Tenth Air Force

Tenth Air Force
World War II - Asiatic-Pacific Theater Burma India-Burma Central Burma China Defensive China Offensive[1]
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Commanders
Commanding officer	Brig Gen Regina A. Sabric
Command chief	CMSgt Christopher S. Bluto Jr.
Notable commanders	Lewis H. Brereton

The Tenth Air Force (10 AF) is a unit of the

), Texas.

The command directs the activities of 14,000 Air Force Reservists and 950 civilians located at 30 military installations throughout the United States. 10 AF is the AFRC numbered air force whose units and aircraft are primarily gained by the Combat Air Forces (CAF), specifically

.

Tenth Air Force was a

(AFRC).

The 10th Air Force is commanded by Maj Gen Bryan P. Radliff.

Overview

Tenth Air Force, located at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, directs the activities of nearly 16,000 reservists and 636 civilians located at 31 military installations throughout the United States. The mission of Tenth Air Force is to exercise command supervision of its assigned Reserve units to ensure they maintain the highest combat capability to augment active forces in support of national objectives.

With approximately 60 full-time headquarters staff members, Tenth Air Force acts as the focal point for all matters pertaining to assigned Air Force Reserve units and individuals. With the assistance of 36 traditional reservists assigned, the headquarters monitors and provides assistance to all subordinate units to help resolve problem areas and more efficiently maintain unit combat readiness.

The headquarters is responsible for managing and supervising five fighter wings comprising eleven fighter squadrons and seven fighter groups; one rescue wing comprising six air rescue squadrons in two groups; one bomb wing; one airborne warning and control group; one special operations wing; one space wing comprising nine squadrons; one regional support group; and more than seventy non-flying units.

If mobilized, the flying units with custody of their own aircraft and their support elements would be gained by

(AFMC).

The flying organizations within Tenth Air Force include fighter units equipped with the

RQ-4 Global Hawk

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The 610th Regional Support Group at NAS Fort Worth JRB is responsible for the management of twelve geographically separated units throughout the United States.

Other organizations include combat air operations, medical, civil engineer, combat logistics, communications, security forces, aerial port, intelligence and aeromedical units. Additionally, the Reserve portion of the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC), which conducts operational test and evaluation of fighter equipment and improvements, is directly assigned to Tenth Air Force.

Reservists from 10th Air Force units are routinely deployed to Air Expeditionary units in combat areas of Central and Southwest Asia as part of the

Overseas Contingency Operation

.

Units

Operational units of Tenth Air Force are:[2]

• Combat Air Forces

Tyndall AFB

, Florida

NAS JRB Fort Worth

, Texas

Barksdale AFB

, Louisiana

Seymour Johnson AFB

, North Carolina

Hill AFB

, Utah

Whiteman AFB

, Missouri

Elmendorf AFB

, Alaska

482d Fighter Wing – Homestead ARB

, Florida

Eglin AFB Aux Field No. 3 / Duke Field

, Florida

920th Rescue Wing – Patrick Space Force Base, Florida

Davis-Monthan AFB

, Arizona

Creech AFB

, Nevada

Davis-Monthan AFB

, Arizona

655th ISR Group -

Wright-Patterson AFB

, Ohio

• Regional Support Groups

NAS JRB Fort Worth

, Texas

• Space Forces

Schriever AFB

, Colorado

• Pilot Training Forces

Luke AFB

, Arizona

• Command/Control Forces

Tinker AFB

, Oklahoma

Tenth Air Force Squadrons, Flights, and Operational Locations are also stationed at:

History

World War II

Tenth Air Force was constituted on 4 February 1942 and activated on 12 February, built up around a nucleus of air force personnel newly arrived from

.

The Tenth Air Force initially provided control of all USAAF combat operations in the

.

Under General

In March 1943 the China Air Task Force was dissolved and its components made part of the new

The Tenth Air Force conducted offensive strategic bombing operations in Burma and Thailand and supported Allied ground efforts with close air support and operations against Japanese communications and supply installations. After the end of the war in China, the command headquarters departed from Shanghai on 15 December 1945, being attached to Army Service Forces at Fort Lawton, Washington, where the last personnel were demobilized and the command inactivated, being returned to HQ USAAF on 6 January 1946.

