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Aug. 14, 2015                          NEWS                                                                                                          Thunderbolt
                                                                                                                                                     http://www.luke.af.mil
10 www.aerotechnews.com/lukeafb

This week in history

Aug. 8, 1940: FDR orders 12,000 pilots a year

   6HYHQW\ÀYH\HDUVDJR6DWXUGD\3UHVL         It would be safe behind its big oceans and                                                                                                                                              Courtesy photo
GHQW)UDQNOLQ5RRVHYHOWRUGHUHGWKH$UP\         by not getting involved in world affairs.
to train 12,000 pilots a year.                                                                       Training, like that featured in this photo, ended at Luke Field 75 years ago today.
                                                     2XU IULHQGV WKH %ULWLVK VWLOO KDG WKH
   2QWKHVDPHGD\$XJ*HUPDQ         largest and most powerful Navy in the              the Czeck portion of Czechoslovakia. Six        were recruiting and training people as
bombers began raids in what became                ZRUOG 2XU RZQ 1DY\ ZDV QRW DV ODUJH      ZHHNVODWHUWKH)DVFLVWVZRQWKH6SDQLVK      ZHOODVEX\LQJDQGEXLOGLQJDLUÀHOGVDQG
known as the Battle of Britain. The presi        but added to the defense provided by the           Civil War. In May and August, Germany           bases. In the spring of 1939, the Army Air
dent’s order was in response to a series of       British. A common cry from the U.S. was            signed an alliance with Italy and then a        Corps came up with a plan for 24 groups.
hostile acts by a number of nations. The          freedom of the seas, which meant free ac          QRQDJJUHVVLRQSDFWZLWKWKH6RYLHWV2Q        A year later, its vision expanded to 41
“moderate” German daylight attacks on             cess to all international waters.                  Sept. 1 Germany invaded Poland and won          groups, then 54 groups two months later.
shipping and Britain’s southern ports                                                                LQÀYHZHHNV                                   In the fall, it went to 84 groups. We still
were just the latest. However, that order            However, the world was a dangerous                                                              were not ready.
UHVXOWHGLQWKHFUHDWLRQRI/LWFKÀHOG3DUN       place. In 1927, the Chinese Civil War be             2Q -DQ   )'5 DVNV IRU 
)LHOGZKLFKEHFDPH/XNH)LHOGLQ          JDQ:LWKLQÀYH\HDUV-DSDQWRRNFRQWURO         million for Army aircraft. That appropria                                       Courtesy of Rick Griset
                                                  of Manchuria. Three years later, Italy             tion doubled the Army Air Corps’ size. The
   )LYH\HDUVDQGRQHZHHNODWHU(PSHURU        invaded Ethiopia.                                  challenges throughout the expansions                                           6th Fighter Wing History
Hirohito announced on radio his nation’s
surrender. The common Japanese had                   In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began.
never heard his divine voice before. Be          Three months later, Stalin conducted
cause of the time zones, it was Aug. 14           the Great Purge in the Soviet Union. He
LQ WKH 86 2Q WKDW GD\ DOO 86 3  imprisoned or killed suspected opponents.
3 DQG 3 SLORW WUDLQLQJ WHUPLQDWHG     The next year, Japan declared war on
DW/XNH)LHOG$WSP('73UHVLGHQW          China again. Both Germany and Japan
Truman announced receipt of the formal            continued to expand their war machines.
FRPPXQLFDWLRQEXWVDLGWKDW9LFWRU\RYHU
-DSDQ9-'D\ZRXOGKDYHWRZDLWIRUWKH          2Q-DQWKHSUHVLGHQWGHFODUHG
formal surrender on Sept. 2.                      our national defenses inadequate in the
                                                  face of the warlike preparation abroad.
   To take you back, after the horrors of         He was not wrong. In March, Japanese
World War I’s trenches, the United States         WURRSVUHDFKHGWKH<HOORZ5LYHULQ&KLQD
decided its best defense was isolationism.        and Germany annexed Austria.

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