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History of the
Strategic Air Command
Page 3 - 1947
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The U.S. Air Force is
Established
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On September 16, 1947, the United States Air
Force was established a separate and equal element of the United States
armed forces. The fledging Air Force quickly established it's own
identity. Army Air Fields were renamed Air Force Bases and personnel
were soon being issued a sassy new uniform. The "brown shoe
days," were over.
Organization remained pretty much the same as the
Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command and Air Defense Command were
still it's combat arms. The group organization carried over from
World War II remained in place.
During the Spring, SAC headquarters became
ambitious and began a large expansion. On July 1, 1947, seven new
Bomb Groups were activated at Andrews Field. That is, they
were established on paper. But there were not enough
aircraft and personnel for them to become operational. Only two of
the groups received B-29s. On September 24, 1947, the 2nd
Bomb Group moved to Davis-Monthan in Arizona and the 98th
Bombardment Group to Spokane, Washington. The other five groups
were nothing more than "paper tigers." They were the 44th,
90th, 303rd, 305 and 306th. They remained at Andrews - unmanned and unequipped
until September 6, 1948, when they were deactivated. The only group
to survive this fate was the 306th
Bombardment Group which moved to MacDill in August of 1948. It
soon received the B-29 Superfortress..
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Hobson
Reorganization Plan
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Shortly after the Air Force was formed, it was
completely reorganized under the Hobson Plan.
See: SAC Organization
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