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
a t this time, it would see a large number of these forty-nine groups
diverted to other air forces all over the world.
In the reorganization of the Eighth Air Force and the subsequent
feverish efforts to prepare it for movement overseas, the chief re-
sponsibility was borne by General Spaatz, though his formal assump-
tion of command did not come until 5 May.2z Brig. Gen. Asa N.
Duncan and the headquarters staff of the Eighth Air Force were
made responsible to him, and in early April the headquarters was
split into two echelons. One remained in Savannah to care for the
administrative and operational needs of the several commands. The
other, the Bolling Field echelon, became the nerve center of the force
itself. Located near AAF Headquarters in Washington, this element
of the Eighth's staff worked in close conjunction with the Air Staff
itself. At Bolling Field, after numerous conferences and studies, de-
tails of the organization, mission, and training began to be transformed
into functional Major decisions taken in April and May pro-
vided the basis for concrete action to facilitate the removal of the
Eighth to the United Kingdom, and shaped the organization that
would be established during the spring and summer of 1942. The
VIII Ground Air Support Command was established on 28 April 2 4
and the VIII Air Force Composite Command, which was intended
as a training organization, on 4 July.26 Redesignations of commands
during this period and in subsequent months transformed the Inter-
ceptor Command into the Fighter Command, the Base Command into
the Service Command, and the Ground Air Support Command
into the Air Support Comrnande2'
perienced officers for staff positions, it became necessary to commis-
sion direct from civilian life large numbers of professional and
business men who volunteered their services. Most of these men
were commissioned for specific assignment to one of the staffs, a
practice that was especially important in staffing the service command,
which had perhaps the greatest immediate need for officer personnel.2'
Many of the newly commissioned officers came from the southeastern
part of the United States, where the several headquarters were then
located, and many of them, having moved directly from civilian life
to the assumption of their new responsibilities, went overseas without
any military training whatsoever, a condition which was partially
T o overcome the difficulty arising from a general dearth of ex- I
6 1 6