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The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was a short-lived organization in the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
tasked with the operation and defense of air bases in
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
,
Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...
and
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United States established during World War II in Northeast Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. It was discontinued in 1957.


History


Origins

The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was originally formed from the
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
facilities of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
Newfoundland Base Command (NBC), which formed on 15 January 1941. The NBC was formed to command bases in Newfoundland which came under United States control as a result of the 1940
Destroyers for Bases Agreement The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights ...
; the 1941 US-Danish Agreement on Greenland, and the development by
Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
of airfields in the Canadian
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
and
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
to support aircraft ferry routes to Great Britain.


Newfoundland Base Command

In the summer of 1940, President Roosevelt began negotiating with British Ambassador to the United States, Lord Lothian for the American lease of British bases, the "rental" to take the form of fifty over-age destroyers. On 2 September 1940, the negotiations were completed. In exchange for the destroyers, the U. S. got ninety-nine-year leases for bases in
Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was established on 26 September 1907, and confirmed by the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westmi ...
,
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...
,
British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
,
Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
,
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
,
St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...
, Jamaica and the
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. No destroyers, or any other war material, was leased to Britain in exchange for the bases in Newfoundland or Bermuda, which were vital both as links in Britain's trans-Atlantic air routes and to waging the Battle of the Atlantic against Germany's submarines. The detailed lease agreements were not signed until March 1941. But by that time, American troops were already in Newfoundland. The first United States troops arrived in Newfoundland on 29 January 1941. The first base occupied was a temporary tent camp near St. John's called Camp Alexander. Nearby
Fort Pepperrell Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1941 to 1961. The base was named in honour of Sir William Pepperr ...
(renamed Pepperrell Air Force Base on 16 June 1949) received its first troops in November 1941. The Newfoundland Base Command (NBC) was assigned to the Northeastern (later Eastern) Defense Command, a subordinate continental defense command of
First United States Army First Army is the oldest and longest-established field army of the United States Army. It served as a theater army, having seen service in both World War I and World War II, and supplied the US army with soldiers and equipment during the Korea ...
, whose area included the east coast of the United States, with both commanded by Lt. General
Hugh A. Drum Hugh Aloysius Drum (September 19, 1879 – October 3, 1951) was a career United States Army officer who served in World War I and World War II and attained the rank of Lieutenant General (United States), lieutenant general. He was notable for hi ...
, based at
Fort Jay Fort Jay is a coastal bastion fort and the name of a former United States Army post on Governors Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. Fort Jay is the oldest existing defensive structure on the island, and was named for John Jay, a me ...
in New York City. In December 1941 the Northeastern Defense Command became the Eastern Theater of Operations (ETO) and assumed First Army's role in continental defense. In March 1942 the ETO was renamed the Eastern Defense Command. The NBC was under the direct control of
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
General Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
for U.S. Troops in
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
in the defense of the northeastern seaboard through First Army/Eastern Defense Command. The Base Command was responsible for its own supply, which was to be provided by the
Second Corps area A Corps area was a geographically-based organizational structure (military district) of the United States Army used to accomplish administrative, training and tactical tasks from 1920 to 1942. Each corps area included divisions of the Regular Army ...
, the service of supply organization also headquartered at Fort Jay, to the same extent as for units of the field forces. NBC provided ground, antiaircraft, and harbor defense of U.S. bases in
Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, to work with Canada in defending Newfoundland, and to cooperate with the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
in Newfoundland defense. Newfoundland Base Command was headquartered at
Fort Pepperrell Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1941 to 1961. The base was named in honour of Sir William Pepperr ...
, St. John's,
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. Another major base was
Naval Station Argentia Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Ne ...
. The first USAAF presence in Newfoundland was in May 1941 when six
B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...
s from the First Air Force
21st Reconnaissance Squadron 021 is: * in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities (Greater Rio de Janeiro) * in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai. * in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and ...
arrived at RCAF Station Gander. Later, the
Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, which ...
(AAFAC) used both Gander and
RCAF Station Torbay The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environme ...
near St. John's for antisubmarine patrols over the North Atlantic and to provide convoy overflights over the shipping lanes, patrolling for
U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...
. Both Canada and the United States built radar stations in Newfoundland. Beginning in the spring of 1944, the American stations were phased over to the RCAF so that American personnel could be moved to more active theaters.


