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57th Air Division
The 57th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Fifteenth Air Force, based at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. It was inactivated on 24 June 1991. History "Established as the 8th Pursuit Wing, it conducted training from 1940 to 1941. As a paper unit, it moved to India and then to Egypt in December 1942." It finally gained personnel and aircraft, and became operational as the 57 Bombardment Wing in March 1944. "Initially, the 57th flew close air support missions against enemy troops and gun emplacements in the vicinity of Anzio, Italy; later, it flew bombing missions against railway marshalling yards at Foligno, Littoria, and Terni, Italy. Between 19 March 1944 and 11 May 1944 the 57th took part in Operation Strangle to destroy Italian marshalling yards, railroad repair facilities and other rail targets such as bridges, tunnels, and viaducts. It continued to fly close air support and interdiction missions in Italy through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-52H Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) since the 1950s. The bomber is capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of weapons,"Fact Sheet: B-52 Superfortress." ''Minot Air Force Base'', United States Air Force, October 2005. Retrieved: 12 January 2009. and has a typical combat range of around 8,800 miles (14,080 km) without aerial refueling. Beginning with the successful contract bid in June 1946, the B-52 design evolved from a < ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshalling Yard
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railway cars onto one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a ''lead'' or a ''drill''. From there the cars are sent through a series of switches called a ''ladder'' onto the classification tracks. Larger yards tend to put the lead on an artificially built hill called a ''hump'' to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the ladder. Freight trains that consist of isolated cars must be made into trains and divided according to their destinations. Thus the cars must be shunted several times along their route in contrast to a unit train, which carries, for example, cars from the plant to a port, or coal from a mine to the power plant. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XII Air Support Command
The XII Tactical Air Command was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe at Bad Kissingen, Germany, where it was inactivated on 10 November 1947. History The 12th Ground Air Support Command was activated on 17 September 1942 at Birmingham Army Air Field, Alabama, where it drew its initial cadre from the 3d Ground Air Support Command. Within a week, it had moved to Bolling Field, District of Columbia, to prepare for the invasion of North Africa and changed its name to XII Air Support Command. The command participated in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa in November 1942. However, it confined itself to administering air affairs in French Morocco until January 1943. On 6 January 1943, it was attached to the Satin Task Force, primarily composed of elements of the II Corps and after 13 January was fully engaged with support of II Corps in its attack through central Tunisia. This campaign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twelfth Air Force
The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) conducting security cooperation and providing air, space, and cyberspace capabilities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Established on 20 August 1942 at Bolling Field, District of Columbia, 12th Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of World War II. It engaged in operations in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Western Europe. During the Cold War, 12 AF was one of the Numbered Air Forces of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and later Tactical Air Command (TAC), Its units engaged in combat operations during the Vietnam War, as well as Operation Desert Storm. As a result of the War on Terror, most Twelfth Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Air Forces Central
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) 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 (USCENTCOM), 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 (CENTAF) on 1 January 1983, on 2009 as part of a complicated transfer of lineage, the lineage and history of the Ninth Air For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IX Fighter Command
The IX Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Erlangen, Germany, wheret was inactivated on 16 November 1945. IX Fighter Command was the primary tactical fighter air arm of Ninth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa during 1942-1943. Transferred to England, it became the dominant tactical air force over the skies of Western Europe during the 1944 Battle of Normandy and the Western Allied invasion of Germany in 1945. After its inactivation, the majority of its (along with Twelfth Air Force) units were incorporated into the postwar United States Air Force Tactical Air Command. History North Africa In Egypt during January 1943, IX Fighter Command became the control organization for Ninth Air Force fighter units assigned to the Western Desert Campaign (Libya and Tunisia). Although wings were officially subordinate to the command, combat groups were attached to the Desert Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
III Interceptor Command
The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946. History Background GHQ Air Force (GHQ,AF) had been established with two major combat functions, to maintain a striking force against long range targets, and the air defense of the United States. In the spring of 1941, the War Department established four strategic defense areas and GHQ, AF reorganized its Southeast Air District as 3rd Air Force with responsibility for air defense planning and organization in the southeastern. 3rd Air Force activated 3rd Interceptor Command at Drew Field, Florida in 1941, under the command of Major General Walter H. Frank.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 440 The command's initial tactical component was the 8th Pursuit Wing. Air defense The attack on Pearl Harbor put all units on heightened alert. The command was charged with control of "active agents" for air defense in its area of respon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Air Force
The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, and operations and support activities in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command's areas of responsibility. It also has a unique mission as the U.S. military's primary liaison to the British government, which is conducted through the command's 3 AF-UK headquarters at RAF Mildenhall, England. One of the four original pre–World War II numbered air forces, it was established on 26 March 1941, at Tampa, Florida with a mission of air defense of the Southeastern United States and Gulf Coast regions. During the war, its primary mission became the organization and training of combat units prior to their deployment to the overseas combat air forces. Several airfields are associated with the Third Air Force. Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Headquarters Air Force
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical rift developed between more traditional ground-based army personnel and those who felt that aircraft were being underutilized and that air operations were being stifled for political reasons unrelated to their effectiveness. The USAAC was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926, and was part of the larger United States Army. The Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941, giving it greater autonomy from the Army's middle-level command structure. During World War II, although not an administrative echelon, the Air Corps (AC) remained as one of the combat arms of the Army until 1947, when it was legally abolished by legislation establishing the Department of the Air Force. The Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was also responsible for the operation of strategic reconnaissance aircraft and airborne command post aircraft as well as most of the USAF's aerial refueling fleet, including aircraft from the Air Force Reserve (AFRES) and Air National Guard (ANG). SAC primarily consisted of the Second Air Force (2AF), Eighth Air Force (8AF) and the Fifteenth Air Force (15AF), while SAC headquarters (HQ SAC) included Directorates for Operations & Plans, Intelligence, Command & Control, Maintenance, Training, Communications, and Personnel. At a lower echelon, SAC headquarters divisions included Aircraft Engineering, Missile Concept, and Strategic Communicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Arc Light
During Operation Arc Light (sometimes Arclight) from 1965 to 1973, the United States Air Force deployed B-52 Stratofortresses from bases in the U.S. Territory of Guam to provide battlefield air interdiction during the Vietnam War. This included strikes at enemy bases, supply routes, and behind the lines troop concentrations, as well as occasionally providing close air support directly to ground combat operations in Vietnam. The conventional bombing campaign was supported by ground-control-radar detachments of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group (1CEVG) in Operation Combat Skyspot. Arc Light operations usually targeted enemy base camps, troops concentrations, and supply lines. Aircraft used Previously dedicated to carrying nuclear weapons, the U.S. Air Force began to train strategic bomber crews in 1964 to deliver conventional munitions flying the B-52F. The B-52Fs were deployed to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in Thailand, southeast of Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Strangle (World War II)
Operation Strangle was a series of air interdiction operations during the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II by the United States Fifteenth Air Force, Fifteenth and Twelfth Air Forces to interdict Nazi Germany, German supply routes in Italy north of Rome from 19 March 1944 to 11 May 1944. Its aim was to prevent essential supplies from reaching German forces in Central Italy and compel a German withdrawal. The strategic goal of the air assault was to eliminate or greatly reduce the need for a ground assault on the region. The Allies failed in the overly ambitious objective of the campaign, namely the forced withdrawal of German forces from the Gustav Line, but the air interdiction seriously complicated the German conduct of defensive operations and played a major role in the success of the subsequent Allied ground assault Operation Diadem. Two principal interdiction lines were maintained across the narrow boot of Italy. This meant that no through trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
