1.
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
2.
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
3.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
4.
United States Army Air Forces
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Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, the peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By V-E Day, the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas, in its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service and this contrast between theory and fact is. fundamental to an understanding of the AAF. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial, a strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. Since 1920, control of units had resided with commanders of the corps areas. Both were created in 1933 when a conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup détat. Activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Corps area commanders continued to control over airfields and administration of personnel. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with an organization of 54 groups. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a simpler system, Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war
5.
Numbered Air Force
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A Numbered Air Force is a type of organization in the United States Air Force that is subordinate to a Major Command and has assigned to it operational units such as wings, squadrons, and groups. A Component Numbered Air Force has the role as an Air Force Component Command exercising command and control over air. Unlike MAJCOMs, which have a management role, a NAF is a organization with an operational focus. Numbered air forces are commanded by a major general or a lieutenant general. Numerical designations for Numbered Air Forces are written out, but Arabic numerals are used in abbreviations, units directly subordinate to a NAF are generally numbered 6XX. For example, the 618th Air and Space Operations Center is a subordinate to the Eighteenth Air Force. Numbered air forces began as named organizations in the United States Army Air Corps before World War II, the first four NAFs were established as the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Air Districts on 19 October 1940 to provide air defense for the United States. These Air Districts were redesignated as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Air Forces, respectively, on 26 March 1941. Over a year after the establishment of the United States Army Air Forces on June 20,1941, the Arabic numerals were changed to the First, Second, Third, after World War II, the US Air Force continued to use both named and numbered air forces. While named air forces were used in tactical and support roles, numbered air forces were generally employed only in tactical roles. These commands reflected the air combat missions that evolved during the war, and each reported directly to General Carl Spaatz. Numbered air forces served as an intermediate headquarters between these commands and the wings and groups. Eleven of the sixteen wartime air forces remained, Second Air Force would later be transferred to SAC in 1949. The numbered air forces had both operational and administrative authority, and existed as a level between major commands and air divisions. Although variations existed, and number air forces were often reassigned, the role of numbered air forces changed in the 1990s during the Air Force reorganization initiated by Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak. The goal of the reorganization was to streamline, take out, flatten organizational charts. Numbered air forces were reorganized into tactical echelons focused on operations and this reorganization also reduced the number of major commands, and eliminated the air divisions to place numbered air forces directly in command of operational wings. The role of numbered air forces was changed in 2006 with the implementation of the Component Air Force concept
6.
United States Strategic Command
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United States Strategic Command is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense. Strategic Command was established in 1992 as a successor to Strategic Air Command and it is headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha, Nebraska. In October 2002, it merged with the United States Space Command and it employs more than 2,700 people, representing all four services, including DoD civilians and contractors. Strategic Command is one of the three Unified Combatant Commands organized along a functional basis, the other six are organized on a geographical basis. On 1 June 1992, President George H. W. Bush established the U. S. Strategic Command from the Strategic Air Command and other Cold War military bodies, the Command unified planning, targeting and wartime employment of strategic forces under one commander. Day-to-day training, equipment and maintenance responsibilities for its forces remained with the Air Force, as a result of the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, the Cold War system of relying solely on offensive nuclear response was modified. Shortly after a meeting between President George W, the activation of the new USSTRATCOM took place on 1 October 2002. The merged command was responsible for early warning of and defense against missile attack as well as long-range strategic attacks. This combination of roles, capabilities and authorities under a unified command was unique in the history of unified commands. U. S. Strategic Command officials were expected to deliver a detailed plan on the separation to General Cartwright for approval by September 2006 and this comes after some concern by officials and lawmakers such as U. S. S. Department of Defense and specifically the way space has been organized at U. S. Strategic Command, as result of the separation, the Missile Correlation Center in Cheyenne Mountain AFS was broken into two separate entities. NORAD/NORTHCOM now controls the Missile and Space Domain and JFCC Space controls the Missile Warning Center and they are both still located at Cheyenne Mountain AFS. It was expected that MSD would eventually move to Peterson AFB to join the rest of N2C2 and this combination of authorities, oversight, leadership and management is supposed to enable a more responsive, flattened organizational construct according to the commands leadership. U. S. Cyber Command United States Cyber Command —The CYBERCOM is a unified command under United States Strategic Command. The current commander is Admiral Michael S. Rogers, CYBERCOM was created by United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates on 23 June 2009, and activated in September of that year. The command was first led by the director of the National Security Agency and it combines elements of JTF-GNO and JFCC-NW, which were dissolved in October 2010. In an interview of General Alexander, now retired, he stated that United States Special Operations Command was a model for the future evolution of CYBERCOM. Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike The Commander Eighth Air Force serves as the Joint Functional Component Commander for Global Strike, some of these tasks belonged to a JFCC for Space and Global Strike before being split into two components
7.
Air Force Space Command
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Air Force Space Command is a major command of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. AFSPC supports U. S. military operations worldwide through the use of different types of satellite, launch. Operationally, AFSPC is an Air Force component command subordinate to U. S. Strategic Command, composition consist of approximately 22,000 military personnel and 9,000 civilian employees, although their missions overlap. AFSPC gained the cyber operations mission with the stand-up of 24th Air Force under AFSPC in August 2009, according to AFSPC, its mission is to Provide resilient and affordable Space and Cyberspace capabilities for the Joint Force and the Nation. As a result, AFSPCs activities make the space domain reliable to United States warfighters by assuring their access to space, in 1991, Operation Desert Storm provided emphasis for AFPSCs new focus on support to the warfighter. ICBM forces previously assigned to the inactivated Strategic Air Command were merged into AFSPC in 1993 until moved into Air Force Global Strike Command in 2009, the Space Command was the subject of a 60 Minutes News segment on CBS in April 2015. When speaking with 60 Minutes reporter David Martin, commanding General John E. Reporter David Martin also asked about the new Boeing X-37 space plane the US Air Force had been testing. This CBS interview was a peek into the secretive Space Command that protects the billion-dollar US satellites that provide essential global navigation, in 2016 Space Command began their Space Mission Force concept of operations to respond quickly to attacks in space. Each Space Wing undergoes special training then serves a four to six month rotation, Air Force Space Command has two active Numbered Air Forces. The Fourteenth Air Force provides space warfighting forces to U. S. Strategic Command in its capacity as Air Forces Strategic-Space and it is headquartered at Lackland AFB, Texas. AFSPC is the major command providing space forces and trained cyber warfare forces for U. S. Strategic Command, the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, California, designs and acquires all Air Force and most Department of Defense space systems. It oversees launches, completes on-orbit checkouts, then turns systems over to user agencies and it supports the Program Executive Office for Space on the NAVSTAR Global Positioning, Defense Satellite Communications and MILSTAR systems. SMC also supports the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and the Follow-on Early Warning System, in addition, it supports development and acquisition of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles for the Air Force Program Executive Office for Strategic Systems. This includes obtaining spectrum access critical for all Air Force core functions, the AFSPC headquarters is a major unit located at Peterson AFB, Colorado. Through the command and control of all DOD satellites, satellite operators provide force-multiplying effects—continuous global coverage, low vulnerability, satellites provide essential in-theater secure communications, weather and navigational data for ground, air and fleet operations and threat warning. Ground-based radar and Defense Support Program satellites monitor ballistic missile launches around the world to guard against a missile attack on North America. Space surveillance radars provide vital information on the location of satellites and space debris for the nation, General Shelton has said that in order to protect against attacks, Space Situational Awareness is much more important than additional hardening or armoring of satellites. As of 2013, Air Force Space Command is considering Space Disaggregation and this could be used to defend against ASATs, by increasing the number of targets that needed to be attacked. S
8.
