title: George McGovern

text: McGovern's legacy also includes his commitment to combating hunger both in the United States and around the globe. He said, "After I'm gone, I want people to say about me: He did the best he could to end hunger in this country and the world." In the view of Knock, McGovern in all his activities arguably accomplished more for people in need than most presidents or secretaries of state in U.S. history. Responding to the Serenity Prayer's desire to "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change", McGovern said simply that he rejected that notion: "I keep trying to change them."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Recovery (stylized as RECOVƎRY) is the seventh studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on June 18, 2010, by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. It serves as a direct follow-up to last year’s "Relapse" (2009). Production of the album took place during 2009 to 2010 at several recording studios and was handled by various record producers, including Alex da Kid, Just Blaze, Boi-1da, Jim Jonsin, DJ Khalil, Mr. Porter, and Dr. Dre. Eminem also collaborated with artists such as Pink, Lil Wayne, Slaughterhouse and Rihanna for the album.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "Recovery" featured more introspective and emotional content than its predecessor and the theme of the album revolved around his positive changes, anxiety, and emotional drives. To promote it, Eminem performed the album's songs on televised shows, at award ceremonies, and musical events; he also headed The Recovery Tour.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 741,000 copies. It also reached number one in 16 other countries. It spawned four singles: "Not Afraid", "Love the Way You Lie", "No Love", and "Space Bound", with the former two both reaching number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Recovery" was the best-selling album worldwide in 2010 and the best-selling album in the US in 2010. The album received generally positive reviews by critics and was widely regarded as an improvement to "Relapse".


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: In 2022, "Recovery" was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), becoming Eminem's third best-selling studio album behind "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000) and "The Eminem Show" (2002). At the 2011 Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year; the latter two were for "Love the Way You Lie". The album earned Eminem American Music Awards, "Billboard" Music Awards, among other awards


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Due to Eminem recording far more material than he could use for one album, he felt that he had to offer his fans more music. After staying on hiatus for so long, fellow D12 member Swift confirmed that Eminem had in fact planned to put out two albums that year, following with "Relapse 2" in late 2009. According to Angela Yee's Shade 45 interview with Eminem on April 23, 2009, "Relapse 2" was to be a continuation of "Relapse". During the interview, Eminem confirmed: "It's extremely close to being finished, it just depends on how many songs I want to put on it." Eminem also explained that the album was more "emotionally driven" than "Relapse", which was, as he explains, "[just] rap records". Guest appearances were expected to come from the likes of Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, D12, Royce da 5'9", Lloyd Banks and Cashis. The album was subsequently pushed back for an early 2010 release, so Eminem decided to re-release "Relapse" as "Relapse: Refill", which includes a bonus disc featuring seven new tracks, including the single "Forever" (originally on "More Than a Game" soundtrack) and "Taking My Ball" (released with "DJ Hero"), as well as five previously unreleased tracks. During the recording process of the album, Eminem stated that "The new tracks started to sound very different than the tracks I originally intended to be on Relapse 2, but I still want the other stuff ["Relapse: Refill"] to be heard". On its re-release, Eminem stated: "I want to deliver more material for the fans this year like I originally planned. Hopefully these tracks on "The Refill" will tide the fans over until we put out "Relapse 2" next year."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: On April 13, 2010, Eminem tweeted "There is no "Relapse 2", thus announcing that the album had been scrapped in favour of his new project "Recovery". While recording "Relapse 2" and witnessing the mixed reaction of its predecessor among fans and critics alike, Eminem decided to throw away most of the recorded material and started from scratch. The result appeared to be more of an individual project that deserved its own name, other than a continuation of "Relapse". Eminem said: "I had originally planned for "Relapse 2" to come out last year. But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to "Relapse" started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on "Recovery" came out very different from "Relapse", and I think it deserves its own title."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The track 'Insult to Injury' would have been the leading track according to The Alchemist the producer of the track. 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' featuring D12 was a track that leaked that was recorded around early 2010 and style was more close to "Recovery" than "Relapse." Cocaine featuring Jazmine Sullivan also leaked but it wasn't confirmed if it was for "Relapse 2" or "Recovery" also recorded in 2010. 'Nut Up' was a leaked song from when Eminem was recording in Hawaii. 'Things Get Worse' was originally recorded in 2009 and was a solo track before Eminem and B.o.B collaborated for B.o.B's Greatest Hits album. On the track "Zeus" from the album "", Eminem apologizes to Rihanna over a leaked version of 'Things Get Worse' in which he sided with Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to felony assault involving her in 2009. A song of unknown title featuring 50 Cent and two songs led by Mr. Porter was also expected.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: All the songs from "Relapse: Refill" were going to be part of Relapse 2. The songs "On Fire", "So Bad" and "Ridaz" from "Recovery" were recorded in the same sessions in Hawaii which lead to speculation that they could have been intended for "Relapse 2". Although after the release of "Relapse: Refill" it is possible that Eminem had already moved on to "Recovery".


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The album was dedicated "To anyone who's in a dark place tryin' to get out. Keep your head up... It does get better!" Eminem told "Billboard" that he was in "full-blown addiction" while recording "Encore". He felt happier and "first got sober" during the recording of "Relapse," having overcome his addiction. While recording "Relapse", he admitted that he had not been "paying attention to what the average listener might like or not like." Just Blaze, the first producer of the album said, "[Eminem] already knew what sort of mistakes he has made with the previous album and where he wanted to go from there." Thus, "Recovery" was more "emotionally driven" than "Relapse", which was, as he explains, "[just] rap records." In contrast to Eminem's previous work, the album features no skits, and downplays his Slim Shady alter ego.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The album's artwork featured two covers: one with Eminem walking down a country road and another with him sitting in a transparent living room in the middle of Detroit with the Renaissance Center in the background. The album's liner featured pictures of Eminem such as a picture of him praying and him posing without a shirt on.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The record opens with "Cold Wind Blows" in which Eminem discusses his "doomed love for his ex-wife" and about "settling scores with rival celebs." In "Talkin' 2 Myself", he states the harm caused to his image with lyrics such as: "Encore' I was on drugs, 'Relapse' I was flushing them out." "On Fire" is about "a murder-and-dismemberment fantasy" and "Won't Back Down", which featured Pink, was a rap rock song. The singing to "W.T.P." ("White-Trash Party") is considered similar to his early records with lighter and simple rhythmic frame. "Going Through Changes", which samples Black Sabbath's "Changes", depicts Eminem's sorrow and shows himself trapped within fame. "Not Afraid", a mid-tempo song, focuses on personal changes in Eminem, including an end to drug abuse, feuds and violence.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Idolator commented that the song was based on the "dark days Eminem has lived through," and "he seems to be at peace with himself now." A writer for MuchMusic website noted that Eminem chose to use his Marshall Mathers ego for the song, rather than Slim Shady.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "No Love" features Lil Wayne as a hype man. Eminem's verses follow Lil Wayne, and according to Sam Wolfson of "NME" were "the best verses of his career." The meaning of "Space Bound" is deemed ambiguous and according to Sasha Grey who is featured in its video, the meaning can be interpreted "in many ways." Jim Jonsin of MTV spoke about Eminem's two egos seen in the video and compared it to Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" video while Grey believed that the alternate Eminem who appears in the car is his subconscious.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "Cinderella Man" has a "festive beat" and "the template of every album since "Encore" (2004)," with many minor keys and traces of post-grunge rock. "25 to Life" shows his discomfiture and depicts that the "selfish bitch" pulling him back "these days is rap itself." Despite the lyrics being tighter throughout the album, "So Bad" and "Almost Famous" view the other side of Slim Shady; his alter ego. The hip-hop ballad "Love the Way You Lie", which features Rihanna, describes a couple's refusal to separate despite having an abusive relationship. Rihanna sings the chorus, backed by an electric guitar and a piano, while acoustic guitar, violin and drums accompany Eminem's verses. Rihanna's singing expresses "grief and regret" throughout the song.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: To promote the album, Eminem released a freestyle titled "Despicable" about "Over" by Drake and "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" by Lloyd Banks (featuring Juelz Santana) to promote the first single, "Not Afraid", which debuted on Shade 45 on April 29. "Recovery" was released on June 18 in Europe and on June 21 in the United States and United Kingdom.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Eminem promoted the album throughout its initial release, doing interviews for brands like Red Bull. A commercial for "Recovery" premiered during Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals. It featured Vince Offer doing a parody of his Slap Chop commercials. There was a "" ad underscored by "Won't Back Down"; the song also appeared in the game as an easter egg.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: On June 15, Eminem appeared among other artists including Usher and will.i.am for Activision's press conference during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 with Rihanna where the duo performed "Love the Way You Lie". In addition, Eminem performed "Lose Yourself", "Not Afraid", and premiered "Won't Back Down" for the first time. Eminem was featured on E! during their Daily 10 show in an interview with Clinton Sparks and also appeared in a skit on The Soup. He performed songs from the album as well as his previous songs at various events such as the 2010 BET Awards, 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, Bonnaroo Music Festival, T in the Park and Virgin Group's V Festival. He also headed The Recovery Tour; a series of European, American and Australian concerts in support of the album and its predecessor "Relapse".


