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Show AIR FORCE DAY MARKS 40th BIRTHDAY OF AAF L 4 -ivr.s-,, , , - i ft -f t cJ ... . , " t e ' ' s' - - . - -V, -c i , ' ' ", Forty years ago on August 1, the Army Air Forces came into being with three balloons and a handful of men. Since the first Wright Brothers airplane was accepted by what was then the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps, the world has witnessed the growth of the AAF, from its beginning to the world's mightiest air force during World War II. The flimsy string-and-fabric air machines flown by our early airmen have been replaced by speedy jet aircraft; its original complement of three men, which reached a war-time peak of over 2,400,000, has now settled to a post-war strength of over 300,000. After four decades of existence, the AAF looks to the future, confident that the years to come will be as full as those gone by. t-,v..sj These photographs show graphically the progress the AAF has made since its early days: Top left: Pilot Philip O. Parmalee, civilian test pilot employed by the j.Wright Brothers and Lt. Myron S. Crissy in an early model Wright airplane which they used to conduct bombing experiments for the Air Service. Lt. Crissy, a Coast Artillery Corps officer attached to the Air Service for these experiments, became the nation's first bombardier in an exhibition of explosive aerial bombirrg at the San Francisco Air Meet in January, 1911. Top left center: A two-place observation airplane air-plane of French make used by many American pilots assigned to air squadrons operating operat-ing on the Western Front in World War I. Top right center: First Lieutenant Klwood R-jQuesada (now Major General), Captain Ira C. Eaker (recently retired as Lieutenant Lieu-tenant General) and Major Carl Spaatz, (now Commanding General of the AAF)X:1 pictured after they completed the record-breaking flight of the tri-motored airplane, 'k-, "Question Mark", which established an endurance record of almost 151 hours by means of mid-air refueling. The airplane took off from Los Angeles on January 1, 1929, and was forced to land a week later after plying over 11,000 miles. Top right: The AAF's largest bomber, Convair'a B-36, took to the air on its maiden flight this last year. The six-engined B-36 is described as being capable of carrying a load of 10,000 pounds f . , for 10,000 miles. The AAF has contracted for a number of these giant bombers' "4 Bottom left: The AAF brought the world's speed record back to this country when a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, a modified version of the one shown, flew at 623.8 miles an hour.. The AAF is rapidly equipping many of its fighter groups with the new jet fighters. Bottom left center: Aviation Engineers complete construction of a Pacific it A' airfield as ground crews prepare Boeing B-29 Superfortress for the next day's mission tyfl against Japanese targets. Bottom right center: The AAF's first rocket airplane the 'I Bell XS:1, being used as a flying laboratory in research in superconic flight. It is expected that the first piloted aircraft to pierce the superconic barrier will incor-porate incor-porate features of the XS-1. Bottom right: Wac Private Elsa Mood takes over the control tower operation at Midland, Texas, Army Air Field, typifying the work dons --Pr by many thousands of young women who joined the Women's Army Corps and were '-aC assigned to the AAF during the war, performing duties which relieved men for other assignments. - |