Vandenberg Air Force Base
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Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base 9.2 miles northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command, Vandenberg AFB is a Department of Defense space and missile testing base, with a mission of placing satellites into polar orbit from the West Coast using expendable boosters. Wing personnel also support the Services LGM-30G Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force Development Evaluation program, in addition to its military mission, the base also leases launch pad facilities to SpaceX, as well as 100 acres leased to the California Spaceport in 1995. Established in 1941, the base is named in honor of former Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg, the host unit at Vandenberg AFB is the 30th Space Wing. The 30th SW is home to the Western Range, manages Department of Defense space and missile testing, Wing personnel also support the Air Forces Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force Development Test and Evaluation program. The Western Range begins at the boundaries of Vandenberg and extends westward from the California coast to the Western Pacific. Operations involve dozens of federal and commercial interests, the wing is organized into operations, launch, mission support and medical groups, along with several directly assigned staff agencies. 30th Launch Group The 30th Launch Group is responsible for booster and satellite technical oversight and launch processing activities to launch, integration. The group consists of a military, civilian and contractor team with more than 250 personnel directly supporting operations from the Western Range. 1st Air and Space Test Squadron 4th Space Launch Squadron 30th Operations Group The 30th Operations Group provides the capability for West Coast spacelift. Operations professionals are responsible for operating and maintaining the Western Range for spacelift, missile test launch, aeronautical, 30th Mission Support Group The 30th Mission Support Group supports the third largest Air Force Base in the United States. It is also responsible for quality-of-life needs, housing, personnel, services, civil engineering, contracting, 30th Medical Group The 30th Medical Group provides medical, dental, bio-environmental and public health services for people assigned to Vandenberg Air Force Base, their families and retirees. It is Vandenbergs only National Historic Landmark that is open for scheduled tours through the 30th Space Wings Public Affairs office. The current display area is made up of two exhibits, the Chronology of the Cold War and the Evolution of Technology, there are plans to evolve the center in stages from the current exhibit areas as restorations of additional facilities are completed. In 1941 the United States Army sought more and better training centers for the development of its armored. In March 1941, the Army acquired approximately 86,000 acres of open ranch lands along the Central Coast of California between Lompoc and Santa Maria, most of the land was purchased. Smaller parcels were obtained either by lease, license, or as easements, with its flat plateau, surrounding hills, numerous canyons, and relative remoteness from populated areas, the Army was convinced it had found the ideal training location. Construction of the Army camp began in September 1941, although its completion was still months away, the Army activated the camp on 5 October, and named it Camp Cooke in honor of Major General Phillip St. George Cooke
9.
Asiatic-Pacific Theater
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The Asiatic-Pacific Theater, was the area of operations of U. S. forces during World War II in the Pacific War during 1941-45. From mid-1942 until the end of the war in 1945, there were two U. S. operational commands in the Pacific. The Pacific Ocean Areas, divided into the Central Pacific Area, the North Pacific Area, the South West Pacific Area, including New Guinea, Philippines, Borneo, and the Dutch East Indies, was commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area. During 1945, the United States added the U. S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, commanded by General Carl Spaatz. Because of the roles of the United States Army and the United States Navy in conducting war in the Pacific Theater. There was no command, rather, the Asiatic-Pacific Theater was divided into the SWPA, the POA. The Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II, in the Service of the Emperor, Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. Kafka, Roger, Pepperburg, Roy L. Warships of the World, the Campaigns of the Pacific War. A History of Us, War, Peace and all that Jazz, joint Operational Warfare, Theory and Practice. Newport, Rhode Island, United States Naval War College, the Battle for Leyte,1944, Allied and Japanese Plans, Preparations, and Execution
10.
Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
11.
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
12.
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
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The Air Force Organizational Excellence Award is a unit award of the United States Air Force created by the Secretary of the Air Force on 26 August 1969. The award is presented to Air Force internal organizations that are entities within larger organizations, examples of eligible organizations are MAJCOM headquarters, Field Operating Agencies, Direct Reporting Units, and other unique unnumbered organizations. The Air Force Organizational Excellence Award is awarded to recognize the achievements and accomplishments of various Air Force activities and it is awarded to internal Air Force organizations that are entities of larger organizations. These are unique unnumbered organizations or activities that perform functions typically fulfilled by numbered wings, groups, the Organizational Excellence Award is presented as a service ribbon only. The ribbon is Old Glory Red with a 1⁄8 in wide Old Glory Blue center stripe, at the edges are 1⁄8 in wide Old Glory Blue stripes bordered, on the inside, by thin 1⁄16 in white stripes. Additional awards of are denoted by oak leaf clusters worn on the ribbon. The V device was authorized to be worn for the participating in combat operations
13.
Major general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
14.
Claire Lee Chennault
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Claire Lee Chennault was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the Flying Tigers and the Republic of China Air Force in World War II. Chennault was an advocate of pursuit or fighter-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U. S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment. Chennault retired from the United States Army in 1937, and went to work as an adviser and trainer in China. Starting in early 1941, Chennault commanded the 1st American Volunteer Group, one mission which never came to fruition was the bombing of Japanese cities, the bombers did not arrive before Pearl Harbor. He headed both the group and the uniformed U. S. Air Force units that replaced it in 1942. He feuded constantly with General Joseph Stilwell, the U. S. Army commander in China, Chennaults surname is of French origin and it is often pronounced as Shen-O. However, his American family pronounced the surname as Shen-Awlt, Chennault was born in Commerce, Texas, to John Stonewall Jackson Chennault and Jessie Chennault. He grew up in the Louisianan towns of Gilbert and Waterproof and he began misrepresenting his year of birth as either 1889 or 1890, possibly because he was too young to attend college after he graduated from high school, so his father added three years to his age. Chennault attended Louisiana State University between 1909 and 1910 and underwent ROTC training and he and Nell moved to West Carroll Parish where he served as principal of Kilbourne School from 1913 -1915. At the onset of World War I, he graduated from Officers School at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana and he learned to fly in the Army Air Service during World War I. Following the war he graduated from pilot training at Ellington Field, Texas, on April 23,1922. Chennault became the Chief of Pursuit Section at Air Corps Tactical School in the 1930s, into the mid-1930s Chennault led and represented the 1st Pursuit Group of the Montgomery, Alabama-based Army Air Corps aerobatic team the Three Musketeers. The group performed at the 1928 National Air Races, in 1932, as a pursuit aviation instructor at Maxwell Field, Chennault re-organized the team as Three Men on the Flying Trapeze. As a civilian, he then was induced to go to China, Chennault arrived in China in June 1937. He had a contract at a salary of $1,000 per month. Soong Mei-ling, or Madame Chiang as she was known to Americans, was in charge of the Aeronautical Commission and his duties also included organizing the International Squadron of mercenary pilots. They reported to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih, Chennaults mission to Washington ultimately brought up the idea of creating an American Volunteer Group of pilots and mechanics to serve in China. By then Dr. Soong had already begun negotiations for an increase in aid with U. S. Secretary of Commerce
15.
Kunming
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Kunming is the capital of and largest city in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Kunming is also called the Spring city due to its weather, the headquarters of many of Yunnans large businesses are in Kunming. It was important during World War II as a Chinese military center, American air base, located in the middle of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, Kunming is located at an altitude of 1,900 metres above sea level and at a latitude just north of the Tropic of Cancer. Kunming consists of an old, previously walled city, a commercial district, residential. The city has an observatory, and its institutions of higher learning include Yunnan University, Yunnan Normal University. On the outskirts is a bronze temple, dating from the Ming dynasty. Its economic importance derives from its geographical position, positioned near the border with Southeastern Asian countries, serving as a transportation hub in Southwest China, linking by rail to Vietnam and by road to Burma and Laos. This positioning also makes it an important trade center in this region of the nation and it also houses some manufacturing, chiefly copper, though some other chemicals, machinery, textiles, paper and cement take key. Though having a nearly 2,400 year history, its prosperity dates only from 1910. The city has continued to develop rapidly under Chinas modernization efforts, Kunmings streets have widened while office buildings and housing projects develop at a fast pace. Kunming has been designated a special tourism center and as such sports a proliferation of high-rises, Kunming will be the hub and terminus for the Pan Asia High Speed Network using high speed trains to connect China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Because of the establishment of National Southwestern Associated University, Kunming was usually regarded as the bulwark of modern China democracy during The Second Sino-Japanese War, Kunming long profited from its position on the caravan roads through to South-East Asia, India and Tibet. Early townships in the edge of Lake Dianchi can be dated back to 279 BC. Early settlements in the area around Lake Dian date back to Neolithic times, the Dian Kingdom, whose original language was likely related to Tibeto-Burman languages was also established near the area. Dian was subjugated by the Chinese Han dynasty under the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in 109 BC, the Han dynasty incorporated the territory of the Dian Kingdom into their Yizhou Commandery, but left the King of Dian as the local ruler. During the Sui dynasty, two expeditions were launched against the area, and it was renamed Kunzhou in Chinese sources. Founded in 765, Kunming was known to the Chinese as Tuodong city in the Kingdom of Nanzhao during the 8th and 9th centuries, Tuodong later became part of the successor Kingdom of Dali. Eventually this changed when Tuodong came under the control of the Yuan dynasty invasion of the southwest in 1252–1253, in 1276 it was founded by the Mongol rulers as Kunming County and became the provincial capital of Yunnan
16.