Greenland Base Command

While the exchange of destroyers for a string of Atlantic bases was under negotiation, and then, while plans and preparations for developing the new bases were getting under way, Great Britain and Canada were consolidating their position in the North Atlantic by stationing troops in
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and were attempting to counter German activities in
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. With United States bases were under construction in Newfoundland, a number of possible sites for airfields in Greenland were made in late 1940. Greenland being a Danish colony with Denmark under the occupation of Nazi Germany at the time. These surveys were made with the justification that the defense of the American bases in Newfoundland and of the northeastern United States would be affected by a German military air base in Greenland. Neither the United States, nor Canada or Great Britain desired any Wehrmacht facilities or armed forces in Greenland to obtain weather data. During the summer of 1940 Nazi Germany had organized in Norway a number of expeditions for the purpose of establishing radio and weather stations in northeastern Greenland, in the neighborhood of Scoresby Sound. Although manned, it would seem, by Norwegians and Danes, and led by a Dane, these weather stations were under German control and were operated for the purpose of assisting the German naval and military effort. A mixed British-Norwegian landing party seized a supply of aviation gasoline, dismantled several radio stations, and took into custody a number of heavily armed Danish "hunters" found on the coast. This was in late August or early September 1940. A few weeks afterward the British intercepted another vessel off the coast of Greenland with about fifty Germans, some of them meteorologists, on board. All this activity at the top of the Western Hemisphere was a source of much concern to the United States. In addition to seizing German ships and weather equipment on Greenland, the British and Canadians were planning on building air bases on the island to conduct antisubmarine warfare in the North Atlantic. Although the United States Government had acquiesced in the British garrisoning of
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, it had no desire to see Britain make the same move into Greenland; for Greenland was, unlike Iceland, definitely within the Western Hemisphere and within the scope of the
Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile ac ...
. The Department of State reached an agreement on 9 April 1941 with Danish Foreign Minister, Henrik de Kauffmann, acting on behalf of His Majesty the King of Denmark in his capacity as sovereign of Greenland. The agreement recognized that as a result of the European war there was danger that Greenland may be converted into a point of aggression against nations of the American Continent by Nazi Germany. The agreement, after explicitly recognizing the Danish sovereignty over Greenland, granted to the United States the right to locate and construct airplane landing fields and other facilities for the defense of Greenland and for the defense of the North American Continent. As soon as the agreement with the Danish Government was concluded, President Roosevelt authorized the War Department to go ahead with the preparations for building airfields and other facilities in Greenland. $5 million in funds previously allocated for constructing the bases acquired from the British in the Bases for Destroyers agreement was re-allocated to Greenland. On 30 June construction of the first U.S. Army and Navy base in Greenland, code-named Bluie West I began. Greenland Base Command (GBC) was established on 1 September 1941 with headquarters at Bluie West I to take charge of the U.S. forces and facilities being planned. By the end of September 1941, when the contractor's people arrived, the troops at
Bluie Bluie was the United States military code name for Greenland during World War II. It is remembered by the numbered sequence of base locations identified by the 1941 United States Coast Guard South Greenland Survey Expedition, and subsequently us ...
West I had erected 85 buildings, about two-thirds of the total needed for the initial force, and had begun to install the necessary utilities. They had built three miles (5 km) of access roads, constructed a temporary dock, and started work on the airfield. By the time the civilian construction force arrived they had finished grading one of the two runways and had a metal landing mat partly laid. Bluie West I was thus one of the earliest U.S. Army airfields, if not the first, to make actual use of Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) in runway construction, an important engineering development and one that afterwards contributed greatly to the winning of the war, particularly in the Pacific. After the arrival of the civilian construction force the engineer battalion, reinforced by a company of the 42nd Engineers (General Service), concentrated exclusively on airfield construction. They continued to do so until February 1942 when the civilian force took over this work as well. By then the first runway was ready for limited use. Construction work on a second west coast base further north, at Sondrestrom or Bluie West Eight, began in September 1941. A third field was placed on the east coast almost directly across from BW-1 at
Angmagssalik Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Green ...
In addition, the United States obtained rights to build bases in Greenland. In July 1941, a task force of service troops arrived at
Narsarsuaq Narsarsuaq (lit. ''Great Plan'';''Facts and History of Narsarsuaq'', Narsarsuad Tourist Information old spelling: ''Narssarssuaq'') is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It had 123 inhabitants in 2020. There is a thri ...
. This site had been chosen as a major staging base between Labrador and Newfoundland. Work began at once on the base, which was given the code name
Bluie West One Bluie West One, later known as Narsarsuaq Air Base and Narsarsuaq Airport, was built on a glacial moraine at what is now the village of Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland. Construction by the United States Army began in June 1941. Th ...
(BW-1), and the first plane set down on 24 January 1942. Work on a second west coast base further north, at Sondrestrom or Bluie West Eight, began in September 1941. A third field was placed on the east coast almost directly across from BW-1 at
Angmagssalik Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Green ...
(Bluie East Two). An interesting contribution to the defense of Greenland was the Northeast Greenland dog sledge patrol organized in the summer of 1941 as a joint endeavor of the Army, the United States Coast Guard, and the Greenland Government. All the activity on the east coast the year before had demonstrated the ease with which anyone could establish a foothold in the vast Arctic wastes, the near impossibility of finding a hostile force that had established itself, and the difficulty of dislodging one, once it was discovered. An air patrol of the east coast, even after the new bases were completed proved its worth by assisting in the capture of the trawler Buskoe on 12 September, as that vessel, a small German-controlled Norwegian ship, was attempting to establish a radio and weather station in the Mackenzie Bay area. In addition to the Army Airfields, the United States Navy Atlantic Fleet established a number of stations on Greenland to support radio, weather, and naval patrols as part of the Battle of the North Atlantic against German U-boats and the protection of Allied convoy traffic in the North Atlantic.


