USAAF US Army Air Force Patch United States 4 AAF CONUS 1941 Air Defence

US Army Air Force Patch United States 4 AAF 1941 Air Defence US West Coast Combat Training Fully Embroidered cut edge 79mm by 67mm three and one eighth inches by two and five eighth inches.

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4 United States Army Air Force USAAF was activated on 26 March 1941 at March Field California on the renaming of Southwest Air District of the GHQ Air Force which had been activated on 18 December 1940. 4 AAF provided air defense of the South West United States and Lower Midwest regions including antisubmarine patrols along coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico until October 1942. In May 1942 4 AAFs primary mission became the organization and training of combat units crews and the replacement training of individuals for bombardment fighter and reconnaissance operations prior to their deployment to the overseas combat air forces.

4 United States Army Air Force received graduates of Army Air Forces Training Command flight schools; navigator training; flexible gunnery schools and various technical schools, organized them into newly activated combat groups and squadrons, and provided operational unit training OTU and replacement unit training RTU to prepare groups and replacements for deployment overseas to combat theaters. The Fourth Air Force became predominantly a fighter OTU and RTU organization. Most P 51 Mustang and P 38 Lightning groups were trained by Fourth Air Force primarily due to the proximity of their manufacturing plants in Southern California. By 1944 most of the Operational Training of groups ended with the command concentrating on RTU training of individual replacements using Army Air Force Base Units AAFBU as training organizations at the airfields controlled by Fourth Air Force.

Air Defense Wings were also organized for the major metropolitan areas along the West Coast using training units attached to the Wings. By 1944 the likelihood of an air attack along the West Coast was remote and these air defense wings were reduced to paper units.

On 13 December 1944 First Second Third and Fourth Air Force were all were placed under the unified command of the Continental Air Forces.

This patch dates from 1941.