US Army Air Corps Wings

This is a reproduction of the original World War II US Army Air Corps Wings.

The Air Corps became the branch for Army aviation in 1926. A few years later, in 1935, General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force was created for operational aviation units. This arrangement existed in the period leading up to United States entry into WW II.

The Army Air Forces (AAF) came into being on June 20, 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor. As war approached, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall saw the need for a stronger role for Army aviation. Consequently they created the Army Air Forces with General H. H. (Hap) Arnold as its head.

Army Air Forces attained quasi autonomy in March 1942, a few months after we entered the war. Acting under authority of the War Powers Act, Secretary Stimson approved a major War Department reorganization. Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces were made co-equal commands.

The AAF expanded rapidly. As the wartime build-up proceeded, more commands were added -- Flying Training Command, Technical Training Command, Ferrying Command, the numbered air forces and so on. In the course of wartime expansion and reorganization, the Air Corps ceased to be an operating organization. All elements of Army aviation were merged into the Army Air Forces. Although the Air Corps still legally existed as an Army branch, the position of Chief of the Air Corps was left vacant, and the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps was dissolved.

The Army Air Forces thus replaced the Air Corps as the Army aviation arm. All World War II Army aviation training and combat units were in the AAF. Many WW II servicemen still proudly identify themselves as veterans of the Air Corps but they actually served and fought in the Army Air Forces!

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