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Under the command of Major Emmett O'Donnell Jr., nine B-17s of the 14th Squadron with nine crews made up of the cream of the 5th and 11th Bombardment Groups, pioneered an air ferry route from Hawaii to the Philippines, leaving on 5 September 1941, and arriving on 12 September 1941, at Clark Field, Philippines. This was the first flight of land ...
The Air Corps was created by the Philippine National Assembly's National Defense Act of 1935 in its first legislative act. [1]General Douglas MacArthur, convinced by his friend Philippine President-elect Manuel L. Quezon and with President Roosevelt's agreement to leave his position as Chief of Staff, become Military Adviser to the Commonwealth Government in 1935. [2]
Air echelon flew Group's Douglas C-47 Skytrains to New Guinea, via Hawaii, the Fiji Islands, and Australia, August–September 1943, and began operations with Fifth Air Force. Ground echelon sailed from the West Coast on 25 September 1943, arriving in Australia on 10 October 1943.
When the United States entered World War II the squadron was deploying to the Philippines. Its ground echelon fought as infantry , with most members surrendering at Bataan , while the air echelon fought in the Netherlands East Indies, earning the squadron three Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC)s.
The Far East Air Force (FEAF) was the military aviation organization of the United States Army in the Philippines just prior to and at the beginning of World War II.Formed on 16 November 1941, FEAF was the predecessor of the Fifth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Air Force.
Group Echelon (Philippines Campaign: 27 Jan 45–22 Feb 45) Flight Echelon (Philippines Campaign: 31 Jan 45–22 Feb 45) Advance Echelon (Philippines Campaign: 10 Mar 45–4 Jul 45) Rear Echelon (Philippines Campaign: 17 Mar 45–4 Jul 45) CO, MAG-32; Col Clayton C. Jerome (until July 1945) Col Stanley E. Ridderhof. ExO, MAG-32; LCol John L. Smith
The ground echelon was attached to the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) and sent to fight as infantry on Luzon and Mindanao Islands. On Christmas Eve, HQ 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and the air echelon of the 28th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) were transferred from Clark to Batchelor Field with B-17's.
The air echelon squadrons of the 7th were en route to the Philippines and arrived in Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941. They consisted of 9th, 463rd, 492nd, and 493d Heavy Bombardment Squadrons. The air echelon was diverted back to the US and then routed to Java through Australia.