1.
523d Fighter Squadron
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The 523d Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 27th Operations Group stationed at Cannon Air Force Base, during World War II, its predecessor unit, the 17th Bombardment Squadron fought in the Philippines Campaign. Its ground personnel fought as infantry in the 1941-1942 Battle of Bataan with the survivors being forced to march as prisoners in the Bataan Death March. Until its inactivation in 2007, the 523d had been engaged in major combat action the United States had engaged in since its activation in 1940. The 523d Fighter Squadron was known as the Crusaders and its primary mission was to maintain a continuous ability to rapidly deploy and support American unified commanders worldwide with day or night F-16C combat operations. It was inactivated in 2007 when Cannon realigned from an Air Combat Command fighter base to an Air Force Special Operations Command base with a new mission, formed as a B-18 Bolo bombardment squadron under Third Air Force in Louisiana during 1940. Re-equipped with A-24 Dauntless Dive Bombers, then in late 1941, ground echelon arrived in Philippines in late November 1941, however outbreak of World War II in the Pacific caused A-24 aircraft to be diverted to Australia. Portions of air echelon flew to Australia to pick up aircraft, personnel in the Philippines reassigned as ground infantry unit and engaged the enemy on Luzon during the ground Battle of Bataan. Some personnel were evacuated to Australia by submarine, after collapse of organized United States resistance in May 1942, survivors endured Bataan Death March or continued as unorganized resistance forces in the Occupied Philippines. Air Echelon reorganized in Australian Northern Territory and fought in Dutch East Indies, was inactivated in place and squadron administratively activated at Hunter Field, Georgia. Re-equipped first with A-20 Havocs then A-36 Apache fighter-bombers in the United States, then deployed to North Africa, re-designated as 523d Fighter-Bomber Squadron in August 1943 after Sicilian Campaign. Re-equipped with P-40 Warhawks, then P-47 Thunderbolts and engaged enemy forces as a fighter squadron during the Italian Campaign. Supported ground forces in the Invasion of Southern France and drive northwards though Lyon until linking with Allied ground forces in eastern France, Squadron demobilized in Germany summer 1945, being inactivated as a paper unit in November 1945. Reactivated as part of United States Air Forces in Europe occupation forces in Germany,1946, inactivated 1947 as a paper unit, being assigned to Strategic Air Command. Assigned to Kearney AFB, Nebraska in 1947 as a strategic escort squadron for B-29/B-50 Superfortresses, equipped with very long-range F-82E Twin Mustangs in 1948, being replaced with F-84E Thunderjets in 1950. Deployed to Far East Air Forces, December 1950 and engaged in combat over Korea as escort squadron for B-29 Bombers of Far East Air Force, remained in combat until Armistice in 1953. Escorted SAC B-50/B-36 Peacemaker strategic bombers throughout the 1950s until SAC inactivated fighter-escort squadrons in 1957 with final phaseout of propeller-driven strategic bomber force, reassigned to Tactical Air Command and re-equipped with F-101B Voodoo, then F-100 Super Sabre tactical fighter aircraft. In 1964, began rotational deployments to Japan and South Korea as part of air defense forces, reassigned to PACAF in 1965 at Clark Air Base, Philippines
2.
NAS Pensacola
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Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola, The Cradle of Naval Aviation, is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. Because of contamination by metals and other hazardous materials during this history. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps and U. S. Coast Guard, the NATTC facility at NAS Pensacola is also home to the USAF Detachment 1, a GSU whose home unit is the 359th TRS located at Eglin AFB. Detachment 1 trains over 800 Airmen annually in three structural maintenance disciplines, Low Observable, Non-Destructive Inspection, and Aircraft Structural Maintenance. TRAWING SIX consists of the Training Squadron 4 Warbucks, Training Squadron 10 Wildcats and Training Squadron 86 Sabrehawks, flying the T-45C Goshawk, the 479 FTG is a tenant activity at NAS Pensacola and a geographically separated unit of the 12th Flying Training Wing at Randolph AFB, Texas. The 479 FTG operates USAF T-6A Texan II and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft, a total of 131 aircraft operate out of Sherman Field, generating 110,000 flight operations each year. The site now occupied by NAS Pensacola has been controlled by varying nations, in 1559, Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna founded a colony on Santa Rosa Island, considered the first European settlement of the Pensacola area. The Spanish built the wooden Fort San Carlos de Austria on this bluff in 1697-1698, although besieged by Indians in 1707, the fort was not taken. Spain was competing in North America with the French, who settled lower Louisiana, the French destroyed this fort when they captured Pensacola in 1719. After Great Britain defeated the French in the Seven Years War and exchanging some territory with Spain, British colonists took over this site, in 1781, as an ally of the American rebels during the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish captured Pensacola. Britain ceded West Florida to Spain following the war, the Spanish completed the fort San Carlos de Barrancas in 1797. Barranca is a Spanish word for bluff, the natural feature that makes this location ideal for the fortress. Pensacola was taken by General Andrew Jackson in November 1814 during the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, British forces destroyed Fort San Carlos as they swept through the area. The Spanish remained in control of the region until 1821, when the Adams-Onís Treaty confirmed the purchase of Spanish Florida by the United States, in 1825, the US designated this area for the Pensacola Navy Yard was designated and Congress appropriated $6,000 for a lighthouse. Operational that year, it is said to be haunted by a light keeper murdered by his wife, Fort Barrancas was rebuilt, 1839-1844, the U. S. Army deactivating it on 15 April 1947. Designated a National Historic Site in 1960, control of the site was transferred to the National Park Service in 1971, after extensive restoration during 1971-1980, Fort Barrancas was opened to the public. Navy captains William Bainbridge, Lewis Warrington, and James Biddle selected the site on Pensacola Bay, Construction began in April 1826, and the Pensacola Navy Yard, also known as the Warrington Navy Yard, became one of the best equipped naval stations in the country. Pensacola Navy Yard was built with enslaved labor, Captain Lewis Warrington The first Commandant of the Pensacola Navy Yard complained to the Board of Navy Commissioners “neither laborers nor mechanics are to be obtained here
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
5.
Air Education and Training Command
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Air Education and Training Command was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of the former Air Training Command and the extant Air University. It is one of the U. S. Air Forces ten major commands and reports to Headquarters, AETC is headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Its commander is Lieutenant General Darryl Roberson, with Lieutenant General Douglas H. Owens as vice commander and Chief Master Sergeant Gerardo Tapia, more than 48,000 active duty and Air Reserve Component members and 14,000 civilian personnel make up AETC. The command has responsibility for approximately 1,600 aircraft, AETCs mission is to recruit, train and educate Airmen to deliver air power for America. AETCs mission begins with the Air Force Recruiting Service, an AETC activity also headquartered at Randolph AFB, Texas. Recruiters in more than 1,000 offices worldwide recruit the men and women needed as both enlisted airmen and commissioned officers to meet the demands of the U. S. Air Force. AFRS recruitment of commissioned officers is limited to 4-year college/university graduates via Air Force Officer Training School, the first stop for all Regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command enlisted personnel is Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB, Texas. More than 36,000 new airmen will complete this recently lengthened eight-and-a-half-week program each year, a recently established technical training institute at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, also conducts training in several medical career fields. Each base is responsible for a portion of formal technical training airmen require to accomplish the Air Force mission. 2 AF also conducts specialized training for military working dogs and dog handlers at Lackland AFB, Texas, for the entire Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland AFB hosts more than 160 courses in aviation specialties, taught in Spanish, the Air Education and Training Command, along with the USAF Academy, are responsible for teaching these principles throughout the Air Force. When AETC was established in 1993, Nineteenth Air Force was also established as a numbered air force to 2 AF within AETC. On 12 July 2012,19 AF was temporarily inactivated for budgetary reasons in an effort to gain efficiencies, Air Force pilot candidates begin their flying careers with Initial Flight Screening at Pueblo Memorial Airport, Colorado. S. Air Force Academy, Air Force ROTC and Air Force OTS and this program was terminated on 25 July 2013 with the graduation of the final USAF student pilot from primary training at NAS Whiting Field. S. Air Force and various European air forces, during the primary phase, students master contact, instrument, low-level and formation flying. After the primary phase of SUPT and ENJJPT, student pilots elect one of three advanced training tracks based on their class standing and those qualified for fighter or bomber assignments are assigned to the fighter/bomber track and train in the T-38 Talon at the SUPT and ENJJPT bases. Following completion of the track, graduates will be assigned to the A-10, F-15 Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, F-22 and F-35, B-1. NOTE, The U-2 is not an option for new graduates of the Fighter/Bomber track, prospective U-2 pilots must be qualified in another fighter, bomber, reconnaissance or mobility aircraft before applying to fly the U-2
6.
Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
7.
Distinguished Unit Citation
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The unit with the most Presidential Unit Citations is the USS Parche with 9 citations. The Army citation was established by Executive Order 9075 on 26 February 1942, superseded by Executive Order 9396 on Dec.2,1943, as with other Army unit citations, the PUC is in a larger frame than other ribbons, and is worn above the right pocket. All members of the unit may wear the decoration, whether or not they participated in the acts for which the unit was cited. Only those assigned to the unit at the time of the action cited may wear the decoration as a permanent award, for both the Army and Air Force, the emblem is a solid blue ribbon enclosed in a gold frame. The Air Force PUC was adopted from the Army Distinguished Unit Citation after the Air Force became a military branch in 1947. By Executive Order 10694, dated Jan,10,1957 the Air Force redesignated the Distinguished Unit Citation as the Presidential Unit Citation. The Air Force PUC is the color and design as the Army PUC but slightly smaller. The Citation is carried on the units colors in the form of a blue streamer,4 ft long and 2.75 in wide. For the Army, only on rare occasions will a larger than battalion qualify for award of this decoration. The Navy citation was established by Executive Order 9050 on 6 February 1942, the Navy version has blue, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, and is the only Navy ribbon having horizontal stripes. These are only worn by persons who meet the criteria at the time it is awarded to the unit, unlike the Army, those who later join the unit do not wear it on a temporary basis. The current decoration is known as the Department of Homeland Security Presidential Unit Citation. A Coast Guard version of the award was awarded to all U. S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary personnel responding to Hurricane Katrina by President George W. Bush for rescue, the United States Public Health Service Presidential Citation was established in 2015. The design was finalized by the Army Institute of Heraldry on 17 August 2015, two units of the Free French Forces were awarded Presidential Unit Citations during World War II. On April 22,1986, the 1st Fighter Group Força Aérea Brasileira was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions in the Po Valley region of Italy in World War II. The Brazilians, operating in Italy in support of Allied forces, destroyed in one day over 45 vehicles, strafed pontoon bridges on the River Po, eleven missions of 44 sorties were flown destroying nine motor transports and damaging 17. One Belgian-Luxembourgian battalion of the Belgian United Nations Command was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation once for actions during the Battle of the Imjin River, the Colombia Battalion received the citation while attached to the American 21st Infantry Regiment in 1951. One Dutch unit, the Netherlands Detachment United Nations, part of the Regiment Van Heutsz, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation twice for actions during the Korean War, the first citation was awarded after the battle near Wonju and Hoengson in February 1951
8.
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
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The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award is one of the unit awards of the United States Air Force. It was established in 1954 and was the first independent Air Force decoration created, the Air Force Longevity Service Award would follow in 1957 with most of the standard Air Force awards established in the early to mid 1960s. The Outstanding Unit Award is awarded to any unit of the U. S, multiple awards of the Outstanding Unit Award are denoted by oak leaf clusters on the ribbon. Until 2004, the Outstanding Unit Award was the senior most unit award in the U. S. Air Force and it is awarded to personnel who were assigned or attached to the unit receiving the award during the period it was awarded for. Non-USAF personnel personnel assigned to USAF units awarded the Outstanding Unit Award are also eligible to wear the ribbon on their uniforms, however, the ribbon does not come in the larger size of unit awards common to the U. S. Army
9.
Squadron (aviation)
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In most armed forces, two or more squadrons will form a group or a wing. Some air forces use the term squadrons for non-flying ground units. In contrast to United States Air Force units where flying squadrons are separate from supporting administrative and aircraft maintenance squadrons, in United States Marine Corps Aviation the nomenclature squadron is also used to designate all battalion-equivalent, aviation support organizations. These squadrons include, wing headquarters, tactical air command, air control, air support, aviation logistics, wing support, exceptions are USN helicopter mine countrmeasures squadrons, USMC composite medium tilt-rotor squadrons, heavy helicopter and light/attack helicopter squadrons, and Marine attack squadrons. Although part of U. S. naval aviation, United States Coast Guard aviation units are centered on an air station versus a squadron or group/wing organizational structure, the one exception to this is the Coast Guards Helicopter Interdiction Squadron, which is engaged primarily in counter-narcotics interdiction operations. In U. S. Army Aviation, flying units may be organized in battalions or squadrons reporting to an aviation brigade, an escadron is the equivalent unit in Frances Armée de lAir. It is normally subdivided into escadrilles of eight aircraft, in the Air Training Corps of the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations, a Squadron is a group of cadets who parade regularly. In the U. S. Civil Air Patrol, a squadron is the administrative unit. In the Swedish Air Force a helicopter squadron is a detachment from the Helicopter Wing
10.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between 1 and 1.7 billion dollars. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote, the name Superfortress continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29s final roles during World War II was carrying out the bomb attacks on Hiroshima. The B-29 served in roles throughout the 1950s. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until phasing out the type in 1954, the Soviet Union produced an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy as the Tupolev Tu-4. The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, the type was retired in the early 1960s. The B-29 production total was 3,970 aircraft, dozens of B-29s remain as static displays but only two examples, Fifi and Doc, have been restored to flying status, with Doc flying again for the first time from McConnell AFB on July 17,2016. A transport developed from the B-29 was the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, first flown in 1944, followed by its commercial airliner variant and this bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948 Boeing introduced a variant of the B-29 as the KB-29. A heavily modified line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy which remain in service today with operators including NASA, Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938, in response to a United States Army Air Corps request. Boeings design study for the Model 334 was a derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps did not have money to pursue the design, in April 1939, Charles Lindbergh convinced general Henry H. Arnold to produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Nazi production, Boeings previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its response to this specification. Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940, in competition with designs from Consolidated Aircraft, Lockheed, Consolidated continued to work on its Model 33 as it was seen by the Air Corps as a backup in case of problems with Boeings design. Boeing received a production order for 14 service test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941. The B-29 featured a design with circular cross-section for strength
11.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
12.
