A I R T R A N S P O R T A N D F E R R Y I N G
sidered in another connection." Here it will be sufficient merely to
note its relation to the development within the AAF of a centralized
control of ferrying and transport operations. By action of the Eighth
Air Force which was confirmed by the AAF in a directive of 17 May,
Brig. Gen. Frank O'D. Hunter of the VIII Fighter Command was
given full operational control of the air movement of all units.'42 T o
this action the Ferrying Command raised serious objections. Brig.
Gen. Harold L. George insisted that unified control of all operational
facilities and air movements over the route should be vested in the
Ferrying Command in order to avoid the dangers of divided authority
and to take advantage of the wider experience of its personnel. H e
recommended specifically that the North Atlantic Sector at Presque
Isle be expanded into 3 wing of the Ferrying Command with di-ect
control of operations over the route, that Col. Benjamin F. Giles, an
Air Corps officer then commanding the Greenland Base Command,
be appointed wing commander, and that the regional weather and
communications officers be made directly responsible to the wing.143
All of these recommendations were approved by the AAF except for
a decision to avoid 3 last-minute change in the command of the
Eighth's initial movement. During its first phase, General Hunter re-
tained operational control of the aircraft, with control officers repre-
senting both the VIII Fighter Command and the Ferrying Command
being stationed along the But Colonel Giles assumed com-
mand of the new North Atlantic Wing on 8 June, the regional weather
and communications officers were assigned to his staff, and by late
July the Air Transport Command, successor to the Ferrying Com-
mand, had taken over an undivided operational control of the
9
The Air Transport Command
Air transport services conducted by the Ferrying Command before
Pearl Harbor, first to Britain and later to Cairo, had been little more
than courier services and were entirely secondary to the major job
for which the command was created-that of ferrying British aircraft
from American factories to Canada or to ports of embarkation within
the United States. T h e prewar Pan American transport services to
and across Africa were also small-scale operations and, as pointed out
earlier, were regarded principally as a means of supporting the more
* See below, Chap. 17.
349