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The first single, "Not Afraid", was released on April 29, 2010. The song sold 380,000 digital downloads in its first week, and it became the sixteenth song in the history of the US "Billboard" Hot 100 to debut at number one; it is the second hip hop single to debut at number one following "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: It has sold more than 5 million copies and is certified 10× Platinum ♦ by RIAA in the US. "Not Afraid" which was directed by Rich Lee, premiered on June 5, 2010, through Vevo. The music video was shot in Newark, New Jersey and won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. The song also won Best Solo Rap Performance at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The second single was released on August 9, 2010, titled "Love the Way You Lie", which featured Rihanna. The song debuted at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and later peaked number one. The song gave Eminem his fourth US "Billboard" Hot 100 number one and Rihanna her seventh. It also claimed the top spot on over 20 other charts worldwide. "Love the Way You Lie" went on to be number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks and is certified Diamond by RIAA and has sold more than 6 million in US. The song became Eminem's best-selling single of all time, selling 9.3 million copies worldwide. Joseph Kahn directed the music video which premiered on August 5, 2010. The video starred Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox. Michael Menachem from "Billboard" commented that "Rihanna's chorus is exquisitely melodic and surprisingly hopeful, complementing the turmoil of Em's dark, introspective rant." The song was performed at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and was voted the best performer of the ceremony in an MTV poll, earning 34 percent of votes.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "No Love", which features American rapper Lil Wayne, was the third single released on October 5, 2010. "No Love" featured sample of "What Is Love" by Haddaway, which was done by producer Just Blaze. The song peaked number 23 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and stayed on the charts for 20 weeks. The music video, directed by Chris Robinson, premiered on September 30 via Vevo and various MTV networks. The video was about a young school boy who was bullied but had the urge to stand up after being motivated by listening to songs by Eminem and Lil Wayne. They performed "No Love" on "Saturday Night Live" on December 18, 2010.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "Space Bound" was released as the fourth and final single from the album on March 18, 2011. English songwriter Steve McEwan provided additional vocals in the chorus of the song. The single did not enter US "Billboard" Hot 100, however was certified Gold in United States on February 9, 2012. The music video for "Space Bound" was shot in February 2011 by Joseph Kahn. The uncensored music video was released on June 24, 2011, at 5 PM EST on iTunes only and the official video then premiered on Vevo on June 27 at 3 AM EST. The porn stars actress Sasha Grey and Eminem in a relationship which ends violently; the video caused controversy for a bloody scene in which Eminem shoots himself. The video was slammed by British anti-violence campaigners. Anti-violence group, Mothers Against Violence, told the "Daily Mirror", "It's all about the money with these videos. Eminem isn't thinking about the families affected."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Songs "25 to Life", "Won't Back Down", "Talkin' 2 Myself", and "Cold Wind Blows" also debuted on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 without release as singles.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: On February 28, 2018, "Cinderella Man" and "Won’t Back Down" were certified Platinum in the United States, while "Cold Wind Blows", "25 to Life" and "Talkin’ 2 Myself" were certified Gold.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: "Recovery" was released to generally favorable reviews, with most critics praising the lyrical themes and Eminem's performance. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 28 reviews. AllMusic's David Jeffries praised Eminem's performance as potent and energetic, and said that the album "may be flawed ... but he hasn't sounded this unfiltered and proud since "The Marshall Mathers LP"". Neil McCormick of "The Daily Telegraph" commended him for addressing more mature, introspective subject matter and successfully "framing his misogyny, homophobia and all-round bigotry with an undeniable sense of empathy and humanity." Jody Rosen, writing in "Rolling Stone", called it Eminem's "most casual-sounding album in years" and said that he "sounds content to be rap's wittiest head case."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: Sam Wolfson of "NME" called him "self aware, technically advanced, intelligent, able to go at speeds other than full throttle." Sean O'Neal of "The A.V. Club" stated that his lively raps make up for the "endless atonement metaphors" that occasionally weigh down the album. Kitty Empire, writing in "The Observer", said that it is "better than average" as a "latterday Eminem album" that shows, "in bursts, Eminem's health is very nearly rude." "MSN Music"s Robert Christgau said that, although the cleverness "varies" and the themes are "rarely" upheld by his "long-recessive sense of play", the album is a comeback "for Eminem, not Slim Shady—and for Marshall at his most martial. His most confessional as well."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: In a mixed review, Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" regarded Eminem as "frustratingly limited in his topical range" and called "Recovery" "the most insular of all his releases." Andy Gill of "The Independent" commented that "there's nothing here quite as witty or engaging as" on his previous work. In a largely negative review, "Pitchfork"s Jayson Greene perceived a lack of lyrical depth and wrote "for the first time in his career, he actually sounds "clumsy"." "Chicago Tribune" writer Greg Kot criticized the writing, and said that it lacks hooks and fun: "The subversive humor is long gone, and his cultural references ... remain dated." "Slant Magazine"s M. T. Richards also found Eminem's pop culture references "inane" and called the album's material "unsurprisingly hollow" with punchlines that "rarely resonate." "Los Angeles Times" writer Jeff Weiss found his rhyme schemes "dazzling" and wordplay "clever", but panned its production as "monochromatic and monotonous." "The Guardian"s Paul MacInnes said that the music lacks consistency because of a "piecemeal approach to production" and "fashionable soft-rock samples."


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The album debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, with first-week sales of 741,000 copies. It became Eminem's sixth album to debut at number one in the United States. In its second week of release it remained at number-one and sold 313,000 copies. It also entered at number one on "Billboard"s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Rap Albums chart. In its ninth week of release the album remained at number one for its seventh non-consecutive week and sold 116,000 copies. By March 2011, the album was number one on the all-time list of albums with the most digital sales, with over 922,000 copies digitally sold at the time. As of July 2011, the album broke the digital record and became the first album to sell one million digital copies. It held the record for most digital albums sold, but was later outsold by Adele's "21" album. On August 18, 2011, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in shipments and sales. As of November 13, 2013, the album has sold 4,513,000 copies in the United States and by August 6, 2018, the album hit nearly 4,830,000. Since its United States release, the album spent a total of 27 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, which is more than any other hip-hop album since 2003. It spent seven weeks at number one in both the US & UK amongst other nations.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 140,000 copies in its first week in the United Kingdom. In Canada, the album sold 85,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on Canada's Albums Chart. The album spent six consecutive weeks at number one, and retook the top spot after one week at number two. As of January 2020, the album has sold 613,000 copies in Canada. In Japan, Oricon recorded a debut of number six with 20,678 units sold. It also went gold in its first week in New Zealand and Australia, debuting at number one in both countries. The album has since sold over 210,000 copies in Australia, certifying it triple platinum.


title: Recovery (Eminem album)

