Capt Elmer Hahn's early history in the USAAF was somewhat unique.

On 5 January 1942 he was at Long Beach AAF as a Civilian Pilot.
Long Beach was one of three transition schools
training pilots with civilian licenses to fly military aircraft.

He was commissioned in mid-June 1942 as a 2nd Lt with
a rating of Service Pilot and was transferred on paper
to the 6th Ferrying Group at Long Beach AAF.

The last entry in his IFR for Long Beach was 8 October 1942.

Later in the month he was transferred to the
12th Ferrying Group, Accra, Gold Coast, British West Africa.
The date in his IFR is the 31st.

This move placed him in the Africa - Mid East Wing
of the Air Transport Command.

This was a week before forces of Operation Torch
landed in three locations in North Africa.

He was busy flying cargo to various locations within this area.

His IFR is incomplete for what took place in March and April 1943.

One newspaper clipping stated that he had a forced landing in
the middle of the desert. It took a week
for the crew and passengers to be located.

At the bottom of the page is a document titled

Entry Document of Aircraft Commander

Date stamp 21 May 1943
Capt Hahn is one of 22 passengers on this aircraft.

The next step in his history was to arrive in the
vicinity of Palm Beach or Coral Gables, Florida.
He was hospitalized for at least one month.

After release from the hospital, Capt Hahn was
assigned to Morrison Field, Florida, as Air Inspector.

He held this position until late March or early April 1944.
He was transferred to the 497th Bomb Group, 872 Bomb Squadron at
Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico

Part 2 follows with additional details covering
the period January 1942 through October 1944

Documents within Capt Hahn's IDPF state that there is
an absence of his Enlistment Record.
This is also missing at the National Archives web site.



My thanks go out to Roy Wall for finding and sending me
Capt Elmer G Hahn's Individual Flight Records ( IFR ).
These have been extremely helpful to fill in significant
gaps in his assignments .

Some of the following information is from documents in his IDPF
and newspaper clippings which can be seen in the
Clippings
section .

His draft registration card ( undated ) states his mother, Lillie Hahn,
as someone who would always know his address.

Elmer G Hahn was certified as a commercial pilot during the first half 1938.

1942

Most of what follows is based upon pages from his IFR.

The first record has him at Long Beach 5 January 1942.
Civilian rated as Pilot.
860 hours as civilian pilot verified.

June 1942
Civilian Pilot
6th Ferrying Group, Long Beach.

24 June 1942
Army Air Field, Long Beach
Commissioned as 2nd Lt

His rating as Service Pilot did not appear in his IFR until
June 1943
Date of rating: 16 June 1942

October 1942
Transfer to 12th Ferrying Group, Accra, Gold Coast, B.W.A.
2nd Lt, Co-Pilot

December 1942
Captain
Rating : Pilot

1943

March - April 1943
Forced Landing
No IFRs these two months

NOTE : DOCUMENT AT BOTTOM IS QUITE LIKELY
RELATED TO THIS SITUATION

May 1943
Hospitalized
Transfer to Coral Gables Hospital

June 1943
Stationed at Morrison Field, Palm Beach, Florida
note: Rating - Service Pilot 6/16/1942

September 1943
Morrison Field
Rating change - Senior Service Pilot
9/14/1943

1944

25 March 1944
Transfer to Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico

3 April 1944
Arrive at Clovis Army Air Field
Assigned to
497th Bomb Group, 872nd Bomb Squadron

14 April 1944
Transfer to Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas
497th Bomb Group
870th Bomb Squadron

August - September 1944
There is no specific date noted for Capt Hahn's transfer
from Pratt Army Air Field to Herington Army Air Field

Last entry for Pratt : 26 August 1944
First entry for Herington : 9 September 1944

October 1944
Transfer from Herington Army Air Field
to
Mather Field, Sacramento, California
Aerial Port of Embarkation
5 October 1944

7 October Depart Mather Field
for Saipan

Arrive Saipan 19 October 1944

ENTRY DECLARATION OF AIRCRAFT COMMANDER
21 MAY 1943

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