MGM-1 Matador
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The Martin MGM-1 Matador was the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile designed and built by the United States. It was developed after World War II, after their experience with creating the Republic-Ford JB-2. The Matador was simillar in concept to the V-1, but it included a command that allowed in-flight course corrections. This allowed accuracy to be maintained over greatly extended ranges of just under 1000 km, to allow these ranges, the Matador was powered by a small turbojet engine in place of the V-1s much less efficient pulsejet. Matador was armed with the W5 nuclear warhead, essentially a version of the Fat Man design that was lighter and had a smaller cross section. A single US Air Force group, 1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron, was armed with the weapon and it could be easily retargeted, unlike weapons using inertial guidance systems. Accuracy at maximum range was about 1 mile, which allowed it to be used against any large target like troop concentrations or armored spearheads, First flown in 1949, Matador entered service in 1952 and left service in 1962. Matador carried several designations during its lifetime, originally known under the War Departments system as SSM-A-1, by the time it was introduced to service the Air Force had been created, and they referred to them as bombers and assigned it the B-61 designation. It was later re-designated TM-61, for missile, and finally MGM-1 when the US Department of Defense introduced the tri-service aircraft designation system in 1962. The first flight of Matador, model XSSM-A-1, occurred at the White Sands Missile Range on 20 January 1949. At the end of 1953 the first squadron was operational, but not deployed until 1954, as the 1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron, Bitburg Air Base, the missile was capable of carrying a 2000-pound conventional warhead, but it is unknown if any of these were actually deployed. By the late 1950s at least, all Matadors carried the nuclear warhead, the last Matadors were removed from active service in 1962, with a total of 1200 missiles produced. At that time, they were deployed in squadrons at Bitburg AB, West Germany, in Tainan, Taiwan, most of the support vehicles, consisting mainly of 2½ and 5-ton trucks, were disposed of on the local market. Presumably, the other sites similarly disposed of their missiles and equipment, the missile was piloted via radio link and tracked via a network of ground-based AN/MSQ-1 radar stations. This guidance system, with its communications, limited the guided range to about 400 km. As with all communications it was also prone to enemy radio jamming. While in theory the missile could be handed off in flight from one station to the next, in practice that was rarely successful. In 1954, the USAF started to develop the YTM-61C version which was equipped with the new Shanicle guidance system and it became operational in 1957 and used ground-based microwave emitters to generate hyperbolic grids for range and azimuth, which were used by the missile guidance system to navigate
13.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
14.
Dalhart Army Air Base
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Dalhart Army Air Base is a former World War II military airfield complex near the city of Dalhart, Texas. It operated three training sites for the United States Army Air Forces from 1943 until 1945, the majority of the namesake city of Dalhart, Texas lies in southern Dallam County, while those parts of Dalhart city south of 11th Street are actually in northern Hartley County, Texas. The main airfield of Dalhart Army Air Base was 3.4 miles southwest of the city, auxiliary #1 was 10.2 miles west-southwest of the city, also in Hartley County. Auxiliary #2 was located 5.5 miles east-northeast of the city in Dallam County, in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Dalhart Texan newspaper began asking its readers what they could do to support America’s war effort. On Wednesday,20 May 1942, The Dalhart Texan reported they had been successful in bringing to Dalhart a new glider school, the official announcement came from Representative Eugene Worley’s office. Construction proceeded on the new airfield and Dalhart Army Airfield opened in May 1942. While under construction the commands temporary headquarters operated from a tent city in Amarillo, during the summer of 1942 three runways were laid down along with a large parking ramp and taxiway system. Four large hangars along with buildings, barracks a street network, electric. On 1 July 1942, the still uncompleted was assigned to the Central Flying Training Command, in September 1942, Cadets began arriving for training at the school. Glider training was performed by the 14th Troop Carrier Squadron, which arrived on 9 October 1942 with C-47 Skytrains being used for tow planes, the 878th, 879th and 880th Glider Training Squadrons were established at the base, equipped with the new Waco CG-4A Hadrian Glider. Cadets honed their skills, takeoff, and towed flight on a 350 nylon rope behind a C-47 Skytrain tow plane, the pilots held their position with two gliders being double towed. Also gliders were prepared on the ground for being snatched by a tow aircraft flying overhead, Cadets also were trained in infantry skills, as they were expected to serve as combat soldiers after landing. In February 1943, Dalhart was transferred to Second Air Force, the new mission of the base was to be B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator Heavy Bomber aircrew replacement training. Graduated of the training would then be assigned to new groups or be sent directly to the European Theater of Operations for assignment as replacements. On 21 February, the 46th Bombardment Training Wing was organized at the base, in March 1943, the Glider School was transferred to South Plains Army Airfield near Lubbock. The 333d Bombardment Group became the Replacement Training Unit, Cadets flew training missions over practice target areas in the Texas Panhandle. Along with the 333d, the Third Air Force 415th Bombardment Group trained medium bomber pilots in A-20 Havoc, A-26 Invader, Fighter cadets were also trained in P-39 Airacobras and A-24 Banshee Dive Bombers. The 415th utilized the Hartley and Dallum satellite airfields for training leaving the base to the heavy four-engine bomber training
15.
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
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The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, the B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The B-17 also participated to an extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II. From its prewar inception, the USAAC promoted the aircraft as a weapon, it was a relatively fast, high-flying. It developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base, the B-17 developed a reputation as an effective bomber, dropping more bombs than any other U. S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany, in addition to its role as a bomber, the B-17 was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft. As of May 2015, ten aircraft remain airworthy, none of them are combat veterans. Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest of these is a D-series veteran of combat in the Pacific and the Caribbean. On 8 August 1934, the U. S. Army Air Corps tendered a proposal for a bomber to replace the Martin B-10. The air corps was looking for a capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama. Requirements were that it would carry a useful bombload at an altitude of 10,000 ft for ten hours with a top speed of at least 200 mph. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000 mi, the competition for the air corps contract would be decided by a fly-off between Boeings design, the Douglas DB-1, and the Martin Model 146 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells and it combined features of the experimental Boeing XB-15 bomber with the Boeing 247 transport aircraft. The B-17s armament consisted of up to 4,800 lb of bombs on two racks in the bay behind the cockpit, and initially possessed five.30 caliber machine guns. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines each producing 750 hp at 7,000 ft, the first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times, coined the name Flying Fortress with his comment, Why, when the Model 299 was rolled out bristling with multiple machine gun installations. The most unusual gun emplacement was the installation which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward almost any frontal angle
16.
Fairmont State Airfield
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Fairmont State Airfield is three miles south of Fairmont, in Fillmore County, Nebraska. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as an aviation facility. It has no scheduled airline service, most U. S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, but this airport is FMZ to the FAA and has no IATA code. Construction of Fairmont State Airfield by the United States Army Air Forces began on September 17,1942 and it was one of eleven training airfields built in Nebraska during World War II. Shortly after construction began, a spur was built from Fairmont to the site to haul materials for the construction. About 1,000 laborers were hired to build the base, the first military personnel arrived in November 1942 The airfield was under the command of Second Air Force Headquarters, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The 241st Army Air Force Base Unit was the Operational Training Unit at the airfield and it was assigned to the 15th Bombardment Training Wing, then transferred to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing in March 1944 for B-29 training. The 511th Army Air Force Base Unit commanded the support elements at Fairmont as part of Air Technical Service Command, Fairmont Army Airfield was a training installation for twenty-seven bombardment squadrons. Extensive concrete runways and other structures were built, a 350-bed hospital served personnel from Fairmont along with Harvard AAF and Bruning AAF. The cantonment area provided quarters for nearly 6,000 officers, col. Paul Tibbets visited Fairmont and selected the 393d Bombardment Squadron of the 504th to join the 509th Composite Group at Wendover AAF, Utah. This group dropped both atomic bombs on Japan, the base was inactivated on December 31,1945. In the spring of 1946, the War Assets Administration declared the property surplus in the spring of 1946, buildings were sold and dismantled or moved. The chapel was moved to Friend, Nebraska, the Enlisted Mens Service Club was dismantled and rebuilt in Shickley, Nebraska as St. Marys Church. In 1946 Nebraska Department of Aeronautics acquired the Airfield from the U. S. Government for use as a civilian airport. The District includes the hardstands, aprons and existing runways, all remaining buildings and this encompasses historic landscape features such as roads and World War II-era planted trees. Fairmont State Airfield covers 687 acres at an elevation of 1,636 feet and it has two concrete runways, 17/35 is 4,317 by 75 feet and 12/30 is 3,021 by 60 feet. In the year ending June 12,2012 the airport had 1,625 aircraft operations,21 aircraft were then based at this airport, 95% single-engine and 5% multi-engine. Nebraska World War II Army Airfields List of airports in Nebraska This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II
17.
