Air Force Story Apr-Jul 1942: "AAF Fights Back" (1953) USAF V1C09; Military Aviation History

"Axis armies hope to meet in Asia; U.S. industry quadruples production; paratroopers trained; Air Transport Command established; airplane proves effectiveness in Battle of Midway."

Official history of the United States Air Force, volume 1 chapter 9, from April to July 1942.

USAF film SFP 263-9

Reupload of a previously uploaded film with improved video & sound.

Originally a public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
...In the first half of 1942 the Army Air Forces expanded rapidly. The extant training establishment was inadequate to train units wholesale, and so a concept was adopted of training cadres who would direct the training of their assigned units. The Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) was established 9 October 1942 to provide this training. By the beginning of 1944 there were 269 groups. 136 were deployed overseas, and of the remainder still in the United States, 77 were being organized and trained for overseas deployment. The other 56 served as defense units, as Operational Training Units (OTUs) preparing new units for combat, and as Replacement Training Units (RTUs) to train personnel replacements...

The United States Army Air Forces used a large variety of aircraft in accomplishing its various missions, including many obsolete aircraft left over from its time as the Air Corps, with fifteen designations of types.

The following were the most numerous types in the USAAF inventory, or those that specifically saw combat. Variants, including all photo-reconnaissance ("F") variants, are listed and described under their separate articles. Many aircraft, particularly transports and trainers, had numerous designations resulting from differences in power plants.

Bomber A-20 Havoc A-24 Banshee A-26 Invader A-35 Vengeance A-36 Apache B-17 Flying Fortress B-18 Bolo B-24 Liberator B-25 Mitchell B-26 Marauder B-29 Superfortress B-32 Dominator B-34 Ventura

Fighter P-35 P-36 Hawk P-38 Lightning P-39 Airacobra P-40 Warhawk P-47 Thunderbolt P-51 Mustang P-59 Airacomet P-61 Black Widow Supermarine Spitfire Bristol Beaufighter

Observation L-2 Grasshopper L-3 L-4 L-5 Sentinel O-47 de Havilland Mosquito

Transport C-45 Expeditor C-46 Commando C-47 Skytrain C-54 Skymaster C-56 Lodestar

Trainers AT-6 Texan AT-11 Kansan AT-18 Hudson AT-8/AT-17 Bobcat BT-13/BT-15 Valiant PT-13/17 Kaydet PT-16/PT-21/PT-22 PT-19/PT-23/PT-26

Utility, rescue, and gliders UC-43 Traveler UC-61 Argus UC-64 Norseman UC-72 UC-78 Bobcat Airspeed Oxford OA-10 Catalina R-4 Hoverfly CG-4 Waco Airspeed Horsa