Aerospace Defense Command
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Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Forces, responsible for continental air defence. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980 and its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inactivated in 1950, reactivated in 1951, and then redesignated Aerospace rather than Air in 1968. Its mission was to air defense of the Continental United States. It directly controlled all active measures, and was tasked to coordinate all passive means of air defense, the air districts established on 16 January 1941 before the Pearl Harbor attack. The four air districts also handled USAAF combat training with the Army Ground Forces and organization and training of bomber, fighter and other units, the USAAFs Aircraft Warning Corps provided air defense warning with information centers that networked an areas Army Radar Stations which communicated radar tracks by telephone. The AWC information centers also integrated visual reports processed by Ground Observer Corps filter centers, AWC information centers notified air defense command posts of the 4 continental air forces for deploying interceptor aircraft which used command guidance for ground-controlled interception. The USAAF inactivated the aircraft warning network in April 1944, Continental Air Forces was activated on 12 December 1944 with the four Air Forces as components to consolidate the CONUS air defense mission under one command. The Continental Air Forces reorganization began in 1945, when ground radar, the Distant Early Warning Line was first conceived—and rejected—in 1946. By 1948 there were only 5 AC&W stations, including the Twin Lights station in NJ that opened in June and Montauk NY Air Warning Station #3 --cf. SAC radar stations, e. g. at Dallas & Denver Bomb Plots. By the time ADC was inactivated on 1 July 1950, ADC had deployed the Lashup Radar Network with existing radars at 43 sites, in addition,36 Air National Guard fighter units were called to active duty for the mission. ADC was reinstated as a command on 1 January 1951 at Mitchel Air Force Base. The headquarters was moved to Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs on 8 January 1951 and it received 21 former ConAC active-duty fighter squadrons. ADC was also assigned the 25th, 26th 27th and 28th Air Divisions ADC completed the Priority Permanent System network for Aircraft Warning, gaps were filled by additional Federal Aviation Administration radar stations and the Ground Observation Corps. During the mid-1950s, planners devised the idea of extending the wall of powerful land-based radar seaward with Airborne early warning, the RC-121s, EC-121s and Texas Towers, it was believed, would contribute to extending contiguous east-coast radar coverage some 300 to 500 miles seaward. In terms of the air threat of the 1950s, this meant a gain of at least 30 extra minutes warning time of a bomber attack. ADCs Operation Tail Wind on 11–12 July tested its augmentation plan that required Air Training Command interceptors participate in an air defense emergency, a total of seven ATC bases actively participated in the exercise, deploying aircraft and aircrews and supporting the ADC radar net. As the USAF prepared to deploy the Tactical Air Command E-3 Sentry in the later 1970s, all remaining EC-121s were transferred to the Air Force Reserve, which formed the 79th AEWCS at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida in early 1976. Besides monitoring Cuban waters, these last Warning Stars also operated from NAS Keflavik, final EC-121 operations ended in September 1978
17.
Continental Air Command
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Continental Air Command was a Major Command of the United States Air Force responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. During the Korean War, ConAC provided the necessary augmentation to the regular Air Force while it rebuilt itself under wartime conditions, later, during the 1950s, it was a training force for reservists with no prior military service. ConAC provided peacetime airlift missions for the Air Force and it was mobilized twice in 1961 and 1962 by president Kennedy for the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crisis. Lastly, it was used by president Lyndon B. Johnson for airlift operations into the Dominican Republic and it was inactivated in 1968 and replaced by Headquarters, Air Force Reserve. After the end of World War II, the Truman Administration was determined to bring the Federal budget back into balance, an enormous deficit had built up, so expenditure was cut, resulting in relatively little money for the new United States Air Force to modernize its forces. Planning for reserve forces took place, in any event. Their single firm conviction about the nature of the program was that it must provide opportunities for pilots to fly. This was fundamentally different from the National Guard concept, the National Guard is the designated state militia by the Constitution of the United States. Although the Air National Guard fulfills state and some federal needs, in the first place, not every person in the United States with an obligation or desire for military service wants to serve in a state militia. Second, the prescribed nature and organization of the National Guard does not provide for service as individuals. As the Army Air Forces demobilized in 1945 and 1946, inactivated unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State Air National Guard bureaus, as individual units were organized, they began obtaining federal recognition, and the state Air National Guard units were established. The Army Air Forces Air Reserve program was approved by the War Department in July 1946, Army Air Forces Base Units were organized by Air Defense Command at each training location. They were located at both Army Airfields and civil airports where the Air Force retained partial jurisdiction after turning over the facility to the community after the end of World War II. The reservists were to report to a unit located in their area. The base unit furnished the personnel to operate the detachment and provided base services. ADC programmed to have AT-6 Texans, AT-11 Kansans and P-51 Mustangs available for pilots to fly four hours per month to train and maintain proficiency. ADC intended to activate forty base units operational by 1 July, by the end of 1946, the command had organized Air Reserve training detachments at seventy bases and airfields. On 21 February 1947, Headquarters Army Air Forces informed ADC to eliminate twenty-nine reserve training detachments as quickly as possible, the Air Force Reserve was affected by fundamental legislation pertaining to the parent Air Force
18.
614th Air and Space Operations Center
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The 614th Air and Space Operations Center is a United States Air Force operations center. It is a unit of the Fourteenth Air Force / (Air Forces Strategic. Its mission is to To defend the United States and its Allies through the creation of space situational awareness, all of these efforts are in continuous around-the-clock support of global and theater operations. April 1996 Thirty-seven members were assigned to the 614th Space Operations Flight and were housed in two temporary facilities. November 1997 The 614 SOPF christened a new operations center. 614 SOPF was later redesignated 614 SOPS, in May 2005, the 614 SOPG took responsibility for the 1st Space Control Squadron and its mission of tracking and cataloging all man-made objects in space. July 1999 The Space Operations Center was redesignated as the 14th Air Force Air, with the support of Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Space AOC manpower grew to over 100 positions. May 2005 The Space AOC was redesignated as the Joint Space Operation Center and moved into a new, larger facility still within the 14th Air Force HQ building. 21 September 2007 The ribbon is cut on a new center, in a new building. General Kevin P. Chilton presided, Maj Gen William L. Shelton was also present, the 614 AOC is co-located with and forms the core of the JSpOC. S. operations in space. The USV is made up of officer, enlisted, civil servant and contract personnel from Air Force, Army, statement of Space Posture by Lt Gen Shelton to the SASC Subcommittee on Strategic Forces,4 Mar 2008
19.
Joint Space Operations Center
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Joint Space Operations Center is a command and control weapon system focused on planning and executing US Strategic Commands Joint Functional Component Command for Space mission. It is composed of five divisions, Strategy Plans, Combat Plans, Combat Operations. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command, and the intelligence community, master Space Plan, The MSP visually details how joint space forces will support both CDR JFCC SPACE and theater commanders and guides the creation of the weekly JSTO. Joint Space Tasking Order, The JSTO functions as CDR JFCC SPACEs execution order, all three products can be effectively matched to synchronize with ongoing exercise or real-world wartime operations in any geographic combatant command. In doing so, they create and maintain the Single Integrated Space Picture, nov 1997 The 614 SOPF christened a new space operations center. 614 SOPF was later redesignated 614 SOPS, in May 2005, the 614 SOPG took responsibility for the 1st Space Control Squadron and its mission of tracking and cataloging all man-made objects in space. July 1999 The Space Operations Center was redesignated as the 14th Air Force Air, with the support of Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Space AOC manpower grew to over 100 positions. May 2005 The Space AOC was redesignated as the Joint Space Operation Center and moved into a new, the 1st Space Control Squadron became part of the 614 AOC / JSpOC. 21 Sep 2007 The ribbon is cut on a new center, in a new building. General Kevin P. Chilton presided, Maj Gen William L. Shelton was also present, the 614 AOC is co-located with and forms the core of the JSpOC. The unit shield takes elements from its heritage and parent unit, the four-color center is taken from the JFCC SPACE shield. The purple background signifies the joint environment in which they work, the tiger is taken from the patch of the 614 AOC, and 614 SOPG before it. The key in the middle of the shield comes from the former 614 SIS, finally, the banner encircling the patch is the JSpOCs formal name and motto. JSpOC force providers have earned many awards, including the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award in 1998, JFCC Space, through its Joint Space Operations Center, detects, tracks, and identifies all artificial objects in Earth orbit
20.
