United States Air Force Europe in Color 1947-63: Vol.2

With the end of the Second World War. the U.S. Eighth Air Force began withdrawing its aircraft equipment and personnel from the well over a hundred British bases from which the 8th had fought the war. The last of these bases. RAF Honington. was vacated during February of 1946.
At the time, only a few in either Britain or America could have foreseen the return of USAF aircraft to British soil after a gap of just three years. Although Europe was at peace, it was a peace filled with tension between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
With the formation of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service during 1947. a reorganization of the Air Force command structure took place. One of the newly formed USAF commands was to be based in England under the title. United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). Initially. USAFE's primary mission was overseeing the deployment of Air Force strategic and tactical units rotating in and out of bases in Europe.