Air Transport Command

In 1941, the United States established a series of northern airfields and weather stations across the Canadian
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
and Labrador with the approval of the Canadian government. The original mission of these airfields and stations was to aid in moving military aircraft to Great Britain as part of the
Lend-Lease Act Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
prior to American entry into World War II. The Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board on Defence made the plan official as Recommendations 17 and 26 in July 1941 and June 1942 respectively. First referred to as the "North East Staging Route," it eventually became known as the "Crimson Project" or "
Crimson Route The Crimson Route was a set of joint United States and Canada transport routes planned for ferrying planes and material from North America to Europe during World War II. The project was ended in 1943 and never fully developed. Overview The 1940 fa ...
", supposedly after the Red Cross who were using the same route for medical evacuation of wounded soldiers from the
European Theatre The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...
. As an alternate to the previously developed base at Gander Lake in southern Newfoundland, the Canadian government in September 1941 began the development of Goose Bay in Labrador. During the preceding July the United States had sent engineers to Narsarssuak in Greenland for the building of the air base that came to be known as BLUIE WEST 1 (BW-1), and in the following September work began on BW-8, a much more northerly base on the western coast of Greenland. United States forces had taken over the defense of Iceland in July 1941, where they improved airstrips previously occupied by the RAF and began in the spring of 1942 to build two new air bases (Meeks and Patterson) near Keflavik. The eastern terminal lay at Prestwick in Scotland. When the Eighth Air Force began its movement in the summer of 1942, work was still in progress all along the route. At that time it was hoped that some of the disadvantages of the existing route might be overcome by developing a more northerly airway extending from Great Falls, Montana, across Canada to Hudson Bay and thence by way of Baffin Island to Bluie West Eight in Greenland. In Canada, airfields were established at
The Pas The Pas ( ; french: Le Pas) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, located at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provinc ...
and
Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
in Manitoba;
Southampton Island Southampton Island (Inuktitut: ''Shugliaq'') is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of th ...
and a site code-named Crystal II in the Northwest Territories. These airfields, along with airfields in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland established several transport routes for which aircraft could be ferried to Great Britain from manufacturing plants in different locations in the United States to Prestwick Field in Scotland. By thus following the great circle course, long one of the goals of airmen, the distance from southern California, where much of the U.S. aircraft industry was concentrated, to Iceland was reduced by almost , with no leg of the journey longer than . Nearly 900 aircraft were ferried through the North Atlantic bases to active combat theaters in 1942, approximately 3,200 in 1943, over 8,400 in 1944, and approximately 2,150 in the last five months of the European conflict in 1945; in all nearly 15,000 planes. Equally important, and indeed fundamental to the fulfilment of the ferrying mission itself, was the development of a safe, dependable service for strategic air transportation between the United States and the United Kingdom.