21st Space Wing
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The 21st Space Wing is a unit of the Air Force Space Command based at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. On 12 August 2013, the Wing was told that it would stop operation of the aging Air Force Space Surveillance Systems by October due to budget cuts, the 21 SW operate and maintain a complex system of U. S. The 21st Operations Group manages all operation units in the 21st Space Wing, SLBM warning units are the 6th SWS, Cape Cod AFS, Mass. and the 7th SWS, Beale AFB, Calif. Their mission is mainly to watch Americas coasts for incoming sea-launched or intercontinental ballistic missiles, the wings two BMEWS radar units are the 12th Space Warning Squadron, Thule AB, and the 13th Space Warning Squadron at Clear AFS. The 21st SW also has a detachment at RAF Fylingdales, U. K. to coordinate cooperative missile warning, the wings PARCS unit is the 10th Space Warning Squadron, Cavalier AFS, N. D. Space surveillance is an element of the space control mission and will be vitally important to support future theater missile operations. As part of the surveillance mission, the wing operates surveillance units. More than 20,000 manmade objects in orbit around the earth, knowing the orbits of those objects is essential to prevent collisions when a new satellite is launched. The 20th Space Control Squadron, Eglin AFB, Fla. provides dedicated active radar space surveillance, in addition, other collateral and contributing missile warning and research radars are used to support the surveillance mission. Besides the three commands, the Wing directs and supports Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Thule Air Base, Greenland, Clear AFS, Alaska. The 21st also provides community support to 302d Airlift Wing, the 50th Space Wing, Schriever AFB, Colo and to its neighbors in the Colorado Springs area. 21st Operations Group, The mission of the 21st OG as Air Force Space Commands largest, most weapon-system diverse, the group provides real-time missile warning, attack assessment, and space control to the President, Secretary of Defense, JCS, combatant commands, and foreign allies. They develop future combat counterspace capabilities in support of theater campaigns, 21st Mission Support Group, The 21st MSG is made up of the people who make sure the base runs smoothly and effectively. It consists of airborne, land-based and space-based systems which sense and report on all activities in air and space. 821st Air Base Group, The mission of the 821st Air Base Group is to operate and maintain Thule Air Base, Greenland, in support of missile warning and space surveillance operations missions. For additional history and lineage see 21st Operations Group On 1 January 1953 the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing as part of Tactical Air Command at George AFB, the wings operational component was the 21st Fighter-Bomber Group, comprised three fighter-bomber squadrons, the 72d, 416th, and 531st. The 72d and 531st previously had been components of the World War II 21st Fighter Group, during its first six months, the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing upgraded from the F-51 to the F-86F “Sabrejet, ” which had become famous for its prowess in the Korean War. Throughout 1953 and into the first months of 1954, the 21st participated in a series of tactical exercises through which the unit obtained operational readiness
21.
Peterson Air Force Base
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Peterson AFB has flight operations by the 302d Airlift Wing. In May 1942, units such as the 5th Mapping Squadron arrived and used city facilities, the Second Photographic Group Reconnaissance transferred to Colorado Springs, and the 2nd Group. Land at the Broadmoor was used for maneuvers, and the 2nd Group initially operated without aircraft, personnel were also housed temporarily at Colorado College and a youth camp near the Woodmen sanitorium. The 373d Base HQ and Air Base Sq was activated as the operating unit on 20 Jun 1942. On July 7,1942, HQ PROTU was on the Army Air Base, during air base construction, the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron was activated on July 23,1942, and used the Alamo Garage on Tejon Street. Runways were completed in August 1942, and eponym 1st Lt Edward J. under the control of the Director of Photography since April 1942. The 263rd AAF Base Unit became the Peterson base operating unit on 8 March 1945, designated surplus on 29 July 1946, the U. S. Government returned control of the field to the City of Colorado Springs). In 1946, Tonopah AAF, Clovis AAF, and Casper AAF became detached installations of the base for a short period. The base with new construction was activated 29 September 1947 –15 January 1948, the 23 Photo Sq 19 May 43-9 Aug 48 remained throughout both inactive/surplus periods, and the 4600 Maint & Sup Sq was established at the surplus base on 1 December 1950). The military base at the municipal field reactivated as an installation of Ent AFB,1 Jan 1951 and was operated by Ents 4600 Air Base Group. The military base at Peterson Field gained its own base commander on 28 February 1975. Designated Peterson Air Force Base on March 1,1975, when Ent AFB was being closed, Peterson was the last of the April 1945 Continental Air Forces airbases to be named an air force base
22.
30th Space Wing
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The 30th Space Wing is an air force wing forming a subordinate unit of the Fourteenth Air Force of the Air Force Space Command of the United States Air Force. The 30th Space Wing is based at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the 30 SW is the Air Force Space Command organization responsible for all Department of Defense space and missile launch activities on the West Coast. All U. S. satellites destined for polar orbit are launched from Vandenberg. The wing supports West Coast launch activities for the Air Force, Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the wing launches a variety of expendable vehicles including the Delta II, Pegasus, Taurus, Atlas, Titan II and Titan IV. The wing also supports Force Development and Evaluation of all ballistic missiles. The Western Range begins at the boundaries of Vandenberg and extends westward from the California coast to the western Pacific including sites in Hawaii. Operations there involve dozens of federal and commercial interests, the Western Range is operated by the 2nd Range Operations Squadron and maintained by the 30th Range Management Squadron. It is a vast tracking, telemetry, and command complex whose boundary begins along Vandenbergs California coastline, the range consists of electronic and optical tracking systems located along the Pacific Coast that collect and process launch-related data for a variety of users. Additionally, the 30th Comptroller Squadron reports directly to the wing commander, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California,15 May 1964 –1 April 1970,1 October 1979–present Upon activation in 1964 the future 30th SW operated and maintained the Western Test Range. The 30th conducted strategic missile test programs, including Minuteman force reliability assessment, the Wing maintained launch and support facilities for the Space Shuttle from 1984–1987. It conducted other aerospace systems launching and tracking operations at the California launch site and at several fixed, the 30th also provided support personnel to USAF units deployed to Southwest Asia from August 1990 – April 1991, and to Saudi Arabia on a rotational basis thereafter. Most recently it has deployed personnel in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. On 20 January 2011, the 30th Space Wing and their commercial partners successfully launched a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket into space from Vandenberg AFB and this was the first-ever West Coast launch of the Delta IV Heavy. The 235-foot-tall launch vehicle, the largest ever fired from the US West Coast, carried a classified US intelligence satellite, USA-224 and this article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, //www. afhra. af. mil/. Vandenberg AFB Home Page 30th Space Wing YouTube channel
23.
45th Space Wing
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The 45th Space Wing is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the Fourteenth Air Force, stationed at Patrick Air Force Base and it commands Patrick AFB and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The mission of the 45th Space Wing is to access to the high frontier. The wing formerly operated the recently discontinued Titan IV rocket and it employs 9,512 military and civilians. Since August 4,2015, it is under the command of Brigadier General Wayne R. Monteith, the wing commander formerly served as the deputy DOD manager for the Department of Defense Manned Space Flight Support Office. 45th Medical Group 45th Mission Support Group See also, 45th Operations Group, 45th Launch Group, 6555th Aerospace Test Group for additional lineage, organized to maintain and operate the proving ground facilities in coordination and collaboration with other agencies of the national guided missile program. Provided static and flight testing to meet requirements of Army, Navy, from May 1950 to May 1951, had separate operating agency status, assigned directly to Headquarters, United States Air Force. Operated Down-Range facilities at Antigua, Ascension Island, and Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, 1951–1977, after Oct 1979, launched DOD payloads into orbit and collected flight data for evaluation of ballistic missile systems launched from Eastern Launch sites for DOD, NASA, and commercial customers. Patrick AFB Home Page 45th Space Wing
24.