XXI Bomber Command
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The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II. The command was established at Smoky Hill AAF, Kansas on 1 March 1944 and its assigned units engaged in very long range bombardment operations primarily against Japan until mid-July 1945. The Marianas chain of islands, consisting primarily of Saipan, Tinian, the islands were about 1500 miles from Tokyo, a range which the B-29s could just about manage. Most important of all, they could be put on a supply line from the United States by ship. In August 1944, Major General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr was directed to take command of the organization. The construction and defense of the airfields would be the United States Navys responsibility, before the B-29s could begin operating against Japan from the Marianas, the islands first had to be taken away from the Japanese. This began with Saipan on 11 June 1944 when a four-day naval, on 15 June United States Marine units stormed ashore, followed a day later by Army units. After several weeks of fighting, during which over 3000 American and 24,000 Japanese lives were lost. The seizure of Saipan enabled invasions of Guam and Tinian to proceed, the Marine Corps and the United States Army 77th Infantry Divisions 305th Regimental Combat Team landed on Guam. By 10 August the island was secured, Tinian was assaulted on 24 July, and by 1 August it was secured. Construction of the B-29 airfields on Saipan began almost immediately, even while the fighting was going on. Naval Construction Battalions, the SeaBees began construction at a former Japanese airstrip called Aslito and this was later renamed Isely Field, after Navy Commander Robert H. Isely. The SeaBees did not meet their schedule but came very close, in a little over three months they had built a support base and air field on Saipan capable of supporting the 240 B-29s of the 73d Bombardment Wing and their logistical support units. On Tinian, the SeaBees built the largest bomber base ever, on Guam the 5th NCB built North Field for the 314th Bombardment Wing and Northwest Field for the 315th Bombardment Wing. The 73d Bombardment Wing was ordered to the Marianas rather than to the CBI Theater after its training with Second Air Force in Kansas, the first B-29 arrived at Isely Field, Saipan on 12 October 1944. By 22 November, over 100 B-29s were at Isely Field, the XXI Bomber Command was assigned the mission of destroying the aircraft industry of Japan in a series of high-altitude, daylight precision attacks. However, General Hansell was fully aware that his crews still lacked the experience to carry out such missions. In late October and early November 1944, a series of raids were carried out as training exercises for the crews
18.
Northwest Field (Guam)
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Northwest Field is a former World War II airfield on Guam in the Mariana Islands. It was closed in 1949 and is unused, construction was accomplished by the Army Air Corps 1865th Aviation Engineering Battalion and United States Navy Seabees. Deployed ground echelon personnel also assisted in construction, prior to the arrival of their groups air echelon, in April 1945, it became the home of the 315th Bombardment Wing, the command organization for the 16th, 331st, 501st and 502d Bombardment Groups. The field ultimately had two runways, the north and south runways, the south runway was the first to be completed. However, when the first 315th aircraft were deployed to Guam, the runway was still under construction. When the main air echelons of the 16th and 501st Bomb Groups arrived the south runway was complete, aircraft had to be towed to their parking spaces over the rough coral. By the time the air echelons of the 331st and 502nd Bomb Groups arrived, both runways were complete. The 331st Bomb Group used the space in the center of the base, the 502nd Bomb Group used the area on the east side. The 315th Bomb Wing was unique as its groups flew the B-29B Superfortress, the only true variant of the B-29 ever manufactured. The resultant unladen weight of 69,000 pounds was a vast improvement, lessening the strain on engines and airframe and it also gave a biplane effect in appearance. The Eagle was the product of the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Eagle radar development group and it had been designed especially for night missions. The only armament on aircraft was in the tail, where two.50 caliber machine guns were installed. Missions had to be planned and prepared so that material could be slanted from the radar point of view. Its groups flew missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island, Truk. Bombing missions commenced against targets in the Japanese homeland on 26 June 1945 when the wing damaged the Utsube River oil refinery at Yokkaichi, thereafter, oil targets in Japan served as the wings primary targets during the summer of 1945. On 14 August 1945, nine days after the Atomic Bomb attacks on Hiroshima, the mission was the longest continuous mission ever attempted by Twentieth Air Force, a distance 3,760 miles and a duration of 17 hours. The mission was to destroy the largest remaining oil reserves in Japan at Akita, after holding for a long time, they finally lifted off at 4,42 local time. They had a secret recall code and it was Apple, but the recall never came
19.
Weno
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Weno is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia and is the largest city in the country. It is located in the Chuuk Lagoon, and its villages are in the northwest serves as the center of commerce. Weno is also the capital and the second most populous island of the FSM with a population of 13,856 at the 2010 Census. The highest point is Mount Teroken, elevation 364 m, weno has the only airport in the state, Chuuk International Airport
20.
Tokyo Bay
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Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel and its old name was Edo Bay. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous and largest industrialized area in Japan, in ancient times, Japanese knew Tokyo Bay as the uchi-umi or inner sea. By the Azuchi-Momoyama period the area had become known as Edo Bay, the bay took its present name of Tokyo Bay in modern times, after the Imperial court moved to Edo and renamed that city as Tokyo in 1868. Tokyo Bay juts prominently into the Kantō Plain and it is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture to the east and the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture to the west. The shore of Tokyo Bay consists of a plateau and is subject to rapid marine erosion. Sediments on the shore of the bay make for a smooth, in a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line from Cape Kannon on the west of Miura Peninsula to Cape Futtsu on the east Bōsō Peninsula. This area covers about 922 square kilometres, in a broader sense, Tokyo Bay includes the Uraga Channel. By this definition the bay opens from a north of the straight line from Cape Tsurugisaki on the east of Miura Peninsula to Cape Sunosaki on the west of the Boso Peninsula. This area covers about 1,100 square kilometres, the area of Tokyo Bay combined with the Uraga Channel covers 1,500 square kilometres. The shoal between Cape Futtsu in Chiba Prefecture and Cape Honmaku in Yokohama is known as Nakanose, and has a depth of 20 metres, north of this area the bay has a depth of 40 metres and an uncomplicated submarine topography. Areas south of Nakanose are significantly deeper moving towards the Pacific Ocean, the only natural island in Tokyo Bay is Sarushima at Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Sarushima was one of the locations fortified with coastal artillery during the Bakumatsu period and was incorporated into the Tokyo Bay Fortress during the Meiji period. The Imperial Japanese Navy maintained a station on the island until the end of World War II. The island is now uninhabited and is a marine park, many artificial islands were built as naval fortifications in the Meiji and Taishō period. After World War II these islands were converted to residential or recreational use, Odaiba, also known as Daiba, was one of six artificial islands constructed in 1853 as a fortification to protect the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo, and was known as the Shinagawa Daiba. After World War II Odaiba was incorporated into Tokyo and redeveloped for commercial and recreational use, after World War II Yumenoshima was planned as a solution to dispose of the large quantities of garbage from the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The island was constructed between 1957 and 1967 and hosts numerous recreational facilities, hakkei Island, formerly Landfill Number 14, was constructed in 1985 and is home to Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise
21.
Cold War
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The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. The term cold is used there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides. The Cold War split the temporary alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Soviet Union. The USSR was a Marxist–Leninist state ruled by its Communist Party and secret police, the Party controlled the press, the military, the economy and all organizations. In opposition stood the West, dominantly democratic and capitalist with a free press, a small neutral bloc arose with the Non-Aligned Movement, it sought good relations with both sides. The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat, but they were armed in preparation for a possible all-out nuclear world war. The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Berlin Blockade was the first major crisis of the Cold War. With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of the Korean War, the USSR and USA competed for influence in Latin America, and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was stopped by the Soviets, the expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The USSR crushed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalization program in Czechoslovakia, détente collapsed at the end of the decade with the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. The early 1980s were another period of elevated tension, with the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the communist state was already suffering from economic stagnation. In the mid-1980s, the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the reforms of perestroika and glasnost. Pressures for national independence grew stronger in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Gorbachev meanwhile refused to use Soviet troops to bolster the faltering Warsaw Pact regimes as had occurred in the past. The result in 1989 was a wave of revolutions that peacefully overthrew all of the communist regimes of Central, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself lost control and was banned following an abortive coup attempt in August 1991. This in turn led to the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. The United States remained as the only superpower. The Cold War and its events have left a significant legacy and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially in media featuring themes of espionage and the threat of nuclear warfare
22.
