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World War II

It was not long after the United States entered World War II - within a month after Pearl Harbor, in fact - that General Headquarters, Air Forces, wrote to the Chief of the Air Corps to ask about the progress of HR 4906, a bill introduced into Congress a short time before to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. (1) The letter expressed particular interest in the bill "as it relates to the Aircraft Warning Service", and recommended that "there be organized a section of the WAAC to be known as the Air Force Section." The letter went on to say, "This headquarters would recommend a separate and distinct organization," except for the fact that the bill provided that there should be only one women's corps serving with the army. In January the Chief of the Air Corps sent the letter to the War Department, G-1 Division, and received a reply stating that the War Department had recommended a new bill to Congress 24 December 1941, and adding that "present plans contemplate organization of an Aircraft Warning section as a component part of the WAAC." 

From the date of the writing of this letter on until March of 1943 - one and one-half years later - when the first actual members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, other than Aircraft Warning Service members, came to Air Forces, the AAF showed increasing interest in the program, and 

1. Letter from General Headquarters, Air Force, to Chief of Air Corps, ACC 324.5 AWS(Women), dated 27 December 1941.

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