T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
direct the operation of antiaircraft artillery, aircraft warning services,
passive defense measures, and interceptor aviation. The last element
was conspicuous by its absence throughout most of 1941, but the
plan for unified air defense was keeping pace with developments in
the Zone of the Interior. The aircraft strength of the 13th Wing by
the end of April 1941, consisting of only three A-17’s and twenty-
one B-I~A’s,was not sufficient to meet either defense or training
needs of the 27th Reconnaissance Squadron, the 25th Bombardment
Group (H), and the 40th Bombardment Group (M), which made
up the tactical component of the wing. The Army air garrison in
Puerto Rico was therefore not called upon at that time to assist in
establishing air defense units on other islands of the Caribbean.34
In Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia, British Guiana, and the Bahamas,
Army engineers were constructing facilities a t each base to permit
operations by one heavy bombardment group and one long-range
reconnaissance squadron. An airfield in Trinidad was being furnished
with similar facilities, along with provisions for one interceptor pur-
suit group.35Bermuda, while not in the Caribbean area, was related
to both Caribbean and continental defense, and airfield construction
on the leased site was being designed to accommodate one composite
group of the AAF.36Accommodations a t the new bases did not neces-
sarily determine the size of garrisons, for tactical units were not
available in sufficient numbers to be stationed at all of the fields. The
approved peacetime garrisons called for one heavy bombardment
squadron and a group headquarters at Bermuda, an airways detach-
ment a t Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia, and British Guiana, and a com-
posite wing of one heavy bombardment group, one pursuit group,
and one reconnaissance squadron at Trinidad. 3 7 Considerable impor-
tance was attached to early garrisoning of the Piarco airport at Trini-
dad. In the latter part of April 1941 a base force sailed from New
York, while an air contingent of some 400 officers and enlisted men
with six B-18A’s moved from the Canal Zone to Trinidad.3* In July
other Caribbean bases began to receive garrisons, when airways de-
tachments and infantry units were shipped from New York to British
Guiana and St. Lucia. Similar forces were sent to Antigua in Sep-
tember and to Jamaica in the following month.39
Despite the attention given to new bases, the Canal Zone continued
to be the focal point of Caribbean defenses. France Field on the
Atlantic side of the Zone and Albrook Field on the Pacific side were
162