Naval Training Center Orlando
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Naval Training Center Orlando is a former United States Navy training installation located in Orlando, Florida. Prior to 1940, the airport was used as the Orlando Municipal Airport, when acquired by the Army Air Corps, multiple new landing strips were built to control the demand created by the many aircraft stationed at the base. S. Orlando AFB-cum-NTC Orlando was located just north of Florida Highway 50, access through the main gate was on Corrine Drive at the intersection with Bennett Drive. Orlando AFB was located eight miles north of McCoy Air Force Base. Orlando AFB was inactivated as a U. S, from 1968 until October 19,1994, NTC Orlando was also the sole location for providing recruit training for female enlisted personnel. Orlando Municipal Airport opened in 1928 on 65 acres of land north of Lake Underhill, in 1940, with Europe at war, the United States Army Air Corps took over the airport for defense purposes, activating it as the Orlando Army Air Base on 1 September 1940. A vast construction program was begun at the airport, extending to the north. The first Army Air Corps planes arrived on September 5,1940, the Maxwell squadrons operated until mid-1941 when they were relieved from duty and reassigned to Eglin Field, Florida for other duties. Three squadrons of armed B-18 Bolo medium bombers were sent from I Bomber Command at Langley Field, Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command sent two additional B-18 squadrons from New York and New England to Orlando AAB as well. The major mission of Orlando AAB became a center for pilots. Operations through the war years, beginning in November 1942, were centered on what became the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in October 1943, AAFSAT operated a combat simulation facility in Florida. In this function, it became known as the Army Air Forces Tactical Center. The size and importance of the Orlando base, where pilots tested new aircraft brought notable visitors such as Chief of the Army Air Force General Hap Arnold, in October 1943, the name of the school was changed to the Army Air Forces Tactical Center. In 1945 it was changed again to the Army Air Forces Center, the first unit assigned to AAFSAT was the 50th Fighter Group, which was reassigned from III Interceptor Command in Mississippi in March 1942. Equipped with three squadrons of P-40 Warhawks, the 50th engaged in combat missions over the AAFSAT range training pilots in combat maneuvers. The second unit assigned to AAFSAT was the 9th Bombardment Group, the 9th was equipped with a mixture of B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, along with B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder medium bombers. The 9th operated its squadrons from the nearby Pinecastle Army Airfield and its squadrons trained bomber crews in attack missions, also air-to-air defense against fighter attacks. A third group assigned to AAFSAT was the 415th Bombardment Group and it flew a mixture of A-24 Dauntless dive bombers, A-36 Apache ground support aircraft and A-20 Havoc attack and light bombers
23.
Ninth Air Force
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The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces Air Combat Command. It has been headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, from 1990, units were deployed to the Middle East against Iraq, and from 2001 against threats emanating from Afghanistan. In this role, the organization was known as United States Air Forces Central, until August 2009, the Ninth Air Force shared its commander with USAFCENT. S. This article deals with the current organization, as the lineage of the organization currently belongs to USAFCENT. This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, archives of the Ninth Air Force Association Digital Collection at The University of Akron Archival Services Ninth Air Force Association
24.
Tactical Air Command
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Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base and it was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command. Tactical Air Command was established to provide a balance between strategic, air defense, and tactical forces of the post–World War II U. S. Army Air Forces followed by, in 1947, the U. S. Air Force. In 1948, the Continental Air Command assumed control over air defense, tactical air, after two years in a subordinate role, Tactical Air Command was established as a major command. World War II showed the effectiveness of air power in supporting army ground forces. However, the demobilization in late 1945 meant that the huge air armada that had brought Germany to her knees. Following the end of World War II, Headquarters United States Army Air Forces had little funding and most wartime personnel had been released from active duty and returned to civilian life. Many USAAF aircraft were being sent to storage or scrapyards, although the tension with the Soviet Union meant that combat military air forces were still needed. The big questions were how large and what kind of forces, a major realignment of the USAAF was undertaken in early 1946. As part of the realignment, three major divisions within the Continental United States were formed, Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command. Each was given a specific responsibility, using assets prescribed to accomplish the assigned mission, Tactical Air Command was formed to command, organize, equip, train and administer assigned or attached forces. It was to plan for and participate in tactics for fighter, light bombardment and these included tactical fighters, tactical bombers, tactical missiles, troop carrier aircraft, assault, reconnaissance, and support units. TAC also planned for and developed the capability to deploy tactical striking forces anywhere in the world, during its existence, Tactical Air Command deployed personnel, material and/or aircraft to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Australia in support of its prescribed mission. TACs original authorization was 25,500 officers and enlisted men, aircraft assets available consisted of propeller-driven North American P-51 Mustangs, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and a handful of the new jet-powered Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars. TAC was also given control of the Third Air Force, Ninth Air Force, on 18 September 1947, the United States Air Force was established as a separate military force, with TAC as one of its major commands. At the time, there was only one U. S. Air Forces in Europe tactical air unit available in Europe, TAC was called upon to send additional units and aircraft to Europe to reinforce the 86 FG. The 36th Fighter Group, flying Lockheed F-80B Shooting Stars, was transferred from Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone to Furstenfeldbruck Air Base near Munich. In addition to fighter aircraft, TAC also deployed available C-47 Skytrain transports to Europe, transferring them to USAFE
25.
Pacific Air Forces
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Pacific Air Forces is a Major Command of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Pacific Command. The mission of Pacific Air Forces is to provide air and space power to promote U. S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region during peacetime, through crisis. PACAF comprises three numbered Air Forces, nine main bases and nearly 375 aircraft. The commands area of responsibility extends from the west coast of the United States to the east coast of Asia and from the Arctic to the Antarctic, the area is home to nearly two billion people who live in 44 countries. Not to be confused with Far East Air Force, the military organization of the United States Army in the Philippine Islands from 1941 to 1942. The beginnings of PACAF can be traced back to June 1944, Far East Air Forces was activated on 3 August 1944, at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. FEAF had actually created on 15 June 1944, and Fifth Air Force assigned to it. FEAF was subordinate to the U. S. Army Forces Far East, the creation of FEAF consolidated the command and control authority over United States Army Air Forces units widely deployed throughout the southwest Pacific in World War II. A realignment of forces was needed by the USAAF to better organize its forces in the Pacific for peacetime. Shortly afterwards, Eighth Air Force was reassigned to the newly established Strategic Air Command on 7 June 1946, the major mission of PACUSA in the postwar years was occupation duty in Japan and the demilitarization of the Japanese society in conjunction with the United States Army. In addition, PACUSA helped to support atomic bomb testing in the Pacific Proving Grounds beginning with the Operation Crossroads test on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1946. With the impending establishment of the United States Air Force as an independent service later that year, on that same date, Seventh Air Force in Hawaii was inactivated with its organization absorbed by HQ, FEAF. On 25 June 1950, the forces of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea invaded South Korea. On 27 June, the United Nations Security Council voted to assist the South Koreans in resisting the invasion, president Harry Truman authorized General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to commit units to the battle. MacArthur ordered General George E. Stratemeyer, CIC of FEAF, despite the post-World War II demobilization of United States armed forces, the U. S. Air Force still had substantial forces in the Pacific to oppose the North Korean military. Support units were equipped with the Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo aircraft and the Boeing RB-17 Flying Fortress, the 512th and 514th Weather Reconnaissance Squadrons of the 2143d Air Weather Wing were located at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. On 29 June 1950, the unit began flying missions over the Korean Peninsula in their RB-29 Superfortresses to provide FEAF Bomber Command with target. Eventually, these USAF F-86 units would establish a kill ratio of 10,1 versus their KPAF adversaries, during the Korean War FEAFs Fifth Air Force was the main United Nations combat air command until the Korean Armistice Agreement ended the combat 1953
26.
