The Army had in 1935 had activated an operational air formation called "General Headquarters Air Force" containing 3 of 5 existing combat wings, 9 of 15 existing combat groups, and 30 of 60 existing combat squadrons. This was not the General Headquarters of the Air Force, but was rather the Air Force of the then constituted, but not activated, General Headquarters—the planned command element for a theater of operation on mobilization in war. GHQ Air Force, activated with about 8000 soldiers was considered the equivalent of an infantry or cavalry division and was accordingly commanded by a major general. The wing commanders in GHQ Air Force went from lieutenant colonels or majors to brigadier generals or colonels at this time and corresponded with infantry or cavalry brigade commanders. The Chief of Air Corps was a branch head on par with the chiefs of Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, the Corps of Engineers, the Quartermaster Corps, the Ordnance Corps, the Medical Department, the Signal Corps, Military Intelligence, and others who were tasked with manning, training, and equipping specific combat and service units as decided upon by the Army's General Staff and that had been provided to an operational commander of which there were 14 at the time—9 corps areas in the Continental United States (which in 1921 had replaced the Department as the basic command level in the Army since the War of 1812) and 4 overseas departments (Philippines, Hawaii, Canal Zone, and Puerto Rico). None of the branch chiefs had operational control of units dedicated to the combat organizations of the Army. What units they did command were what was needed to train personnel. The relationship between the Chief of the Air Corps and Commanding General of GHQ Air Force was analogous to the Chief of Cavalry and Commanding General of 1st Cavalry Division. The one manned, trained, and equipped specific units as assigned by the War Department General Staff and which were in operational formations and the other employed the aggregate formation and trained it into a warfighting formation. Both the Chief of Air Corps and the Commanding General of GHQ Air Force reported to the Army Chief of Staff, albeit through different General Staff reporting channels.