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The Second Air Force was constituted as Northwest Air District on 19 October, 1940, and activated on 18 December 1940. Re-designated 2nd Air Force early in 1941, it served as both an air defense and a training organization during 1941. Afterwards it was engaged chiefly in training units and replacements for heavy, and later, very heavy bombing operations.
2nd Army Air Forces Patch
Constituted as Northwest Air District on 19 Oct 1940. Activated on 18 Dec 1940. Redesignated Second AF early in 1941. Served as both an air defense and a training organization in 1941. Afterward, was engaged chiefly in training units and replacements for heavy and, later, very heavy bombardment operations. Inactivated on 30 Mar 1946.
Activated on 6 Jun 1946. Assigned to Air Defense Command. Inactivated on 1 Jul 1948.
Activated on 1 Nov 1949. Assigned to Strategic Air Command.
Commands. II Air Support: 1941-1943. II Bomber: 1941-1943. II Fighter: 1941-1942. IV Air Support: 1942-1943. XX (formerly I) Bomber: 1943. XX Bomber (constituted Nov 1943): 1943-1944. XXI Bomber: 1944. XXII Bomber: 1944-1945.
Stations. McChord Field, Wash, 18 Dec 1940; Ft George Wright, Wash, 9 Jan 1941; Colorado Springs, Colo, Jun 1943-30 Mar 1946. Ft Crook, Neb, 6 Jun 1946-1 Jul 1948. Barksdale AFB, La, 1 Nov 1949-.
Commanders. Maj Gen John F Curry, 18 Dec 1940; Maj Gen Millard F Harmon, 5 Aug 1941; Brig Gen John B Brooks, 19 Dec 1941; Maj Gen Frederick L Martin, 1 Feb 1942; Maj Gen Robert Olds, 14 May 1942; Maj Gen Davenport Johnson, 25 Feb 1943; Maj Gen St Clair Streett, 9 Sep 1943; Maj Gen Uzal G Ent, 15 Jan 1944; Maj Gen Robert B Williams, 28 Oct 1944; Brig Gen Julius K Lacey, 21 Nov 1945; Maj Gen Charles B Stone III, 21 Feb 1946; Brig Gen Charles F Born, 19-30 Mar 1946. Brig Gen Walter R Peck, 6 Jun 1946; Maj Gen Frederick W Evans, 15 Jul 1946; Brig Gen Walter R Peck, 23 Jun 1947; Maj Gen Paul L Williams, 15 Sep 1947-1 Jul 1948. Brig Gen Paul T Cullen, 1 Nov 1949; Maj Gen Joseph H Atkinson, 10 Nov 1949; Maj Gen Frank A Armstrong Jr, 16 Nov 1952-.
Campaigns. American Theater.
Decorations. None.
Insigne. On a blue square, a golden orange falcon with jesses in striking attitude below a white star bearing a red disc. (Approved 16 Dec 1943. This insigne was superseded by another on 19 Oct 1954.)
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
Second Air Force traces its origins to October 19, 1940, when it was constituted as the Northwest Air District, one of four regional air districts the Army Air Corps established to organize territorial air defense as prewar tensions mounted. Activated on December 18, 1940, at McChord Field, Washington, and redesignated Second Air Force in early 1941, the organization spent its first year of existence serving a dual role, providing air defense for the Pacific Northwest while simultaneously training new units, a combination typical of the numbered air forces organized inside the continental United States during this formative period.
As the war progressed, Second Air Force's mission narrowed and deepened into an increasingly specialized training role: preparing crews and complete combat units for heavy bombardment operations, and, as the B-29 Superfortress program matured, for what the Army Air Forces designated "very heavy" bombardment. This shift makes Second Air Force one of the most historically significant training organizations of the entire war, because it was the command responsible for producing the first trained B-29 crews and combat groups that would go on to conduct the strategic bombing campaign against Japan. Second Air Force's relocation to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in June 1943 coincided with this intensifying B-29 training mission, positioning the command at the heart of the massive, technically demanding effort to prepare crews for an aircraft far more complex than anything the Army Air Forces had previously fielded.