Postwar era

In 1946,the Navy built a new and much larger weather station at Thule, Greenland. The Army Corps of Engineers built a airstrip on the south side of the station. In the following year the Thule airstrip was used as a jump-off point for exploration and a supply point for construction of airstrips and weather stations on the Canadian side of the straits (Eureka, Resolute, and Isachsen). The first
Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
aircraft landed on 9 September 1946. The
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 ...
East Reconnaissance Group (Project Nanook) flew B-17 mapping and photography missions from Thule's primitive facilities. In February 1947 the airfield was used to recover the crew of the downed B-29 ''
Kee Bird The ''Kee Bird'' was a United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress, serial ''45-21768'', of the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron, that became marooned after making an emergency landing in northwest Greenland during a secret Cold War sp ...
''. The War Department decided that there was no longer a requirement for active defense of the areas of the North Atlantic bases. The Army began withdrawing personnel and equipment from the area, and on 1 September 1945, Greenland Base Command was consolidated with Newfoundland Base Command and became a subordinate organization of NBC. All United States Army and USAAF forces in Labrador and Northeast Canada were placed under the Newfoundland Base Command. Shortly afterwards, on 1 January 1946, Newfoundland Base Command was transferred from the Army Eastern Defense Command and was placed under the control of
Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
. NBC's mission being to maintain key airfields used by ATC between the United States and Great Britain. ATC was inactivated and control of NBC was reassigned to the new
Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...
(MATS) on 1 June 1948. This arrangement continued until late 1950.


Northeast Air Command

By 1948, the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
had erupted and a more urgent note was struck in the air defense of North America. The new
Continental Air Command Continental Air Command (ConAC) (1948–1968) was a Major Command of the United States Air Force (USAF) responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. During the Korean War, ConAC provided the necessary au ...
(ConAC), with headquarters at
Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territor ...
, New York was established. Overall responsibility for air defense was vested in ConAC, and plans were made for a chain of Ground Control Intercept radar stations in Greenland and northeast Canada to detect any long-range Soviet aircraft approaching, with squadrons of interceptor aircraft to defend the airspace of North America. The Newfoundland Base Command was inactivated on 1 October 1950, and control of units and the former Newfoundland and Greenland Base Commands facilities was transferred to the Northeast Air Command (NEAC). Similar to the Military Air Transport Service, NEAC was a Unified Department of Defense Command, under the jurisdiction of the United States Northeast Command (USNEC). USNEC operated as a joint-service unified command under direct operational control of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
. NEAC was the only component of USNEC. Neither the Army nor the Navy ever established component commands, however Army and Navy officers served on the staff of USNEC. Air Force officers served in dual positions on the staff of NEAC and on the staff of USNEC until USNEC was abolished on 1 September 1956. NEAC established its headquarters at Pepperrell AFB, Newfoundland and was given several additional units. In this form it had two primary missions, the former MATS mission supporting air transport and logistics, and a new role defending the defensive air bases of interceptors and radar stations being established in the region. NEAC's Area of Operations was defined as Newfoundland, Labrador, northeastern Canada, and Greenland. The operational units of NEAC were organized into the
64th Air Division The 64th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 1 July 1963. History World War II The organiz ...
(Defense). As a result of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
the mission of NEAC was to provide RADAR cover over the northwest Atlantic Ocean, to provide a fighter interceptor force to defend against approaching enemy aircraft, and to support United States Army anti-aircraft defense forces. These units initially included
F-94 Starfire The Lockheed F-94 Starfire was a first-generation jet powered all-weather, day/night interceptor of the United States Air Force. A twin-seat craft, it was developed from the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star trainer in the late 1940s. It reached ope ...
squadrons at
Goose AFB Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by ...
in Labrador, and Ernest Harmon AFB in Newfoundland, as well as a variety of Air Control Wings in the early warning role in Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island. NEAC RADAR stations were part of the complex of stations built throughout Canada under the Canada-United States Radar Extension Plan (known as the
Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...
). In addition to the Pinetree stations located in Canada, three stations were built in Greenland. The Pinetree stations consisted of three direction centers and seven early warning stations. In Greenland, there were two early warning stations and a direction center. An air defense control center was built at Pepperrell AFB. In the late 1940s the United States studied the possibility of establishing a major operating base in Greenland when it became clear that round trip flights of planes carrying atomic bombs between US or Canadian bases and European objectives were impractical. The shortest route from the US to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's most important industrial areas was over the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
, and Thule is at the precise midpoint between Moscow and New York. Thule became a key point in the whole American military strategy.
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 ...
bombers flying over the Arctic presented less risk of early warning than using bases in England. Defensively, Thule could serve as a base for intercepting bomber attacks along the northeastern approaches to Canada and the US. Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, with construction beginning in 1951. Construction took place around the clock. The workers lived on board the ship until quarters were built. It was built with a 10,000-foot (by 200') runway and a fuel storage capacity of about . On 1 July 1951, the 6622nd AB Squadron of NEAC arrived and air operations commenced on 11 September 1951. The first fighter interceptors assigned to Thule were four F-9ABs and began operations on 11 September 1952. This was Detachment 1 of the 59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which went to Thule AB, Greenland with four F-94B's. Additional interceptor squadrons were established at Goose AFB in Labrador and Ernest Harmon AFB in Newfoundland and were composed of F-94s and F-89s. Also, there were numerous deployments of fighter-interceptor squadrons from the Tactical Air Command and Air Defense Command to NEAC bases, along with Strategic Air Command tankers and bombers, primarily using Thule as a refueling and staging base. Plans were made in 1952 to station anti-aircraft units at Thule for the protection of the base. The first Army anti-aircraft personnel arrived on 3 July 1953, with the main body of troops arriving on 27 August. The units deployed were the 549th AAA Gun Battalion (90mm), 428th AAA Battery (Light) (75mm), 429th AAA Battery (Light) (75mm), 177th AAA Operations Detachment, 357th Signal Radar Maintenance Unit, 128th Ordnance Artillery Repair Detachment, and 162nd Ordnance Integrated Fire Control Repair Detachment.


