The Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) was a sub-command of the
Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) which itself was a sub-command of the
Mediterranean Air Command (MAC). These new
Allied air force organizations were created at the
Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were ...
in January 1943 to promote cooperation between the British
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF), the American
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF), and their respective ground and naval forces in the North African and
Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO).
Effective February 18, 1943, the NASAF and other MAC commands existed until December 10, 1943 when MAC was disbanded and the
Mediterranean Allied Air Forces
The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) was the major Allied air force command organization in the Mediterranean theater from mid-December 1943 until the end of the Second World War.
Formation
The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) be ...
(MAAF) were established. Major General
Jimmy Doolittle
James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...
was the commander of NASAF. However, during at least one critical period of the
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. Th ...
at the end of February, 1943, General
Carl Spaatz, the commander of NAAF, placed most of the strategic bombers at the disposal of Air Marshal Sir
Arthur Coningham, commander of the
Northwest African Tactical Air Force.
Order of battle
The components of NASAF at the time of the Allied invasion of Sicily (
Operation Husky
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
) on July 10, 1943 are illustrated below.
*The 2686th Medium Bombardment Wing (Provincial) was activated on June 6, 1943 at Sedrata, Algeria and disbanded on September 3, 1943 at Ariana, Tunisia. Although the 42nd Bombardment Wing (Medium) is sometimes used to refer to the wing during this period, the 42nd Wing was actually the successor of the 2686th Wing.
See also
*
List of Royal Air Force commands
This is a list of Royal Air Force commands, both past and present. Although the concept of a command dates back to the foundation of the Royal Air Force, the term command (as the name of a formation) was first used in purely RAF-context in 1936 w ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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*
*
*
*
External links
310th Bombardment Group
* {{cite web, url= http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/47thbw.html, title= 47th Bomb Wing in WWII, access-date= 2018-06-24, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180624063950/http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/47thbw.html, archive-date= 2018-06-24, url-status= dead
Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War II
Military units and formations of the United States Army Air Forces