Patrick Air Force Base
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Patrick Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States. It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, USAAC, an Air Force Space Command base, it is home to the 45th Space Wing. In addition to its host wing responsibilities at Patrick AFB, the 45 SW controls and operates Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and it was originally opened and operated from 1940-1947 as Naval Air Station Banana River, a U. S. Navy airfield. It was then deactivated as an installation in 1947 and placed in caretaker status until it was transferred to the Air Force in late 1948. Additional tenant activities at Patrick AFB include the 920th Rescue Wing, the Air Force Technical Applications Center, there are 13,099 military, dependents, civilian employees and contractors on base. The base is a place and had a resident population of 1,222 at the 2010 census. The host wing for Patrick AFB is the 45th Space Wing, whose officers, previously an activity of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, AFTAC is now a subordinate unit of 25th Air Force and the Air Combat Command. AFTAC is the sole Department of Defense agency operating and maintaining a network of nuclear event detection sensors. The 920th Rescue Wing, part of Air Force Reserve Command, is another tenant command headquartered at Patrick AFB and is the only military flying unit. The 920 RQW is a participant in the Air Forces Air. Under this concept, the bulk of the deployed to Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Subsequent AETF deployments have included Djibouti and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U. S. State Departments Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Air Wing helps foreign countries combat drugs and narcotics criminals. The Navy bought 1,900 acres of land south of Cocoa Beach. With the advent of war with Japan and Germany in December 1941, PBMs returned to training duty in March 1942 when replaced on patrol by OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes. Landing strips were constructed in 1943, thereby allowing for concurrent operation of shore based aircraft, Officers of the Free French Naval Air Service also trained in PBMs at NAS Banana River at this time. NAS Banana River hosted and an aircraft repair and maintenance facility. Later in the war, a detachment of German POWs from Camp Blanding worked at NAS Banana River on cleanup details. At its peak, the base complement included 278 aircraft,587 civilian employees, when the flight failed to return to home station, a search and rescue operation was undertaken by multiple air and naval units
25.
50th Space Wing
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The 50th Space Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force under the major command of Air Force Space Command. It was activated on 30 January 1992, replacing the 2nd Space Wing, the unit is the host wing at Schriever Air Force Base, located east of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their primary responsibility is to track and maintain the command and control, warning, navigational, the 50th Space Wing also manages the Global Positioning System. The wing also operates satellite operation centers at Schriever AFB and remote tracking stations and other command, the group is composed of five active-duty and two Reserve squadrons, as well as one Air National Guard squadron. The group is composed of four squadrons, six detachments and the Program Management Office, 50th Mission Support Group Provides security, civil engineering, fire, personnel, contracting, force support and logistic readiness support to Schriever AFB. The group is composed of four squadrons and a flight providing base support of the wings sites worldwide, the wing was formed at Otis AFB, Massachusetts. The 50th Fighter Group was assigned to the newly formed 50th Fighter Wing upon activation under the Hobson Plan and it trained in the Reserve between June 1949 and June 1951, being a corollary of the active-duty Air Defense Command 33d Fighter Wing. The wing was ordered to service on 1 June 1951 due to the Korean War. The 50th Fighter Wing was inactivated the next day,2 June 1951, on 1 January 1953, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing was reactivated as part of the active-duty Tactical Air Command. The 50th Fighter-Interceptor Group activated as the 50th Fighter-Bomber Group and became the primary combat element. The groups squadrons were equipped with North American F-86F Sabres, once training levels for pilots and aircrews had reached operational levels, the 50th FBW began preparations for its move to West Germany. On 10 August 1953, the 50th FBW arrived at its new home, the 50th was assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe Twelfth Air Force. The wing became the first tactically operational Air Force wing in 12th Air Forces jurisdiction, the 50th FBG consisted of the 10th, 81st and 417th Fighter-Bomber squadrons. The first of the wings new F-86H Sabres arrived at Hahn AB21 October 1955, conversion continued throughout the winter of 1955 and spring of 1956, ending in May. The 50th FBG received seventy-four F-86Hs, and also had two C-47 transports which were assigned to the Wing for courier and supply operations. The primary mission of the 50th FBW at Hahn was the delivery of nuclear weapons against Warsaw Pact forces in the event of an invasion of Western Europe. Its secondary missions were tactical air defense and support for NATO ground forces, while 50th FBW prepared for and converted to the newer F-86H, the wing expanded its mission responsibility to include supporting 12th Air Forces 7382d Guided Missile Group. The wing had previously supported the 69th Tactical Missile Squadron at Hahn, new aircraft would not be the only change for the personnel of the 50th, however
26.
Schriever Air Force Base
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Schriever Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located approximately 10 miles east of Peterson AFB near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. This Air Force Base is named in honor of General Bernard Adolph Schriever, also housed at Schriever AFB are the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center and the Space Innovation & Development Center. Schriever AFB is the control point for the Global Positioning System. Schriever AFB is manned by more than 8100 active duty and guard/reserve personnel, civilian employees,4 Space and Missile Defense Command-Space and Ballistic Missile Defense Forces U. S. It was originally called the Consolidated Space Operations Center during the development phase and this wing took operational control of the Air Force Satellite Control Network in a phased system turn over that began in October 1987 and lasted several years. In June 1988, Falcon Air Force Station was redesignated Falcon Air Force Base, on 30 January 1992 the 2nd Space Wing inactivated and the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing, redesignated as the 50th Space Wing, activated at Falcon AFB. Schriever AFB is the only Air Force base that was named for an Air Force veteran who was living at the time, General Schriever died June 20,2005
27.
460th Space Wing
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The 460th Space Wing is located at Buckley Air Force Base, east of Aurora, Colorado. The 460th delivers global infrared surveillance, provides worldwide missile warning and tracking for homeland defense purposes, the 460th Space Wing is directed by Air Force Space Command. The wing is divided into three groups, the 460th Operations Group, the 460th Mission Support Group, and the 460th Medical Group, the 460th Operations Group provides missile warning, missile defense, technical intelligence, satellite command and control, and robust aerospace communications. The group operates the Defense Support Program and Space-Based Infrared System satellites, providing persistent global surveillance, tracking, the 460th Mission Support Group provides trained personnel to support the Air Expeditionary Forces and Homeland Defense. Specific capabilities include force protection, human management, contracting. Since the 460th is the host unit at Buckley AFB, the 460th MSG also maintains the bases infrastructure, the 460th Medical Group supports military readiness to the Air Expeditionary Forces and Homeland Defense missions by ensuring base personnel are medically qualified for deployments. Space operators use a network of ground stations around the world to communicate with the SBIRS. SBIRS is to consist of six dedicated satellites operating in geosynchronous earth orbit, SBIRS will replace the Defense Support Program satellites and is intended primarily to provide enhanced strategic and theater ballistic missile warning capabilities. The DSP satellites are in geosynchronous orbits, and are equipped with infrared sensors operating through a wide-angle Schmidt camera, the entire satellite spins so that the linear sensor array in the focal plane scans over the earth in a radial pattern. The last DSP satellite was launched in 2007 aboard the first operational flight of the Delta IV Heavy rocket, constituted as 460th Bombardment Group in May 1943. Activated as a B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment unit, assigned to II Bomber Command for training, primarily trained in New Mexico and Utah. Received deployment orders for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in August 1943, moved to Georgia and Virginia where the group flew coastal patrol missions over the Southeast, October 1943 – January 1944 while station in Italy was being constructed. Deployed to Southern Italy in January 1944, entered combat in January 1944, the group flew its last World War II combat mission on 26 April 1945. After V-E Day, was assigned to Green Project which was the movement of troops from Europe to the United States via the South Atlantic Transport Route. B-24s were modified with sealed bomb bays, removal of all defensive armament, was assigned to Air Transport Command at Waller Field, Trinidad and to Natal, Brazil. Moved personnel from Dakar in French West Africa where personnel were transported across the South Atlantic to Brazil and eventually to Morrison Field, provided air transport until the end of September when the unit was inactivated. See also, Tan Son Nhut Air Base On 2 February 1966 and its headquarters shared the Seventh Air Force Headquarters and the Military Assistance Command Vietnam. When it stood up, the 460th TRW, alone, was responsible for the reconnaissance mission
28.
