About the 7th & 20th Air Force

The beginning of the 7th Air Force stems from before the attack on Pearl Harbor, as it was known then as simply the Hawaiian Air Force. It had the distinction of being the very first command of the US Army Air Forces to engage in action during WWII, as well as the only command to be engaged in the war from the very start to the very end. The first days of the war included the 7th AF (renamed so on February 5, 1942) helping to form the defense of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, to the first offensive mission on February 1, 1942 in which a B-17 flew a reconnaissance mission to Wake Island from Oahu. 7th AF aircraft were also in the air for a mission when the Japanese surrendered on August 15th, 1945. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, LB-30’s (transport versions of the B-24) were used by the 7th AF extensively flying around the pacific theater of operations. The two heavy bomb groups of the 7th were operating in the South Pacific. The fighter groups however, were held back to defend the Hawaiian islands during the first year and a half of the war. Finally, the 7th finally got a chance to turn offensive as they were part of Operation Galvanic, which was the beginning of a run through the central pacific area starting with the Gilbert Islands. After completing their duties, the fighter groups rallied back in Hawaii while the bomber groups continued on. The 7th AF Fighter groups now started shifting focus to their newly assigned mission which would last from the capture of Iwo Jima to the end of the war; the very long range escort of the B-29’s to Japan.

The 20th Air Force was activated on April 3, 1944. It was unique in the fact that it was created for the sole purpose of the use of the B-29 Superfortress, which at the time, was an unproven new aircraft. As the 58th and 73rd Bomb Wings began their training stateside in the fall of 1943, these two groups were merged together to form XX Bomber Command who would eventually fly the B-29’s into combat. Training continued through the winter and the first B-29’s were not delivered until February 1944. On March 26, 1944, the first B-29’s left for their journey to India and arrived on April 2. From there, the B-29’s would fly transport sorties into China and supply their own forward operating bases. Finally, their first combat mission occurred in early June of 1944 for a strike against railway yards in Bangkok, Thailand. B-29’s continued to fly bombing missions from the CBI theater and in nine and a half months, flew 49 missions until March 1945, when the bomber groups were subsequently moved to the Marianas Islands, which was a much easier flight to Japan. The Superfortresses would continue their attacks on Japan, throughout the rest of 1945 until the dropping of the atomic bombs by the specially modified B-29’s, Enola Gay and Bockscar, on August 6 and 9 respectively.