text: By the end of its release year, "Recovery" had sold over 5.7 million copies worldwide. It was one of the best-selling album of 2010 in the United States with 3.4 million copies, and it had sold 2.3 million copies in other territories for a total of 5.7 million copies worldwide by December 2010. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, it was also the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide. The album was the best-selling album in Canada in 2010 selling 435,000 copies; more than double the album in second place. "Recovery" was the third best-selling album of 2010 in Australia. Since its release in 2010, the album has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: Teeth is a 2007 American comedy horror film written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. The film stars Jess Weixler and was produced by Lichtenstein on a budget of $2 million. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2007, and received a limited release in the United States on January 18, 2008, by Roadside Attractions. Its title refers to the ancient trope of the vagina dentata.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: "Teeth" was positively received by critics and grossed $2,340,110 worldwide. At Sundance, Weixler received the Grand Jury Prize for Acting.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: Dawn O'Keefe (Jess Weixler) is a teenage spokesperson for a Christian abstinence group called "the Promise". She attends groups with her two friends, Alisha (Julia Garro) and Phil (Adam Wagner). At home on several occasions, she hears her stepbrother Brad (John Hensley), and his girlfriend Melanie (Nicole Swahn) arguing about Brad's refusal to engage in vaginal intercourse with her, insisting on only having anal sex. One afternoon after giving a speech to her group about the purity ring worn by members of the group, Dawn is introduced to Tobey (Hale Appleman), whom she finds attractive. The four begin going out as a group. Dawn has fantasies about marrying Tobey, although after acknowledging the attraction, they agree that they cannot spend time together. However, they later give in and meet at a local swimming hole. After swimming together, they go into a cave to get warm and begin kissing. Dawn becomes uncomfortable and tries to get Tobey to go back outside, but Tobey becomes more physical and aggressive. Dawn panics and tries to push him off. Tobey shakes Dawn, smacking her head on the ground and dazing her; Tobey takes the opportunity to begin raping her. Dawn fights back and inadvertently bites off his penis with her vagina. A horrified Dawn flees the scene. After a Promise meeting, she meets her classmate Ryan (Ashley Springer) at a dance; they talk, and he drops her off at her home.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: Dawn goes back to the swimming hole and she screams in horror when she sees a freshwater crab crawling on Tobey's penis. She drops her purity ring off a cliff. She then researches "vagina dentata" and realizes that she may have it. She visits a gynecologist, Dr. Godfrey (Josh Pais), in an attempt to find out what is happening to her. When he assaults her in the guise of an examination, reaching up inside her without a glove, she panics and her vagina bites off four fingers on his right hand. While biking home, several police vehicles pass her, and she sees someone driving a car that looks like Tobey's car. She decides to go back to visit the pool to investigate. When she arrives, she sees the police bringing up Tobey's body – he presumably died of shock in the water. Meanwhile, back at home, her ill mother, Kim O'Keefe (Vivienne Benesch), collapses. Dawn comes home and finds her, while Brad and Melanie are seen in his room having sex while Dawn's mother lies on the floor. Dawn's mother is taken to the hospital.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: Dawn goes to Ryan seeking help, hysterical about her encounter with the doctor, Tobey and her mother. Ryan gives her a sedative and masturbates her with a vibrator. Though initially afraid she will hurt him, she finds that when she is relaxed and is consenting to the sexual activity taking place, her "teeth" do not engage. The following morning they have sex again, but mid-coitus, Ryan's friend calls. Ryan smugly boasts that he and the friend had bet on whether he could score with Dawn. In her anger, her vagina bites off his penis, and she leaves him to call his mother for help. Dawn's stepfather Bill (Lenny Von Dohlen) attempts to throw Brad out, but Brad sets his dog on Bill, during which Brad confesses his love for Dawn. Dawn meets her stepfather and Melanie at the hospital after her mother has died, and seeing her stepfather hurt and hearing from Melanie how Brad told her to ignore her mother's cries for help earlier, she becomes emboldened by her power and goes back home to seek revenge. Dawn puts on make-up and goes to seduce her stepbrother. In the midst of the act, Brad recalls that, while still kids, Dawn bit his finger, but it was not her mouth that bit him. As he realizes this, Dawn's vagina bites off his penis. She drops it on the ground and although Brad calls his dog to bite her, the animal instead eats it, spitting out the genital pierced glans. Dawn leaves him and he presumably bleeds to death.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: Dawn cycles away from home, but her bike tire sustains a puncture, so she begins hitchhiking. She gets a lift from an old man (Doyle Carter), but falls asleep and rides for several hours, waking up after nightfall at a gas station. When she tries to get out, he repeatedly locks the doors. He licks his lips as if to ask for a sexual favor to release her; Dawn hesitates, then looks towards the camera, and turns to the old man with a seductive smile.


title: Teeth (2007 film)

text: The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 70 reviews, with an average score of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Smart, original, and horrifically funny, "Teeth" puts a fresh feminist spin on horror movie tropes." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 57/100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Foundation artistic director at the Sundance Film Festival Mystelle Brabbée claimed it was "one of the most talked-about films at the Sundance Film Festival this year". Jess Weixler won the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Performance (and tied with Tamara Podemski from the film "Four Sheets to the Wind").


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. After she graduated from Dartmouth College she moved to Chicago to study improvisational theatre at The Second City and ImprovOlympic.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Her breakthrough role was on the NBC television show "Saturday Night Live" ("SNL"); she was a cast member from 1999 to 2006 portraying a variety of roles including Debbie Downer. She has since occasionally returned to "SNL" as a guest portraying Senator Amy Klobuchar. Other television credits include "The King of Queens", "Monk", and "30 Rock". She has also played the recurring role of Wanda Jo Oliver on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver". She acted in films including "Click" (2006), "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" (2007), "Sisters" (2015), and "Wine Country" (2019).


title: Rachel Dratch

text: In 2022, Dratch made her Broadway stage debut in "" for which she earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination. In 2012 she published her autobiographical book "Girl Walks Into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle".


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Dratch was born on February 22, 1966 in Lexington, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elaine Ruth (née Soloway), a transportation director, and Paul Dratch, a radiologist. Both of Dratch's parents were Reform Jews. Dratch attended Hebrew school and had a bat mitzvah. She is nonobservant as an adult, and instead characterizes the faith she was born into as part of her cultural heritage.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Her younger brother, Daniel, is a television producer and writer; his credits include the TV series "Anger Management". Dratch says she grew up as the "class clown type" attending William Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School in Lexington. She said while performing in high school plays she gravitated towards acting in comedies more often than in dramas.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Dratch attended the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in the fall of 1985 and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988. She majored in drama and psychology and was a member of the improvisational comedy group "Said and Done". While at Dartmouth Dratch was a classmate of Kirsten Gillibrand.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received the Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress in a Revue for the two revues in which she performed: "Paradigm Lost" and "Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers". At The Second City, she performed alongside future "SNL" head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey, as well as future "30 Rock" performer Scott Adsit. The first incarnation of her "SNL" "Wicked" sketch was performed in The Second City's "Paradigm Lost". In addition to acting, Dratch also played the cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of "Dratch & Fey" (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey), which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, where it was dubbed "the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage" by "Time Out New York".


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Dratch has appeared in several movies, including "Martin & Orloff", "The Hebrew Hammer", "Down with Love", "", "Click", "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry", "Spring Breakdown", and "My Life in Ruins". She also has joined fellow "SNL" cast members on "A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv", which aired September 7, 2005, on the Bravo channel. Dratch also made television appearances on NBC's "Third Watch" and in a recurring role on "The King of Queens" (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Spence, who worked in a bowling alley). Other television appearances include "Monk", "Frasier", "Wizards of Waverly Place", "30 Rock", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", "Inside Amy Schumer", "Ugly Betty", and more recently, in season five of "The Middle". She also appeared online with comedian Billy Eichner in a spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind", titled "Forest Hills State of Mind."


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Dratch was originally cast in the role of Jenna Maroney on "30 Rock" as "Jenna DeCarlo", and the original pilot episode features her in the role. After feedback from test audiences, the role was ultimately recast with Jane Krakowski. She went on to play a variety of small guest roles in several episodes of the first season, including Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Taylor, a cat trainer, a custodian, a blue monster, and a doctor.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: On March 19, 2012, Dratch's memoir, "Girl Walks into a Bar...: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle" was published. In it, Dratch recounts her experiences after being recast in the "30 Rock" pilot, including the birth of her first child.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: In 2016 Dratch hosted the program "Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack" on truTV. The sketch comedy program featured Dratch playing a waitress who doesn't talk in wraparound segments. Dratch also appeared in sketches and the show ran for two seasons.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: Her tenure at "SNL" spanned 1999 to 2006. Dratch's recurring characters included Denise, a Boston teen; Sheldon, the junior-high-school boy from "Wake up, Wakefield"; one of the Luvahs (with Will Ferrell, as two pretentious professors); Abe Scheinwald, a Hollywood producer with a terrible acquisition record; and, perhaps most memorably, Debbie Downer, a depressed woman who brought others' moods down while saying grim non sequiturs. In December 2011, she made a guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live"s Christmas show, hosted by former cast member Jimmy Fallon. On April 15, 2017, she made another guest appearance with host Jimmy Fallon. On February 3, 2018 she made a guest appearance as a "Patriot of New England" in a Revolutionary War-themed sketch parodying the fans of the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles in advance of Super Bowl LII. On September 29, 2018, she appeared as Senator Amy Klobuchar in the cold open sketch surrounding the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She has continued to reprise the role of Klobuchar during sketches on the Democratic Party primary debates, specifically the fifth and sixth debates in November and December 2019.


title: Rachel Dratch

text: In her book "Girl Walks Into a Bar...", Dratch discusses meeting John Wahl, a consultant in the natural foods industry in a bar in 2009. Six months later, Dratch learned she was pregnant, and on August 24, 2010, Dratch gave birth to Eli Benjamin, her son with Wahl. In an October 2010 interview, Dratch told "People" that her pregnancy at age 44 shocked her, because she "had bought into all this stuff about, 'Once you're over 40 [pregnancy becomes difficult]" and had "gone through the whole process of letting go of [the idea of having kids.]" As of 2019, Dratch and Wahl are not a couple, but are on good terms and live near each other to be involved with their son.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and "de facto" aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps, General Headquarters Air Force, and the ground forces' corps area commanders and thus became the first air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel. The peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By "V-E Day", the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Army Air Forces was created in June 1941 to provide the air arm greater autonomy in which to expand more efficiently, to provide a structure for the additional command echelons required by a vastly increased force, and to end an increasingly divisive administrative battle within the Army over control of aviation doctrine and organization that had been ongoing since the creation of an aviation section within the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914. The AAF succeeded both the Air Corps, which had been the statutory military aviation branch since 1926 and the GHQ Air Force, which had been activated in 1935 to quiet the demands of airmen for an independent Air Force similar to the Royal Air Force which had already been established in the United Kingdom.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of their army or navy (such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe), the AAF remained a part of the Army until a defense reorganization in the post-war period resulted in the passage by the United States Congress of the National Security Act of 1947 with the creation of an independent United States Air Force in September 1947.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service. By regulation and executive order, it was a subordinate agency of the United States Department of War (as were the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces) tasked only with organizing, training, and equipping combat units and limited in responsibility to the continental United States. In reality, Headquarters AAF controlled the conduct of all aspects of the air war in every part of the world, determining air policy and issuing orders without transmitting them through the Army Chief of Staff. This "contrast between theory and fact is...fundamental to an understanding of the AAF."


