US Army Air Forces Around the World | WW2 Era OSS Documentary | 1944

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This early 1944 film – originally titled as "AAF Report" – is a documentary presented by the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) and produced by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the intelligence agency of the United States during World War 2, and the predecessor of the modern Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It was the first official USAAF report made to be shown to the public. The film is introduced by air strategist Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

The film documents the world-wide activities of the U.S. Army Air Forces from 1941 till 1944. It is one of the best documentaries about the organization and the various operations of the Army Air Forces made during the Second World War. It shows the Allied air forces and their enemies (the German Luftwaffe and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force) in action on virtually all theaters, from the Pacific Ocean and China through North Africa to Western Europe. Using animated maps, the film shows the locations of the 15 "Air Forces" around the world and explains the American military strategy in detail. You will learn how the 15 "Air Forces" started and what their strength and missions were. The film contains a ton of historical footage showing daily operations from aircraft plants, training and transport, to exciting air battles. It also contains various images of the US home front.

The following warplanes appear in the film:
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Douglas A-20 Havoc
Douglas A-26 Invader
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Bristol Beaufort
Douglas SBD Dauntless
North American B-25 Mitchell
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Bell P-39 Airacobra
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Douglas DC-3
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Focke-Wulf Fw 190


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / CONTEXT

The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the aerial warfare service of the United States of America during and immediately after World War 2 (1939/41–1945), successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today, one of the five uniformed military services. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.

The peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By "V-E Day", the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide.

The Army Air Forces was created in June 1941 to provide the air arm a greater autonomy. The AAF succeeded both the Air Corps, which had been the statutory military aviation branch since 1926, and the GHQ Air Force, which had been activated in 1935 to quiet the demands of airmen for an independent Air Force similar to the Royal Air Force which had already been established in the United Kingdom / Great Britain.

Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of their army or navy (such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe), the AAF remained a part of the Army until a defense reorganization in the post-war period resulted in the passage by the United States Congress of the National Security Act of 1947 with the creation of an independent United States Air Force in September 1947.

By the end of World War 2, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service. By regulation and executive order, it was a subordinate agency of the United States Department of War (as were the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces) tasked only with organizing, training, and equipping combat units, and limited in responsibility to the continental United States. In reality, Headquarters AAF controlled the conduct of all aspects of the air campaigns in every part of the world, determining air policy and issuing orders without transmitting them through the Army Chief of Staff.


US Army Air Forces Around the World | WW2 Era OSS Documentary | 1944

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NOTE: THIS VIDEO DOCUMENTS HISTORICAL EVENTS. THE VIDEO HAS BEEN UPLOADED WITH EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. ITS TOPIC IS REPRESENTED WITHIN HISTORICAL CONTEXT.