Thirteenth Air Force
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The Thirteenth Air Force was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces. It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu,13 AF has never been stationed in the continental United States. It was one of the oldest continuously active numbered air forces in the United States Air Force. Established on 14 December 1942 at Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield, on New Caledonia,13 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. During the Cold War,13 AF remained in the Philippines, providing air defense of the nation, during the Korean War, its units provided staging areas for people and equipment destined for the war zone. 13 AF units last engaged in combat during the SS Mayaguez Incident in May 1975 and it was inactivated on 28 September 2012 and its functions merged with PACAF. The command is charged with planning, executing, and assessing operations in support of the U. S. On behalf of the Pacific Air Forces commander, the 13th AF commander is positioned to command Air Force forces, combined or joint force air components, Antarctic Program through Operation Deep Freeze. Headquarters,13 AF is made up of an A-staff, personal staff, 613th Air and Space Operations Center, known as the Maj Richard Bong AOC, the 613th AOC is one of the U. S. The AOC serves as the center of air operations during any campaign. Thirteenth AF relocated and officially established its headquarters at Andersen AFB, Guam, the command was moved from Guam to Hickam AFB in May 2005. It also includes a squadron of Lockheed F-22s, finally it serves as an important en-route location for transient aircraft. 36th Wing, Andersen AFB, Guam The 36th WG has a mission to support global projection. On 5 January 2007, Detachment 1,13 AF was activated at Yokota AB, the 13th Air Expeditionary Group, and formerly the 500th Air Expeditionary Group, is activated seasonally to support Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic. Thirteenth Air Force has never been stationed in the continental United States, it is one of the oldest, continuously active. It engaged in combat in the Pacific Theater during World War II, since World War II, it has provided air defense in the Far East, primarily the Philippines, until the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo forced the closure of Clark AB. Numerous Thirteenth Air Force organizations participated in Southeast Asia combat operations in the 1960s and 1970s, established as Thirteenth Air Force on 14 December 1942 Activated on 13 January 1943 U. S. Served in combat with Thirteenth AF until the end of the war, inactivated in the Philippines on 15 March 1946
27.
Tainan Airport
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Tainan Airport is a commercial airport located in South District, Tainan City, Taiwan. It is shared with Republic of China Air Force Tainan AFB, in January 2011, the Civil Aeronautics Administration approved the airport to handle international flights. In 1935 during the era of Japanese rule, Tainan Airport was proposed by the Tainan Prefecture government due to the need for transportation in southern Taiwan. The airport was opened on June 26,1937 with regular flights to Matsuyama Airport operated by Japan Air Transport, after World War II broke out, this airport was converted to a base for the Tainan Air Group. During the war this airport was named Eineisho Airport by the United States Armed Forces, after the Republic of China government took over Taiwan this airport was handed over to Republic of China Air Force while still maintaining civil flights. Between 1957 and 1979 this airport was stationed by the United States Air Force, once equipped with nuclear weapon, the 868th Tactical Missile Squadron stationed here from 1958 to 1962, which operated MGM-1 Matadors, probably under the ultimate control of the United States Taiwan Defense Command. Air Asia Corporation, headquartered in this airport, prospered during Vietnam War due to the need for maintenance by the United States Armed Forces. It was the third busiest domestic airport after Taipei Songshan Airport and its competitor, TransAsia Airways, also had to downgrade the aircraft it used from a jet to a turboprop to maintain revenue, and finally decided to service through the airport as of 1 August 2008. Because of the use with the Air Force, the airport terminal was built quite a distance away from the airfield. Passengers disembark at the apron and board buses to the terminal. The shared use with the Air Force also means some flights have to be cancelled when the Air Force conducts exercises, international flights began on 18 July 2013 to Hong Kong, with a 3 times weekly service by China Airlines using Boeing 737-800s. Since March 2014 this flights frequency increases daily but aircraft is downgraded to smaller Embraer E-190, on 24 February 1969, Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104, a Handley Page Dart Herald with 36 passengers and crew board, crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Tainan. On 16 April 1977, a FEAT Douglas C-47A B-247 was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident. On 21 March 2003, TransAsia Airways flight 543 on a flight from Taipei Songshan Airport to Tainan Airport, none of the 175 passengers and crew were killed or injured but the two occupants in the truck were injured and the aircraft was written off. List of airports in Taiwan Wikimapia - Tainan Airport Web Site - Tainan Airport
28.
868th Tactical Missile Squadron
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The 868th Tactical Missile Training Squadron is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with the 868th Tactical Missile Training Group, stationed at Davis Monthan Air Force Base and it was inactivated on 31 May 1990. Originally a B-24 Liberator bomber squadron in the Pacific Theater of World War II, assigned directly to Headquarters, Thirteenth Air Force. The squadron was equipped with radar equipped Liberators with a crew member to operate the SCR-71710 cm radar, the SCR-729 aircraft radar beacon. The mission of the squadron was for low level, anti-shipping strikes under the cover of darkness and they had this capability because the radar-sighting devices permitted operation of the bomb-release mechanism irrespective of visual sighting of the target. The 868th Bombardment Squadron flew its special radar-equipped SB-24 Snoopers nightly from 8 to 27 August 1943 on 1900 mile round trips from Los Negros Island to bomb Palau. By 23 August, Wadke Island was operational and the 5th and 307th Bombardment Groups started day light B-24 missions over Palau, between 25 August and 4 September, nine missions dropped over 600 tons of bombs. Major damage occurred throughout Palau, but at a cost, seven B-24’s did not return, an enemy fighter shot down one and AAA shot down at least three others over Babeldaob and adjacent Koror, these four were reported to have crashed within sight of the islands. Parachutes from two B-24’s were seen by wingmen and at least two crewmembers were later recorded as captured, the remaining B-24’s fell into deep water outside the Palau Islands. They participated in the destruction of Truk in April 1944, in August 1944 they conducted nightly 1100 mile two-plane attacks from Los Negroes to the Palaus in the Dutch East Indies. A measure of success was achieved in both strikes against Java, in case, the Japanese were taken by surprise and shipping in the harbors was left either sunk or damaged. From October 1944 through V-J Day, the Snoopers accounted for 119 ships totaling more than 62,000 tons sunk,31 ships totaling 38,000 tons probably sunk and this included a 600-foot,13,000 ton aircraft carrier, probably sunk in March 1945. Starting August 7,1945 the Snoopers were flying strikes from Yontan Airfield and they flew as far as Genzan in Korea and Japans Kyushu Island. On August 7,1945 the last Snooper to be lost in action also became the only American plane downed on Korean soil, during the Cold War, became a MGM-1 Matador Tactical Missile squadron. Formed at Orlando AFB, Florida, as part of Ninth Air Force, trained in Florida until deployed to Pacific Air Forces Thirteenth Air Force. Upon arrival at Tainan, squadron was supported by the creation of Detachment 2 of the 6200th Air Base Wing, the support group went through renumbering almost as often as the missile squadrons and on August 18,1958 the unit’s name was changed to the 6214th Air Base Group. The 17th TMS was re-designated as the 868th Tactical Missile Squadron in June 1958, the squadron was assigned to Taiwan as part of their first Quick Strike commitment, and stood vigilant alert duty assigned to the Taiwan Straits until inactivated in March 1962. During the 1980s, became a squadron for the BGM-109G Gryphon Ground Launched Cruise Missile
29.