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The roots of the Army Air Forces arose in the formulation of theories of strategic bombing at the Air Corps Tactical School that gave new impetus to arguments for an independent air force, beginning with those espoused by Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial. Despite a perception of resistance and even obstruction then by the bureaucracy in the War Department General Staff (WDGS), much of which was attributable to lack of funds, the Air Corps later made great strides in the 1930s, both organizationally and in doctrine. A strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: A major step toward a separate air force came in March 1935, when the command of all combat air units within the Continental United States (CONUS) was centralized under a single organization called the ""General Headquarters Air Force"". Since 1920, control of aviation units had resided with commanders of the corps areas (a peacetime ground forces administrative echelon), following the model established by commanding General John J. Pershing during World War I. In 1924, the General Staff planned for a wartime activation of an Army general headquarters (GHQ), similar to the American Expeditionary Forces model of World War I, with a GHQ Air Force as a subordinate component. Both were created in 1933 when a small conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a "coup d'état" but was not activated.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. Airpower advocates achieved a centralized control of air units under an air commander, while the WDGS divided authority within the air arm and assured a continuing policy of support of ground operations as its primary role. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a strike force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Lines of authority were difficult, at best, since GHQ Air Force controlled only operations of its combat units while the Air Corps was still responsible for doctrine, acquisition of aircraft, and training. Corps area commanders continued to exercise control over airfields and administration of personnel, and in the overseas departments, operational control of units as well. Between March 1935 and September 1938, the commanders of GHQ Air Force and the Air Corps, Major Generals Frank M. Andrews and Oscar Westover respectively, clashed philosophically over the direction in which the air arm was moving, exacerbating the difficulties.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a reorganization study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Arnold's proposal was immediately opposed by the General Staff in all respects, rehashing its traditional doctrinal argument that, in the event of war, the Air Corps would have no mission independent of support of the ground forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting "Deputy Chief of Staff for Air" but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four geographical air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii and the Panama Canal. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with a subordinate organization of 54 groups.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The likelihood of U.S. participation in World War II prompted the most radical reorganization of the aviation branch in its history, developing a structure that both unified command of all air elements and gave it total autonomy and equality with the ground forces by March 1942.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In the spring of 1941, the success in Europe of air operations conducted under centralized control (as exemplified by the British Royal Air Force and the German Wehrmacht's military air arm, the Luftwaffe) made clear that the splintering of authority in the American air forces, characterized as "hydra-headed" by one congressman, had caused a disturbing lack of clear channels of command. Less than five months after the rejection of Arnold's reorganization proposal, a joint U.S.-British strategic planning agreement (ABC-1) refuted the General Staff's argument that the Air Corps had no wartime mission except to support ground forces. A struggle with the General Staff over control of air defense of the United States had been won by airmen and vested in four command units called "numbered air forces", but the bureaucratic conflict threatened to renew the dormant struggle for an independent United States Air Force. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a "simpler system" and a unified command. Working with Arnold and Robert A. Lovett, recently appointed to the long-vacant position of Assistant Secretary of War for Air, he reached a consensus that quasi-autonomy for the air forces was preferable to immediate separation.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: On 20 June 1941, to grant additional autonomy to the air forces and to avoid binding legislation from Congress, the War Department revised the army regulation governing the organization of Army aviation, AR 95–5. Arnold assumed the title of "Chief of the Army Air Forces", creating an echelon of command over all military aviation components for the first time and ending the dual status of the Air Corps and GHQ Air Force, which was renamed "Air Force Combat Command" (AFCC) in the new organization. The AAF gained the formal "Air Staff" long opposed by the General Staff, and a single air commander, but still did not have equal status with the Army ground forces, and air units continued to report through two chains of command. The commanding general of AFCC gained control of his stations and court martial authority over his personnel, but under the new field manual FM-5 the Army General Headquarters had the power to detach units from AFCC at will by creating task forces, the WDGS still controlled the AAF budget and finances, and the AAF had no jurisdiction over units of the Army Service Forces providing "housekeeping services" as support nor of air units, bases, and personnel located outside the continental United States.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department (similar to that of the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy) until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a strong proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war. Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, in recognition of importance of the role of the Army Air Forces, Arnold was given a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the planning staff that served as the focal point of American strategic planning during the war, in order that the United States would have an air representative in staff talks with their British counterparts on the Combined Chiefs. In effect the head of the AAF gained equality with Marshall. While this step was never officially recognized by the United States Navy, and was bitterly disputed behind the scenes at every opportunity, it nevertheless succeeded as a pragmatic foundation for the future separation of the Air Force.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Under the revision of AR 95–5, the Army Air Forces consisted of three major components: Headquarters AAF, Air Force Combat Command, and the Air Corps. Yet the reforms were incomplete, subject to reversal with a change of mood at the War Department, and of dubious legality. By November 1941, on the eve of U.S. entry into the war, the division of authority within the Army as a whole, caused by the activation of Army GHQ a year before, had led to a "battle of memos" between it and the WDGS over administering the AAF, prompting Marshall to state that he had "the poorest command post in the Army" when defense commands showed a "disturbing failure to follow through on orders". To streamline the AAF in preparation for war, with a goal of centralized planning and decentralized execution of operations, in October 1941 Arnold submitted to the WDGS essentially the same reorganization plan it had rejected a year before, this time crafted by Chief of Air Staff Brig. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz. When this plan was not given any consideration, Arnold reworded the proposal the following month which, in the face of Marshall's dissatisfaction with Army GHQ, the War Plans Division accepted. Just before Pearl Harbor, Marshall recalled an Air Corps officer, Brig. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, from an observer group in England and appointed him to chair a "War Department Reorganization Committee" within the War Plans Division, using Arnold's and Spaatz's plan as a blueprint.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: After war began, Congress enacted the First War Powers Act on 18 December 1941 endowing President Franklin D. Roosevelt with virtual "carte blanche" to reorganize the executive branch as he found necessary. Under it, on 28 February 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9082, based on Marshall's recommendation and the work of McNarney's committee. The EO changed Arnold's title to "Commanding General, Army Air Forces" effective 9 March 1942, making him co-equal with the commanding generals of the new Army Ground Forces and Services of Supply, the other two components of the Army of the United States. The War Department issued Circular No. 59 on 2 March that carried out the executive order, intended (as with the creation of the Air Service in World War I) as a wartime expedient to expire six months after the end of the war. The three components replaced a multiplicity of branches and organizations, reduced the WDGS greatly in size, and proportionally increased the representation of the air forces members on it to 50%.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In addition to dissolving both Army General Headquarters and the chiefs of the combat arms, and assigning their training functions to the Army Ground Forces, War Department Circular 59 reorganized the Army Air Forces, disbanding both Air Force Combat Command and the Office of Chief of the Air Corps (OCAC), eliminating all its training and organizational functions, which removed an entire layer of authority. Taking their former functions were eleven numbered air forces (later raised to sixteen) and six support commands (which became eight in January 1943). The circular also restated the mission of the AAF, in theory removing from it responsibility for strategic planning and making it only a Zone of Interior "training and supply agency", but from the start AAF officers viewed this as a "paper" restriction negated by Arnold's place on both the Joint and Combined Chiefs, which gave him strategic planning authority for the AAF, a viewpoint that was formally sanctioned by the War Department in mid-1943 and endorsed by the president.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Circular No. 59 reorganization directed the AAF to operate under a complex division of administrative control performed by a policy staff, an operating staff, and the support commands (formerly "field activities" of the OCAC). The former field activities operated under a "bureau" structure, with both policy and operating functions vested in staff-type officers who often exercised command and policy authority without responsibility for results, a system held over from the Air Corps years. The concept of an "operating staff", or directorates, was modeled on the RAF system that had been much admired by the observer groups sent over in 1941, and resulted from a desire to place experts in various aspects of military aviation into key positions of implementation. However functions often overlapped, communication and coordination between the divisions failed or was ignored, policy prerogatives were usurped by the directorates, and they became overburdened with detail, all contributing to the diversion of the directorates from their original purpose. The system of directorates in particular handicapped the developing operational training program (see "Combat units" below), preventing establishment of an OTU command and having a tendency to micromanage because of the lack of centralized control. Four main directorates—Military Requirements, Technical Services, Personnel, and Management Control—were created, each with multiple sub-directorates, and eventually more than thirty offices were authorized to issue orders in the name of the commanding general.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Among the headquarters directorates were Technical Services, Air Defense, Base Services, Ground-Air Support, Management Control, Military Equipment, Military Requirements, and Procurement & Distribution.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: A "strong and growing dissatisfaction" with the organization led to an attempt by Lovett in September 1942 to make the system work by bringing the Directorate of Management Control and several traditional offices that had been moved to the operating staff, including the Air Judge Advocate and Budget Officer, back under the policy staff umbrella. When this adjustment failed to resolve the problems, the system was scrapped and all functions combined into a single restructured air staff. The hierarchical "command" principle, in which a single commander has direct final accountability but delegates authority to staff, was adopted AAF-wide in a major reorganization and consolidation on 29 March 1943. The four main directorates and seventeen subordinate directorates (the "operating staff") were abolished as an unnecessary level of authority, and execution of policies was removed from the staffs to be assigned solely to field organizations along functional lines. The policy functions of the directorates were reorganized and consolidated into offices regrouped along conventional military lines under six assistant chiefs of air staff (AC/AS): Personnel; Intelligence; Operations, Commitments, and Requirements (OC&R); Materiel, Maintenance, and Distribution (MM&D); Plans; and Training. Command of Headquarters AAF resided in a Chief of Air Staff and three deputies.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: This wartime structure remained essentially unchanged for the remainder of hostilities. In October 1944 Arnold, to begin a process of reorganization for reducing the structure, proposed to eliminate the AC/AS, Training and move his office into OC&R, changing it to Operations, Training and Requirements (OT&R) but the mergers were never effected. On 23 August 1945, after the capitulation of Japan, realignment took place with the complete elimination of OC&R. The now five assistant chiefs of air staff were designated AC/AS-1 through -5 corresponding to Personnel, Intelligence, Operations and Training, Materiel and Supply, and Plans.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Most personnel of the Army Air Forces were drawn from the Air Corps. In May 1945, 88 per cent of officers serving in the Army Air Forces were commissioned in the Air Corps, while 82 per cent of enlisted members assigned to AAF units and bases had the Air Corps as their combat arm branch. While officially the air arm was the "Army Air Forces", the term "Air Corps" persisted colloquially among the public as well as veteran airmen; in addition, the singular "Air Force" often crept into popular and even official use, reflected by the designation "Air Force Combat Command" in 1941–42. This misnomer was also used on official recruiting posters (see image above) and was important in promoting the idea of an "Air Force" as an independent service. Jimmy Stewart, a Hollywood movie star serving as an AAF pilot, used the terms "Air Corps" and "Air Forces" interchangeably in the narration of the 1942 recruiting short ""Winning Your Wings"". The term "Air Force" also appeared prominently in Frank Capra's 1945 War Department indoctrination film ""War Comes to America"", of the famous iconic ""Why We Fight"" series, as an animated map graphic of equal prominence to that of the Army and Navy.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Air Corps at the direction of President Roosevelt began a rapid expansion from the spring of 1939 forward, partly from the Civilian Pilot Training Program created at the end of 1938, with the goal of providing an adequate air force for defense of the Western Hemisphere. An initial "25-group program", announced in April 1939, called for 50,000 men. However, when war broke out in September 1939 the Air Corps still had only 800 first-line combat aircraft and 76 bases, including 21 major installations and depots. American fighter aircraft were inferior to the British Spitfire and Hurricane, and German Messerschmitt Bf 110 and 109. Ralph Ingersoll wrote in late 1940 after visiting Britain that the "best American fighter planes already delivered to the British are used by them either as advanced trainers—or for fighting equally obsolete Italian planes in the Middle East. That is all they are good for." RAF crews he interviewed said that by spring 1941 a fighter engaging Germans had to have the capability to reach 400 mph in speed, fight at 30,000–35,000 feet, be simple to take off, provide armor for the pilot, and carry 12 machine guns or six cannons, all attributes lacking in American aircraft.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Following the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940, Roosevelt asked Congress for a supplemental appropriation of nearly a billion dollars, a production program of 50,000 aircraft a year, and a military air force of 50,000 aircraft (of which 36,500 would be Army). Accelerated programs followed in the Air Corps that repeatedly revised expansion goals, resulting in plans for 84 combat groups, 7,799 combat aircraft, and the annual addition to the force of 30,000 new pilots and 100,000 technical personnel. The accelerated expansion programs resulted in a force of 156 airfields and 152,125 personnel at the time of the creation of the Army Air Forces.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The German invasion of the Soviet Union, occurring only two days after the creation of the Army Air Forces, caused an immediate reassessment of U.S. defense strategy and policy. The need for an offensive strategy to defeat the Axis Powers required further enlargement and modernization of all the military services, including the new AAF. In addition, the invasion produced a new Lend lease partner in Russia, creating even greater demands on an already struggling American aircraft production.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: An offensive strategy required several types of urgent and sustained effort. In addition to the development and manufacture of aircraft in massive numbers, the Army Air Forces had to establish a global logistics network to supply, maintain, and repair the huge force; recruit and train personnel; and sustain the health, welfare, and morale of its troops. The process was driven by the pace of aircraft production, not the training program, and was ably aided by the direction of Lovett, who for all practical purposes became "Secretary of the Air Corps".