Buckley Air Force Base
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Buckley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Aurora, Colorado, that was established by the U. S. Army in 1943. The base was named in honor of World War I Army pilot First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley, Buckley Air Force Base is an Air Force Space Command base that serves more than 92,000 active duty, National Guard, Reserve and retired personnel throughout the Front Range community. The host unit is the 460th Space Wing, Buckley AFB has air operations, space-based missile warning capabilities, space surveillance operations, space communications operations and support functions. During the early years of World War II the city of Denver purchased a 5, 740-acre parcel of land several miles east of the city and donated it to the Department of the Army. The site was named Buckley Field after 1st Lt. John Harold Buckley, a Longmont, Colorado, native, under the command of the 336th AAF Base Unit, construction on the base began in early 1942, and that resulted in the construction of over 700 buildings. On 1 July 1942, the U. S. Army Air Corps Technical Training School opened there, Technical training at the base was under the jurisdiction of the Western Technical Training Command. During World War II, Buckley Field also trained over 50,000 airmen in basic training. After World War II, Buckley Fields military role quickly diminished, Lowry in turn transferred control of the base to the Colorado Air National Guard that same year. Air National Guard ownership lasted less than one year, and then in 1947 the Department of the Navy took charge of the base and renamed it Naval Air Station Denver. The renamed base was the location of Naval Air Reserve aviation squadrons, as well as for veterans, thousands of veterans returned to civilian life here over the next four years, while Naval Air Reservists concurrently conducted operational training. The Navy remained here for 12 years before decommissioning its base on June 30,1959, and transferring it back to the U. S. Air Force, which renamed the facility Buckley Air Force Base. However, the Naval Reserve remained at Buckley as tenant activity known as Naval Air Reserve Center Denver, Buckley Field once again became the Buckley Air National Guard Base on April 18,1960. At the same time, it became the first stand-alone Air National Guard base in the country, the Colorado Air National Guard remained in control of Buckley Field for the next 40 years, operating it as a fighter base. During the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of Aurora, Denver’s eastern neighbor, the land of the air base was annexed to Aurora in 1965 and 1966, however, the installation is US Government property under Federal jurisdiction. The 154th Group had its own truck-mounted tactical radar units and radar-control vans, although the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, the 120th Tactical Fighter Wing did not see any decrease in its responsibilities. On 1 October 2000, the United States Air Force took control of the base and it was renamed Buckley Air Force Base. A year later, control of Buckley AFB was transferred to the newly reactivated 460th Air Base Wing, since the return of Buckley Field to the Air Force in 2000, the air base has seen an unprecedented amount of new construction and modernization. In late 2016, the Air Force approved a version of the Space-Based Infrared System ground system from Lockheed Martin
29.
Flying Tigers
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The shark-faced nose art of the Flying Tigers remains among the most recognizable image of any individual combat aircraft or combat unit of World War II. The group consisted of three squadrons of around 30 aircraft each. It trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II with the mission of defending China against Japanese forces, the group of volunteers were officially members of the Chinese Air Force. The members of the group had contracts with salaries ranging from $250 a month for a mechanic to $750 for a squadron commander, while it accepted some civilian volunteers for its headquarters and ground crew, the AVG recruited most of its staff from the U. S. military. The group first saw combat on 20 December 1941,12 days after Pearl Harbor, AVG pilots earned official credit, and received combat bonuses, for destroying 296 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 pilots in combat. The combat records of the AVG still exist and researchers have found them credible, on 4 July 1942 the AVG was disbanded. It was replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, fourteenth Air Force with General Chennault as commander. The 23rd FG went on to achieve combat success, while retaining the nose art on the left-over P-40s. Chiang then asked for American combat aircraft and pilots, sending Chennault to Washington as adviser to Chinas ambassador and Chiangs brother-in-law, T. V. Soong. Since the U. S. was not at war, the Special Air Unit could not be organized overtly, the resulting clandestine operation was organized in large part by Lauchlin Currie, a young economist in the White House, and by Roosevelt intimate Thomas G. Corcoran. Financing was handled by China Defense Supplies – primarily Tommy Corcorans creation – with money loaned by the U. S. government, purchases were then made by the Chinese under the Cash and Carry provision of the Neutrality Act of 1939. Previously in the 1930s, a number of American pilots including Annapolis graduate Frank Tinker had flown combat during the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side, members were organized into the Yankee Squadron. He also laid the groundwork for a bomber group and a second fighter group. Of the pilots,60 came from the Navy and Marine Corps and 40 from the Army Air Corps, although sometimes considered a mercenary unit, the AVG was closely associated with the U. S. military. Most histories of the Flying Tigers say that on 15 April 1941, however, Flying Tigers historian Daniel Ford could find no evidence that such an order ever existed, and he argued that a wink and a nod was more the presidents style. In any event, the AVG was organized and in part directed out of the White House, during the summer and fall 1941, some 300 men carrying civilian passports boarded ships destined for Burma. They were initially based at a British airfield in Toungoo for training while their aircraft were assembled and they called Chennault the Old Man due to his much older age and leathery exterior obtained from years flying open cockpit pursuit aircraft in the Army Air Corps. Most believed that he had flown as a pilot in China
30.
American Volunteer Group
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The American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The only unit to see combat was the 1st AVG. Army, Navy and Marine Corps for service in China and they envisioned a small air corps of 500 combat aircraft, although in the end, the number was reduced to 200 fighters and 66 light bombers. The group assembled at RAF Mingaladon in Burma by November 1941 for training, the Flying Tigers did not go into combat until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Under Chennaults command, the Flying Tigers became famous in the defense of Burma and it was disbanded and replaced by the United States Army Air Forces 23rd Fighter Group in July 1942, with only five of its pilots choosing to continue with the AAF. Other pilots reported to San Francisco, and were scheduled to depart aboard the Lockheed Hudsons on 10 December. The Douglas DB-7s, meanwhile, were to have gone by freighter to Africa, where they would be assembled and ferried to China, but the attack on Pearl Harbor caused the program to be aborted. The vessels at sea were diverted to Australia, the aircraft were back into American service. The 3rd AVG was to have been a group like the 1st. Because the 2nd AVG had been recruited from the U. S. Army, recruiting for the 3rd was to have limited to the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps. These plans too were abandoned as a result of the U. S. entry into World War II, roster of the 2nd AVG Cables about recruiting the bomber group Rossi, J. R. AVG American Volunteer Group - Flying Tigers
31.
Republic of China Air Force
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The Republic of China Air Force is the aviation branch of the Taiwanese military. The ROCAFs primary mission is the defense of the airspace over, as of 2006, all medium and long range SAM units were transferred from ROC Armys Missile Command to ROCAF, while ROCAFs airbase security units were transferred to ROC Army Military Police. Missile Command is now directly under Defense Ministrys GHQ control, on 21 September 2011, it was announced that the US had agreed to a US$5 billion upgrade to the F-16s. In 2012 Rob Nabors wrote that the United States was considering the sale of aircraft to the ROC. Like most of the branches of the ROC armed forces, much of the ROCAFs structure. Like the USAF, the ROCAF used to have a wing → group → squadron structure, Air Force GHQ is subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff, the Minister of National Defense and the President. Internal Units, Personnel, Combat Readiness and Training, Logistics, Planning, Communications, Electronics & Information, General Affairs, Comptroller,1 TK-1/2 Air Defense Missile battalion, 951st Brigade, 611st battalion with 6 companies/batteries. 1 Patriot PAC-2+ GEM/PAC-3 Air Defense/Anti-Ballistic Missile battalion, with 3 mixed companies/batteries that are all upgrading to PAC-3 standard, at least 2 AAA Air Defense Artillery battalions, with 40mm/L60 and 12. 7mm AAA guns. In this period, various airplanes were purchased and deployed by warlords in their struggle for power until nominal Chinese reunification in 1928. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the ROCAF participated in attacks on Japanese warships on the eastern front, Chinese Boeing P-26/281 fighters engaged Japanese Mitsubishi A5M fighters in what is among the worlds first aerial dogfighting between all-metal monoplane fighter aircraft. A unique mission in April 1938 saw two Chinese B-10 bombers fly a mission over Japan, but dropping only propaganda leaflets over the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Saga. It was a war of attrition for the Chinese pilots, as many of their most experienced ace fighter pilots, such as Lieutenant Liu Tsui-Kang and Colonel Kao Chih-Hang were lost early in the war. In the latter-half of the Sino-Japanese War, part of World War II, throughout the war, the ROCAF was involved in attacks on Japanese air and ground forces in the Chinese theatre. ROCAF General HQ was established in June 1946, the ROCAF reportedly enjoyed a 31,1 kill ratio against the PLA. GHQ was evacuated to Taiwan along with the rest of the ROC Government in April 1949 following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the ROCAF assisted in halting the PLA advance at the Battle of Kuningtou on Kinmen the same year. The ROCAF regularly patrolled the Taiwan Straits and fought engagements with its Communist counterpart. The ROCAF received second hand equipment from the US at that time, such as the F-86 Sabrejets, F-100, during the Cold War, the ROCAF was involved in combat air patrols over the Taiwan Strait and engaged the PLAAF and PLAN-AF on several occasions. The ROCAF was also the testbed of American technology at this time, the first successful kill scored by an air-to-air missile was accomplished by an ROCAF F-86 Sabrejet with then experimental AIM-9 Sidewinder
32.
