Ninth Air Force - Close air support, like aviation itself, came of age during World War II. Before the war, airpower theorists generally focused on bombers, whose long range and heavy payloads could threaten distant enemy industrial centers. They may even win future wars without ground power. It turned out to be a dream. But as World War II unfolded, fighters began to promise new horizons for advocates of American air power.
The concept of close air support – fighters operating alongside front-line forces – was largely ignored in the interwar years. But the demands of war forced new thinking.
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In post-D-Day Europe, the Eighth Bombers were sometimes withdrawn from their military duties and given the strategic task of clearing the way for troops on the ground. American and British bomber commanders did not like the idea and when the bombs fell, the results were disastrous. But the generals and their commanders welcomed the idea of a separate air force and were less enthusiastic about fighters supporting ground forces.
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Even the commanders of the allied strategic air forces—the US Ninth Air Force and the British Second Tactical Air Force—did not always fully appreciate the contribution of their bombers, known as fighter-bombers. This reflects the lack of analysis caused by the rapid pace of fighting across France after the D-Day collapse at Saint-Lo. This in turn led to theories of close air support that were only partially developed in retrospect.
But there was no question that close air support helped make Operation Saint-Lo a success. After heavy bombers dealt a devastating blow to the German defenders at Saint-Lo in July 1944, fighter-bomber support from the Ninth Air Force attacked quickly and effectively.
Flexibility and innovation, and close personal relationships between senior air and ground commanders, helped to overcome some of the complexities of close air support, which was more difficult than other strategic air missions such as air superiority and interdiction.
Good weather, strong Allied forces, air superiority and a retreating enemy also helped close air support in the summer months after D-Day make the victory a success.
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But in the fall of 1944 as the Allies approached Germany's western wall, their advance was halted and so was air support. German forces were strong on their own soil, fighting from rough conditions, dense forests and long supply lines, all factors in slowing down the Allies. None of the old close-air support methods seemed to work, and allied strategic commanders were not coming up with any new methods.
Then, on December 16, 1944, Germany counterattacked in a last-ditch effort known as the Battle of the Bulge. Allied strategic air commanders were forced to fight on the defensive. The low clouds tied their hands as the Germans advanced into Belgium. Allied air and ground commanders were surprised by the sudden German attack.
But when the weather cleared on December 23, 1944, troop planes, troop planes and transport planes rushed in and helped the ground forces turn the tide. By mid-January 1945, the German offensive had failed, paving the way for Germany's defeat on May 8, 1945.
SPECIAL OPENING STORY Flight: Never Leave a Fallen Comrade Behind the Location and Recovery of Missing World War II Airmen The museum opens Saturday, January 21 at 10—presentations begin at 11:00 a.m. More Info Donate Now This article is about the Air Force with current active numbers. For the former active-numbered Air Force from 2009 to 2020, see Ninth Air Force (2009–2020).
Ninth Air Force Captured In Brushstrokes
The number one air force of the United States Air Force is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Command of the United States Central Command (USCTCOM), a joint military command of the Department of Defense responsible for the security interests of the United States in 27 countries spanning the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, to Central Asia. .
Activated on 8 April 1942 as the 9th Air Force, the army fought in the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya during World War II and as a strategic fighter unit of the US Army Air Forces in Europe, engaging the enemy in France, the country , and Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, it was one of the number two air forces of the Tactical Air Command.
On January 1, 1983, as the United States Central Command Air Forces (CTAF), redesignated in 2009, USAFCT of the Ninth Air Force, a new Ninth Air Force, as part of a complex transfer of lineage, lineage, and history. done which technically had no prior history was activated. On 20 August 2020, the 9 AF designation was returned to the USAFCT with the inactivation of the 2009 established 9 AF.
It has fought in the 1991 Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan (OEF-A, 2001–Pajri), the Iraq War (OIF, 2003–2010), as well as in various issues within USCTCOM.
The Other Ninth Air Force: Ninth Us Army Light Aircraft Operations In
The United States Air Force Command is a direct descendant of the Ninth Air Force, established in 1941. The AFCT was established as the United States Central Command Air Forces (CTAF) under the Tactical Air Command (TAC). CTAF originally consisted of US Air Forces designated from the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) which was inactivated and reformed as USCTCOM in 1983.
Ninth Air Force was designated USAFCT on 5 August 2009. was rescheduled. The new Ninth Air Force was formed on that date to command and control the CONS-based Air Combat Command units previously assigned to the former Ninth Air Force.
In the summer of 1941, General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ AF) decided to establish commands among its numbered air forces to direct their air support missions, as well as an additional command that would report directly to GHQ AF. These commands were staffed from inactive wings and would initially control only observation forces, which would be transferred from command of squadrons and divisions, although they would remain attached to these national forces.
GHQ AF organized the 5th Air Support Command at Bowman Field, Katuki in September 1941, drawing its personnel and equipment from the 16th Bombardment Wing, which was inactivated at the same time.
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New observation groups were formed in 1940 and 1941, with a group drawn from National Guard units mobilized.
The 5th Air Support Command was redesignated in April 1942 as the 9th Air Force. It was held on July 22 at Bowling Field, DC. and on 12 November 1942, without personnel or equipment, moved to Cairo, Egypt.
In June 1942, the German Afrika Korps in North Africa threatened the British Middle East Administration, forcing the British Eighth Army to retreat to Egypt. The United States Air Force (USAF) had already planned the buildup of American air forces in the Middle East in January 1942 in response to a request from the British Air Force, but the first units arrived on June 12, 1942. were suddenly reached, where Colonel Harry A. Halverson, commanding 23 B-24d Liberator heavy bombers and a hand-picked crew (a group called HALPRO—from the "Halverson Project"), decided to go to Egypt. They were originally assigned to the China Burma India Theater to attack Japan from airfields in China, but after the fall of Rangoon the Burma Road was cut, making it impossible to support transport service into China. HELPRO was quickly shifted from its original role to a new one - unprovoked attacks from Egyptian airfields against shipping and ports in North Africa supporting Axis operations.
On June 28, 1942, Major General Lewis H. Brereton arrived in Cairo to command the United States Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF), which was immediately activated. The USAMEAF consisted of Project Halverson, Brereton's squadron (the 9th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) and other personnel brought by Brereton from India), and the US Army North Africa Aviation Division. Several USAAF forces planned to join the USAMEAF in the destruction of Rommel's Afrika Korps with ground support and secure sea and air communications along the Mediterranean in the coming weeks.
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HEP Wigglesworth received permission from Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder to select targets for all American heavy bombers.
"A development of some significance in the career of the USAMEAF occurred administratively on 12 October (1942) when nine officers were cut orders to the IX Bombardment Command, an organization that remained unofficial for a month. The command had its roots on 5 September. Tedder's Air Chief, H.E.P. Air Force General Wigglesworth, and the USAMEAF G-3 officer, where Wigglesworth insisted that he had control over target selection for American bombers, were delegated by Tedder.Col. Patrick W. Timberlake, Brereton's G-3 staff, took seriously the claim that it violated the Arnold-Portal Towers Agreement that American combat forces assigned to British theaters of military responsibility be assigned "uniform American figures" should be held. strategic control of the appropriate British commander. In a September 7 memo, Timberlake stated that this principle could be legally violated. The case of the 12th Bombardment and the 57th Fighter Group, but that the 1st Provisional Group and the operational command of the 98th Group could see no reason.
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