USAAF US Army Air Force Patch United States Command AAF 1942 Wool

US Army Air Force Patch United States AAF 1942 Embroidered on wool cut edge Uniform removed 60mm by 66mm two and three eighth inches by two and five eighth inches.

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The United States Army Air Forces USAAF or AAF was the military aviation service of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force. The Army Air Forces was formed on the renaming of the Army Air Corps in June 1941 to provide the air arm a greater autonomy in which to expand more efficiently and to provide a structure for the additional command echelons required by a vastly increased force. In 1942 the United States Army was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces the Army Ground Forces the Services of Supply renamed Army Service Forces in 1943 and the Army Air Force.

The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Army Air Corps General Headquarters Air Force and ground forces corps area commanders and thus became the first air organization of the US Army to control its own installations and support personnel. The peak size of the AAF was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80000 aircraft in 1944 and 783 domestic bases in December 1943.

Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of the army or navy (such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe the AAF remained a part of the United States Army until the independent United States Air Force came into being in September 1947.

The service wide AAF sleeve insignia Hap Arnold Emblem was authorised on 23 February 1942replacing the GHQ AF patch. The emblem was designed by a member of Gen Arnolds staff James T Rawls and was based on the V for Victory sign. Emblems for numbered air forces 1 to 15 and 20 were authorized for wear by members of air forces based overseas on 2 March 1943 and for air forces in the United States on 25 June 1943. From that date the Hap Arnold Emblem was worn only by personnel of units not assigned to a numbered air force. The Quartermaster Corps responsible for the design and supply of all authorized insignia resisted further designs for the AAF until 28 July 1945 when command arcs were authorized for wear above the AAF insignia by members of the various support commands.

This patch dates from 1942.