Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) was a

military aviation Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift ( air cargo) capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a war the ...

component command of the

NATO Military Command Structure The Structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is complex and multi-faceted. The decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council (NAC), and the member state representatives also sit on the Defence Planning Committee (NATO), Defence Pol ...

from 1951 to 2004.

History

Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) was established in temporary facilities in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy on 5 August 1951. Its first commander was Lieutenant General David M. Schlatter. AIRSOUTH moved, along with its superior organisation, Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), to permanent facilities in the

Bagnoli Bagnoli is a western seaside quarter of Naples, Italy, well beyond the confines of the original city. It is beyond Cape Posillipo and, thus, looking on the coast of the Bay of Pozzuoli. Industrialization and World War II Bagnoli was one of ...

district of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in April 1954 and Lieutenant General Laurence Carbee Craigie took command of AIRSOUTH at that time. AIRSOUTH was in turn given command of the 6th Allied Tactical Air Force which was based in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

in Turkey. From December 1992, Lieutenant General Joseph W. Ashy and then, from September 1994, Lieutenant General Michael E. Ryan, in their successive roles as commander of AIRSOUTH, directed the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

air combat operations in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, including the bombing missions of

Operation Deliberate Force Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the ...

in summer 1995, which created the context for the U.S. Government to broker the

Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски мир� ...

between the waring parties in November 1995. Lieutenant General Michael C. Short, as commander of AIRSOUTH, directed the NATO air combat operations in Kosovo, including the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

in spring 1999, during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, which led to the formation of the

United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is the officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo. The UNMIK describes its mandate as being to "help the United Nations Security Council achieve an overall ...

in June 1999. AIRSOUTH deactivated and some of its staff moved to

in Turkey to form

Allied Air Command İzmir Allied Air Command İzmir was a military aviation component command of the NATO Military Command Structure from 2004 to 2013. History Previously designated Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) and located in Italy, the Headquarters of th ...

in 2004. This move was strongly opposed at the time by the Greek Government who argued that it could give the Turkish Government influence over Greek airspace.

References

{{reflist Formations of the NATO Military Command Structure 1952–1994