Air Defense Command

In March 1946, USAAF Chief General

(ConAC) in December 1948 being primarily concerned with air defense.

The command was re-activated on 24 May 1946 at

, Indiana, 25 September 1948. It was originally assigned to provide air defense over a wide region from Kentucky to Montana; from the Four Corners of southwest Colorado to the Northeast tip of Minnesota, north of the borders of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.

The

.

In addition to the command and control of the active Air Force interceptor and radar units in its region, it also became the command organization for the Air Force Reserve and state Air National Guard units. By 1949 with the establishment of the Western Air Defense Force (WADF) and Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF), the air defense mission of the command was transferred to WADF, leaving Tenth AF free to focus on its reserve training tasks.

Moved to

(CAC), as a result, Tenth Air Force was discontinued, and inactivated, on 1 September 1960.

Tenth Air Force was reactivated on 20 January 1966, at

Richards-Gebaur AFB

, Missouri as part of Air Defense Command with the inactivation of its organization of Air Defense Sectors. Its area of responsibility was the central region of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River and the northern peninsula of Michigan.

On 16 January 1968 Air Defense Command was re-designated Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM) as part of a restructuring of USAF air defense forces. Tenth Air Force's second period of service was short lived, however, and the command was again inactivated as the result of a major ADCOM reorganization on 31 December 1969 of the First Fourth, Tenth Air Forces and several Air Divisions. This reorganization was the result of the need to eliminate intermediate levels of command in ADCOM driven by budget reductions and a perceived lessening of the need for continental air defense against attacking Soviet aircraft.

ADCOM reassigned the units under the inactivated Tenth Air Force primarily to the 14th, 23d and 24th Air Divisions.

Air Force Reserve

Continental Air Command was discontinued on 1 August 1968, and was replaced by Headquarters Air Force Reserve, located at

, near Houston, Texas. On 31 December 1969, the five regions were merged into three. The responsibilities of the Fourth and Fifth Regions were consolidated into the new Central Air Force Reserve Region. Eastern Region became responsible for the First and Second Region areas, the Sixth Region became the Western Region. This change increased the area of responsibility of Central Region from five states to 14, ranging from the Canadian to the Mexican borders. As a result of these consolidations, Tenth Air Force was again inactivated on 31 December 1969.

When Air Force operations were phased out of Ellington AFB, Central Region Headquarters moved to

in Austin, Texas on 10 March 1976. The Air Force Reserve's entire intermediate management structure was then realigned effective 8 October 1976; and the Reserve Regions were inactivated and succeeded by the currently activated Tenth Air Force. Redesignated Tenth Air Force (Reserve) on 24 September 1976, the unit activated in the Reserve on 8 October 1976 at Bergstrom AFB, Texas, assigned to Air Force Reserve. It was redesignated Tenth Air Force on 1 December 1985.

As a result, the unit assumed command over all Tactical Air Command-gained and Strategic Air Command-gained Air Force Reserve units regardless of geographic location. With the inactivation of TAC and SAC in 1992, Tenth Air Force today is responsible for command supervision of fighter, bomber, rescue, airborne warning and control, special operations, flying training, combat air operations battle staff, and space reserve units.

Lineage

• Established as 10th Air Force on 4 February 1942.

Activated on 12 February 1942

Redesignated Tenth Air Force on 18 September 1942

Inactivated on 6 January 1946

• Activated on 24 May 1946

Discontinued, and inactivated, on 1 September 1960

• Activated on 20 January 1966

Organized on 1 April 1966

Inactivated on 31 December 1969

• Redesignated Tenth Air Force (Reserve) on 24 September 1976

Activated on 8 October 1976

Redesignated Tenth Air Force on 1 December 1985

Assignments

• Air Force Combat Command
  , 12 February 1942
• U.S. Army Forces in China-Burma-India Theater, 5 March 1942
• Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector, 21 August 1943

Attached to Eastern Air Command, 15 December 1943 – 1 June 1945

Further attached to Strategic Air Force, Eastern Air Command, 15 December 1943 – 20 June 1944

