How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

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stg 44
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How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#1

Post by stg 44 » 06 Apr 2015, 19:40

I'm trying to figure out what the strength of the USAAF air forces were via their component units. It seems l like the subunit for an air force was the air division; how many aircraft were in an air division on average?

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#2

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 06 Apr 2015, 20:25

The Division was a operational entity within a 'Air Force' mostly for tying Groups with similar characteristics/missions together under a single command. As such it had no rigid organization. Really the largest unit with a clear organization in the USAAF was the Group: of 2 - 4 combat squadrons & a HQ & service unit. A wing tied together several Groups but it was less a formal set 'unit'. I've seen numbers as low as less than 200 operational aircraft ascribed to air divisions, in the PTO, and over 1000 in the ETO.

From memory; the USAAF 9th Bombardment Division was originally formed within the 8th AF when more than 200 A20 & B26 models were on hand in the UK. Two Wings IIRC. When the US 9th Air Force was moved from Africa to the UK the 9th Division moved to the 9th AF & grew to far over 500 aircraft, mostly B26 models.

I think your best bet is to count squadrons, since even Groups and certainly the Wings varied in numbers of subunits. A general rule I used was: Group = 30-50, Wing = 100-120, but I'd not use that for exact counting. I'd have to dig through a lot of bookmarks and shelved notes to provide more detail. Hope this bit helps.


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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#3

Post by RichTO90 » 06 Apr 2015, 20:31

stg 44 wrote:I'm trying to figure out what the strength of the USAAF air forces were via their component units. It seems l like the subunit for an air force was the air division; how many aircraft were in an air division on average?
Good luck. :D The only "Air Divisions" in the USAAF were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Bombardment Divisions (later Air Divisions), and the 9th Air Division (originally the 19th Bombardment Wing, then IX Bomber Command, then 9th Bombardment Division (Medium), then 9th Air Division) and the I and II Tactical Air Division (never deployed, American Theater only).

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Bombardment/Air Divisions were components of the Eighth Air Force (originally VIII Bomber Command) and were comprised of changing numbers of air wings. Over time, the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 13th, 14th, 20th, 40th, 41st, 45th, 92nd, 93rd, 94th, 96th Bombardment, and 65th, 66th, and 67th Fighter Wings were part of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Division. Each wing normally comprised three groups, and groups normally comprised three or four squadrons.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#4

Post by RichTO90 » 06 Apr 2015, 20:38

Carl Schwamberger wrote:I think your best bet is to count squadrons, since even Groups and certainly the Wings varied in numbers of subunits. A general rule I used was: Group = 30-50, Wing = 100-120, but I'd not use that for exact counting. I'd have to dig through a lot of bookmarks and shelved notes to provide more detail. Hope this bit helps.
The following were the "official figures" for group strengths (aircraft/crews):

Very Heavy Bombardment 45/60
Heavy Bombardment 72/90
Medium Bombardment 96/96
Light Bombardment 96/96
Single-Engine Fighter 111-125/108-126
Twin-Engine Fighter 111-126/108-126
Night Fighter (Squadron) 18/16
Troop Carrier 80-110/128
Combat Cargo 125/150
Tac Recon (Squadron) 27/23
Photo Recon (Squadron) 24/21
Combat Mapping (Squadron) 18/16

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#5

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 11 Apr 2015, 12:41

stg
What brought up the question?

Here is a bit of text on the USAAF organization. The section you are probably looking for is around pages 58 - 59

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VI/AAF-VI-2.html

Note two items. A. Not all groups had the full four squadrons assigned. B. The battle or combat strength of a group or squadron was 2\3 of the full airframe strength.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#6

Post by stg 44 » 12 Apr 2015, 19:39

Carl Schwamberger wrote:stg
What brought up the question?

Here is a bit of text on the USAAF organization. The section you are probably looking for is around pages 58 - 59

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VI/AAF-VI-2.html

Note two items. A. Not all groups had the full four squadrons assigned. B. The battle or combat strength of a group or squadron was 2\3 of the full airframe strength.
I was trying to figure out the strength of the 8th air force during various periods and what it was able to achieve during those periods.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#7

Post by RichTO90 » 12 Apr 2015, 19:43

stg 44 wrote:I was trying to figure out the strength of the 8th air force during various periods and what it was able to achieve during those periods.
Then number of air divisions won't help you. What periods are you looking at?

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#8

Post by stg 44 » 12 Apr 2015, 20:16

Right, I'm not asking about numbers of divisions, rather numbers within the divisions.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#9

Post by RichTO90 » 12 Apr 2015, 21:13

stg 44 wrote:Right, I'm not asking about numbers of divisions, rather numbers within the divisions.
So Eighth Air Force. For what periods?

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#10

Post by stg 44 » 12 Apr 2015, 22:01

Not just the 8th, but its constituent components in 1942-45, early mid and late each year.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#11

Post by RichTO90 » 12 Apr 2015, 23:24

stg 44 wrote:Not just the 8th, but its constituent components in 1942-45, early mid and late each year.
Then you're going to have to go to Maxwell to do the research.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#12

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 13 Apr 2015, 00:28

You can attempt sifting through the Squadron & Group/Wing histories, but thats going to a very big puzzle box.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#13

Post by stg 44 » 13 Apr 2015, 23:37

Carl Schwamberger wrote:You can attempt sifting through the Squadron & Group/Wing histories, but thats going to a very big puzzle box.
Yeah, its not looking like that sort of research has been conducted and compiled in one easy to access place.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

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Re: How many aircraft in a USAAF Air Division?

#14

Post by RichTO90 » 14 Apr 2015, 01:36

stg 44 wrote:Yeah, its not looking like that sort of research has been conducted and compiled in one easy to access place.

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Yeah, fraid not. The USAAF Statistical Digest covers theater strengths, so it is easy to track the total strength of the Eighth and Fifteenth Air forces heavy bombers, but tracking by bomb division or command is a little more problematic (except for IX Bomber Command/9th Bomb Division). Freeman covers some of the data in his various works on the Eighth Air Force, but it is scattered. The only way to do it consistently would be to go to the operational diary for Eighth Air Force and extract the strengths.

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