I Bomber Command

I Bomber Command
B-18 Bolo modified for antisubmarine warfare
Active	1942–1943; 1943
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Role	Antisubmarine Warfare and Bombardment Training
Part of	Second Air Force
Commanders
Notable commanders	Robert F. Travis
Insignia
I Bomber Command emblem (approved 24 April 1942)

The I Bomber Command (later XX Bomber Command) was an intermediate command of the Army Air Forces during World War II. It trained bombardment units and aircrews for deployment to combat theaters. From shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor until its assets were transferred to Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command in October 1942, it conducted antisubmarine warfare off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.

The command was activated again for a brief period in 1943, again as a bomber training command, located in the southwestern United States. It was disbanded in October 1943.

The I Bomber Command was first organized at Langley Field, Virginia in September 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The command was originally established to control and train bombardment organizations assigned to First Air Force. It drew its cadre from the 2d Bombardment Wing, which was inactivated the same day, and whose subordinate units were reassigned to the command. Shortly after the attack, The best trained units in the command moved to critical defense areas or were identified for early shipment overseas. The command's headquarters then moved to New York City, New York.

Within a month after the declaration of war by the United States against Germany, German Navy submarines began operating in American coastal waters. By March 1942 fifty-three ships had been sunk in the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier. Defense plans drawn up before the war began assigned the Navy responsibility for operations beyond the coastline, with Army aircraft serving in a supporting role. Because naval aviation that could perform long range patrols was nearly non-existent along the Atlantic coast in early 1942, the burden for aerial antisubmarine patrols fell on the Army Air Forces (AAF), which had available long range and very long range aircraft, but whose crews had not been trained for the mission. Moreover the AAF's long range planes were armed with bombs, rather than depth charges.