Ninth Air Force


The Ninth Air Force is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command, a joint Department of Defense combatant command responsible for U.S. security interests in 27 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia.
Activated as 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942, the command fought in World War II both in the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya and as the tactical fighter component of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, engaging enemy forces in France, the Low Countries and in Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, it was one of two Numbered Air Forces of Tactical Air Command.
Co-designated as United States Central Command Air Forces on 1 January 1983, on 2009 as part of a complicated transfer of lineage, the lineage and history of the Ninth Air Force was bestowed on USAFCENT, and a new Ninth Air Force, which technically had no previous history, was activated. On 20 August 2020, the 9 AF designation was returned to USAFCENT with the deactivation of the 2009 established 9 AF. It has fought in the 1991 Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, as well as various engagements within USCENTCOM.

History

United States Air Forces Central is the direct descendant organization of Ninth Air Force, established in 1941. AFCENT was formed as the United States Central Command Air Forces under Tactical Air Command. CENTAF initially consisted of designated United States Air Force elements of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force which was inactivated and reformed as USCENTCOM in 1983.
On 1 March 2008 USCENTAF was redesignated USAFCENT. It shared its commander with Ninth Air Force until August 2009. Ninth Air Force was redesignated USAFCENT on 5 August 2009. A new Ninth Air Force was established that date for command and control of CONUS-based Air Combat Command units formerly assigned to the previous Ninth Air Force.

World War II

Establishment

In the summer of 1941 General Headquarters Air Force decided to establish commands to direct its air support mission in each of its numbered air forces, plus one additional command that would report directly to GHQ AF. These commands were manned from inactivating wings, and would initially control only observation squadrons, which would be transferred from the control of the corps and divisions, although they would remain attached to these ground units. GHQ AF organized 5th Air Support Command at Bowman Field, Kentucky in September 1941, drawing its personnel and equipment from the 16th Bombardment Wing, which was simultaneously inactivated. New observation groups were formed, with a cadre drawn from National Guard squadrons that had been mobilized in 1940 and 1941. 5th Air Support Command was redesignated as 9th Air Force in April 1942. It moved to Bolling Field, DC on 22 July and transferred without personnel or equipment to Cairo, Egypt on 12 November 1942.

