Tenth Air Force | |
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Tenth Air Force emblem Part of Air Force Reserve Command |
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Active | 12 February 1942 |
Country | United States of America |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Garrison/HQ | Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth |
Commanders | |
Current commander |
Maj. Gen. Frank J. Padilla |
Notable commanders |
Lewis H. Brereton |
The Tenth Air Force (10AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas.
The command directs the activities of 14,000 reservists and 950 civilians located at 30 military installations throughout the United States. In addition, Tenth Air Force units fly satellites for both US SPACECOM and NOAA.
Tenth Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force created for operations in India, Burma and Indochina during World War II in the China Burma India Theater of operations. It was established at New Delhi, India on 12 February 1942, around a nucleus of air force personnel newly arrived from Java and the Philippines, under the command of Major General (later Lt. General) Louis Brereton. In the years since World War II, the 10th Air Force has served the US air defense and reserve training programs.
The 10th Air Force is commanded by Maj. Gen. Frank J. Padilla.[1]
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10th Air Force is responsible for managing and supervising six fighter units, three geographically dispersed rescue units, one bomber unit, one Airborne Warning and Control (AWACs) associate unit, one special operations wing, one space wing, one Regional Support Group, and more than 120 non-flying units in logistics and support roles.
The command directs the activities of 14,000 reservists and 950 civilians located at 30 military installations in the United States. With 87 full time staff, and 93 reservists, Tenth Air Force and the 610th Regional Support Group monitor and provides assistance to their subordinate units to ensure they maintain readiness to supplement active Air Force units with operationally ready units on a moment's notice. If mobilized, the flying units and their support elements are placed under the command of Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) and Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
Reservists from 10th Air Force units are routinely deployed to Air Expeditionary units in combat areas of Central and Southwest Asia as part of the Overseas Contingency Operation.
Operational units of Tenth Air Force are:[2]
Tenth Air Force Squadrons, Flights, and Operational Locations are also stationed at:
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Tenth Air Force was constituted on 4 February 1942 and activated on 12 February, built up around a nucleus of air force personnel newly arrived from Java and the Philippines, under the command of Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton. It had its headquarters at New Delhi. Components of the air force moved to India over a three month period from March to May 1942. It was responsible for creating, operating and safeguarding the India-China Ferry, more commonly known as the Hump airlift, between 8 April and 1 December 1942, first with its Assam-Burma-China Command until 16 July, then the India-China Ferry Command until 1 December, when jurisdiction for the airlift passed to the Air Transport Command.
The Tenth Air Force initially provided control of all USAAF combat operations in the China Burma India Theater under theater commander Lt. Gen. Joseph Stillwell. Units based in China were controlled by the China Air Task Force of the Tenth Air Force, created 4 July 1942 to replace the American Volunteer Group, and commanded by Brig. Gen. Claire Chennault. Units based in India were controlled by the India Air Task Force, created 8 October 1942, commanded by Brigadier General Caleb V. Haynes.
In March 1943 the China Air Task Force was dissolved and its components made part of the new Fourteenth Air Force, activated in China under Chennault. The Tenth operated in India and Burma as part of the Allied Eastern Air Command until it moved to China late in July 1945.[3]
The Tenth Air Force conducted offensive strategic bombing operations in Burma and supported Allied ground efforts with close air support and operations against Japanese communications and supply installations. After the end of the war in China, the command headquarters departed from Shanghai on 15 December 1945, being attached to Army Service Forces at Fort Lawton, Washington where the last personnel were demobilized and the command inactivated, being returned to HQ USAAF on 6 January 1946.
In March 1946, USAAF Chief General Carl Spaatz had undertaken a major re-organization of the postwar USAAF that had included the establishment of Major Commands (MAJCOM), who would report directly to HQ United States Army Air Forces. Continental Air Forces was inactivated, and Tenth Air Force was assigned to the postwar Air Defense Command in March 1946 and subsequently to Continental Air Command (ConAC) in December 1948 being primarily concerned with air defense.
The command was re-activated on 24 May 1946 at Brooks Field (later, AFB), Texas. It moved to Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 1 July 1948; Fort Benjamin Harrison (later, Benjamin Harrison AFB), Indiana, 25 September 1948. It was originally assigned to provide air defense over a wide region from Kentucky to Montana; from the Four Corners of southwest Colorado to the Northeast tip of Minnesota, north of the borders of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee.
The 56th Fighter Wing at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, joined Tenth Air Force on 1 December 1948, transferring in from SAC's Fifteenth Air Force.
In addition to the command and control of the active Air Force interceptor and radar units in its region, it also became the command organization for the Air Force Reserve and state Air National Guard units. By 1949 with the establishment of the Western Air Defense Force (WADF) and Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF), the air defense mission of the command was transferred to WADF, leaving Tenth AF free to focus on its reserve training tasks,
Moved to Selfridge AFB, Michigan, 16 January 1950 where for the next decade it concentrated on air reserve training throughout the decade. On 1 July 1960, the Fourth Air Force Reserve Region was formed at Randolph AFB. The Fourth Region was one of five Reserve regions and became operational on 1 September 1960, under the control of Continental Air Command (CAC), as a result, Tenth Air Force was discontinued, and inactivated, on 1 September 1960.
Tenth Air Force was reactivated on 20 January 1966, at Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri as part of Air Defense Command with the inactivation of its organization of Air Defense Sectors. Its area of responsibility was the central region of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River and the northern peninsula of Michigan.
On 16 January 1968 Air Defense Command was re-designated Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM) as part of a restructuring of USAF air defense forces. Tenth Air Force's second period of service was short lived, however, and the command was again inactivated as the result of a major ADCOM reorganization on 31 December 1969 of the First Fourth, Tenth Air Forces and several Air Divisions. This reorganization was the result of the need to eliminate intermediate levels of command in ADCOM driven by budget reductions and a perceived lessening of the need for continental air defense against attacking Soviet aircraft.
ADCOM reassigned the units under the inactivated Tenth Air Force were reassigned primarily to the 14th, 23d and 24th Air Divisions.
Continental Air Command was discontinued on 1 August 1968, and was replaced by Headquarters Air Force Reserve, located at Robins Air Force Base, GA. In July 1969, the Fourth Region moved from Randolph AFB to Ellington AFB, near Houston, TX. On 31 December 1969, the five regions were merged into three. The responsibilities of the Fourth and Fifth Regions were consolidated into the new Central Air Force Reserve Region. Eastern Region became responsible for the First and Second Region areas, the Sixth Region became the Western Region. This change increased the area of responsibility of Central Region from five states to 14, ranging from the Canadian to the Mexican borders. As a result of these consolidations, Tenth Air Force was agan inactivated on 31 December 1969.
When Air Force operations were phased out of Ellington AFB, Central Region Headquarters moved to Bergstrom AFB, in Austin, TX, on 10 March 1976. The Air Force Reserve’s entire intermediate management structure was then realigned effective 8 October 1976; and the Reserve Regions were inactivated and succeeded by the currently activated Tenth Air Force. Redesignated Tenth Air Force (Reserve) on 24 September 1976, the unit activated in the Reserve on 8 October 1976 at Bergstrom AFB, TX, assigned to Air Force Reserve. It was redesignated Tenth Air Force on 1 December 1985.
As a result, the unit assumed command over all Tactical Air Command-gained and Strategic Air Command-gained Air Force Reserve units regardless of geographic location. With the inactivation of TAC and SAC in 1992, Tenth Air Force today is responsible for command supervision of fighter, bomber, rescue, airborne warning and control, special operations, flying training, combat air operations battle staff, and space reserve units.
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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