The V 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 ...

unit. It was last 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 organizat ...

, based at Irumagawa AB, Japan. It was inactivated on 31 May 1946. 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 opposing ...

the unit initially controlled Fifth Air Force bomber units in the Philippines. It was largely destroyed in the Battle of the Philippines, and withdrew to Australia at the end of December 1941, although elements of some units remained in the Philippines until April 1942. Re-equipped, the command provided command and control authority of Army Air Force bombardment organizations within the Fifth Air Force Area of Responsibility (AOR). Afterward, served with the occupation force in Japan before being inactivated in 1946.

History

Participated in the defense of the Philippines in December 1941. Late in December the remaining bombers and some men were evacuated to Australia, and in January 1942 they were moved to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

to help delay the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

advance in the

Netherlands Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. The command ceased to function in March 1942 (the AAF bombardment organizations in the Southwest Pacific being under the control of American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (

ABDA The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Austra ...

) and later Allied Air Forces). Headquarters was remanned in September 1942 and shortly afterward it assumed control of AAF bombardment groups in Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. The command served in combat with

until the end of the war. Brigadier General Kenneth N. Walker, who was killed during a mission over Rabaul on 5 January 1943, was awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

; he had repeatedly taken part in combat missions and had developed an effective technique for bombing when opposed by enemy interceptors and antiaircraft fire. After the war the command became part of the occupation force for Japan. Inactivated on 31 May 1946. Disbanded on 8 October 1948.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 5th Bomber Command on 28 October 1941Maurer indicates that the unit was constituted as the "V" 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 14 November 1941 * Redesignated V Bomber Command c. 18 September 1942 : Inactivated on 31 May 1946 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 442-443

Assignments

, 14 November 1941 – 31 May 1946

Stations

* Clark Field,

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, Philippines, 14 November 1941 *

RAAF Base Darwin RAAF Base Darwin is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located in the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory, Australia. The base shares its runway with Darwin International Airport, for civil aviation purposes. The herit ...

, Australia, December 1941 *

, January–March 1942 *

RAAF Base Townsville RAAF Base Townsville (formerly RAAF Base Garbutt) is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) air base located in , west of Townsville in Queensland, Australia. It is the headquarters for No. 1 Wing Australian Air Force Cadets and, along with L ...

, Australia, 5 September 1942 * Jackson Airfield,

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, New Guinea, December 1942 * Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea, 21 February 1944 * Owi Airfield,

Schouten Islands The Schouten Islands ( id, Kepulauan Biak, also Biak Islands or Geelvink Islands) are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New ...

, Netherlands East Indies, c. 15 August 1944 * Bayug Airfield,

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, Philippines, November 1944 * McGuire Field,

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

, Philippines, January 1945 * Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines, March 1945 * Hamasaki (Motobu Airfield),

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, August 1945 * Murayama, Japan, October 1945 * Irumagawa AB, Japan, c. 15 January – 31 May 1946

Units

; Wings * 314th Bombardment Wing: 30 May 1946 – 31 May 1946 ; Groups *

3d Bombardment Group 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

: 5 September 1942 – 31 May 1946 *

6th Reconnaissance Group Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Alec Tre ...

: 10 October 1943 – 1 March 1944 *

19th Bombardment Group 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

: 16 November 1941 – March 1942; September 1942 – 9 December 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 Th ...

: 5 September 1942 – November 1945 (attached to

309th Bombardment Wing 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 ...

, 1–16 February 1944) *

27th Bombardment Group 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

: c. 20 November 1941 – 4 May 1942 (under operational control of

American-British-Dutch-Australian Command The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allies of World War II, Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of ...

after c. March 1942) *

35th Fighter Group Military units * 35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force * 35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I * 35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 Jul ...

: 10 November 1945 – 25 May 1946 *

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 ...

*: 18 January – 1 August 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 ...

: 5 September 1942 – 3 December 1945 *

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 1 ...

: 10 November 1945 – 1 June 1946 *

71st Reconnaissance Group 020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...

*: November 1943-1 March 1944 * 90th Bombardment Group: November 1942 – 23 November 1945 * 312th Bombardment Group: 16 January 1944 – 18 October 1945 * 345th Bombardment Group*: 5 June 1943 – 10 December 1945 *

380th Bombardment Group 38 may refer to: *38 (number), the natural number following 37 and preceding 39 *one of the years 38 BC, AD 38, 1938 Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending ...

*: May 1943-20 February 1946 *

417th Bombardment Group The 417th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with V Bomber Command at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945. During World War II, the group operated in the So ...

*: 28 January 1944 – 1 November 1945 *

494th Bombardment Group 494th may refer to: * 494th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 494th Bombardment Wing, inactive United States Air Force unit *494th Fighter Squadron (494 FS), part of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England See ...

: operational control 15 December 1944 – 28 January 1945 *Note; Does not include periods detached to combat wings ; Squadrons * 2d Emergency Rescue Squadron, 5 September – 7 October 1944 * 3d Emergency Rescue Squadron: operational control 26 August – 2 October 1944; assigned 21 November 1945 − 31 May 1946 * 8th Photographic Squadron (later 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron): assigned 5 September 1942 – 13 November 1943; attached c. 10 December 1945, assigned c 27 April 1946 – 31 May 1946 * 20th Reconnaissance Squadron: 1 December 1945 – 31 May 1946 * 25th Liaison Squadron: 24 November – 13 December 1943 * 82d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron: 1 February – 31 May 1946 * 157th Liaison Squadron: attached 25 November 1945, assigned 25 March – 1 June 1946 * 418th Night Fighter Squadron: attached 10 November 1945 – 20 March 1946 * 547th Night Fighter Squadron: attached 10 November 1945 – 20 February 1946Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 650-651

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{USAAF 5th Air Force World War II 05 Command Bomb Military units and formations disestablished in 1948