Fifteenth Air Force
| Fifteenth Air Force | |
|---|---|
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (10x) | |
| Website | www |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Maj Gen David B. Lyons |
| Deputy Commander | Brig Gen Steven G. Behmer[1] |
| Senior Enlisted Leader | CMSgt Sonia T. Lee[2] |
The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a
Established on 1 November 1943, Fifteenth AF was a
During the
15 AF was redesignated Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force (15 EMTF) on 1 October 2003. 15 EMTF provided support for strategic airlift for all United States Department of Defense agencies as well as air refueling for the Air Force in both peace and wartime for the Pacific region. 15 EMTF inactivated on 20 March 2012.
On 20 August 2020, 15 AF was reactivated as an Air Combat Command numbered air force, taking over the previous conventional flying forces of both the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces.
Second World War
Fifteenth Air Force (15th AF) was established on 1 November 1943 in
15th AF resulted from a reorganization of American air forces in the Mediterranean in late 1943.
It was hoped that the 15th AF – stationed in the
Operational Units
- B-17 Flying Fortress) "Y" Tail Code
- Transferred from: Twelfth Air Force
- Headquartered: Foggia, Italy, 13 December 1943 – 2 November 1945
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Airfields:
- B-24 Liberator) "The Pyramidiers" "Triangle" Tail Code
- Transferred from Ninth Air Force
- Headquartered: Manduria, Italy, 11 November 1943 – May 1945
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Airfields: Brindisi (98th BG), Grottaglie (449th BG), Lecce (98th BG), Manduria (98th BG), San Pancrazio (376th BG, 450th BG)
- B-24 Liberator) "Red Tail"
- Transferred from Greenville AAB, South Carolina 6 April 1944
- Headquartered: Bari Airfield, Italy, 6 April 1944 – 16 October 1945
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Airfields: Gioia del Colle (451st BG), San Pancrazio (451st BG), Torretta (484th BG)
- B-24 Liberator) "Yellow/Black Tail"
- Transferred from: MacDill Field, Florida
- Headquartered: Taranto, Italy, March 1944 – July 1945
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Airfields: Gioia (464th BG), Pantanella (465th BG),
- B-24 Liberator) "Black Diamond"
- Activated in Italy
- Headquartered: Cerignola Airfield, Italy, 29 December 1943 – September 1945
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Airfields:
- P-38 Lightning)
- Transferred from Twelfth Air Force, 1943
- Headquartered:
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Airfields:
- P-51 Mustang)
- Activated in Italy
- Headquartered:
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Airfields: Capodichino (332nd FG), Cattolica (332d FG), Vincenzo Airfield (325th FG)
.* Sent to Aghione, Corsica from 10–21 August 1944 for Operation DRAGOON (Invasion of Southern France)
Initial OperationsBari Airfield , Italy.
On 4 January 1944, the Fifteenth, along with Twelfth Air Force, were organized into Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, along with the Royal Air Force 205 Group. MAAF was the southern component of U.S. Strategic Air Forces, Europe, the overall USAAF command and control organization in Europe. The first major operation carried out by Fifteenth Air Force was bombing missions in support of theOperation Shingle beginning on 22 January 1944. Strikes on German and fascist Italian targets were carried out and caused widespread damage to Axis forces.    Big Week"Big Week" was the name of an intense Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces series of attacks on Germany in a series of co-ordinated raids on the German aircraft industry. The plan, code-named "Operation Argument," was to use both American strategic air forces in Europe, with support by the Royal Air Force with night bombing raids to destroy or seriously cripple the German ability to produce combat aircraft. The Americans were facing strong Luftwaffe fighter opposition to their daylight bombing raids over Nazi-occupied Europe, and it was planned to initiate Operation Argument at the earliest possible date. On 22 February 1944, Fifteenth Air Force made its first attack on Germany, with an attack on Fiume oil refinery instead. Seventeen bombers were lost.