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: A lawyer and a banker, Lovett had prior experience with the aviation industry that translated into realistic production goals and harmony in integrating the plans of the AAF with those of the Army as a whole. Lovett initially believed that President Roosevelt's demand following the attack on Pearl Harbor for 60,000 airplanes in 1942 and 125,000 in 1943 was grossly ambitious. However, working closely with General Arnold and engaging the capacity of the American automotive industry brought about an effort that produced almost 100,000 aircraft in 1944. The AAF reached its wartime inventory peak of nearly 80,000 aircraft in July 1944, 41% of them first line combat aircraft, before trimming back to 73,000 at the end of the year following a large reduction in the number of trainers needed.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The logistical demands of this armada were met by the creation of the Air Service Command on 17 October 1941 to provide service units and maintain 250 depots in the United States; the elevation of the Materiel Division to full command status on 9 March 1942 to develop and procure aircraft, equipment, and parts; and the merger of these commands into the Air Technical Service Command on 31 August 1944. In addition to carrying personnel and cargo, the Air Transport Command made deliveries of almost 270,000 aircraft worldwide while losing only 1,013 in the process. The operation of the stateside depots was done largely by more than 300,000 civilian maintenance employees, many of them women, freeing a like number of Air Forces mechanics for overseas duty. In all facets of the service, more than 420,000 civilian personnel were employed by the AAF.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The huge increases in aircraft inventory resulted in a similar increase in personnel, expanding sixteen-fold in less than three years following its formation, and changed the personnel policies under which the Air Service and Air Corps had operated since the National Defense Act of 1920. No longer could pilots represent 90% of commissioned officers. The need for large numbers of specialists in administration and technical services resulted in the establishment of an Officer Candidate School in Miami Beach, Florida, and the direct commissioning of thousands of professionals. Even so, 193,000 new pilots entered the AAF during World War II, while 124,000 other candidates failed at some point during training or were killed in accidents.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The requirements for new pilots resulted in a massive expansion of the Aviation Cadet program, which had so many volunteers that the AAF created a reserve pool that held qualified pilot candidates until they could be called to active duty, rather than losing them in the draft. By 1944, this pool became surplus, and 24,000 were sent to the Army Ground Forces for retraining as infantry, and 6,000 to the Army Service Forces. Pilot standards were changed to reduce the minimum age from 20 to 18, and eliminated the educational requirement of at least two years of college. Two fighter pilot beneficiaries of this change went on to become brigadier generals in the United States Air Force, James Robinson Risner and Charles E. Yeager.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Air crew needs resulted in the successful training of 43,000 bombardiers, 49,000 navigators, and 309,000 flexible gunners, many of whom also specialized in other aspects of air crew duties. 7,800 men qualified as B-29 flight engineers and 1,000 more as radar operators in night fighters, all of whom received commissions. Almost 1.4 million men received technical training as aircraft mechanics, electronics specialists, and other technicians. Non-aircraft related support services were provided by airmen trained by the Army Service Forces, but the AAF increasingly exerted influence on the curricula of these courses in anticipation of future independence.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: African-Americans comprised approximately six per cent of this force (145,242 personnel in June 1944). In 1940, pressured by Eleanor Roosevelt and some Northern members of Congress, General Arnold agreed to accept blacks for pilot training, albeit on a segregated basis. A flight training center was set up at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Despite the handicap—caused by the segregation policy—of not having an experienced training cadre as with other AAF units, the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves in combat with the 332nd Fighter Group. The Tuskegee training program produced 673 black fighter pilots, 253 B-26 Marauder pilots, and 132 navigators. The vast majority of African-American airmen, however, did not fare as well. Mainly draftees, most did not fly or maintain aircraft. Their largely menial duties, indifferent or hostile leadership, and poor morale led to serious dissatisfaction and several violent incidents.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Women served more successfully as part of the war-time Army Air Forces. The AAF was willing to experiment with its allotment from the unpopular Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and became an early and determined supporter of full military status for women in the Army (Women's Army Corps or WACs). WACs serving in the AAF became such an accepted and valuable part of the service they earned the distinction of being commonly (but unofficially) known as "Air WACs". Nearly 40,000 women served in the WAACs and WACs as AAF personnel, more than 1,000 as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), and 6,500 as nurses in the Army Air Forces, including 500 flight nurses. 7,601 "Air WACs" served overseas in April 1945, and women performed in more than 200 job categories.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Air Corps Act of July 1926 increased the number of general officers authorized in the Army's air arm from two to four. The activation of GHQAF in March 1935 doubled that number to eight and pre-war expansion of the Air Corps in October 1940 saw fifteen new general officer billets created. By the end of World War II, 320 generals were authorized for service within the wartime AAF.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Air Corps operated 156 installations at the beginning of 1941. An airbase expansion program had been underway since 1939, attempting to keep pace with the increase in personnel, units, and aircraft, using existing municipal and private facilities where possible, but it had been mismanaged, first by the Quartermaster Corps and then by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because of a lack of familiarity with Air Corps requirements. The outbreak of war in Europe and the resulting need for a wide variety of facilities for both operations and training within the Continental United States necessitated comprehensive changes of policy, first in September 1941 by giving the responsibility for acquisition and development of bases directly to the AAF for the first time in its history, and then in April 1942 by delegation of the enormous task by Headquarters AAF to its user field commands and numbered air forces.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In addition to the construction of new permanent bases and the building of numerous bombing and gunnery ranges, the AAF utilized civilian pilot schools, training courses conducted at college and factory sites, and officer training detachments at colleges. In early 1942, in a controversial move, the AAF Technical Training Command began leasing resort hotels and apartment buildings for large-scale training sites (accommodation for 90,000 existed in Miami Beach alone). The leases were negotiated for the AAF by the Corps of Engineers, often to the economic detriment of hotel owners in rental rates, wear and tear clauses, and short-notice to terminate leases.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In December 1943, the AAF reached a war-time peak of 783 airfields in the Continental United States. At the end of the war, the AAF was using almost 20 million acres of land, an area as large as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire combined.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: By the end of World War II, the USAAF had created 16 numbered air forces ("First" through "Fifteenth" and "Twentieth") distributed worldwide to prosecute the war, plus a general air force within the continental United States to support the whole and provide air defense. The latter was formally organized as the Continental Air Forces and activated on 15 December 1944, although it did not formally take jurisdiction of its component air forces until the end of the war in Europe.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Half of the numbered air forces were created "de novo" as the service expanded during the war. Some grew out of earlier commands as the service expanded in size and hierarchy (for example, the "V Air Support Command" became the Ninth Air Force in April 1942), and higher echelons such as United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) in Europe and U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific became necessary to control the whole.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: A subordinate organizational tier within the numbered air force, the "operational command", was created to segregate units of similar functions (fighters and bombers) for administrative control. The numbering of the operational command was designated by the Roman numeral of its parent numbered air force. For instance, the Eighth Air Force listed the VIII Bomber Command and the VIII Fighter Command as subordinate operational commands. Roman numbered commands within numbered air forces also included "support", "base", and other services commands to support the operational units, such as the VIII Air Force Service and VIII Air Force Composite Commands also part of Eighth Air Force during its history. The use of Roman-numeral commands was nonstandard within the AAF; the Tenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Air Forces did not field subordinate commands during World War II.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Eight "air divisions" served as an additional layer of command and control for the vast organization, capable of acting independently if the need arose.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Inclusive within the air forces, commands and divisions were administrative headquarters called "wings" to control "groups" (operational units; see section below). As the number of groups increased, the number of wings needed to control them multiplied, with 91 ultimately activated, 69 of which were still active at the end of the war. As part of the Air Service and Air Corps, wings had been composite organizations, that is, composed of groups with different types of missions. Most of the wings of World War II, however, were composed of groups with like functions (denoted as "bombardment", "fighter", "reconnaissance", "training", "antisubmarine", "troop carrier", and "replacement").


