TENTH AIR FORCE

'Tenth Air Force' is a Numbered Air Force headquartered at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. The command is one of three numbered air forces in Air Force Reserve Command, and is responsible for command supervision of fighter, bomber, rescue, airborne warning and control, special operations, flying training, combat air operations battle staff, and space units.

Contents

Mission

Units

History

World War II

World War II Campaigns

World War II Commanders

World War II Headquarters

World War II Units

Post World War II

References

Notes

External links

Mission

Tenth Air Force is responsible for managing and supervising six fighter wings, three geographically dispersed rescue units, one bomber unit, one Airborne Warning and Control (AWACs) associate unit, one special operations wing , one space group, one Regional Support Group, and more than 120 non-flying units in logistics and support roles.
The command directs the activities of more than 13,363 reservists and 947 civilians located at 30 military installations throughout the United States. With a full time staff of 87 and 93 reservist, Tenth Air Force and the 610th Regional Support Group, monitor and provides assistance to all subordinate units to ensure they maintain readiness to supplement the nation's active Air Force units with operationally ready units on a moment's notice. If mobilized, the flying units and their support elements would be gained by Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Air Force Space Command (AFSPACOM) and Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
In addition, Tenth Air Force units fly satellites for both US SPACECOM and NOAA.

Units

Operational units of Tenth Air Force are|

★ 301st Fighter Wing - NAS JRB Fort Worth TX

★ 310th Space Group - Schriever AFB CO

★ 340th Flying Training Group - Randolph AFB TX

★ 419th Fighter Wing - Hill AFB UT

★ 442d Fighter Wing - Whiteman AFB MO

★ 482d Fighter Wing - Homestead ARB FL

★ 513th Air Control Group - Tinker AFB OK

★ 610th Regional Support Group - NAS JRB Fort Worth TX

★ 917th Wing - Barksdale AFB LA

★ 919th Special Operations Wing - Eglin AFB FL

★ 920th Rescue Wing - Patrick AFB FL

★ 944th Fighter Wing - Luke AFB FL

History

World War II

'Tenth Air Force' was constituted on 4 February 1942 and activated on 12 February. It was created for air combat operations in India and Burma during World War II.
The Tenth moved to India over a three month period from March to May 1942. It served in India, Burma, and China until March 1943 when Fourteenth Air Force was activated in China. Then the Tenth operated in India and Burma until it moved to China late in July 1945..
The Tenth Air Force in the China Burma India Theater was heir to Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault's American Volunteer Group of "Flying Tigers". The Tenth Air Force was built up around a nucleus of air force personnel newly arrived from Java and the Philippines, under the command of Maj. Gen. (later Lt. Gen.) Louis Brereton. It, too, had headquarters at New Delhi at a later date.
In these early days of theater organization, the Tenth Air Force constituted most of the American military establishment in India. In China, General Chennault's American Volunteer Group, which eventually became the Fourteenth Air Force, was still under the control of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In July 1942, what remained of it was inducted into the United States Army Air Force as the 'China Air Task Force', and complement of the 'India Air Task Force', both of which were elements of the Tenth Air Force.
As a result of decisions which the Joint Chiefs of Staff made in Washington, DC, the Tenth Air Force expanded in 1943. It required new bases which Theater Headquarters ordered Services of Supply to build and maintain. General Chennault's China Air Task Force was later incorporated into the USAAF as the Fourteenth Air Force. The Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces constituted the major American combat forces in the theater.
Throughout the life of the China-Burma-India theater, General Chennault's air element constituted the bulk of the U.S. Forces in China-an element greatly outnumbered by the troops of the Services of Supply and the Tenth Air Force in India. The Tenth Air Force processed and trained crews for combat and transport activities.
From bases in Assam, it also supervised and protected supply flights over The Hump and prepared to support Allied ground efforts with close air support and operations against Japanese communications and supply installations in Burma.
General Chennault relinquished command of the Fourteenth Air Force in August 1945. During the last months of the year many personnel and units of the Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces were moved out of China. In December 1945 both air forces were disbanded; only units remained.

World War II Campaigns

Burma, 1942; India-Burma; China Defensive; Central Burma; China Offensive.

World War II Commanders

★ Colonel Harry A Halverson, 17 February 1942;

★ Major-General Lewis H Brereton, 5 March 1942;

★ Brigadier-General Earl L Naiden, 26 June 1942;

★ Major-General Clayton Bissell, 18 August 1942;

★ Major-General Howard C Davidson, in August 1943;

★ Major-General Albert F Hegenberger, 1 August 1945 - ?

World War II Headquarters

★ Patterson Field, Ohio, 12 Feb-8 Mar 1942;

★ New Delhi, India, 16 May 1942;

★ Myitkyina, Burma, 2 Nov 1944;

★ Piardoba, India, 15 May 1945;

★ Kunming, China, 1 Aug 1945;

★ Liuchow, China, 9 Aug-15 Dec 1945.

World War II Units

★ 1st Air Commando Group ★ 1st Combat Cargo Group ★ 1st Provisional Liaison Group ★ 2nd Air Commando Group ★ 3rd Air Depot Group ★ 3rd Combat Cargo Group ★ 4th Combat Cargo Group ★ 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy) ★ 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Group ★ 12th Bombardment Group (Medium) ★ 23rd Fighter Group ★ 33rd Fighter Group ★ 47th A D Group ★ 51st Fighter Group

★ 54th Service Group ★ 80th Fighter Group ★ 87th Anti Aircraft Artillery Group ★ 100th Service Group ★ 311th Fighter Group ★ 341st Bombardment Group (Medium) ★ ★ 11th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) ★ ★ 22nd Bombardment Squadron (Medium) ★ ★ 490th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) "Burma Bridge Busters" ★ ★ 491st Bombardment Squadron (Medium) ★ 442nd Troop Carrier Group ★ 443rd Troop Carrier Group ★ Other Units not assigned to a group

Post World War II

After World War II, Tenth Air Force was assigned to the reestablished Air Defense Command, later to Continental Air Command, and back to Air Defense Command. From September 1960 to January 1966 the organization was inactive. It was deactivated again in September 1969. In October 1976 Tenth Air Force reactivated as a part of the Air Force Reserves (AFRES).

References

★ Maurer, Maurer "''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''", Pub USAF, Reprint 1986 (first pub 1961)

★ Second World War 10th Air Force Unit Listing

★ Jon Latimer, ''Burma: The Forgotten War'', London: John Murray, 2004 ISBN 0-7195-6576-6

Notes

# Air Force Combat Units of World War II - Part 8 See References Maurer
# Transferred to the Fourteenth Air Force
# The 341st Bomb Group usually functioned as if it were two groups and for a time as three. Soon after its activation in September 1942, 341st Bomb Group Headquarters and three of its sauadrons the 22nd, 490th and 491st, and were stationed and operating in India under direction of the Tenth Air Force, while the 11th squadron was stationed and operating in China under direction of the "''China Air Task Force''", which was later reorganized and reinforced to become the Fourteenth Air Force. Fourteen months later the Group Headquarters along with 22nd and the 491st squadrons joined the 11th squadron under the command of the Fourteenth Air Force. However most of the 490th "''Burma Bridge Busters''" remained under the command of Major-General Howard Davidson's Tenth Air Force. Still later the 11th Squadron and a detachment of the 491st operated for a time under the East China Task Force.
#Life and Times of the 341st Bomb Group: Forward

External links

★ Dedicated to the members of the 341st Bomb Group China-Burma-India Theater

★ Second World War 10th Air Force history

★ Life and Times of the 341st Bomb Group