Despite these losses, it was believed that the USSTAF had dealt the German aircraft industry a severe blow. Oil industry targetsIn April, General Eisenhower ordered the USSTAF to attack German fuel production centers by striking both the oil refineries and the factories producing synthetic fuels. The 15th started the offensive on 5 April when it dispatched 235 B-17s and B-24s from Italy to transportation targets in the vicinity of the Ploiești oilfields in Romania. The refineries were attacked again on 15 and 24 April, inflicting additional damage. Attacks on oil targets had assumed top priority by October and vast fleets of heavy bombers, escorted by P-51 Mustang fighters, attacked refineries in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The P-51 escorts were able to establish an environment of air superiority, enabling the bombers to roam widely across southern and eastern Europe, attacking targets at Brüx in Czechoslovakia, Budapest, Komárom, Győr, and Pétfürdő in Hungary, Belgrade and other cities in Yugoslavia, and Trieste in north-eastern Italy.
Soviet supportBy June 1944, the 15th Air Force was bombing railway networks in southeast Europe in support of Soviet military operations in Romania. Throughout the summer of 1944, Austrian aircraft manufacturing centers at Wiener Neustadt were bombed and oil producing centers were attacked. On 2 June, the 15th Air Force flew its first "shuttle" mission when 130 B-17s and P-51 escorts landed in Russian controlled territory after a raid in Hungary. Two more shuttle missions followed. Operation AnvilIn August, the 15th began attacking targets in Southern France in preparation for Operation Anvil, the invasion of Southern France. Marseilles, Lyon, Grenoble, and Toulon were all attacked by B-24s and B-17s. Operation ReunionAfter the Romanian 1944 coup, the 15th Air Force bombed the German-occupied airports of Băneasa and Otopeni. Between 31 August and 3 September 1944, aircraft from the 15th AF carried out Operation Reunion by airlifting the released Allied prisoners from Romania. The end of the Third ReichThe only 15th AF mission to Berlin was on 24 March 1945 when 666 bombers struck the capital, Munich, and other German targets, as well as Czechoslovakia. The Berlin force was attacked by Me 262 jets that inflicted losses (one bombers and five fighters) while the Mustangs claimed eight jets downed - actual Luftwaffe records show only 3 x Me 262's lost in this engagement. The 47th BW and 55th BW fragged Fliegerhorst Neuburg damaging / destroying 54 x Me 262A-1’s from III./KG (J) 54, 304th BW attacked Fliegerhorst Münich-Riem destroying 13 x Me 262's. The NASM's Me 262 shows a claim credit for a B-17 shot down this date. The last major effort came on 25 April when 467 bombers struck rail targets in Austria, severing communications into Czechoslovakia. The 15th's final bombing mission was flown 1 May when 27 B-17s escorted by 51 P38's of the 14th FG attacked Salzburg rail targets. With the German surrender in Italy, 15th Air Force aircraft began dropping supplies over Yugoslavia and evacuating Allied prisoners of war performing its last mission on 16 May 1945 A total of around 2,110 bombers were lost on operations by its 15 B-24 and six B-17 bombardment groups , while its seven fighter groups claimed a total of 1,836 enemy aircraft destroyed. The Fifteenth was inactivated in Italy 15 September 1945.
Postwar era in late 1940sOn 31 March 1946, Fifteenth Air Force was reactivated at Colorado Springs AAB, Colorado and assigned to the ten-day-old Strategic Air Command. 15th AF assumed the assets and personnel of the former Continental Air Forces Second Air Force , which was inactivated on 30 March.
The original bomb groups assigned to 15th Air Force were:
.*Group became subordinate element to wing. However, demobilization was in full swing and few of these groups were fully equipped or manned. All of these groups were equipped with B-50 Superfortress , began joining the inventory replacing the older aircraft.
  The 15 AF returned to a combat-ready role as a result of the MacDill AFB, Florida for RAF Marham and RAF Waddington in the UK.
The 56th Fighter Wing at Selfridge in Michigan left Fifteenth Air Force on 1 December 1948, transferring to Tenth Air Force. On 7 November 1949, Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force was relocated to Westover AFB, Massachusetts , where it commanded all SAC bases in the eastern United States.
From 1947 onwards Fifteenth Air Force incorporated a number of fighter escort wings and strategic fighter wings, intended to escort bombers to their targets. Among these units were the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing . They were all redesignated and transferred to other USAF components in 1957–58 with the end of the fighter escort concept.