Operations in Western Desert Campaign, 1942–1943

In June 1942, the German Afrika Korps advance in North Africa forced the British Eighth Army to retreat towards Egypt putting British Middle East Command at risk. The United States Army Air Forces had already planned for a buildup of American air power in the Middle East in January 1942 in response to a request from the British Chief of the Air Staff, but the first units arrived unexpectedly on 12 June 1942. Col. Harry A. Halverson, commanding twenty-three B-24D Liberator heavy bombers and a hand-picked crews was stopped at RAF Lydda en route to China to carry out attacks on Japan from airfields in China, but after the fall of Rangoon the Burma Road was cut, so the detachment could not be logistically supported in China. HALPRO was quickly diverted from its original mission to a new one—interdictory raids from airfields in Egypt against shipping and North African ports supporting Axis operations.
On 28 June 1942, Major General Lewis H. Brereton arrived at Cairo to command the U.S. Army Middle East Air Force, which was activated immediately. USAMEAF comprised the former Halverson Project now the 1st Provisional Bombardment Group, Brereton's detachment, and the Air Section of the U.S. Military North African Mission. Several USAAF units were sent to join USAMEAF during next weeks in the destruction of Rommel's Afrika Korps by support to ground troops and secure sea and air communications in the Mediterranean.
In September 1942, RAF Middle East Command's Senior Air Staff Officer, Air Commodore Philip. Wigglesworth was authorized by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder to select targets for all U.S. heavy bombers.
In the Second Battle of El Alamein under General Bernard Montgomery attacks by British troops depleted the Axis tanks and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel began the withdrawal from Egypti.
Ninth Air Force had been first constituted as V Air Support Command, part of Air Force Combat Command, at Bowman Field, Kentucky on 11 September 1941. Its responsibility was to direct and coordinate the training activities of National Guard observation squadrons inducted into federal service with those of light bomber units training with the Army Ground Forces. However a lack of unity of command in the organizational set-up led to an early discontinuation of the "air support commands" and V Air Support Command was redesignated as Ninth Air Force in April 1942.
It moved to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., on 22 July and transferred without personnel or equipment to Cairo, Egypt on 12 November 1942. The Ninth Air Force mission comprised: Gain air superiority; Deny the enemy the ability to replenish or replace losses, and Offer ground forces close support in North-East Africa. On 12 November 1942, the US Army Middle East Air Force was dissolved and replaced by HQ Ninth Air Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton. At that time, the Ninth Air Force consisted of:
By the end of 1942 a total of 370 aircraft had been ferried to the Ninth Air Force. While the great majority were P-40s, Consolidated B-24 Liberators, and B-25 Mitchells, there were also more than 50 twin-engine transports, which made it possible to build an effective local air transport service. Ninth Air Force P-40F fighters supported the British Eighth Army's drive across Egypt and Libya, escorting bombers and flying strafing and dive-bombing missions against airfields, communications, and troop concentrations. Other targets attacked were shipping and harbor installations in Libya, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, Crete, and Greece to cut enemy supply lines to Africa. The Palm Sunday Massacre was one noteworthy mission by the P-40 and Spitfire groups.
After an Allied air forces command reorganisation effective 18 February 1943, the Ninth Air Force began to report to RAF Middle East Command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas. Additionally, the Ninth's 57th, 79th, and 324th Fighter Groups and its 12th and 340th Bombardment Groups were transferred to the operational control of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force under the command of Air Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. The Ninth's 316th Troop Carrier Group flew its missions with the Northwest African Troop Carrier Command.
In February 1943, after the Afrika Korps had been driven into Tunisia, the Germans took the offensive and pushed through the Kasserine Pass before being stopped with the help of both Ninth and Twelfth Air Force units in the battle. The Allies drove the enemy back into a pocket around Bizerte and Tunis, where Axis forces surrendered in May. Thus, Tunisia became available for launching attacks on Pantelleria, Sicily, and mainland Italy.
At the time of Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943, Ninth Air Force Headquarters was still based at Cairo in Egypt while the Headquarters of Ninth Fighter Command and IX Bomber Command were stationed at Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, respectively. During this critical period of World War II when the Allied forces finally left North Africa for Europe, the groups of the Ninth Air Force consisted of:
  • 12th Bombardment Group at Sfax el Mau, Tunisia with B-25 Mitchells
  • 340th Bombardment Group at Sfax South, Tunisia with B-25 Mitchells
  • 57th Fighter Group at Hani Main, Tunisia with P-40F Warhawks
  • 79th Fighter Group at Causeway Landing Ground, Tunisia with P-40F Warhawks
  • 324th Fighter Group with P-40F Warhawks.
  • 98th Bombardment Group with B-24D Liberators
  • 376th Bombardment Group at Berka, Tunisia with B-24D Liberators
  • 316th Troop Carrier Group at Deversoir, Egypt with C-47s, C-53s and DC3s.
During most of 1943, the Ninth Air Force was officially assigned to RAF Middle East Command of the Mediterranean Air Command. However, the Ninth's 12th and 340th Bombardment Groups were assigned to the Tactical Bomber Force, the 57th and 79th Fighter Groups were assigned to the Desert Air Force, and the 324th Fighter Group was surprisingly assigned to XII Air Support Command. The Tactical Bomber Force under Air Commodore Laurence Sinclair, the Desert Air Force under Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst, and XII Air Support Command under Major General Edwin House were sub-commands of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force under Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. NATAF was one of the three major sub-commands of the Northwest African Air Forces under Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz. NATAF, Northwest African Strategic Air Force and Northwest African Coastal Air Force, formed the classic tri-force, the basis for the creation of NAAF in February 1943.
Ninth Air Force groups attacked airfields and rail facilities in Sicily and took part in Operation Husky, carried paratroopers, and flew reinforcements to ground units on the island. The heavy bombardment groups of the Ninth also participated in the low-level assault of the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania on 1 August 1943.
On 22 August 1943 the following groups were transferred from the Ninth Air Force to the Twelfth Air Force:
  • 12th Bombardment Group at Gerbini, Sicily with B-25s
  • 57th Fighter Group on Sicily with P-40s
  • 79th Fighter Group on Sicily with P-40s
  • 324th Fighter Group at El Haouaria, Tunisia with P-40s and
  • 340th Bombardment Group at Comiso, Sicily with B-25s
The 316th Troop Carrier Group was operating under Northwest African Troop Carrier Command with C-47 Dakotas and CG4A Waco Gliders.