 a large majority of the property, 534 acre ...

, Washington.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 443-444

Initial operations in the United States

The

put all units in the

Western Theater of Operations Western Defense Command (WDC) was established on 17 March 1941 as the command formation of the United States Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the Pacific Coast region of the United States during World War II. A second major respo ...

on heightened alert. The command was charged with control of "active agents" for air defense in its area of responsibility, which included

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

antiaircraft artillery 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-launched), and air-bas ...

and

barrage balloons A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

. Civilian organizations provided air raid warnings and enforced

blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...

s and came under the authority of the

Office of Civilian Defense Office of Civilian Defense was a United States federal emergency war agency set up May 20, 1941, by to co-ordinate state and federal measures for protection of civilians in case of war emergency. Its two branches supervised protective function ...

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 ...

was initially not sufficiently developed to be included in air defense systems, There were only ten radars to guard the Pacific coast, but the command worked "feverishly" to create a

ground observer corps The Ground Observer Corps (GOC), sometimes erroneously referred to as the Ground ''Observation'' Corps, was the name of two American civil defense organizations during the middle 20th century. World War II organization The first Ground Observer ...

and coastal radar net as elements of its Aircraft Warning Service. However, it soon became apparent that having two commands responsible for air defense in the

was impractical and 4th Interceptor Command was given responsibility for air defense of the entire Pacific coast of the United States, with the 2nd focusing on training. However, 2nd Air Force was assuming a primary mission of training

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

units, and had little need for a fighter organization. In fact, what was now the 2nd Fighter Command had been without any operational fighter components since early 1942.White, p. 22 Therefore it was decided that the command would deploy to the Pacific as the fighter headquarters for 5th Air Force, and it was reassigned and redesignated 5th Fighter Command in late August 1942.

Operations in the Pacific

In November 1942, V Fighter Command had deployed to Australia to become the primary command and control organization for

, fighter units operating primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. Its assigned units fought in the Fifth Air Force Area of Responsibility flying cover missions for convoys, patrols, escorted bombers, attacked enemy airfields, and supported ground forces. Afterward, V Fighter Command served with the occupation force in Japan before being inactivated in 1946. In September 1947, the command was transferred to the

(USAF) in inactive status. A year later, in October 1948, USAF disbanded the command.

Lineage

* Constituted as 2nd Interceptor Command on 26 May 1941Maurer indicates unit was constituted as the "II" Interceptor Command. However, the unit was constituted and activated with an

arabic number 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 numerals. ...

in its name. The use of

roman numeral 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, ea ...

s to designate Army Air Forces combat commands did not begin until September 1942. * Activated on 4 June 1941 * Redesignated 2nd Fighter Command on 15 May 1942 * Redesignated 5th Fighter Command c. 28 August 1942 * Redesignated V Fighter Command c. 18 September 1942 * Inactivated on 31 May 1946 * Disbanded on 8 October 1948The command was transferred to the United States Air Force in inactive status, when the Air force was established in September 1947. The Air Force disbanded it a year later.

Assignments

* Second Air Force, 4 June 1941Cate & Williams, p. 154 and each mention assignment to 2nd Air Force, but do not give dates. Maurer omits assignment prior to the command's deployment to the Pacific. * Fifth Air Force, 25 August 1942 – 31 May 46

Components

Groups

* 3rd Air Commando Group: c. 13–c. 18 December 1944; c. 11 May 1945 – 25 March 1946 (under operational control of 308th Bombardment Wing to 28 May 1945; of 309th Bombardment Wing to c. 8 August 1945 and after c. 27 October 1945) *

8th Fighter Group 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent of MI6 * '' 008: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * ''Explosivo 008'', a 1940 Argentine crime film * Tyrrell 008, a Formula One car * Balls 8, NASA NB-52B mothersh ...

: November 1942 – c. 31 May 1946 * 35th Fighter Group: 11 November 1942 – 19 April 1944; 11 May – 10 November 1945 *

38th Bombardment Group The 38th Bombardment Group is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. It was most recently assigned as the operational (flying) component of the 38th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Laon-Couvron Air Base, France, where it was inactivated o ...

: 1 August 1942 – 22 November 1945 * 42nd Bombardment Group: 25 March – 10 May 1946 *

49th Fighter Group The 49th Fighter Group was a fighter aircraft unit of the Fifth Air Force that was located in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Activation and training The group was constituted as 49th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 20 November ...

