One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

1942
August 20: The Army Air Forces activated Twelfth Air Force at Bolling Field,
D.C. In November 1942, the Twelfth moved to the Mediterranean theater,
providing the Allies with fighter and light-to-medium bomber
operations in North Africa and Italy.
September: The first members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps began
to serve with the Army Air Forces at Aircraft Warning Service stations.
During the same month, the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron
was activated at New Castle, Delaware, under the command of Nancy
Harkness Love, and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment under
Jacqueline Cochran was established under Flying Training Command.
September 12: The 4th Fighter Group activated at Bushey Hall, England, to
furnish the first U.S. fighter escorts for Eighth Air Force heavy
bombers on missions over occupied Europe. Former members of the
Eagle Squadrons, U.S. fighter pilots who had voluntarily served in the
Royal Air Force before U.S. entry into the war, formed the nucleus of
the new group.
September 15: Fifth Air Force transport planes airlifted the first U.S. troops
to New Guinea, transporting men of the 126th Infantry Regiment
from Australia to Seven-Mile Airdrome near Port Moresby, New
Guinea.
October 2: At Muroc Field, California, Robert Stanley made the first flight
in the Bell XP–59A, the first U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft.
October 3: Germany’s liquid-fueled V–2, the world’s first large operational
ballistic missile, flew successfully for the first time.
November 8: Operation TORCH, the Anglo-American invasion of North
Africa, began with amphibious landings in Morocco and Algeria. Twelfth
Air Force supported the invasion with troop-carrying C–47s of the 60th
Troop Carrier Group and Spitfire fighters of the 31st Fighter Group.
The Douglas C–47 Skytrain, derived from the DC–3 commercial airliner of the
1930s, served the Army Air Forces during World War II and the Air Force for
decades after the war.
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