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The six "support commands" organized between March 1941 and April 1942 to support and supply the numbered air forces remained on the same chain of command echelon as the numbered air forces, under the direct control of Headquarters Army Air Forces. At the end of 1942 and again in the spring of 1943 the AAF listed nine support commands before it began a process of consolidation that streamlined the number to five at the end of the war.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The primary combat unit of the Army Air Forces for both administrative and tactical purposes was the group, an organization of three or four flying squadrons and attached or organic ground support elements, which was the rough equivalent of a regiment of the Army Ground Forces. The Army Air Forces fielded a total of 318 combat groups at some point during World War II, with an operational force of 243 combat groups in 1945.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Air Service and its successor the Air Corps had established 15 permanent combat groups between 1919 and 1937. With the buildup of the combat force beginning 1 February 1940, the Air Corps expanded from 15 to 30 groups by the end of the year. On 7 December 1941 the number of activated combat groups had reached 67, with 49 still within the Continental United States. Of the CONUS groups (the "strategic reserve"), 21 were engaged in operational training or still being organized and were unsuitable for deployment. Of the 67 combat groups, 26 were classified as bombardment: 13 "Heavy Bomb" groups (B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator), and the rest "Medium" and "Light" groups (B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Marauder, and A-20 Havoc). The balance of the force included 26 "Pursuit" groups (renamed "fighter group" in May 1942), 9 "Observation" (renamed "Reconnaissance") groups, and 6 "Transport" (renamed "Troop Carrier" or "Combat Cargo") groups. After the operational deployment of the B-29 Superfortress bomber, "Very Heavy Bombardment" units were added to the force array.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In the first half of 1942 the Army Air Forces expanded rapidly as the necessity of a much larger air force than planned was immediately realized. Authorization for the total number of combat groups required to fight the war nearly doubled in February to 115. In July it jumped to 224, and a month later to 273. When the U.S. entered the war, however, the number of groups actually trained to a standard of combat proficiency had barely surpassed the total originally authorized by the first expansion program in 1940. The extant training establishment, in essence a "self-training" system, was inadequate in assets, organization, and pedagogy to train units wholesale. Individual training of freshly minted pilots occupied an inordinate amount of the available time to the detriment of unit proficiency. The ever-increasing numbers of new groups being formed had a deleterious effect on operational training and threatened to overwhelm the capacity of the old Air Corps groups to provide experienced cadres or to absorb graduates of the expanded training program to replace those transferred. Since 1939 the overall level of experience among the combat groups had fallen to such an extent that when the demand for replacements in combat was factored in, the entire operational training system was threatened.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: To avoid this probable crisis, an Operational Training Unit (OTU) system was adopted as it had been by the RAF. Under the American OTU concept, certain experienced groups were authorized as overstrength "parent" groups. A parent group (OTU unit) provided approximately 20% of its seasoned personnel as cadre to a newly activated, or "satellite", group. Cadres detached to the newly activated satellite group were first provided with special instruction on their training responsibilities, initially by the responsible air forces, but after 9 October 1942, by the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) to standardize curriculum and instruction. New graduates of training schools fleshed out the satellite group and also restored the parent group to its overstrength size. The parent group was responsible for the organization and training of its satellite, normally a process six months in length that began the day of detachment of the cadre, the first half of the process bringing the new unit up to strength, the second half devoted to flying training, with the final six weeks concentrating on fighting as a unit.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The plan was first adopted in February 1942 by the AFCC's Second and Third Air Forces, which had only training responsibilities during World War II. The creation of an "operating staff" on 9 March 1942 reorganization of the AAF and the dissolution of the AFCC halted the planned establishment of an Operational Training Command to oversee the program. Spaatz, last commanding general of the AFCC, was temporarily given supervisory responsibility for OTU while the new directorates were brought up to speed, but after April 1942 the sub-directorates having jurisdiction over the training tended to tell the air forces not only what to do, but how to do it. When the operating staff and its directorates were abolished in March 1943, control of OTU/RTU activities was placed under the "Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Training" and administered by the "Unit Training Division".


