U.S. Army Air Corps Archives

U.S. Army Air Corps

“The War Between the Smiths”: High Command Feud at Saipan

By David Lippman

The ferocious battle for the island of Saipan in the Marianas was won by U.S. Marines and U.S. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

“Flak Was Our Worst Enemy”: Wilbur Bowers’ Air War Over Europe

By Richard A. Beranty

For 33 months beginning in 1942, the U.S. Eighth Air Force and its precision daylight bombing strikes against German targets in Europe tried to pound the Third Reich into submission. Read more

Military book reviews from Warfare History Network.

U.S. Army Air Corps

Military Book Reviews: George S. Patton and Erwin Rommel

by Lt. Col. Harold E. Raugh, Jr.

American General George S. Patton, Jr., and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel both demonstrated the masterful employment of armored forces in many World War II military campaigns. Read more

Robert Taylor’s painting Valor in the Pacific shows Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the 499th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force, headed home to bases in the Marianas after dropping their cargoes of death and destruction on Tokyo. Low on fuel, their escort of P-51 Mustang fighters begins to turn away toward bases of their own.

U.S. Army Air Corps

Prelude to Iwo Jima: The Japanese Assault On B-29 Base On Marianas

By Michael P. Slater

From an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Graduates Who Shaped WWII

By Phil Gioia

Watching his forces prepare to attack the Union Army at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson commented to an aide, “The Institute will be heard from today.” Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

George Preddy, Jr.: The USAAF’s Greatest P-51 Ace

By Kelly Bell

Darwin, Australia, was hot even though it was mid-winter. On the afternoon of July 12, 1942, four newly deployed pilots of the U.S. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

Hero to the End: Airman William “Ed” Dyess on the Philippines

By Sam McGowan

Lieutenant Colonel William Edwin Dyess, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot and squadron commander, was considered a hero by men who served under him in the Philippines and who felt they owed their own lives to Ed’s sacrifice. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

John Steinbeck in World War II

By Robert E. Cray, Jr.

A fuming John Steinbeck vented his frustration over World War II to a friend on March 15, 1943. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?

By Sam McGowan

One of the most frequently discussed arguments to come out of World War II is which was the “better” bomber, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator? Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

U.S. Involvement in WWII: How (and How Much) the Military Grew

By Allyn Vannoy

U.S. involvement in WWII grew to be about 16,000,000 military personnel by the war’s end: approximately 11,200,000 in the Army, 4,200,000 in the Navy, and 660,000 in the Marine Corps. Read more

In this vivid painting by artist Jack Fellows, Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers of the 312th Bombardment Group, U.S. Army Air Forces, attack Clark Field in the Philippines on January 14, 1945. The planes use parafrag bombs against Japanese kamikaze aircraft on the ground at the air base near Manila. This was a follow-up raid to one that had taken place a week earlier, and both were intended to destroy suicide aircraft before they had the chance to damage American ships.

U.S. Army Air Corps

Kamikazes Caught on the Ground: Raid on Clark Field

By Robert F. McEniry, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, kept his promise to return to the Philippine Islands when his Sixth Army under the command of Lt. Read more

Prospective Eagle Squadron pilots were required to undergo standard RAF flight training even though they already held certifications. In this photo American pilots fly trainers in formation above an RAF flight training school.

U.S. Army Air Corps

Yanks in the RAF: From Eagle Squadron to 4th Fighter Group

by David Alan Johnson

The first of the three Eagle Squadrons was formed at Church Fenton, Yorkshire, in September 1940. The idea of forming an all-American squadron in the RAF was not a wildly popular one— with either the British or the Americans. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

The Azimuth “Smart” Bombs of World War II

By Joseph Frantiska, Jr.

As soon as one caveman threw a rock in anger at another, the human race took a giant step forward in warfare. Read more

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force head toward a target inside Germany. Along with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, the Flying Fortress was a workhorse of the U.S. daylight bombing effort against Nazi-occupied Europe.

U.S. Army Air Corps

Command of the Air: The Allied Bombing of Germany

by Gerald Astor

Behind the strategy that governed the American air war in Europe during World War II lay events and ideas that dated back to World War I and the 1920s. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

First Strike Against Japanese Industry

By Phil Scearce

Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber crews of the U.S. 11th Bombardment Group spent the first three months of 1943 organizing on Hawaiian airfields and flying practice and patrol missions around the islands. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

“This is the Army”: Irving Berlin’s War

By Sheldon Winkler

The most successful and popular patriotic show of World War II and one of the most unique productions in the history of entertainment was Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army, which originally began as a Broadway musical. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

Marshall Builds the U.S. Army

By Earl Rickard

On July 17, 1941, United States Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall sat before the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Stories from a WWII Pilot

By Lester F. Rentmeester

The following story describes one of our air raids when I was piloting a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II. Read more

U.S. Army Air Corps

WWII Aircraft: The Douglas C-54 Skymaster

By Sam McGowan

At the beginning of World War II, the globe seemed huge—covered by thousands of miles of ocean and uninhabited land mass, but by the time it ended everything had been brought closer together, thanks largely to the four-engine transports of the United States Army Air Transport Command, particularly the Douglas C-54 Skymaster. Read more