: 11 November 1942 – 19 April 1944; 11–21 August 1944; 8 December 1944 – 10 November 1945 *

54th Pursuit Group The 54th Fighter Group is an active unit of the United States Air Force stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and assigned to the 49th Wing of Air Education and Training Command. The group was reactivated in March 2014. The group was ...

: 4 June 1941 – 31 January 1942Haulman gives the date of assignment as 18 April 1942. However, this is before the 2nd Interceptor Command was activated, and probably includes assignment to the Interceptor Command, 2nd Air Force, a predecessor unit that was active at March Field from about April until being disbanded when it was replaced by 2nd Interceptor Command. * 55th Pursuit Group: 2 October 1941 – 5 January 1942 * 58th Fighter Group: by 6 March – 23 November 1945 *

312th Bombardment Group 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 * 2031 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, Wonderful Purgatory ...

: 19 November 1943 – 16 January 1944 *

475th Fighter Group 475th may refer to: *475th Air Base Wing, inactive United States Air Force unit *475th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 475th Fighter Group, World War II predecessor of 53d Weapons Evaluation Group * 475th Test Squadron ...

: 14 May 1943 – 16 June 1944 (attached to First Air Task Force c. 14 August 1943;

308th Bombardment Wing The 308th Armament Systems Wing was a United States Air Force unit established in 1951, being activated and inactivated at different times in history. It was last assigned to the Air Armament Center, stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. ...

1 February – 24 March 1944; 310th Bombardment Wing after c. 14 May 1944); 18 May 1945 – c. 1 February 1946 (attached to 309th Bombardment Wing 29 May – c. August 1945; 308th Bombardment Wing c. 23 September 1945 – 1 January 1946)

Squadrons

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

: 25 July – 20 October 1945 *

25th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron The 25th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 71st Flying Training Wing based at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It operates Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft conducting flight training. Overview The squadron has provided Undergraduate Pilot Train ...

: attached 10 February 1946, assigned 27 April – 31 May 1946 * 36th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron: 29 November – 3 December 1945 * 159th Liaison Squadron: 25 March – 31 May 1946 *

418th Night Fighter Squadron 418th may refer to: *418th Bombardment Group, inactive United States Air Force unit *418th Flight Test Squadron (418 FLTS), part of the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base, California *418th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, inactive ...

: 15 November 1943 – 20 March 1946 (attached to First Air Task Force 22 November 1943; 308th Bombardment Wing, 1 February 1944; 310th Bombardment Wing c. 15 May 1944;

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Expeditionary Air Force (13 EAF) is a provisional numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base, Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam on the island of Oahu, ...

, 10 November 1944; 310th Bombardment Wing, 26 December 1944 – 30 January 1945;

V Bomber Command The V Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. It was last assigned to Fifth Air Force, based at Irumagawa AB, Japan. It was inactivated on 31 May 1946. During World War II the unit initially controlled Fifth Air Forc ...

after 10 November 1945) *

421st Night Fighter Squadron 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

: 29 December 1943 – c. 1 February 1945 (detached); April 1945 – 1 February 1946 * 460th Fighter Squadron: 14 July – 23 September 1944 * 547th Night Fighter Squadron: assigned 30 September – 10 October 1944, attached until November 1944; assigned 15 May 1945 – 20 February 1946 (attached to 310th Bombardment Wing 22 October 1945; V Bomber Command after 10 November 1945)Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 650-651

Stations

* Fort George Wright, Washington, 4 June 1941 * Fort Lawton, Washington, 19 June 1941 – 2 October 1942 *

RAAF Base Townsville RAAF Base Townsville (formerly RAAF Base Garbutt) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airfield, air base located in , west of Townsville in Queensland, Australia. It is the headquarters for No. 1 Wing Australian Air Force Cade ...

, Australia, November – December 1942 * Wards Airfield (5 Mile Drome), Port Moresby, December 1942 * Lae Nadzab Airport, Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea, January 1944 * Owi Airfield, Schouten Islands, Netherlands East Indies, July 1944 * Bayug Airfield, Leyte, Philippines, November 1944 * San Jose Airport (Mindoro), McGuire Field, Mindoro, Philippines, January 1945 * Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines, March 1945 * Motobu Airfield, Hamasaki (Motobu Airfield),

, August 1945 * Itazuke Air Base, Japan, October 1945-31 May 1946

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II Intermediate fighter commands of the United States Army Air Forces, 05 Command Fighter Military units and formations disestablished in 1948