1945-1947 The War Won and the AAF Returns to Peace

1945 opened with a massive surprise attack by the Luftwaffe on Allied airfields in Belgium. However, when the attack was over, the Luftwaffe had suffered huge losses in aircraft and pilots, while the Allies were able to replace all of their aircraft in a week, and lost only a few pilots. This broke the back of the Luftwaffe and from then on, the AAF were able to carry out ever increasing at­tacks on German industry as the country’s borders shrank under the Allies massive ground attacks. The end of the war in Europe came after only a few months and VE-Day was celebrated on May 8,

1945.

After catching its breath, the AAF turned to its final war effort, the defeat of Japan. The Twentieth Air Force had been formed in April 1944 and in the summer of that year had started heavy bomber operations against Japan, Formosa, Thailand, and Burma, At the beginning of 1945, the Far East Air Force (FEAF) was attacking the Philippines and Borneo. The Seventh, Tenth, Eleventh, and Fourteenth Air Forces were chasing the Japanese in the Asia and Pacific theaters, moving closer and closer to the Japanese home­land. The end for Japan came in August, when two atomic bombs proved that Japan could be defeated without an invasion,

Even though the war only continued for just over four months against Germany, aircraft losses continued to be heavy, 3,631 air­craft being lost in the European and Mediterranean theaters. This brought the total losses in the war against the Axis powers in Eu­rope to no less than 18,418 aircraft. In the Pacific area in the war against Japan, some 1,699 aircraft were lost, bringing the total in that area to 4,530 aircraft. This included 399 lost by the new Twen­tieth Air Force, primarily B-29s. Fighting the greatest war in world history had cost the USAAF some 22,948 aircraft and total casual­ties of 121,867 personnel.

At mid-1945, the USAAF strength had declined in total num­ber of aircraft, to 68,398, but this was somewhat misleading: all combat types of aircraft had actually increased, the decrease being chiefly in a drop of training aircraft from the previous 27,907 to some 12,581. Very heavy bombers, mainly the B-29 plus a few B – 32s, had grown to no less than 2,374 aircraft.

Once victory had been gained, the United States demobilized headlong, just as it had done at the end of World War I. Hundreds of aircraft were scrapped or sold, the strength having dropped to 44,782 aircraft by December 1945, and bases world-wide were closed. So many men were demobilized that the AAF could only muster two groups ready for combat by July 1946. A totally new Air Force had to be built for peacetime operations; its authorized strength was 70 groups but peacetime budgets kept it to only 48 groups (in fact, the reduction in the number of aircraft was such that when the next war broke out in Korea, there were only 19,944 on strength in June 1951).

As a result, the amount of time and effort spent on specs, and T. O. s was extremely small compared to the very active war years, as we shall see in this chapter. However, the Army Air Forces com­manders had never lost sight of their aim to become a separate ser­vice, on a level with the Army and Navy. Planning for this had started in 1943 and was well advanced by mid-1945. Eventually, all of this came to fruition in 1947, but not until after meeting with strong opposition from the Navy.

During this immediate post-war period, the AAF also began to receive the first of its jet-propelled aircraft, and put some of them into unit service. The Lockheed P-80 was the first to enter service, to be followed somewhat later by the Republic P-84. The first of the giant inter-continental bombers in the form of the competing Northrop XB-35 and the Convair XB-36 also made their first flights, as did the North American B-45 and Convair B-46 four-jet light and medium bombers. However, the transport field was still domi­nated by piston-engined types, such as the Douglas C-74 and the Fairchild C-82. It was a period of transition to new technologies, and opened up the future to the sharply reduced AAF.

Spec. No.	Jan. Feb.	Mar. Apr.	May June	Jul. Aug.	Sep. Oct.	Nov. Dec.
T. O. 07-1-1 Markings,	A |			New Issue |	Supplement |	Supplement |
Camouflage
Bulletin 48 Colors for Temporary
Finishes
24105 Markings for			3 1		s 1
Airplanes
24113 Color for Army Air Forces (		3 |
Airplanes
24114 Camouflage Finishes for, Aircraft
ANA 157 Aircraft Camouflage Color Standards
ANA 166 Aircraft Color Standards,
(Glossy)
AN-1-9 Insignia: National Star
AN-1-38 Insignia & Markings for Rescue Aircraft					Issued October 17 I

US Army Air Forces specifications in use, revised, or issued, by date and version,

during 1945. The letters indicate a letter revision of a spec., such as T. O. 07-1-1 A. The numbers indicate an amendment to an earlier version of a spec., such as Amendment No. 6 to Spec. 24114.

Gen. Spaatz succeeded Gen. Arnold as CG, AAF on February 28, 1946, and finally became the first Chief of Staff of the new US Air Force on September 26, 1947, the point at which this volume concludes.

The major developments in the 1945-1947 time period for USAAF aircraft markings and camouflage were:

PT trainer aircraft to have yellow wings and tail surfaces, January 1945.

All A-20, A-26, and B-25 aircraft destined for the Far East Air Force to have ANA Olive Drab and Sea Gray camouflage, March 1945. Interior of all USAAF aircraft to be painted medium green or black, April 1945.

T. O, 07-1-1 adds yellow and black markings for Air Sea Rescue aircraft, July 1945.

Air Sea Rescue aircraft identification numerals changed to last three digits of serial number, September 1945.

Camouflage no longer required on gliders, liaison aircraft, helicopters, and troop transports, November 1945.

TO. 07-1-1 adds “Buzz Numbers” for all aircraft operating solely within the continental USA, November 1945.

Insignia applied to black camouflaged surfaces to now omit the insignia blue circle and border, June 1946.

Insignia red stripes added to white bars of national star insignia, January 1947.

Spec. No.	Jan. – Apr. 1946	May – Aug. 1946	Sep. – Dec. 1946	Jan.- Apr. 1947	May – Aug. 1947	Sep.- Dec. 1947
T. O. 07-1-1 Markings,		New Issue |
Camouflage
Bulletin 48 Colors for Temporary Camouflage Finishes					1TSAF
formed
24105 Markings for	2 1
Airplanes
24113 Color for Army Air Forces (
Airplanes
24114 Camouflage Finishes for, Aircraft
ANA 157 Aircraft Camouflage ,		b |
Color Standards
ANA 166 Aircraft Color Standards,		a |
(Glossy)
AN-I-9 Insignia: National Star <		1 |		2 |	c 1
AN-I-38 Insignia & Markings for Rescue Aircraft 1					a |

US Army Air Forces specifications in use, revised, or issued, by date and version, during 1946-1947. The letters indicate a letter revision of a spec., such as T. O. 07-1-1 A. The numbers indicate an amendment to an earlier version of a spec., such as Amendment No. 6 to Spec. 24114. The USAAF came to an end on September 26, 1947, when it was superseded by the new US Air Force.