The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Air Forces were America's domestic combat organizations. Along with their commitment to the defense of America (which, don’t forget, then comprised only 48 states), these four domestic air forces trained units and crews for combat in other theatres. First Troop Carrier Command (not assigned to the First Air Force), fulfilled a similar mission for tactical transport crews. Independent of the numbered air forces, Flying Training Command (and later Training Command) were responsible for flight training in the US. Air Transport Command carried out global strategic airlift, whilst Materiel Command issued technical orders and specifications for aircraft, including color schemes. Only four numbered air forces (the Eighth, Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth) directed the massive combat efforts in Europe and the Mediterranean. Whilst eight numbered air forces fought the Japanese, this number reflected more the geographic expansiveness of the theatre, rather than overall strength.

Aircraft in New Guinea and Australia were assigned to the Fifth Air Force (originally known as the Far East Air Force) in February 1942. South Pacific units in the theater commanded by US Admiral Nimitz, including those in the Solomons, Fiji and New Caledonia, became the Thirteenth Air Force in January 1943, although the Fifth and Thirteenth later teamed up to become the Far Eastern Air Force, in a variation from the original thematic name for the Fifth. The Panama Canal and Caribbean were defended by the Sixth Air Force. Japanese attacks in these theatres never materialized, although remarkably, German U-Boats were sometimes a problem. In Hawaii, the Seventh Air Force was so designated in February 1942. Whilst it saw combat throughout the Central Pacific, much of its strength was also diverted to other theaters. US forces in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) came under the Tenth Air Force, formed in February 1942, and General Claire Chennault's China Air Task Force gained independence as the Fourteenth Air Force in March 1943. To defend the Aleutians and Alaska was originally assigned the Alaskan Air Force, which became the Eleventh Air Force in February 1942. Finally, the Twentieth Air Force was formed in 1944 to oversee the B-29 assault on the Japanese homeland.

 

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