Air Training Command
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Air Training Command is a former United States Air Force Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was formed at Barksdale Air Force Base. It was re-designated as Air Education and Training Command following a merger with Air University on 1 July 1993. ATC was organized on 1 July 1946 as a re-designation of Army Air Forces Training Command as part of the re-organization of the United States Army Air Forces after World War II. For nearly 50 years, ATC was the training organization of the United States Air Force from its inception as an independent service in September 1947. It provided pilot and aircrew training, technical training, and enlisted, at the end of the Cold War, it was merged with Air University in July 1993 as part of a major top-to-bottom reorganization of the USAF. On 1 July 1946, Army Air Forces Training Command was re-designated as Air Training Command, the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and the end of the war in the Pacific in September 1945 began a rapid demobilization of the U. S. armed forces. Large numbers of training bases were closed and units were discontinued in late 1945. For that reason, ATC was organized in the summer of 1946 to become the training organization of the postwar USAAF. One of the organizational changes of the postwar USAAF was the elimination of the command organizational echelon. ATC was organized around the AAFTCs Flying Training Command and Technical Training Commands, a third Division was formed with the creation of the ATC Indoctrination Division, which was organized around the Military Training Center in San Antonio, Texas. All three Divisions of ATC were co-equal in status, in June 1946, the USAAF discontinued the World War II Flying Training Wings allocated to AAFTC and each training installation was commanded by its designated Army Air Forces Base Unit. The Army Air Forces had set a goal of 70 groups, however. Instead, the USAAF had to downscale its plans, settling on 55 groups, Congress passed the National Security Act of September 1947, and soon after, the Air Force became a separate service with its own civilian service secretary, equal to the Army and Navy. By 31 December 1947, the USAF was 55 groups strong, earlier in the year, the ATC commander, Lieutenant General John K. Cannon, had told General Carl A. The initial training bases of Air Training Command were, ATCs Flying Division began its first jet fighter transition course at Williams Field in 1946, however, by early 1947, the USAAF had sped up its conversion to jet aircraft. The only way training needs could be met was by limiting course quotas to commands already using jet aircraft, also, the training program was handicapped by the fact that no dual-control jet trainer aircraft existed. In addition, the training program was consolidated into two classes, Basic and Advanced
30.
336th Training Group
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The 336th Training Group is a United States Air Force group with the mission to provide Air Force survival training. The group is located at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, with one unit at Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL. The units historical lineage goes back to the 336th Bombardment Group which was a World War II United States Army Air Forces training organization and it served in the United States during World War II. The 336th TG operates the United States Air Force Survival School, the school provides instruction in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training primarily to aircrew members. Instruction concentrates on the principles, techniques, and skills necessary to survive in any environment, the 22d Training Squadron conducts combat Survival Training, which all Air Force aircrew members must attend. The 66th Training Squadron conducts the SERE Training Instructor Course and this is a five-and-one-half-month program designed to teach future survival instructors how to instruct aircrew members to survive in any environment. The non-ejection water survival course trains aircrew members of non-parachute-equipped aircraft, the resistance training orientation course covers the theories and principles needed to conduct Level C Code of Conduct resistance training laboratory instruction. The SERE training instructor, 7-level upgrade course and this 19-day course, conducted annually, provides 5-level instructors with advanced survival training in barren Arctic, barren desert, jungle, and open-ocean environments. The unit was established in mid-1942 by III Bomber Command as a replacement training unit for B-26 Marauder crews, graduates from Training Command technical, gunnery and twin-engine flight schools would be trained on B-26s, then after graduation be assigned to combat units overseas. In 1949, Strategic Air Command was concerned about the ability of its aircrews to survive and it established the 3904th Training Squadron at Fort Carson, Colorado on 16 December to provide survival and escape and evasion skills for its crews. Little more than a later, on 21 October 1950, it established the 3904th Composite Wing to include the training squadron, the specialized 8th Air Rescue Squadron. On 1 September 1951, the 3904th moved to Stead Air Force Base, Nevada and this wing changed its name to the 3635th Flying Training Wing on 15 July 1958 when it added helicopter training to its mission. Instead, ATC discontinued it at Stead on 15 June 1966, however, all aspects of SERE training were not unified under the group. Alaskan Air Command had an Arctic Survival School at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska and Tactical Air Command operated a Water Survival School at Homestead Air Force Base, the separate Air Force School at Homestead was discontinued. Students attending SERE training at Fairchild, were sent on duty to Pensacola for this training. However the school was moved to Fairchild in August 2015 and combined with the existing non-ejection water survival course to avoid the associated with student travel. afhra. af. mil/. This article includes content from the Fairchild AFB website, Maurer, Maurer, ed. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Washington, DC, Office of Air Force History
31.
Fairchild Air Force Base
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Fairchild Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base, located approximately 12 miles southwest of Spokane, Washington. The host unit at Fairchild is the 92d Air Refueling Wing assigned to the Air Mobility Commands Eighteenth Air Force, Fairchild AFB was established in 1942 as the Spokane Air Depot. It is named in honor of General Muir S. Fairchild, a World War I aviator, he was the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force at the time of his death. The 92d Air Refueling Wing is commanded by Colonel Charles Brian McDaniel and its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Christian Pugh. Fairchild is home to a variety of units and missions. Most prominent is its air refueling mission, with two wings, one active, the 92d Air Refueling Wing, and one national guard, the 141st Air Refueling Wing, both flying the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Other units here include the Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school, medical detachments, a weapons squadron and the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. Over 5,200 active duty Air Force, Air National Guard, Fairchilds annual economic impact on the Spokane community is approximately $427 million, constituting 13 percent of the local economy. 92nd Air Refueling Wing, 92d Operations Group The 92nd OG provides air mobility for America through air refueling, airlift, 92d Maintenance Group Provides maintenance support to world-class aircraft and equipment. 92d Mission Support Group Provides the foundation for support and morale of Fairchild, born in Bellingham, he graduated from Olympia High School and attended the University of Washington in Seattle. Fairchild received his wings and commission in 1918, and served as a pilot during World War I and he held various air staff positions during World War II and received his fourth star in 1948, and died on 17 March 1950 while serving as USAF Vice Chief of Staff. Today, Fairchild’s aircraft and personnel make up the backbone of the Air Force’s tanker fleet on the west coast, Fairchild’s location,12 miles west of Spokane, resulted from a competition with the cities of Seattle and Everett in western Washington. As an added incentive to the War Department, many Spokane businesses, at a cost of more than $125,000, these people bought 1,400 acres and presented the title to the War Department in January 1942. That year, the government designated $14 million to more land. Spokane Air Depot was served by a connection to the Great Northern Railway. From 1942 until 1946, the served as a repair depot for damaged aircraft returning from the Pacific Theater. In the summer of 1946, the base was transferred to the Strategic Air Command, beginning in the summer of 1947, the 92nd and 98th Bomb Groups arrived. Both of the units flew the most advanced bomber of the day, in January 1948, the base received the second of its three official names, Spokane Air Force Base
32.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
33.