Inactivation

In mid-1956, the Joint Chiefs of Staff completed a worldwide reorganization plan, the
Unified Command Plan A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, ...
. Its aim was a more efficient structure and reduced cost. It achieved this by consolidating organizations and eliminating excess superstructures. As part of this consolidation, United States Northeast Command (USNEC) was disestablished as a joint-service unified command, with control being assumed by the Air Force. The Army anti-aircraft group in the area, the 7th at Thule, was assigned to
Army Anti-Aircraft Command An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
. On 1 April 1957 the USAF discontinued NEAC.
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
and
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 ...
divided the Air Force units and equipment that had been under NEAC. ADC took over the USAF defense forces (including the
64th Air Division The 64th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 1 July 1963. History World War II The organiz ...
). ADC also took possession of Pepperrell AFB and all U.S. RADAR stations. SAC assumed ownership of Goose, Harmon, Thule, Narsarssuak, Sondrestrom, and Frobisher Bay Airport. Finally, ADC succeeded NEAC in its responsibilities for supporting and operating the Distant Early Warning Line radar stations in Canada and Greenland.


Lineage

* Established as Newfoundland Base Command (USA) on 15 January 1941 * Established as Greenland Base Command (USA) on 1 September 1941 : Greenland Base Command became subordinate organization to Newfoundland Base Command, 1 September 1945 : Newfoundland Base Command Discontinued 1 October 1950. : Greenland Base Command Discontinued 19 October 1950. * Established as Northeast Air Command and activated as a USAF major command on 1 October 1950. : Northeast Air Command assumed jurisdiction of former NBC and GBC USAF facilities and units. : Discontinued on 1 April 1957.


