AIR: One Team

While the chiefs of other branches of the War Department had their heads turned, Air Forces’ boss, General Henry H. Arnold, last week established full control over the service branches which have operated with but not under his formal command. Heretofore such branches as quartermaster, communications and signal corps have been composed mostly of men on loan to the airmen.

Fast-stepping General Arnold’s order, which had General George Marshall’s approval, eliminated all service branch distinctions within the A.A.F. Said the order happily: “[Now] you are all members of this team whether you pilot the planes, repair the guns, build the airfields, maintain the radios, drive the trucks, handle the supplies or care for the sick and wounded.” Members of the team will have “but one loyalty, one purpose, one distinguishing insigne.”

Airmen saw it all as another step toward an inevitable goal: an independent Air Force.