Nineteenth Air Force

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Nineteenth Air Force
Major General Clark Quinn
Notable
commanders		Maj Gen "Michael A. Keltz".
Brig. Gen. Henry Viccellio, 8 July 1955 – June, 1960, July 1963 – June 1964
Major General Mark S. Solo[3]
Maj Gen William E. Bryan Jr.[4]

The Nineteenth Air Force (19 AF) is an active Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force. During the Cold War it was a component of Tactical Air Command, with a mission of command and control over deployed USAF forces in support of United States foreign policy initiatives. The command was reactivated in 1993 under Air Education and Training Command with a mission of conducting AETC's flying training.

19th Air Force was inactivated on 9 July 2012 as a cost-cutting measure by the Secretary of the Air Force, but was reactivated on 1 October 2014 when it was determined that the cost-cutting measures did not reap the savings expected. AETC commander General Robin Rand directed the reactivation to consolidate the management of the AETC flying mission again under a Numbered Air Force instead of the AETC Headquarters.

History

Cold War

Origins

In the aftermath of the Korean War in 1953, the United States Air Force began to institutionalize a quick response force to deploy personnel, aircraft and equipment to bases with minimal facilities and to develop an air refueling capacity for its fighter aircraft.[5]

From this initiatives,

Communist aggression in such areas as the Middle East or Latin America, beyond the reach of American forces already stationed overseas. Its primary characteristic was fast reaction, and it would be as self-sufficient as possible. Each of its elements would prepare and store flyaway kits of spare parts and supplies, and each of its members would have specific deployment tasks assigned. Upon arrival in-theater, the unit would be able to sustain operations for 30 days on minimum logistics support, with the addition of required food, fuel, and munitions. Air-to-air refueling not only made rapid response possible, it enabled the various elements of the CASF to maintain themselves economically on their home bases until the need to deploy arose. Once the CASF concept was fully implemented and tested by the late 1950s, the first strike elements of a CASF could arrive in the Middle East within 16 hours of notification, with the total force in place and ready for operations in 48 hours. In the Far East the lead elements would arrive within 36 hours, with the full force in operational status within 72 hours.[5]

On 8 July 1955, under the command of Brig. Gen. Henry Viccellio, TAC activated the command element of the CASF, the Nineteenth Air Force.

Structure

Nineteenth Air Force patch from the 1960s

The headquarters of the Nineteenth Air Force was considered one of the most unusual HQs the U.S. Air Force created at the time. It had no permanently assigned aircraft or combat units. Nor did it have, since it was an operational headquarters only, any units or bases to supervise, train, or inspect. When not deployed, the Nineteenth had a close working relationship with the Ninth Air Force, which supported its administrative functions with many of its own people. These circumstances allowed the Nineteenth to limit its staff to approximately 85 military and 6 civilian personnel.[5]

The mission of Nineteenth Air Force was to prepare contingency plans for and to command short-notice deployments of the CASF anywhere in the world. It required each individual member to be ready for instant departure from the United States, and its staff sections maintained 30-day flyaway kits prepared for shipment. The Nineteenth worked closely with

U.S. Army contingency units, and at one point, one-third of its staff was jump-qualified, able to parachute in with U.S. Army airborne troops. In the event of a crisis, the Nineteenth (working from a prepared plan which designated specific units, travel routes, en route support, and timing) would take command of the deploying CASF and serve as part of a joint task force, as a senior air command, or as a component command. At first glance the Nineteenth had a normal headquarters organization with major sections for planning, operations, and logistics. However, these sections had an important secondary function: each served as the lead command element for various geographical contingencies.[5]

The plans section would lead Europe and Middle Eastern deployments; the operations section would lead those to the Pacific; and the logistics section would lead deployments to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. This unique arrangement allowed for continuity of planning and expertise and helped overcome some of the disadvantages inherent in the U.S. armed forces policy of churning personnel through different assignments every three or so years. Within the service, the Nineteenth soon earned its nickname: The Suitcase Air Force.[5]

In keeping with its mission of deterrence, a CASF, in theory, consisted of three task forces, each of which could vary in size and composition, according to its assigned task.

