According to Army Air Forces: Bomber Units: The Twentieth Air Force was constituted as Twentieth AF on Apr. 4, 1944 and activated the same day with Bomber Commands: XX Bomber 1944-1945, XXI Bomber 1944-1945. Their mission: Some combat elements moved in the summer of 1944 from the US to India where they carried out very heavy bombardment operations against targets in Japan, Formosa, Thailand, and Burma. Other combat elements began moving late in 1944 from the US to the Marianas, being joined there early in 1945 by the elements that had been in India. Headquarters, which had remained in the US, was transferred to Guam in Jul. 1945. From the Marianas the Twentieth conducted a strategic air offensive that was climaxed by the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan.

This is what the Air Force News said about the 20th: As the powerful B-29 'Superfortress' rolled off America's production lines in the midst of World War II, General 'Hap' Arnold, then commanding general of the Army Air Forces, understood the need to bring the B-29s unique strategic bombing capabilities to bear against the Japanese homeland. Thus, in April 1944, he created 20th AF and gave it the daunting mission of conducting one of the largest -- and ultimately most successful -- air campaigns in history.

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