The III Bomber Command is a disbanded

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, 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 ...

headquarters. It was established in September 1941, shortly before 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 ...

to command bomber units assigned to 3rd Air Force. Following the entry of the United States into

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 opposing ...

, it flew patrols off the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts. However, its main efforts soon began organizing and training

medium bomber A medium bomber is a military bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized bombloads over medium range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. Mediums generally carrie ...

units and aircrews. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force at

MacDill Field MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946 and disbanded in October 1948.

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 ri ...

(GHQ AF) had been established with two major combat functions, to maintain a striking force against long range targets, and the air defense of the United States. In the spring of 1941, GHQ AF reorganized its Southeast Air District as 3rd Air Force. To carry out its mission of training and maintaining a strike force, 3rd Air Force organized 3rd Bomber Command at Drew Field, Florida in September 1941, shortly before the

. The command soon moved to

, Florida, where it was located when the

occurred. Shortly afterwards, it moved to Army Air Base, Savannah, Georgia, but returned to MacDill, where it spent the remainder of the war.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p.439

Training

It patrolled in search of enemy submarines. The command trained

units and crews for Third Air Force, and training for this type of unit was virtually a monopoly for the command. Until August 1943, it also conducted training for dive and light bomber units and crews. However their training was transferred to

III Air Support Command The III Tactical Air Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. It was disbanded on 24 October 1945. The command was established in 1941 as the 3rd ...

in August 1942. In late 1943, some

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...

training was moved from

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 defende ...

, which had been the primary command for that training, to the command in order to enable combined training between

fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...

and bombers. In conjunction with this transfer, the command adopted the three phase training system for its training units: Phase I (individual training); Phase II (crew training) and Phase III (unit training).

Lineage

* Constituted as the 3rd Bomber Command on 4 September 1941Maurer indicates unit was constituted as the "III" Bomber Command. However, the unit was constituted and activated with an

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

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 5 September 1941 * Redesignated III Bomber Command on 18 September 1942 : Inactivated on 8 April 1946 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948The group was transferred to the

when it was established as a separate service in September 1947. The Air Force disbanded it a year later.

Assignments

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in ...

, 5 September 1941 * Probably Tactical Air Command, 21 March 1946 – 8 April 1946

Components

Wings * 89th Combat Crew Training Wing, from 19 June 1944 * 323d Combat Crew Training Wing, 22 February 1945 – 8 April 1946 Groups * 3rd Bombardment Group, 8 December 1941 - 2 January 1942 *

12th Bombardment Group 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassi ...

, 18 April – 16 August 1942 * 21st Bombardment Group, 11 March – 2 May 1942; 8 May 1942 – 10 October 1943 *

30th Bombardment Group 030 may refer to: * Motorola 68030 * BR-030 * Geographical telephone calling prefixes ** Greater Accra area code, Ghana ** Utrecht, Netherlands ** Berlin, Germany ** Bar Municipality and Ulcinj Municipality of Montenegro ** Province of Brescia ...

: 15 January – 24 May 1941 * 46th Bombardment Group, 8 May – c. 8 July 1942; 6 August 1943 – 1 May 1944 *

47th Bombardment Group 47th may refer to: Chicago Transit Authority stations * 47th station (CTA Green Line), on the Green Line * 47th station (CTA Red Line) 47th is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Red Line. The station is loca ...

, 1 May – 10 August 1942 (attached to 3d Ground Air Support Command after 29 June 1942) * 48th Bombardment Group, 8 May – 10 August 1942 * 85th Bombardment Group, 16 March - 2 May 1942; 8 May – 10 August 1942 *

86th Bombardment Group Area codes 084 and 086 are Nigerian telephone area codes serving the cities of Port Harcourt and Ahoada in Rivers State. They fall under the Southeast Zone in the National Numbering Plan (NNP) restructured in 2003. When in Port Harcourt or Ahoa ...

: 10 August 1942 – c. 11 May 1943 (attached to 23d Provisional Training Wing, c. September 1942 – c. March 1943) * 90th Bombardment Group: 15 April – 12 September 1942 * 91st Bombardment Group: 15 April – c. 28 June 1942 *

92d Bombardment Group 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

: 1 March – August 1942 *

94th Bombardment Group The Type 094 (; Chinese designation: 09- IV; NATO reporting name: Jin class) is a class of ballistic missile submarine developed by China for the People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force. The Type 094 succeeds the Type 092 submarine and ...

: 15–29 June 1942 * 95th Bombardment Group: 15–26 June 1942 * 100th Bombardment Group: 1–18 June 1942 *

310th Bombardment Group 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 '' ...

: 15 March – 2 May 1942 *

312th Bombardment Group 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, ...

, 16 March – 2 May 1942 * 319th Bombardment Group: 26 June – c. 12 September 1942 * 322d Bombardment Group: 17 July – c. 15 November 1942 *

335th Bombardment Group The 335th Air Refueling Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The group was active at Barksdale Field, Louisiana from July 1942 as a training unit for medium bomber aircrews. It was disbanded in May 1944, when the Army Air Forces r ...

, 31 July 1942 – 1 May 1944? * 336th Bombardment Group, c. 15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944 *

386th Bombardment Group 386th may refer to: *386th Air Expeditionary Wing, provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to United States Air Forces Central *386th Fighter Squadron or 174th Air Refueling Squadron, unit of the Iowa Air National Guard 185th Air Refuelin ...

, 1 December 1942 – c. 2 June 1943 *

409th 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 c ...

, 6 August 1943 – 7 March 1944 * 410th Bombardment Group, 6 August 1943 – 4 April 1944 * 416th Bombardment Group, 6 August 1943 – January 1944 (attached to II Tactical Air Division 1−22 November 1943) Squadrons * 1st Composite Squadron: 19 November 1944 – 2 January 1945 * 3d Reconnaissance Squadron; 5 June 1941 – 25 February 1942 (attached to

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 ...

) * 35th Reconnaissance Squadron (Fighter); 15 August – 1 September 1943 * 38th Reconnaissance Squadron (Bombardment; 15 August – 1 September 1943Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 181

Stations

* Drew Field, Florida, 5 September 1941 * MacDill Field, Florida, c. September 1941 * Army Air Base, Savannah, Georgia, c. 10 December 1941 * MacDill Field, Florida, c. 15 December 1941 – 8 April 1946

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USAAF 3d Air Force World War II 03 03 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946