Chongqing
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Chongqing, formerly transliterated as Chungking, is a major city in Southwest China and one of the Five national central cities in China. Administratively, it is one of Chinas four direct-controlled municipalities, the municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. Chongqings population as of 2015 is just over 30 million with a population of 18.38 million. The official abbreviation of the city, Yu, was approved by the State Council on 18 April 1997 and this abbreviation is derived from the old name of a part of the Jialing River that runs through Chongqing and feeds into the Yangtze River. Chongqing was also a Sichuan province municipality during the Republic of China administration, Chongqing has a significant history and culture and serves as the economic centre of the upstream Yangtze basin. It is a manufacturing centre and transportation hub, a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit described it as one of Chinas 13 emerging megacities. Tradition associates Chongqing with the State of Ba, the Ba people supposedly established Chongqing during the Spring and Autumn period after moving from their first capital Yicheng in Hubei under pressure from Chu. This new capital was first named Jiangzhou, in 316 BC, however, the state of Ba was conquered by the State of Qin. Jiangzhou subsequently remained under Qin Shi Huangs rule during the Qin Dynasty, the successor of the Qin State, and under the control of Han Dynasty emperors. Jiangzhou was subsequently renamed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties to Chu Prefecture, then in 581 AD to Yu Prefecture, the name Yu however survives to this day as an abbreviation for Chongqing, and the city centre where the old town stood is also called Yuzhong. It received its current name in 1189, after Prince Zhao Dun of the Southern Song Dynasty described his crowning as king, in his honour, Yu Prefecture was therefore renamed Chongqing subprefecture marking the occasion of his enthronement. In 1362, Ming Yuzhen, a peasant rebelling leader, established the Daxia Kingdom at Chongqing for a short time, in 1621, another short-lived kingdom of Daliang was established by She Chongming with Chongqing as its capital. The Manchus later conquered the province, and during the Qing Dynasty, immigration to Chongqing, in 1890, the British Consulate General was opened in Chongqing. The following year, the city became the first inland commerce port open to foreigners, the French, German, US and Japanese consulates were opened in Chongqing in 1896–1904. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, it was Generalissimo Chiang Kai-sheks provisional capital, the city was also visited by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of SEAC which was itself headquartered in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka. Chiang Kai Shek as Supreme Commander in China worked closely with Stilwell, the Japanese Air Force heavily bombed it. Due to its mountainous environment, many people were saved from the bombing, due to the bravery, contributions and sacrifices made by the local people during World War II, Chongqing became known as the City of Heroes. Many factories and universities were relocated from eastern China to Chongqing during the war, in late November 1949 the Nationalist KMT government fled the city
33.
Chiang Kai-shek
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Chiang Kai-shek, also romanized as Jiang Jieshi and known as Jiang Zhongzheng, was a Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. Chiang was an member of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party. He became the Commandant of the Kuomintangs Whampoa Military Academy and took Suns place as leader of the KMT, having neutralized the partys left wing, Chiang then led Suns long-postponed Northern Expedition, conquering or reaching accommodations with Chinas many warlords. From 1928 to 1948, he served as chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China, unable to maintain Suns good relations with the Communists, he purged them in a massacre at Shanghai and repression of uprisings at Guangzhou and elsewhere. After the defeat of the Japanese, the American-sponsored Marshall Mission, the Chinese Civil War resumed, with the Chinese Communist Party defeating the Nationalists and declaring the Peoples Republic of China in 1949. Chiangs government and army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law, after evacuating to Taiwan, Chiangs government continued to declare its intention to retake mainland China. Chiang ruled Taiwan securely as President of the Republic of China, like many other Chinese historical figures, Chiang used several names throughout his life. That inscribed in the records of his family is Jiang Zhoutai. This so-called register name is the one under which his relatives knew him. In deference to tradition, family members did not use the name in conversation with people outside of the family. In fact, the concept of real or original name is not as clear-cut in China as it is in the Western world, in honor of tradition, Chinese families waited a number of years before officially naming their offspring. In the meantime, they used a name, given to the infant shortly after his birth. Thus, the name that Chiang received at birth was Jiang Ruiyuan. In 1903, the 16-year-old Chiang went to Ningbo to be a student and this was actually the formal name of a person, used by older people to address him, and the one he would use the most in the first decades of his life. The school name that Chiang chose for himself was Zhiqing, for the next fifteen years or so, Chiang was known as Jiang Zhiqing. This is the name under which Sun Yat-sen knew him when Chiang joined the republicans in Guangzhou in the 1910s. In 1912, when Jiang Zhiqing was in Japan, he started to use the name Chiang Kai-shek as a pen name for the articles that he published in a Chinese magazine he founded, Voice of the Army. Jieshi is the Pinyin romanization of this name, based on Mandarin, kai-shek/Jieshi soon became Chiangs courtesy name
34.
Soong Mei-ling
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Soong played a prominent role in the politics of the Republic of China and was the sister-in-law of Sun Yat-sen, the founder and the leader of the Republic of China. She was active in the life of her country and held many honorary and active positions. During the Second Sino-Japanese War she rallied her people against the Japanese invasion and she was also the youngest and the last surviving of the three Soong sisters, and the only first lady during World War II who lived into the 21st century. Her life extended into three centuries and she was born in Hongkou District, Shanghai, China, on March 5,1898, though some biographies give the year as 1897, since Chinese tradition considers one to be a year old at birth. She was the fourth of six children of Charlie Soong, a businessman and former Methodist missionary from Hainan. Their father, who had studied in the United States, arranged to have them continue their education in the US in 1907, May-ling and Ching-ling attended a private school in Summit, New Jersey. In 1908, Ching-ling was accepted by her sister Ai-lings alma mater, Wesleyan College, at age 15, however, she could not get permission to stay on campus as a family member nor could she be a student because she was too young. May-ling spent the year in Demorest, Georgia, with Ai-lings Wesleyan friend, Blanche Moss, in 1909, Wesleyans newly appointed president, William Newman Ainsworth, gave her permission to stay at Wesleyan and assigned her tutors. She briefly attended Fairmount College in Monteagle, Tennessee in 1910, May-ling was officially registered as a freshman at Wesleyan in 1912 at the age of 15. She then transferred to Wellesley College a year later to be closer to her brother, T. V. who. By then, both her sisters had graduated and returned to Shanghai and she graduated from Wellesley as one of the 33 Durant Scholars on June 19,1917, with a major in English literature and minor in philosophy. She was also a member of Tau Zeta Epsilon, Wellesleys Arts, as a result of being educated in English all her life, she spoke excellent English, with a pronounced Georgia accent which helped her connect with American audiences. Soong Mei-ling met Chiang Kai-shek in 1920, Chiang told his future mother-in-law that he could not convert immediately, because religion needed to be gradually absorbed, not swallowed like a pill. They married in Shanghai on December 1,1927, while biographers regard the marriage with varying appraisals of partnership, love, politics and competition, it lasted 48 years. In 1928, she was made a member of the Committee of Yuans by Chiang and they renewed their wedding vows on May 24,1944 at St. Bartholomews Church in New York City. Polly Smith sang the Lords Prayer at the ceremony, Madame Chiang initiated the New Life Movement and became actively engaged in Chinese politics. She was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1930 to 1932, in 1945 she became a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. As her husband rose to become Generalissimo and leader of the Kuomintang, Madame Chiang acted as his English translator, secretary and she was his muse, his eyes, his ears, and his most loyal champion
35.