Assignments

*
Eastern Defense Command The Eastern Defense Command was first established as the Northeast Defense Command on 17 March 1941 as one of four U.S. Army continental defense commands to plan and prepare for and execute defense against enemy attack in the months before Ameri ...
(U.S. Army), 15 January 1941 * Atlantic Division,
Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
(USAAF), 1 January 1946 *
Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...
(MATS), 1 April 1948 – 1 October 1950 * HQ, United States Northeast Command, 1 October 1950 * HQ,
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
, 1 September 1956 – 1 April 1957


Stations


Newfoundland Base Command

*
RCAF Station Torbay The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environme ...
, (Headquarters, Newfoundland Base Command) : 411th Bombardment Squadron (NBC), 1 May–30 August 1941 (
B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...
) : 49th Bombardment Squadron (NBC), 13 December 1941 – June 1942 (
B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...
) : 429th Bombardment Squadron (NBC), 28 August 1941 – 29 October 1942 (
B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...
) :
847th Bombardment Squadron The 847th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit that was originally activated as the 421st Bombardment Squadron. Its last assignment was with the 489th Bombardment Group at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas where ...
(later 20th Antisubmarine Squadron) (AAFAC), 29 October 1942 – 25 June 1943 (
B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
) * RCAF Station Gander : 19th Antisubmarine Squadron (AAFAC), 19 March–25 June 1943 (
B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
) : 6th Antisubmarine Squadron (AAFAC), 12 April–21 August 1943 ( B-24 Liberator) : 4th Antisubmarine Squadron (AAFAC), 8–23 June 1943 ( B-24 Liberator) * Goose Bay Air Base,
Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...
(
Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
, North Atlantic Wing)


Greenland Base Command

* Prins Christianssund (radio and weather station) (Bluie East One) (BE-1) * Angmagssalik Army Airfield (Bluie East Two) (BE-2) (Air Transport Command) * Cape Tobin, Walrus Bay (radio and weather station) (Bluie East Three) (BE-3) * Ella Ø Island (radio, weather, and patrol station) (Bluie East Four) (BE-4) * Eskimonæs (radio and weather station) (Bluie East Five) (BE-5) (United States Navy) * Narsarsuaq Army Airfield (Bluie West One) (BW-1) (Air Transport Command) (HQ Greenland Base Command) * Kipisako (alternate for Bluie West One) (Bluie West Two) (BW-2) (United States Navy) * Simiutak Island (Bluie West Three) (BW-3) (United States Navy) * Teague Field, Marraq Point (radio and weather station) (Bluie West Four) (BW-4) (United States Navy) * Egedesminde (radio and weather station) (Bluie West Five) (BW-5) (United States Navy) *
Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek and Latin literature, Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shet ...
(radio and weather station) (Bluie West Six) (BW-6) * Grønnedal Naval Base (radio and weather station), (Bluie West Seven) (BW-7) (United States Navy) * Sondrestrom Army Airfield (Bluie West Eight) (Air Transport Command) (BW-8) * Cruncher Island (defensive position for approaches to Søndre Strømfjord radio and weather station) (Bluie West Nine) (BW-9)


Northeast Air Command

* Ernest Harmon AFB,
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
: 6602d Air Base Wing, 1951–1957 * Goose AB,
Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...
: 6606th Air Base Wing, 1951–1957 * McAndrew AB, Newfoundland : 6610th Air Base Group, 1951–1955 * Narsarsuaq AB, Greenland : 6611th Air Base Group, 1951–1957 * Pepperrell AFB, Newfoundland : 6604th Air Base Wing, 1951–1957 * Sondrestrom AB, Greenland : 6621st Air Base Squadron, 1951 : Re-designated: 6621st Air Base Group, 1955–1957 * Thule AB,
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
: 6622d Air Base Squadron, 1951 : Re-designated: 6612th Air Base Group, 1952 : Re-designated: 6607th Air Base Wing, 1954–1957 Jurisdiction of stations and units reassigned to Strategic Air Command, 1957USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1)


Units


Division

*
64th Air Division The 64th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, being stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 1 July 1963. History World War II The organiz ...
, Pepperrell AFB : 20 December 1952 – 15 April 1957 The 64th Air Division was the primary operational component of the Northeast Air Command. It was an outgrowth of the 152d Aircraft Control and Warning Group (New York Air National Guard). Upon activation of the 64th AD, it inherited operational control of United States Army Anti-Aircraft units within the former NBC area. Reassigned to
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
, 1957