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In May 1942 the plan was extended to all four continental air forces but not until early 1943 were most developmental problems resolved. Before the system matured, each air force became predominant in one type of OTU training, heavy bomber in the Second Air Force, medium and light bomber in the Third, and fighters in the First and Fourth (which also had an air defense responsibility), but eventually both fighter and bombardment OTU were conducted in all four. When the bulk of new groups (and several parent groups) had been sent overseas, replacement training (RTU) took precedence over OTU and except for three B-29 groups, no new satellites were formed after October 1943. In December 1943, 56 groups were assigned to the strategic reserve as OTU parent units or RTUs, and the AAF had reached its maximum size, 269 groups. 136 were deployed overseas and of those still in the United States, 77 were also being organized and trained for overseas deployment. In the spring of 1944 all operational and replacement training was reassigned to "base units" of the respective CONUS air forces, resulting in the inactivation or disbanding between 31 March and 1 May 1944 of 49 OTU/RTU groups, which reduced the number of active groups to 218. However, additional groups were formed in the following months to bring the AAF to its final wartime structure.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Between the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and the end of the war in Europe in 1945, 149 combat groups fought against Germany, while by August 1945, when all combat operations ended, 86 groups were deployed in the Pacific and Far East. The European force was then either performing occupation duties or re-deploying to the United States. With the partial demobilization of the forces in Europe, the total of active groups in the AAF had been reduced to 213. Nearly all of the discontinued units were heavy bombardment groups (B-17 and B-24), which numbered only 35 at the war's end. The remainder had been inactivated or redesignated as very heavy bombardment (B-29).


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The basic permanent organization of the AAF for combat elements was the squadron. 1,226 combat squadrons were active in the USAAF between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. At the end of hostilities in 1945 a total of 933 squadrons remained active, with 868 assigned to the various groups. 65 squadrons, mostly reconnaissance and night fighter, were not assigned to groups but as separate units under higher command echelons.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The United States Army Air Forces used a large variety of aircraft in accomplishing its various missions, including many obsolete aircraft left over from its pre-June 1941 time as the Air Corps, with fifteen designations of types.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The following were the most numerous types in the USAAF inventory, or those that specifically saw combat. Variants, including all photo-reconnaissance ("F") variants, are listed and described under their separate articles. Many aircraft, particularly transports and trainers, had numerous designations resulting from differences in power plants.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: On 13 August 1941, the Air War Plans Division of the USAAF produced its plan for a global air strategy, AWPD/1. Formally known as "Annex 2, Air Requirements" to "The Victory Program", a plan of strategic estimates involving the entire U.S. military, the plan was prepared in accordance with strategic policies drawn earlier that year in the ABC-1 agreement with the British Commonwealth and the U.S. war plan Rainbow 5. Its forecast figures, despite planning errors from lack of accurate information about weather and the German economic commitment to the war, were within 2 percent of the units and 5.5 percent of the personnel ultimately mobilized, and it accurately predicted the time frame when the invasion of Europe by the Allies would take place.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: AWPD/1 called for an air defense of the Western hemisphere, a strategic defense against Japan in the Pacific, and strategic bombardment by 6,800 bombers against Germany, identifying 154 key targets of the German economic infrastructure it considered vulnerable to a sustained campaign. A strategic bomber requirement of 7,500 aircraft, which included the intercontinental Convair B-36 (then still in the design phase), was far too large for American industry to achieve to be practical, and an interim plan to attack Germany with 3,800 bombers was included in AWPD/1.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: AWPD/1 was approved by Marshall and Secretary of War Henry Stimson in September 1941. Although war began before the plan could be presented to Roosevelt, it became the foundation for establishing aircraft production and training requirements used during the war, and the concept of a strategic bomber offensive against Germany became policy of the U.S. government, in accordance with United States strategic policy stated in Rainbow 5, as the only means available to the United States to take the war to Germany.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In August 1942 Roosevelt called for a revision of proposed air requirements. AWPD/42 was presented on 6 September 1942, and although never accepted by the U.S. Navy, its revised estimates (which more than doubled production requirements to nearly 150,000 aircraft of all types, including those of the Navy and exports to allies) guided the Roosevelt Administration in 1943. The estimate was later reduced to 127,000, of which 80,000 were combat aircraft.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Like its predecessor, AWPD/42 laid out a strategic plan for the daylight bombing of Germany by unescorted heavy bombers, but also included a similar plan for attacks on Japan. Unfortunately the B-17 bomber command of the U.S. Eighth Air Force had only flown six relatively unopposed missions when AWPD/42 was drawn up, and the prior mistake in AWPD/1 of disregarding the need and feasibility of long-range fighter escorts was repeated.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Both plans called for the destruction of the German Air Force (GAF) as a necessary requirement before campaigns against priority economic targets. AWPD/1 established four target sets in order of priority: electrical power production, inland transportation, petroleum production, and Berlin; while AWPD/42 revised the priorities, placing U-boat facilities first, followed by transportation, electricity production, petroleum production, and rubber production.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: To prevent or alleviate the effects of combat fatigue, the AAF developed policies for rotating combat crews between the theaters of operations and the United States. Replacement limitations and operational requirements caused the modification of basic AAF policy several times during the war. On 1 July 1942 the War Department first set a one-year tour of duty for all AAF combat crews, but a simple, uniform policy service-wide was unrealistic and never put into effect. Instead field commanders developed their own criteria for determining completion of tours. While varying substantially between theaters, most of these programs attempted to establish fixed tours based on numbers of missions and other quantifiable factors. Nonetheless, Headquarters AAF did not interfere with theater programs but did prohibit any rotation unless replacements had first arrived in the unit. After studying the situation, the War Department rescinded the one-year tour policy on 29 May 1943 and changed procedures for assignment of replacements to include both attrition and rotation purposes. However a continuing shortage forced commanders to lengthen the tours they had established, to the detriment of aircrew morale.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: By January 1944 nearly all active tactical units had been programmed for deployment and the overall loss rate in the AAF was less than predicted. Arnold began to build reserves in tactical units to provide enough personnel for multiple crews for each aircraft but was hampered by the rotation policies, particularly among those fighting in Europe. Rotated personnel also believed that they were permanently exempt from further combat service, which was never the case at any time during World War II. He ordered the revocation on 16 February 1944 of policies that arbitrarily set fixed "goals" for completion of combat tours and directed that the impression that no airman would be required to serve more than one tour of combat be "unmistakably corrected".


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The use of in-theater rest camps as a short term measure for relief of stress only served to delay the onset of combat fatigue. The AAF approved in April 1944 the use of 30 days leave in the United States on a limited basis as a substitute for rotation but by August found it counterproductive for rehabilitative purposes. In September 1944 Arnold, without rescinding his "no fixed tours" order, notified field commands that his objective was to provide enough replacement crews that rotation "based on war weariness" became unnecessary. This resulted in a revision of rotation policies whose "guidelines" had the effect of again setting fixed limits for a tour of duty for the remainder of the war.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Air Force Historical Studies Office summarizes the execution of USAAF strategy during World War II:


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: "Arnold's staff made the first priority in the war to launch a strategic bombing offensive in support of the RAF against Germany. The Eighth Air Force, sent to England in 1942, took on that job. After a slow and often costly effort to bring the necessary strength to bear, joined in 1944 by the Fifteenth Air Force stationed in Italy, strategic bombing finally began to get results, and by the end of the war, the German economy had been dispersed and pounded to rubble.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: "Tactical air forces supported the ground forces in the Mediterranean and European theaters, where the enemy found Allied air supremacy a constant frustration. In the war against Japan, General Douglas MacArthur made his advance along New Guinea by leap frogging his air forces forward and using amphibious forces to open up new bases. The AAF also supported Admiral Chester Nimitz's aircraft carriers in their island-hopping across the Central Pacific and assisted Allied forces in Burma and China.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: "Arnold directly controlled the Twentieth Air Force, equipped with the new long-range B-29 Superfortresses used for bombing Japan's home islands, first from China and then from the Marianas. Devastated by fire-raids, Japan was so weakened by August 1945 that Arnold believed neither the atomic bomb nor the planned invasion would be necessary to win the war. The fact that AAF B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nevertheless, demonstrated what air power could do in the future. The Strategic Bombing Survey provided ammunition for the leaders of the AAF in the postwar debates over armed forces unification and national strategy."


