United States Army Air Forces
Air force · United States
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and the de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941-1947). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force. The AAF became the first air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, and its peak size during World War II was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, operating from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide by V-E Day. It remained part of the Army until the post-war defense reorganization that created the independent U.S. Air Force.