Transport units

* 6614th Air Transport Group : Pepperrell AFB, Newfoundland, 8 April 1952 – 1 April 1957 :: 6622d Air Transport Squadron, Torbay Airport NF :: 6614th Air Ttransport Squadron, Harmon AB, NF :: 6615th Air Transport Squadron, Goose Bay AFB, LB Performed inta-theater transport of materiel and personnel. Reassigned to
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 ...
, 1957 Interceptor squadrons *
59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 59th Quartermaster Company is a bulk petroleum company designed to provide semi-portable storage for of fuel and to provide distribution of fuel to military units within a specified geographic area while deployed overseas. Its secondary missi ...
:
Goose AFB Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay , commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by ...
, Labrador, 28 October 1952 – 1 April 1957 : F-94B Starfire; F-89D/J Scorpion; F-102A Delta Dart *
61st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 61st Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 56th Operations Group, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the F-35 Lightning II aircraft, conducting Instructor Pilot training. The 61st, known as t ...
:
Harmon AFB Harmon Air Force Base is a former World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield, and postwar United States Air Force Base on Guam in the Mariana Islands. Originally named "Depot Field", it was renamed in honor of Lieutenant General Millar ...
, Newfoundland, 6 August 1953 – 1 April 1957 : F-89D Scorpion *
74th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 74th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Fighter Group and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron is equipped with the Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II ground attack aircr ...
: Thule AB, Greenland, 20 August 1954 – 1 April 1957 : F-89B/D Scorpion * 318th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron : Thule AB, Greenland, 1 July 1953 – 1 April 1957 : F-94A Starfire Interceptor Squadrons reassigned to Air Defense Command, 1957 Aircraft Control and Warning (Radar) Squadrons * 105th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (Federalized NY Air National Guard, 152d AC&W Group) : Re-designated:
640th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron 64 or sixty-four or ''variation'', may refer to: * 64 (number) Dates * one of the years 64 BC, AD 64, 1864, 1964, 2064, etc. * June 4th (6/4) ** the date of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre * April 6th (6/4) * April 6 AD (6/4) * J ...
, 1 January 1953 : Stephenville AS, Newfoundland, 8 April 1952 – 1 April 1957 * 106th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (Federalized NY Air National Guard, 152d AC&W Group) : McAndrew AB, Newfoundland, 8 April 1952 – 1 January 1953 * 107th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (Federalized NY Air National Guard, 152d AC&W Group) : Re-designated: 931st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, 1 January 1953 :
Thule AS Thule Air Station (ADC ID: G-32) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south of Thule Air Base, Greenland. It was closed in 1965. History Thule Air Station was constructed as a Ground-Control I ...
, Greenland, 8 April 1952 – 1 April 1957 * 108th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (Federalized NY Air National Guard, 152d AC&W Group) : Re-designated:
642d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron 64 or sixty-four or ''variation'', may refer to: * 64 (number) Dates * one of the years 64 BC, AD 64, 1864, 1964, 2064, etc. * June 4th (6/4) ** the date of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre * April 6th (6/4) * April 6 AD (6/4) * ...
, 1 January 1953 :
Red Cliff AS Red Cliff Air Station (Also known as St. Johns) (ID: N-22, C-22) was a General Surveillance Radar station. The remains of which are located north-northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was closed in 1961. History ...
, Newfoundland, 8 April 1952 – 1 April 1957 *
920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron The 920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Goose Air Defense Sector, Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Fo ...
:
Resolution Island AS CFS Resolution Island (BAF-5) is a short-range radar site. It is located north-northwest of CFB Goose Bay, Labrador on Resolution Island, Nunavut. It is part of the North Warning System. During the Cold War, it was operated as part of the Pi ...
, Northwest Territory, 19 January 1952 – 1 April 1957 * 921st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Saint Anthony AS, Labrador, 1 October 1953 – 1 April 1957 * 923d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Hopedale AS, Labrador, 1 October 1953 – 1 April 1957 * 924th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Saglek AS, Labrador, 1 October 1953 – 1 April 1957 * 926th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron : Frobisher Bay AB, Northwest Territory, 1 October 1953 – 1 April 1957 Units and jurisdiction of stations reassigned to Air Defense Command, 1957


See also

* '' Island in the Sky'' – film based upon 1943 Air Corps Ferrying Command Labrador incident


References


Major Commands
Organizational History Branch, Maxwell Air Force Base

Pinetree Line Home Page


External links



{{USAAF Antisubmarine Command Military units and formations established in 1948 Major commands of the United States Air Force Military units and formations disestablished in 1957 Aviation in Newfoundland and Labrador