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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It trained

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

units and

aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, 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 ...

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 Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

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, which ...

in October 1942, it conducted

antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in 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 are typic ...

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 ri ...

(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, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

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; 1 AF-AFNORTH) 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 is the air defense of the Conti ...

. 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 * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...

, 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 Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write Decimal, decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers ...

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 Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

from the

2d Bombardment Wing The 2nd Bomb Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command and the Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The wing is also the host unit at Barksdale. The wing was a ...

, 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 were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

activity brought a

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

request for reinforcement of Army bomber forces in Newfoundland. In the first week of December, the command dispatched the

49th Bombardment Squadron "Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings ...

to meet the Navy request. Then the command's

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

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

began operating in American coastal waters. By March 1942 fifty-three ships had been sunk in the

North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier The Eastern Sea Frontier (EASTSEAFRON) was a United States Navy operational command during World War II, that was responsible for the coastal waters from Canada to Jacksonville, Florida, extending out for a nominal distance of two hundred miles. T ...

. Defense plans drawn up before the war began assigned the Navy responsibility for operations beyond the coastline, with

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

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. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

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 Americ ...

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 I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

. 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 heavy 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 Aircraft Company f ...

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 Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

s to patrol as far out as 300 miles, and

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

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 congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

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

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

. 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 (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

, 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 *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territory ...

, 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 service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

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 First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, 5 September – 9 December 1941 *

2d Bombardment Group 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 OO2, the minor planet 7499 L'Aquila *1990 OO2, the asteroid 9175 Graun Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *'' 002 Operazione Luna' ...

, 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 In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave ...

: 5 September 1941 – 15 October 1942 *

22d Bombardment Group D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

, 5 September 1941 – February 1942 * 34th Bombardment Group, 5 September 1941 – 27 January 1942 *

43d Bombardment Group The Poor Relief Act 1601 (43 Eliz 1 c 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601, popularly known as the Elizabethan Poor Law, "43rd Elizabeth" or the Old Poor Law was passed in 1601 and created a poor la ...

, 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 01 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943