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The United States Army Air Forces incurred 12% of the Army's 936,000 battle casualties in World War II. 88,119 airmen died in service. 52,173 were battle casualty deaths: 45,520 killed in action, 1,140 died of wounds, 3,603 were missing in action and declared dead, and 1,910 were non-hostile battle deaths. Of the United States military and naval services, only the Army Ground Forces suffered more battle deaths. 35,946 non-battle deaths included 25,844 in aircraft accidents, more than half of which occurred within the Continental United States. 63,209 members of the USAAF were other battle casualties. 18,364 were wounded in action and required medical evacuation, and 41,057 became prisoners-of-war. Its casualties were 5.1% of its strength, compared to 10% for the rest of the Army.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Total aircraft losses for the AAF from December 1941 to August 1945 were 65,164, with 43,581 lost overseas and 21,583 within the Continental United States. Combat losses of aircraft totaled 22,948 worldwide, with 18,418 lost in theaters fighting Germany and 4,530 lost in combat in the Pacific. The AAF credited its own forces with destroying a total of 40,259 aircraft of opposing nations by all means, 29,916 against Germany and its allies and 10,343 in the Pacific.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The cost of the war to the AAF was approximately $50 billion, or about 30% of the cost to the War Department, with cash expenditures from direct appropriations between July 1942 and August 1945 amounting to $35,185,548,000.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Total sorties flown by the AAF during World War II were 2,352,800, with 1,693,565 flown in Europe-related areas and 669,235 flown in the Pacific and Far East.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: 36 members of the Army Air Forces received the Medal of Honor for actions performed during air missions, 22 of them posthumously. Two additional awards were made, one posthumously, to AAF officers attached to the Western Task Force during Operation Torch.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: With the defeat of Japan, the entire United States military establishment immediately began a drastic demobilization, as it had at the end of World War I. The AAF was hit as hard or harder as the older services by demobilization. Officers and enlisted were discharged, installations were closed, and aircraft were stored or sold. Between August 1945 and April 1946, its strength fell from 2.25 million men to just 485,000, and a year later to 304,000. The Air Transport Command, which retained its mission to support the entire military establishment worldwide, was trimmed from nine to three divisions and by the end of 1946 its personnel reduced by 80%. Aircraft inventory dropped from 79,000 to less than 30,000, many of them in storage. Permanent installations were reduced from 783 to 177, just 21 more than pre-war.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: By July 1946, the Army Air Forces had only 2 combat-ready groups out of 52 that remained on the list of active units. A rebuilt air force of 70 groups, the authorized peacetime strength, was anticipated, with reserve and national guard forces to be available for active duty in an emergency. However considerable opposition to a large peacetime military establishment, and to the financial cost of such an establishment, resulted in planning cuts to 48 groups.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: In February 1946, ill health forced the retirement of Arnold before he could fulfill his goal of achieving independence of the Air Force as a service equal with the Army and Navy. Spaatz replaced Arnold as the only other commanding general of the USAAF, and he oversaw both the demobilization of the largest air force in military history and its rebirth as envisioned by Mitchell and Arnold.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Arnold left the AAF with two important legacies, based on his experiences in World War II, which shaped the post-war USAAF and their independent successor. The first was a requirement that the command staff of the service must include staff officers of varying expertise besides pilots. The second was the belief that despite the unqualified success of training methods that had expanded the Air Forces, the United States would never again have the time to mobilize and train the reserve components as they had in 1940, necessitating that reservists and National Guardsmen be immediately ready for service in case of national emergency.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: For his part, Spaatz consulted closely with the new Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and reorganized the AAF into "major commands" including three for combat operations (Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command, and Air Defense Command) that would not require a second restructuring once the Air Force became independent. He also re-structured the reserve components to conform with Arnold's concepts, including creation of the Air National Guard in April 1946.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: On 11 April 1945, at the conclusion of a ten-month study that took them to every major theater to interview 80 "key military and naval personnel", the Joint Chiefs of Staff Special Committee for the Reorganization of National Defense recommended that the armed forces of United States be organized into a single cabinet department, and that "three coordinate combat branches, Army, Navy, and Air" comprise the operational services. The committee reported that the statutory creation of a United States Air Force would merely recognize a situation that had evolved during World War II with the Army Air Forces, acknowledging that naval/marine aviation and some aspects of army aviation would remain in place. The committee also reported that its recommendation was approved by "Generals of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Fleet Admirals Chester W. Nimitz and William F. Halsey and numerous other leading military and naval personnel".


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The Navy Department remained opposed to a single department of defense and, at the recommendation of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, created a panel using naval personnel to study the feasibility of a coordinating agency without executive powers as an alternative. The "Eberstadt report" made such a recommendation, but also endorsed the concept of an Air Force as a separate service. The Navy Department did not acknowledge its own findings and continued to oppose creation of a separate Air Force during hearings for unification bills introduced in October 1945. When the hearings failed to submit a report, President Harry S. Truman on 19 December 1945 came out strongly in support of an air force on a parity with ground and naval forces, reminding Congress that prior to the war independent Army and Navy Departments had often failed to work collectively or in coordination to the best interest of the nation. He asserted that wartime expedients that had overcome these defects proved to be the difference between victory and defeat.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Congress, at the recommendation of Truman, created the Department of the Air Force with enactment of the National Security Act of 1947 (61 "Stat". 495), 26 July 1947. The act established the United States Air Force, a completely separate branch of the U.S. military, and abolished both the Army Air Forces and the Air Corps, effective 18 September 1947. The transfer of personnel and assets from the AAF to the USAF was effected by Transfer Order 1, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 26 September 1947.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The initial delineation of service roles, Executive Order 9877, was supplanted on 21 April 1948, by the approval by Truman of the Key West Agreement, which outlined the air assets that each service would be permitted to maintain. The Air Force was assigned the bulk of strategic, tactical, and transport aircraft, but the issue remained divisive well into the 1950s.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The "Army Air Forces in World War II", the official history of the AAF, summarized its significance as the final step to independence for the Air Force:


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: By the close of the war (the AAF) had emerged as virtually a third independent service. Officially, the AAF never became anything other than a subordinate agency of the War Department charged to organize, train, and equip air units for assignment to combat theaters. Its jurisdiction was wholly limited to the Zone of Interior "(today called the CONUS)", and it could communicate with air organizations in combat theaters only through channels extending up to the Chief of Staff, and then down through the theater commander to his subordinate air commander. The position of the AAF, in other words, was no different from that of the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces, the other two of the three coordinate branches into which the Army had been divided. So, at any rate, read the regulations.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: Actually, the Commanding General, Army Air Forces ... functioned on a level parallel to that of the Chief of Staff. ... He moved at the very highest levels of command in the wartime coalition with Britain. He chose the commanders of the combat air forces. ... He communicated regularly (with the air commanders overseas). ... He exerted a powerful influence on the development of strategy, tactics, and doctrine wherever AAF units fought. ... A world-wide system of air transport moved at his command through all theaters, (denying their) commanders their traditional prerogative of controlling everything within their area of responsibility. Throughout the war (he ran) the air war in whatever part of the world there seemed to be need for attention by Headquarters. The contrast between theory and fact is...fundamental to an understanding of the AAF.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: USAAF uniforms for all members consisted of a winter service uniform of olive drab wool worn in temperate weather and a tropical weather summer service uniform of khaki cotton the same as those of other U.S. Army forces. In addition to the service uniforms usually worn for dress purposes and on pass from posts there were a variety of fatigue and flying uniforms. Summer and winter service uniforms were both worn throughout the year in the continental U.S. During World War II the European theater of operations was considered a year-round temperate uniform zone and the Pacific theater of operations a year-round tropical uniform zone.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The issue enlisted men's winter service uniform consisted of a four pocket coat and trousers in olive drab shade 33 (light shade) 16 oz wool serge. Shirts with two patch pockets and without shoulder straps were either 8.2 oz chino cotton khaki, a light tan, shade No. 1, or 10.5 oz olive drab wool light shade No. 33. Either shirt could be worn under the coat; however, the cotton shirt could not be worn as an outer garment with the wool trousers. The wool necktie for the winter uniform was black and the summer necktie was khaki cotton, originally. In February 1942 a universal mohair wool necktie in olive drab shade 3 and cotton blend khaki shade 5 were authorized for both uniforms. An overcoat of OD shade 33 Melton wool was worn in cold weather. The enlisted man's summer service uniform consisted of the same cotton khaki shade No. 1 uniform shirt with matching trousers; the coat for this uniform stopped being issued in the 1930s. Whenever the shirt was worn as an outer garment the necktie was tucked between the second and third button of the shirt.


title: United States Army Air Forces

text: The male officer's winter service uniform consisted of a coat of finer wool fabric in olive drab shade No. 51 (dark-shade) with a fabric belt matching the coat, nicknamed "greens". Officers could wear trousers matching the color and fabric of the coat, or optionally they were allowed taupe colored, officially called "drab shade 54", trousers of the same material as the coat, nicknamed "pinks", leading to the nickname "pinks and greens" for the iconic combination. Officers were also authorized to use the more durable olive drab shade 33 serge uniforms, except for the enlisted men's four pocket service coat, as long as they were not mixed with OD Shade 51 or Drab Shade 54 clothing. An officer's OD overcoat and taupe rain coat were also authorized. Officers wore same cotton khaki shade No. 1 or olive drab wool light shade No. 33 shirts as enlisted men except with the addition of shoulder straps. Officers also had additional shirt color and fabric options, OD dark shade No. 50 or No. 51 and in 1944 drab shade No. 54.