Second Air Force's subordinate command history reflects this B-29 connection directly and unusually closely: the organization briefly held responsibility for the XX Bomber Command (redesignated from I Bomber Command in 1943), the newly constituted XX Bomber Command later that same year, the XXI Bomber Command in 1944, and the XXII Bomber Command from 1944 into 1945, each of these commands representing successive waves of B-29 training and organization before deployment overseas to the China-Burma-India and Central Pacific theaters. This pattern, standing up a bomber command, training it under Second Air Force's oversight, and then releasing it for overseas deployment, illustrates just how central this training organization was to the entire B-29 program's rapid wartime buildup.
A succession of senior officers commanded Second Air Force across the war, including Major General Millard F. Harmon (who would go on to significant Pacific theater command responsibility), Major General Frederick L. Martin (previously commander of the Hawaiian Air Force at the time of Pearl Harbor), Major General Robert Olds, Major General Uzal G. Ent, and Major General Robert B. Williams. This leadership roster, drawing on officers with direct prior combat theater experience, reflects the seriousness with which the Army Air Forces approached the demanding task of preparing crews for the B-29's unprecedented technical complexity and the high-stakes strategic bombing mission it would ultimately fly against Japan.
a. Status, readiness, and supply of US armed forces
Second Air Force's evolution into the Army Air Forces' primary very heavy bombardment training organization reflects a genuine readiness challenge unique to the B-29 program: the aircraft's pressurized cabin, remote-controlled gun turrets, and advanced engines required an entirely new body of technical training that no existing bomber crew training pipeline could simply be adapted to provide. The command's relocation to Colorado Springs in mid-1943, timed closely with the B-29's approach to operational readiness, reflects deliberate infrastructure planning to support this specialized mission. The successive assignment of XX, XXI, and XXII Bomber Commands to Second Air Force before their overseas deployment illustrates a readiness pipeline functioning almost like an assembly line, standing up, training, and releasing entire B-29 combat organizations in relatively rapid succession as the Pacific bombing campaign's needs grew.
b. Development of fighting men and command structures
Training B-29 crews required not just individual pilot, navigator, and gunner instruction but genuine crew-level and unit-level cohesion training, since the aircraft's complexity demanded tightly coordinated crews operating sophisticated, interdependent systems under combat conditions thousands of miles from the nearest friendly base. Second Air Force's repeated pattern of hosting a bomber command through its formation and training phase before releasing it for overseas deployment reflects a command structure well-suited to this kind of large-scale, sequential unit generation, a genuinely different organizational challenge than the individual replacement-crew training First Air Force conducted on the East Coast.
c. Prominent personnel and their role with the organization
Among Second Air Force's commanders, Major General Frederick L. Martin's tenure is historically notable given his earlier role commanding the Hawaiian Air Force at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, bringing hard, direct combat-readiness lessons into his subsequent stateside training command. Major General Millard F. Harmon's later prominence in Pacific theater air command adds further weight to Second Air Force's leadership roster, illustrating how officers cycled between training commands and combat theaters throughout the war, carrying operational lessons in both directions. Together, this leadership succession guided Second Air Force through its transformation from a dual air-defense-and-training organization into the essential training backbone of the B-29 Superfortress program, a contribution whose significance became fully apparent only in the war's final year as the strategic bombing campaign against Japan reached its climax.
Q1: When was the Second Air Force established?
A1: The Second Air Force was constituted as the Northwest Air District on October 19, 1940, activated December 18, 1940, and redesignated Second Air Force in early 1941.
Q2: What was the Second Air Force's primary WWII mission?
A2: After serving as both an air defense and training organization in 1941, Second Air Force focused chiefly on training crews and replacements for heavy and later very heavy bombardment operations.
Q3: What role did Second Air Force play in the B-29 program?
A3: Second Air Force trained the first B-29 Superfortress crews and briefly held the XX, XXI, and XXII Bomber Commands before those organizations deployed overseas to conduct the strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
Q4: Where was Second Air Force headquartered?
A4: Second Air Force was based at McChord Field, Washington, then Fort George Wright, Washington, before relocating to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in June 1943.
Q5: Who commanded the Second Air Force during WWII?
A5: Commanders included Major General Millard F. Harmon, Major General Robert Olds, Major General Uzal G. Ent, and Major General Robert B. Williams, among others across the war years.
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