  • The first task force had only a limited combat capability and consisted of a show-the-flag or a good-will package. It could fulfill the role of gunboat diplomacy. A force such as this went to Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan (Operation Quick Span) in February 1960.[5]
  • The second task force consisted of the basic CASF combat element and would serve as the initial force for a small war. TAC kept the units of the second task force on a progressive 24-hour alert system and planned for the first portion to move within four hours of alert and the entire force to deploy in 24 hours.[5]
  • The third task force, composed of additional fighter squadrons, would augment the second if the situation required an expanded force.[5]

1958 Lebanon Crisis

On 15 July 1958, President

Beirut, Lebanon to help preserve that small country from a wave of popular discontent that was sweeping the Middle East, toppling monarchies in Syria and Iraq and replacing them with military regimes hostile to United States interests.[5]

To support the Marines, the National Command Authorities (NCA) alerted the CASF. Under the command of Maj. Gen. Henry Viccellio, within three hours,

Shaw AFB, South Carolina. Sixty C–130 Hercules ferried support personnel, spare parts, and equipment. Thirteen hours and 6,700 miles after the initial alert, the F–100s were taxiing to alert ramps at Adana. All deployed aircraft came from the Ninth Air Force. Within two days an underutilized Turkish Air Force gunnery base had become an American air center, with an operations center manned by Nineteenth Air Force personnel (flown in on a single C–130) and integrated with USN, USMC, and U.S. Army forces in the Middle East.[5]

1958 Taiwan Straits Crisis

Because the entire Nineteenth Air Force headquarters had deployed to Lebanon, TAC ordered its

Quemoy and Matsu. During the summer of 1958, the magnitude and duration of the Communists' bombardments increased dramatically.[5]

The United States responded by supplying the Nationalists with tanks and new heavy and longer-ranged artillery as well as by beefing up its own forces in the region. TAC placed on alert a squadron of F–100s; transport aircraft loaded with supplies, parts, and equipment; and a communications and control squadron. It also began to "lean forward", sending tankers, weathermen, maintenance crews, and control units to islands on the air route between California and

Clark AB in the Philippine Islands.[5]

Late on 29 August 1958, the second CASF received the "go" order. F–100s from the

Naha AB, Okinawa backed up this force. The mission of all units was to defend the straits between Formosa and the mainland.[5]

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

In mid-October 1962, the Nineteenth moved from its home base, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, to

Homestead AFB, Florida. Once at Homestead, the Nineteenth spearheaded the deployment of TAC units at the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Nineteenth’s commander headed the main air operations center, the Air Force Atlantic Advanced Operational Nucleus (AFLANT ADVON), which activated shortly after President Kennedy’s speech declaring a quarantine of Soviet missile shipments into Cuba. Augmented by airmen and officers from other TAC air forces, AFLANT ADVON soon controlled nearly 1,000 aircraft and 7,000 men and women. The Nineteenth returned to North Carolina in December 1962 when the crisis ended.[5]

Other missions

In September 1962, when racial tension over the integration of the state university in Oxford, Mississippi, caused the federal government to send in troops, personnel of the Nineteenth coordinated airlift activities.[5]

In 1963 Nineteenth Air Force conducted two show-the-flag exercises. The first went to Saudi Arabia in early May. There, the Nineteenth helped to train Saudi pilots and supervised a tactical demonstration at Jidda International Airport for 30,000 spectators that included Crown Prince Faisal, the Prime Minister, the Saudi Foreign Minister, and other royalty and officials.[5]

The second went to India in October. There, in Exercise Shiksha (Sanskrit for training), the Nineteenth, in cooperation with the British and Australian Royal Air Forces, helped to improve Indian Air Force air defense capabilities and provide other tactical training. This effort was partially in response to the earlier division-sized Sino-Indian conflict. Throughout its existence, the Nineteenth also participated in numerous joint exercises within the United States as well as in practice alerts.[5]

For practical purposes, the Vietnam War ended the work of the Nineteenth Air Force, as that conflict absorbed a large proportion of the USAF’s assets not directly dedicated to the nuclear deterrent and consequently lessened the nation’s ability to intervene in other crisis areas. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, a CASF deployed in response to the Tonkin Gulf incidents, and in 1968 the last CASF deployment came in support of American forces in the Republic of Korea during the USS Pueblo incident.[5]

Legacy

The Nineteenth Air Force was inactivated in July 1973, as part of the economies enacted after the end of the

Air Expeditionary Forces (AEFs). The concept was described as a major step[by whom?] in recasting the operations, outlook, and culture of the USAF.[5]

Air Education and Training Command

As a part of the realignment and re-organization of the Air Force after the end of the

Randolph AFB
, Texas with a mission of conducting AETC's flying training.

