The XII Tactical Air Command was a formation of the

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 ...

. Its last assignment was with the

United States Air Forces in Europe United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which beca ...

, 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 The origins of the surname Bolling: English: from a nickname for someone with close-cropped hair or a large head, Middle English bolling "pollard", or for a heavy drinker, from Middle English bolling "excessive drinking". German (Bölling): from ...

, 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 proved to be a test for United States air support doctrine and tactics. No pilots or planes trained for night reconnaissance were available, and photographic reconnaissance with

Douglas A-20 Havoc The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was o ...

s was only available late in the campaign. Tying the command to a single

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

also kept it from supporting other organizations participating in the campaign, such as the

French XIX Corps The 19th Army Corps (:fr:19e corps d'armée (France), 19e Corps d'Armée) was a corps of the French army. In December 1870, the Government of National Defense, Tours delegation created the 19th Army Corps which was formed in Alençon. It was recre ...

, even when resources were available. The command served in combat in the Mediterranean and European theaters until May 1945. Afterward, remained in Europe as part of the

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

force. Colonel Demas T. Craw was awarded the Medal of Honor for action during the invasion of Algeria-French Morocco: when the Allies landed on 8 November 1942, Col Craw volunteered to negotiate an armistice; while trying to pass through the lines near Port Lyautey, he was killed by machine-gun fire.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 12th Ground Air Support Command on 10 September 1942 : Activated on 17 September 1942 : Redesignated XII Air Support Command on 24 September 1942 : Redesignated XII Tactical Air Command in April 1944 : Inactivated in Germany on 10 November 1947 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948

Assignments

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 ...

, 17 September 1942 (attached to First Air Force after 25 September 1942) *

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 ...

, 9 November 1942Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 450 (years only). (attached to Allied Air Support Command after 22 January 1943) * Northwest African Air Forces, c. 18 February 1943 (attached to Allied Air Support Command (later Northwest African Tactical Air Force c. February 18 – 10 December 1943, further attached to No. 242 Group RAF March 43) * Twelfth Air Force, c. 10 December 1943 (attached to No. 242 Group RAF, Tactical Air Force, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces January 1944 – April 1944) *

, 15 November 1945 – 10 November 1947

Stations

* Birmingham Army Air Field, Alabama, 17 September 1942 * Bolling Field, District of Columbia, 25 September – 18 October 1942 * French Morocco, 9 November 1942 * Algeria, January 1943 * Tunisia, 13 March 1943 *

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy, c. 12 July 1943 * Italy, c. 9 September 1943 * Corsica, France, 18 August 1944 * Germany, 27 March 1945 *

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhab ...

(R-96),Station number in Johnson, p. 42 Germany, July 1945 *

(R-98), Germany, 1 November 1945 – 10 November 1947

Components

; Wings * 3rd Air Defense Wing (later 64th Fighter Wing): 9 March 1943 – 5 June 1947 (attached to First Tactical Air Force (Provisional) 27 November 1944 – May 1945) *

5th Bombardment Wing The 5th Bomb Wing (5 BW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. The wing is also the host unit at Minot. The 5 BW is one of only ...

: c. 13 October 1942 – 1 November 1943 * 7th Fighter Wing, 27 September 1942 – 7 January 1943 (attached to First Air Force to c. 17 October 1942; Task Force A to 8 November 1942; Moroccan Composite Wing (Provisional) to 6 January 1943) * 42d Bombardment Wing: 27 November 1944 – 6 January 1945, 21 May – 26 July 1945 * 57th Bombardment Wing: 31 August 1943 – 1 January 1944 * 63d Fighter Wing: 14 June – December 1945 *

70th Fighter Wing The 70th Fighter Wing (70th FW) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe, based at Neubiberg Air Base, Germany. It was inactivated on 25 September 1947. History Established ...

: 2 December 1945 – 25 September 1947 *

71st Fighter Wing The 71st Fighter Wing (71 FW) is a disbanded unit of the United States Air Force, last stationed at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. It was withdrawn from the Missouri Air National Guard (MO ANG) and inactivated on 31 October 1950. This win ...

: 25 September–November 1945 * 87th Fighter Wing: 11 January-22 September 1944 ; Groups *

12th Bombardment Group 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassi ...

: 1 September 1943 – 2 January 1944 * 31st Fighter Group: November 1942 – 24 July 1943 *

33d Fighter Group ''033'' or ''Zero Three Three'' is a 2010 Bengali film directed by Birsa Dasgupta in a directorial debut and produced by Moxie Entertainments. It stars Rudranil Ghosh and Parambrato Chattopadhyay. 033 is the STD code for Kolkata city, and the ...

