XII Bomber Command is an inactive

United States 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 ...

formation. Its last assignment was with the

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

, based in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

, France. It was constituted on 26 February 1942, activated on 13 March 1942, and inactivated on 10 June 1944.

History

It was assigned to Twelfth Air Force in August 1942 and transferred, without personnel and equipment, to

RAF High Wycombe RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where the command was re-formed. Moved to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, with the first of its elements arriving during the invasion in November 1942. Served in combat in the Mediterranean theater until 1 November 1943 when most of the personnel were withdrawn and reassigned to

Fifteenth Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

. Received additional personnel in January 1944 and served in combat until 1 March 1944. It was finally disbanded in Corsica on 10 June 1944.

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

's novel Catch 22 draws on his experiences with the

340th Bombardment Group 34 may refer to: * 34 (number), the natural number following 33 and preceding 35 * one of the years 34 BC, AD 34, 1934, 2034 * ''34'' (album), a 2015 album by Dre Murray * "#34" (song), a 1994 song by Dave Matthews Band * "34", a 2006 song by Sa ...

, part of XII Bomber Command.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 12th Bomber Command on 16 February 1942 : Activated on 13 March 1942 : Redesignated XII Bomber Command c. 24 September 1942 : Disbanded on 10 June 1944

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 E ...

, 13 March 1942 *

, 31 August 1942Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 449-450 (years only). (Attached to

VIII Bomber Command 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

September 1942 – c. 16 October 1942) *

Northwest African Air Forces Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) was a component of the Allied Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) during February–December 1943. It was responsible primarily for air operations during the Tunisian Campaign and bombing of Italy. Its command ...

, February 1943 (attached to

Northwest African Strategic Air Force The Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) was a sub-command of the Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) which itself was a sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command (MAC). These new Allied air force organizations were created at the Cas ...

(later Strategic Air Force, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces) * Twelfth Air Force, 1943 – 10 June 1944

Stations

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, 13 March 1942 *

(AAF-101), United Kingdom, 31 August-10 November 1942 *

Tafaraoui Airfield Oran Tafaraoui Airport is a joint civil/military airport in Oran Province, Algeria . History During World War II, it was a primary mission objective of the United States Army 34th Infantry Division during the Allied Operation Torch landings on 8 ...

, Algeria, 22 November 1942 *

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, Algeria, 27 November 1942 *

Constantine Airfield Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport is an airport in Algeria, located approximately south of Constantine; about east-southeast of Algiers. History The airport was built in 1943 as Constantine Airfield by the United States Army during the Wor ...

, Algeria, 5 December 1942 *

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, Tunisia, 23 July 1943 *

Bari Airfield The Foggia Airfield Complex was a series of World War II military airfields located within a radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Italy. The airfields were used by the United States Army Air Force Fifteenth Air Force as part of the strat ...

, Italy, c. December 1943 *

Pollena Trocchia Pollena Trocchia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 11 km east of Naples. It was created in 1811 from two already existing villages, Pollena and Trocchia, both of ...

(Naples), Italy, 4 January 1944 *

, c. April-10 June 1944

Components

; Wings *

5th Bombardment Wing The 5th Bomb Wing (5 BW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. The wing is also the host unit at Minot. The 5 BW is one of onl ...

, 13 October 1942 – 1 November 1943 * 7th Fighter Wing (later 47th Bombardment Wing), 7 January – 18 February 1943; 1 September – 1 November 1943 *

42d Bombardment Wing 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 ...

, 1 September – 1 November 1943 * 57th Bombardment Wing, 1 January – 1 March 1944 ; Groups *

1st Fighter Group 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to: *1 (number), a number, a numeral *001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent *001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986) *AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valkyrie ...

, 24 December 1942 – 18 February 1943; 1 September 1943 – 1 November 1943 *

2nd Bombardment Group The 2d Operations Group (2 OG) is the flying component of the United States Air Force 2d Bomb Wing, assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command Eighth Air Force. The group is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. 2 OG is one of t ...

, 1 September 1943 – 1 November 1943 *

3d Photographic Group The United States Air Force's 543d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. It has been located there since 1997, when it was activated as the 543d Intelligence Grou ...

, 16 October 1942 – 5 January 1943 *

12th Bombardment Group 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria, South Africa See also * 12 (disambiguation) Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year Years * 12 BC * ...

, 2 January – c. 21 March 1944 *

14th Fighter Group 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 * 014 Construction Unit * Divi Divi Air Flight 014 * Pirna 014 * Tyrrell 014 The Tyrrell 014 was a Formula One car, designed for Tyrrell Racing by Maurice Philippe for use in the season. The cars were powered by ...

, 11 December 1942 – January 1943 *

21st Bombardment Group 021 is: * in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities ( Greater Rio de Janeiro) * in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai. * in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and s ...

, 2–8 May 1942 * 46th Bombardment Group, 2–8 May 1942 * 48th Bombardment Group, 2–8 May 1942 * 68th Reconnaissance Group: 18 October – 1 November 1943 (attached to 5th Bombardment Wing after 31 October 1943) * 85th Bombardment Group, 16 March - 2 May 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 ...

: 1 May – 21 July 1942 * 97th Bombardment Group: 14 September 1942 – January 1943 * 98th Bombardment Group: 19–24 September 1943 *

301st Bombardment Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

: 14 September 1942 – January 1943 *

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 ''Wild, ...

: 2 May 1942 – 18 February 1943 (attached to 7th Fighter Wing after 1 February 1943) *

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, ...

, 2 May – 10 August 1942 * 319th Bombardment Group: c. 11 November 1942 – 1 June 1943

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II 12 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944