Air Force pilot candidates began with introductory flight training (IFT). In IFT, civilian instructors provided 50 hours of flight instruction to pilot candidates who completed requirements for a private pilot license. Upon graduation, pilot candidates then attended either Euro-NATO joint jet pilot training (ENJJPT) or joint specialized undergraduate pilot training (JSUPT).[6]

Nineteenth Air Force also provided follow-on training for most Air Force pilots in their assigned aircraft. Pilots assigned to fighter aircraft complete the introduction to fighter fundamentals course at Randolph AFB or

Luke AFB, Arizona.[6]

KC-46 Pegasus aircraft.[6]

Aircrews assigned to fly the C-130 train at

Little Rock AFB, AR[6]

Pilots assigned to fly

Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.[6]

C-21 Learjet[6]

The Army at Fort Rucker, provides training in the

C-12 Huron.[6]

In addition to pilot training, Nineteenth Air Force provides joint specialized undergraduate navigator training. JSUNT is conducted at Randolph AFB and

T-43 Bobcat and move to follow-on assignments in transport and tanker aircraft such as the C-130 and KC-135.[6]

Students at NAS Pensacola, complete primary and intermediate training in the T-34C and T-1 aircraft, and then enter the one of two tracks in the next phase. Students in the strike track will serve as navigators in the

F-15E Strike Eagle as weapon systems officers and attend special training in the IFF course.[6]

Nineteenth Air Force also provided enlisted aircrew training for a wide variety of aircrew specialties including flight engineers, air-to-air refueling boom operators, loadmasters, aerial gunners, airborne communications specialists and weapons directors. Flight engineers and boom operators train at Altus AFB, loadmasters train at Sheppard AFB, helicopter flight engineers and aerial gunners train at Kirtland AFB, airborne communications specialists train at Keesler AFB, and Air Battle Managers train at Tyndall AFB.[6]

As a cost-cutting measure, Nineteenth Air Force was inactivated on 9 July 2012. An inactivation ceremony was held for the 19th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.[7]

Lineage

  • Established as Nineteenth Air Force on 1 July 1955
Activated on 8 July 1955
Inactivated on 2 July 1973
  • Re-activated on 1 July 1993
Inactivated on 13 July 2012
  • Re-activated on 1 October 2014

Assignments

Attached to:
Ninth Air Force
, 8 July 1955 – 30 June 1957

Note: In its first two years, Nineteenth Air Force was directly attached to Ninth Air Force. On 1 July 1957 it moved to the direct control of TAC headquarters but it maintained its working relationship with the Ninth Air Force, whose support enabled the Nineteenth to retain its small footprint

Stations

  • Foster AFB
    , Texas, 8 July 1955
  • Seymour Johnson AFB
    , North Carolina, 1 September 1958 – 2 July 1973
  • Randolph AFB
    , Texas, 8 June 1993 – 9 July 2012, 1 October 2014 – Present

AETC Components

List of commanders

No. Commander Term
Portrait Name Took office Left office Term length
1
Michael A. Keltz
Major General
Michael A. Keltz		1 October 201423 June 2015265 days
2
James Hecker
Major General
James Hecker		23 June 201528 March 20171 year, 278 days
3
Patrick J. Doherty
Major General
Patrick J. Doherty		28 March 201713 June 20192 years, 77 days
4
Craig D. Wills
Major General
Craig D. Wills		13 June 201919 August 20223 years, 67 days
5
Phillip A. Stewart
Major General
Phillip A. Stewart		19 August 202210 May 2023264 days
-
Christopher R. Amrhein
Brigadier General
Christopher R. Amrhein
Acting		10 May 20235 June 202326 days
6
Clark Quinn
Major General
Clark Quinn		5 June 2023Incumbent318 days

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ "Nineteenth Air Force (AETC)". af.mil. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Air Education and Training Command > Units > 19th Air Force". www.aetc.af.mil. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  3. ^ [1] Archived 13 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Major General William E. Bryan Jr". af.mil. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Air Force Historical Support Division > Home" (PDF). www.afhso.af.mil. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 19th Air Force Official factsheet Archived 3 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Inactivation ceremony for 19th Air Force scheduled July 12 Archived 24 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Vance.af.mil. Retrieved on 2014-05-24.

External links

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