16th Bombardment Group
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The United States Air Forces 16th Bombardment Group was a very heavy bombardment group that participated in combat in the Pacific Ocean Theater of World War II. Media related to United States Army Air Forces 16th Bombardment Group at Wikimedia Commons The 16th Bombardment Group was activated on 1 April 1944 at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas. Its initial operational squadrons were the 15th, 16th, 17th and 21st Bombardment Squadrons, the group was also assigned a photographic laboratory. However the 21st squadron was inactivated a month after activation as the Army Air Forces reorganized its B-29 units as three-squadron groups, the unit trained for combat initially at Dalhart, then moved to Fairmont Army Air Field, Nebraska on 15 August 1944. The B-29B was a production aircraft, built solely by Bell-Atlanta. It had all but the defensive armament removed, since experience had shown that by 1944 the only significant Japanese fighter attacks were coming from the rear. The tail gun was aimed and fired automatically by the new AN/APG-15B fire-control radar system that detected the enemy plane. The 16th became part of Twentieth Air Force on 7 March 1945 and its B-29s were marked with a Diamond-B tail code. The group entered combat on 16 June 1945 with a raid against an airfield on Moen. It flew its first mission against the Japanese home islands on 26 June 1945, the unit was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for the missions. There were several missions flown during the month of August and each resulted in the destruction of an important Japanese petroleum refinery. After the war the group dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan, Manchuria, and Korea, the problem of dropping supplies to prisoners of war was difficult. In the first place, most of the camps were small, even more important was the great distance that had to be flown on some of the missions. Accurate information was lacking on several of the camps, especially those located in Manchuria, the Japanese had apparently shifted many of the prisoners around and closed down some of the concentration centers. Most of the supplies were dropped with the aid of a parachute, the bombardier on each B-29 had quite a problem in determining the exact moment of release. On 2 September, the 16th group participated in a show of force mission over Tokyo which took place while the terms were being signed on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The mission was planned as it represented the first attempt at formation flying that the organization had made since its arrival overseas. The aircraft flew over Tokyo Bay just as the terms were signed
34.
488th Tactical Missile Wing
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The 488th Tactical Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was formed by the consolidation of the 488th Bombardment Group and the 588th Tactical Missile Group in 1985, the 488th Bombardment Group was a United States Army Air Forces heavy bomber replacement training unit that served during World War II. It was last assigned to Third Air Force at MacDill Field, Florida, the 588th Tactical Missile Group was a United States Air Force tactical missile training unit that served during the Cold War. It was last assigned to 4504th Missile Training Wing at Orlando Air Force Base, Florida, the OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to satellite groups. The 488th headquarters and all squadrons were transferred to Third Air Force and moved to MacDill Field, at MacDill the group operated as a B-17 replacement training unit under. Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters, however, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. The 588th was part of to Ninth Air Force and its components were the 17th Tactical Missile Squadron, the 588th Communications and Guidance Squadron. Initial training included preparation to deploy overseas, however, the 17th TMS deployed to Pacific Air Forces by itself in early 1958, where it became the nucleus for the 6214th Support Group at Tainan AS, Taiwan. In April the 24th TMS was reassigned from the 589th TMG to the 588th TMG and plans began to deploy to Osan AB, the 24th engaged in crew training at Orlando AFB but never received any missiles. The squadron did, however, deploy to Cape Canaveral AFS, however, when the 588ths personnel deployed, the United States Air Force decided to redesignate two fighter units at Osan instead of replacing them with new missile units. The 488th Bombardment Group and the 588th Tactical Missile Group were consolidated on 31 July 1985, craven, Wesley F, Cate, James L, eds. The Army Air Forces in World War II, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press. Fletcher, Harry R. Air Force Bases, Vol. II, washington, DC, Center for Air Force History. Maurer, Maurer, ed. Air Force Combat Units of World War II, washington, DC, Office of Air Force History. Maurer, Maurer, ed. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, washington, DC, Office of Air Force History. Further reading Mindling, George, Bolton, Robert, U. S. Air Force Tactical Missiles, 1949-1969, The Pioneers
35.
Naval air station
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A naval air station is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy. These bases are typically populated by squadrons, groups or wings, their various support commands, the term Naval Air Station is used by many countries navies, such as the United States Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, the British Royal Navy, and the Indian Navy. In the case of the U. S. Navy, similar facilities in the U. S. Marine Corps are known as Marine Corps Air Stations, runways also serve domestic airlines at almost all Argentine military airbases. The Navy operates Estacion Aeronaval which have smaller crews and are not normally assigned aircraft and these include Ezeiza, Rio Gallegos and Ushuaia. The Argentine Naval Prefecture, serving as a Coast Guard, also operates air stations at Posadas, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Aircraft operating out of these bases are heavily involved in sea rescues. In Australia, there is one Naval Air Station, NAS Nowra, HMAS Albatross, in 2016, the French Navy has four naval air stations, all located in metropolitan territory. The United Kingdom has two Royal Naval Air Stations, RNAS Yeovilton and RNAS Culdrose, until 2006, the former served as the main operating base for the Royal Navys Sea Harriers, which were based upon the three Invincible class aircraft carriers. However, upon the withdrawal of the BAe Sea Harrier in that year and it is believed that all of their successors will be based at RAF Lossiemouth. The site also contains the Royal Naval Air Museum, that showcases a variety of aircraft from the Royal Naval Air Service until the present day, RNAS Yeovilton also has RNAS Merryfield as its training and satellite station. RNAS Culdrose serves a variety of helicopter and fixed-wing squadrons, such as the Sea King, among the features at RNAS Culdrose is the Dummy deck which is used to train pilots to land on ships, the Merlin training facility, and the Fleet Requirements Air Direction Unit. Its satellite airfield is RNAS Predannack, in the United States, a Naval Air Station is an air base of the United States Navy. When located in countries, they are often identified as US Naval Air Stations. A slightly lower level of air base in the U. S. Navy is the Naval Air Facility and these facilities normally support smaller numbers of naval aircraft. Permanently based naval aircraft are usually minimal, with the focus being on supporting naval aircraft deployed from other installations. There are also a number of former Naval Air Stations that have been realiged as part of larger Naval Stations or redesignated to other functions in the Navy. This includes the former NAS Norfolk, Virginia, the former NAF Mayport, Florida, the former NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the former NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. In the case of NAS Memphis, Tennessee, the airfield and flight line was turned over to civilian authorities. The first naval air station in the United States was located at Greenbury Point, at the mouth of the Severn River near Annapolis, Maryland
36.
B-29B Superfortress
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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing which was flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. It was one of the largest aircraft operational during World War II and it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between 1 and 1.7 billion dollars. A manned tail gun installation was semi-remote, the name Superfortress continued the pattern Boeing started with its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. Designed for the strategic bomber role, the B-29 also excelled in low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. One of the B-29s final roles during World War II was carrying out the bomb attacks on Hiroshima. The B-29 served in roles throughout the 1950s. The Royal Air Force flew the B-29 as the Washington until phasing out the type in 1954, the Soviet Union produced an unlicensed reverse-engineered copy as the Tupolev Tu-4. The B-29 was the progenitor of a series of Boeing-built bombers, transports, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft, the type was retired in the early 1960s. The B-29 production total was 3,970 aircraft, dozens of B-29s remain as static displays but only two examples, Fifi and Doc, have been restored to flying status, with Doc flying again for the first time from McConnell AFB on July 17,2016. A transport developed from the B-29 was the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, first flown in 1944, followed by its commercial airliner variant and this bomber-to-airliner derivation was similar to the B-17/Model 307 evolution. In 1948 Boeing introduced a variant of the B-29 as the KB-29. A heavily modified line of outsized-cargo variants of the Stratocruiser is the Guppy / Mini Guppy / Super Guppy which remain in service today with operators including NASA, Boeing began work on pressurized long-range bombers in 1938, in response to a United States Army Air Corps request. Boeings design study for the Model 334 was a derivative of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with nosewheel undercarriage. Although the Air Corps did not have money to pursue the design, in April 1939, Charles Lindbergh convinced general Henry H. Arnold to produce a new bomber in large numbers to counter the Nazi production, Boeings previous private venture studies formed the starting point for its response to this specification. Boeing submitted its Model 345 on 11 May 1940, in competition with designs from Consolidated Aircraft, Lockheed, Consolidated continued to work on its Model 33 as it was seen by the Air Corps as a backup in case of problems with Boeings design. Boeing received a production order for 14 service test aircraft and 250 production bombers in May 1941. The B-29 featured a design with circular cross-section for strength
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
38.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
United States
United States Air Force
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.