| abstract | - The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the AAF. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. The AAF controlled all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps, General Headquarters Air Force, and ground forces corps area commanders, and thus became the first air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own installations. The USAAF remained a part of the United States Army until the United States Air Force came into being in September 1947.
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