Korean WarB-29 bombers were shot down by communist aircraft.On 25 June 1950, the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( Far Eastern Air Force (FEAF) to attack attacking North Korean forces between the front lines and the 38th parallel .
At that time, the 22 B-29s of the Okinawa and begin attacks on North Korea . These raids began on 28 June. On 29 June, clearance was given for B-29 attacks on airfields in North Korea.
On 8 July, a special FEAF Bomber Command was set up under the command of Major General Emmett O'Donnell . Although President Truman wasn't willing to risk extensive use of the U.S. bomber force in the United States, which was being used as a deterrent for possible Soviet aggression in Europe, a few groups of B-29 bombers – that were not part of the nuclear strike force – were released. On 13 July, the FEAF Bomber Command took over command of the Twentieth Air Force 19th Bombardment Group and of the Fifteenth Air Force's 22nd and 92nd Bombardment Groups which had been transferred from SAC bases in the United States. Later in July, the Fifteenth Air Force 98th and 307th Bombardment Groups were sent to Japan to join the FEAF. The 92nd and 98th BGs and the 31st SRG operated from bases in Japan, whereas the 19th, 22nd, and 307th BGs were based in Okinawa.
When the MiG-15s ) probably destroyed another 17 (all MiG-15s) and damaged 11 (all MiG-15s). Losses were less than one per 1000 sorties.
Cold War.jpg)  With the end of fighting in Korea, President B-36s were phased out of heavy bombardment units rapidly.
Also after the deployment of forces to Far East Air Force in order to engage in combat over Korea, the history of Fifteenth Air Force becomes indistinguishable from that of strikes on communist forces.The 15th Air Force also included missile squadrons, such as the 706th Strategic Missile Wing.[4]
Between the intercontinental ballistic missiles (Titan II until 1984, Minuteman II/III, Peacekeeper).
Post Cold War and 21st-centuryFifteenth Air Force became exclusively an aerial tanker formation with KC-135 and KC-10 aircraft on 1 September 1991. When Strategic Air Command was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its assets divided between the newly created Air Mobility Command and Air Combat Command, Fifteenth Air Force became part of Air Mobility Command. Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force moved from Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia .
Fifteenth Air Force was one of the two numbered air forces assigned to the Air Mobility Command. Its main area of operations was the region stretching west of the Mississippi River to the east coast of Africa, pole to pole, but was often tasked to support Air Mobility Command's global reach mission. Its primary mission was to provide strategic and theater airlift for all Department of Defense agencies as well as air refueling for the Air Force in both peace and wartime. This included the aeromedical evacuation of sick and injured. With the assigned military work force of 28,912 personnel and an assigned civilian work force of 5,288 people, Fifteenth Air Force managed almost 300 aircraft and many support facilities in the United States and in the Pacific and Indian Oceans – all the way to Diego Garcia. The 15 AF commander was also the Commander, Task Force 294 (TF 294), which provided aerial refueling to aircraft that supported the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) in time of war. TF 294 included 26 units from the AMC, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve Command. The 15 AF staff assured the operational readiness of its units by conducting readiness assessment visits and staff assistance visits. It acted as an advocate for its subordinate units and enforces higher headquarters policies and directives. As a result of an Air Mobility Command restructuring, Fifteenth Air Force was redesignated the Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force, focused on air mobility support in peacetime and wartime. 15 AF operational flying organizations were transferred to Eighteenth Air Force. 15 EMTF retained AMC's Pacific region airlift and air refueling enroute support organization as well as AMC's contingency response units. The 15 EMTF provided rapid and flexible transportation support from six major Air Force bases in the United States and 47 locations throughout the Pacific. Forces from 202015 AF is responsible for operational readiness for thirteen active duty operational groups and wings, one air base wing, and three combat engineer squadrons. Operational wings and groups:
Air Base wing:
Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) squadrons:
The Fifteenth Air Force is also responsible for overseeing the operational readiness of designated units of the Air Force Reserve .
Lineage
Assignments
ComponentsWorld War II Wings
Postwar Air Divisions
List of commanders
Stations
Quotes
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
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