: 13 January – 18 February 1943; 14 March 1943 – 24 July 1943; 21 December 1943 – c. 20 February 1944 (under operational control of 64th Fighter Wing) * 36th Fighter Group: 15 November 1945 – 15 February 1946 *

47th Bombardment Group 47th may refer to: Chicago Transit Authority stations * 47th station (CTA Green Line), on the Green Line * 47th station (CTA Red Line) 47th is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Red Line. The station is loca ...

, assigned 27 September – 31 December 1942; 22 January – 18 February 1943; attached 1 September 1943 – 6 October 1943; 10 December 1943 – 20 July 1944; 7–15 September 1944 *

50th Fighter Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...

, 29 September 1944 – 4 August 1945 (under operational control of 64th Fighter Wing until June 1945) * 52nd Fighter Group: 18 February – 23 May 1943; 15 May – 25 June 1947 * 57th Fighter Group: attached 22 August 1943; assigned 1 September – 1 November 1943; 2 January – 23 April 1944 (attached to 64th Fighter Wing 2–28 March 1944) * 68th Observation Group (later 68th Reconnaissance Group): c. 18 October 1942 – c. 18 June 1943 (attached to 5th Bombardment Wing after 31 October 1942) *

69th Tactical Reconnaissance Group The 69th Reconnaissance Group is an inactive United States Air Force that was part of Air Combat Command, the group was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota where it was a tenant of the 319th Air Base Wing. The group served in t ...

: 27 March – 20 May 1945 * 79th Fighter Group: attached c. 2–c. 14 June 1943; assigned 1 September – 1 November 1943 (attached to Northwest African Tactical Air Force) *

86th Fighter-Bomber Group The 86th Operations Group (86 OG) is the flying operational component of the 86th Airlift Wing, United States Air Force. The group is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The mission of the 86 OG (Tail Code: RS) is to conduct airlift, air ...

(later 86th Fighter Group): assigned c. November 1943 – 9 September 1944; 20 February 1945 – c. 30 April 1945 (attached to 64th Fighter Wing after 21 February 1945; attached 30 April 1945); assigned 20 June – August 1945; 1 March – 6 October 1947 * 340th Bombardment Group: 1 September – 1 November 1943; 2 January – 1 March 1944 *

354th Fighter Group The 354th Fighter Group was an element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force during World War II. The unit was known as the Pioneer Mustang Group and was the first to fly the P-51B Mustang in combat. The group served as bombe ...

, 4 July 1945 – 15 February 1946 * 363d Reconnaissance Group, 15–20 November 1945 *

366th Fighter Group 366th may refer to: *366th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *366th Division (IDF), also known as the "Path of Fire" Division, a reserve armored division of the IDF *366th Fighter Squadron, inactive United States Air Force ...

: 4 July 1945 – 20 August 1946 * 501st Tactical Control Group (see 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion) ; Squadrons * 2d Air Support Communications Squadron (later 2d Tactical Air Communications Squadron): 2 February 1943 – 6 July 1943 * 4th Tactical Air Communications Squadron: 4 July 1945 – 5 June 1947 * 11th Tactical Air Communications Squadron: 4 July – c. 12 October 1945 * 14th Liaison Squadron: 4 July – 5 October 1945 (attached to Third United States Army}Third Army after 26 June 1945) *

18th Air Support Communications Squadron 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

(later 18th Tactical Air Communications Squadron): c. 12 February – 10 June 1944 * 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron: 3 October 1944 – 20 April 1945 (attached to Provisional Reconnaissance Group after 16 October 1944) * 47th Liaison Squadron: 23 November 1945 – 1 February 1946 * 72d Liaison Squadron: 20 May – 3 July 1945 * 99th Fighter Squadron: 28 May 1943 – 1 May 1944 (attached to 33d Fighter Group, 29 May 1943; 324th Fighter Group, c. 19 June 1943; 33d Fighter Group 19 July 1943; 79th Fighter Group, 16 October 1943; 324th Fighter Group after 1 April 1944) * 111th Observation Squadron (later 111th Reconnaissance Squadron, 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron): attached 12–31 March 1943, 20 June 1943, assigned 26 May 1944 – 20 April 1945 (attached to Provisional Reconnaissance Group after 16 October 1944) * 125th Liaison Squadron: 20 June – 15 December 1945 * 153d Liaison Squadron: attached 25 April 1944, assigned 15 July 1945 – 15 December 1945 (attached to Twelfth Army Group 15 November 1944, Seventh Army after 26 July 1945) *

162d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * Sixteen (1943 film), ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 194 ...

: attached 16 October 1944 – 21 April 1945 * 167th Liaison Squadron: 20 May – 15 July 1945 * 365th Bombardment Squadron: 1 November – 25 December 1946 * 415th Night Fighter Squadron: 12 October – 5 December 1943 * 417th Night Fighter Squadron: 17 May – 26 June 1945 ; Other * 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion (later 501st Tactical Control Group), 15 November 1945 – 25 July 1947

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II Tac12 Military units and formations disestablished in 1948