• Army Air Forces, India-Burma Theater, 27 October 1944
• Army Air Forces, China Theater, 6 July 1945
• U.S. Army Air Forces, China Theater, 25 August 1945
• Army Service Forces, Seattle Port of Embarkation, 5–6 January 1946
• Air Defense Command
  , 24 May 1946
• Continental Air Command, 1 December 1948 – 1 September 1960
• Air (later, Aerospace) Defense Command, 20 January 1966 – 31 December 1969
• Air Force Reserve (later, Air Force Reserve Command), 8 October 1976 – present

Components

Commands

• IX Air Service Area: 19 March – 1 July 1948, assigned to Tenth Air Force, 19 March – 1 July 1948
• X Air Force Service Command, assigned from 1 February – 20 August 1943. Activated 1 May 1942 with headquarters at New Delhi, India. Brigadier General Elmer E. Adler was appointed commanding officer. 10 AFSC was redesignated China-Burma-India Air Service Command on 20 August 1943.^[5]
• XXI Air Force Service: 19 March – 1 July 1948
• Karachi American Air Base: 13 February – 20 August 1943

Air Divisions

District

• 2 Air Reserve: 1 December 1951 – 1 April 1954.

Regions

• Fourth Air Force Reserve: 1 Jul – 1 September 1960
• Fifth Air Force Reserve: 1 Jul – 1 September 1960

Wings and groups

• 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing
  , 15 September – 15 November 1969
• 4780th Air Defense Wing (Training), 1 July 1968 – 15 November 1969
• 12th Bombardment Group, c. 21 March 1944 - c. 24 January 1945^[6]
• 341st Bombardment Group
  , 15 September 1942 - 3 October 1942, then resubordinated to the India Air Task Force; then reassigned back to Tenth Air Force on 16 October 1943.

Stations

Patterson Field, Ohio 4 February 1942 New Delhi, India, March–May 1942 Barrackpore, India. October 1943 Belvedere Palace, Calcutta , India, January 1944 Kanjikoah, India, June 1944 Myitkyina, Burma, November 1944 Bhamo, Burma, February 1945 Piardoba, India May 1945 Kunming, China, June–July 1945 Liuchow, China, August 1945 Kunming, China, June–July 1945

Liuchow, China, August 1945 Kunming, China, August 1945 Shanghai, China, October 1945 Fort Lawton, Washington, 5–6 January 1946 Brooks Field (later, AFB), Texas, 24 May 1946 Offut Air Force Base , Nebraska, 1 July 1948 Selfridge Air Force Base , Michigan, January 1950-1 September 1960 Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base , Missouri, 1 April 1966 – 31 December 1969 Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, 8 October 1976 Carswell ARS, Texas, 30 June 1996

List of commanders

No.	Commander		Term
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		Major General Roger P. Scheer	1 December 1985	1 November 1986	335 days
2		Brigadier General William B. McDaniel	1 November 1986	6 July 1987	247 days
3		Brigadier General John J. Closner III	6 July 1987	5 July 1989	1 year, 364 days
4		Brigadier General Robert A. McIntosh	5 July 1989	1 December 1990	1 year, 149 days
5		Major General David R. Smith	1 December 1990	February 1998	~7 years, 62 days
6		Major General John A. Bradley	February 1998	4 March 2002	~4 years, 31 days
7		Major General David E. Tanzi	4 March 2002	20 January 2005	2 years, 322 days
8		Major General Allan R. Poulin	20 January 2005	24 December 2005	338 days
9		Major General Richard C. Collins	24 December 2005	3 June 2007	1 year, 161 days
10		Major General Thomas R. Coon	3 June 2007	May 2009	~1 year, 332 days
11		Major General Frank J. Padilla	May 2009	5 November 2011	~2 years, 188 days
12		Major General William B. Binger	5 November 2011	18 October 2014	2 years, 347 days
13		Major General Richard W. Scobee	18 October 2014	1 May 2017	~2 years, 195 days
14		Major General Ronald B. Miller	1 May 2017	10 May 2019	~2 years, 9 days
15		Major General Brian K. Borgen	10 May 2019	4 June 2021	2 years, 25 days
16	Bryan P. Radliff	4 June 2021	4 August 2023	2 years, 61 days
17		Brigadier General Regina A. Sabric	4 August 2023	Incumbent	258 days

See also

• Objective, Burma!

References

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

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Tenth Air Force Factsheet
• 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
• Second World War 10th Air Force Unit Listing