The Curtiss Commando Page
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USAF (United States Air Force)

  September 1947 to present

  United States of America

TYPE: Air force

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Arlington, VA

FORMER NAME: USAAF (United States Army Air Forces)

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

World War II showed that the USAAF was a key service for the US Armed Forces. Even though in practice, it was virtually independent of the Army, and in virtually all ways functioned as an independent service branch since war broke out, airmen still pressed for formal independence. The USAF was formed as a separate branch of the US Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947.

Even though most Commandos had been retired from active duty by the time the USAF came to existence, many of them served under the branch:

  • Other USAF Commandos:
    • Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando: 44-77481
    • Curtiss C-46E-1-CS Commando: 43-47404 (test aircraft)

Only units that were not existing prior to the USAF creation are listed below. Units that were transferred over from the old USAAF to the USAF are listed under the USAAF section only:

Categories

  • Air Force Logistics Command

  • Air National Guard

  • Air Training Command

  • Continental Air Command

  • Troop Carrier Wings

    At the end of the war, Troop Carrier Command was assigned to the Continental Air Command, and later inactivated. Troop carrier duties were assigned to troop carrier wings, whose assignment was changed as required to meet operational needs. This explains why it was not possible here to display them as part of a specific Command or Air Force, as this changed over time. Troop carrier wings that used Commandos spent most of the post-war period in the reserve, which at the time was assigned to the Continental Air Command. For training, they were assigned to one of the Air Force Reserve Training Center. And when these wings were called for active duty – during the Korean War for instance – they were simply assigned to the numbered Air Force or Command which needed them operationally.

    It shall also be emphasized here that USAF wings are not comparable with the USAAF wings that existed before 1947. World War II wings, for example, were very large administrative and operational organizations that usually controlled several combat groups and numerous service organizations, often located at widely scattered locations. Modern wings as we have known them since 1948 are instead made up of an operational group, an air base group, a maintenance & supply group, and a medical group. In most cases, the numerical designation of the wing created using this new system came from the combat group that preceeded it and became an integral part of the new USAF wing. In other words, when the 436th Troop Carrier Wing came into existence, it received the 436th numerical designation from the 436th Troop Carrier Group which had already existed for a number of years and which became the wing’s operational component. At the same time, the other component establishments, and units of these establishments – air base, maintenance & supply, medical – also received the 436th numerical designations, aligning each of them directly to the 436th Wing. The squadrons of the operational group, however, retained their separate and distinct numerical designations, and for this reason they are listed in a separate directory as they could be shuffled and assigned to different wings at different points in time.

    The following USAF operating groups operated the Commando:

  • Tactical Air Command