Joseph Stilwell
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Joseph Warren Stilwell was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. His caustic personality was reflected in the nickname Vinegar Joe, although distrustful of his Allies, Stilwell showed himself to be a capable and daring tactician in the field but a lack of resources meant he was continually forced to improvise. He famously differed as to strategy, ground troops versus air power, with his subordinate, Claire Chennault, General George Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, acknowledged he had given Stilwell one of the most difficult assignments of any theater commander. Stilwell was born on March 19,1883, in Palatka and his parents were Doctor Benjamin Stilwell and Mary A. Peene. Stilwell was an eighth generation descendant of an English colonist who arrived in America in 1638, Stilwells rebellious attitude led him to a record of unruly behavior once he reached a post-graduate level at Yonkers High School. Prior to this last year, Stilwell had performed meticulously in his classes and this last event, in which an administrator was punched, led to the expulsions and suspensions for Stilwells friends. Despite missing the deadline to apply for Congressional appointment to the military academy, in his first year, Stilwell underwent hazing as a plebe that he referred to as hell. While at West Point, Stilwell showed an aptitude for languages, such as French, in the field of sports, Stilwell is credited with introducing basketball to the Academy, and participating in cross-country running, as well as playing on the varsity football team. At West Point he had two demerits for laughing during drill, ultimately, Stilwell graduated from the academy, class of 1904, ranked 32nd in a class of 124 cadets. His son, Brigadier General Joseph, Jr. served in World War II, Korea, Stilwell later taught at West Point, and attended the Infantry Advanced Course and the Command and General Staff College. During World War I, he was the U. S, fourth Corps intelligence officer and helped plan the St. Mihiel offensive. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France, Stilwell is often remembered by his sobriquet, Vinegar Joe, which he acquired while a commander at Fort Benning, Georgia. Stilwell often gave harsh critiques of performance in field exercises, after discovering the caricature, Stilwell pinned it to a board and had the drawing photographed and distributed to friends. Yet another indication of his view of life was the motto he kept on his desk, Illegitimi non carborundum, between the wars, Stilwell served three tours in China, where he mastered spoken and written Chinese, and was the military attaché at the U. S. Legation in Beijing from 1935 to 1939, in 1939 and 1940 he was assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and from 1940 to 1941 organized and trained the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California. It was there that his leadership style – which emphasized concern for the soldier and minimized ceremonies and officious discipline – earned him the nickname of “Uncle Joe. ”Just prior to World War II, Stilwell was recognized as the top corps commander in the Army and was initially selected to plan. Unfortunately, despite his status and position in China, he became embroiled in conflicts over U. S. Lend-Lease aid. Barbara W. Tuchman records that Stilwell was a lifelong Republican, elsewhere she notes that, in the view of an close friend, “Stilwell was liberal and sympathetic by instinct
36.
China Burma India Theater
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China Burma India Theater was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India-Burma theaters. Operational command of Allied forces in the CBI was officially the responsibility of the Supreme Commanders for South East Asia or China, in 1941 the U. S. made a series of decisions to support China in its war with Japan. Lend Lease supplies were provided after President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the defense of China to be vital to the defense of the United States, over the summer, as Japan moved south into French Indo-China, the U. S. Britain and the Netherlands instituted an oil embargo on Japan, cutting off 90% of its supplies, Japan cut off Allied supplies to China that had been coming through Burma. China could be supplied only by flying over the Himalaya mountains from India, or capturing territory in Burma, in 1941 and 1942, Japan was overextended. Its naval base could not defend its conquests, and its base could not beef up the navy. To cut off China from Allied aid, it went into Burma, captured Rangoon on March 8,1942, moving north the Japanese took Tounggoo, Burma, then captured Lashio in upper Burma on April 29. The British, primarily concerned with India, looked to Burma as the theater of action against Japan. The overland supply route from India to China had to go through Burma, Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek realized it was all fantasy. On the other hand, there were vast sums of American dollars available if he collaborated and he did so and managed to feed his starving soldiers, but they were so poorly equipped and led that offensive operations against the Japanese in China were impossible. However, Chiang did release two Chinese armies for action in Burma under Stilwell. They were smashed by the Japanese and Stilwell, on foot, barely escaped to India, on April 14,1942, William Donovan, as Coordinator of Information, activated Detachment 101 for action behind enemy lines in Burma. Because Detachment 101 was never larger than a few hundred Americans, in particular, the vigorously anti-Japanese Kachin people were vital to the unit’s success. 101s efforts opened the way for Stilwells Chinese forces, Wingates Raiders, Merrills Marauders, US forces in the CBI were grouped together for administrative purposes under the command of General Joseph Vinegar Joe Stilwell. However, unlike other combat theaters, for example the European Theater of Operations, initially U. S. However, Stilwell often broke the chain of command and communicated directly with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff on operational matters. This continued after the formation of the South East Asia Command, Admiral Lord Mountbatten was appointed as the Supreme Allied Commander of South-East Asia forces in October 1943. However, in practice, Gen. Stilwell never agreed to this arrangement, as SEACs deputy leader, Stilwell was Giffards superior, but as operational commander of NCAC, Giffard was Stilwells superior. As the two men did not get on, this lead to conflict and confusion
37.
Clayton Lawrence Bissell
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Major General Clayton Lawrence Bissell was an air officer in the United States Army and United States Army Air Forces during World War I and World War II. Bissell graduated from Valparaiso University, Indiana, in 1917 with a degree of doctor of laws and he enlisted in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve, August 15,1917, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve, January 12,1918. He began his training at Mohawk, Canada, in September 1917. He sailed for England with the 22nd Aero Squadron, and received additional flying training at Salisbury Plain in England and he served in the Overseas Ferry Service before he was ordered to duty at the front with the 148th Aero Squadron in July 1918. He served with that unit and with the 41st Aero Squadron until the armistice and he was credited officially with destroying five enemy planes and driving one down out of control, these six victories qualify him as an ace. He commanded the 639th Aero Squadron with the American Forces in Germany until May 1919 and his first assignment in the United States was Kelly Field, Texas, where he organized and commanded the 27th Aero Squadron. He was promoted to captain March 11,1919, in January 1920, he became education and recreation officer at Kelly Field, and commanded the Air Service Group. He was ordered to Washington, D. C. in June 1920 and he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Air Service, Regular Army, July 1,1920. In December 1920, he went to Langley Field, Virginia and he then remained at Langley Field as flight commander of the 14th Bomb Squadron, and later became an instructor in the Air Corps Tactical School. In November 1921, he was ordered to Washington for duty in the office of the Chief of the Air Service, as assistant to Brigadier General William Mitchell, serving in that capacity for four years. During this tour of duty, he was one of the involved in the controversial Ostfriesland bombing that was the crux of Mitchells court-martial. In January 1924, he was detailed as advanced agent for the flight in British Columbia, Alaska, the Aleutians, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland. On return to Washington, he was transferred to Langley Field in December 1924 to serve as secretary of the Air Service Board. Between October and December 1925, he served as assistant defense counsel for Mitchell during his court martial and he graduated in June 1933, and two months later was assigned to the Army War College at Washington, D. C. He graduated in June 1934 and then entered the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal, in July 1934, completing the course there a month later. In October 1934, he was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, as intelligence and operations officer of the 18th Pursuit Group, in July 1938, he went to the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated in 1939. In July 1939, he became a member of the War Plans Division of the War Department General Staff at Washington, remaining on this duty until the beginning of World War II. In January 1942, he was assigned as aviation officer on Major General Stilwells staff in China, in August 1942 he was made commanding general of the 10th Air Force in India
38.
Henry H. Arnold
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Henry Harley Hap Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Instructed in flying by the Wright Brothers, Arnold was one of the first military pilots worldwide, and one of the first three rated pilots in the history of the United States Air Force. He overcame a fear of flying that resulted from his experiences with flight, supervised the expansion of the Air Service during World War I. He was called Harley by his family during his youth, Arnold was known to his West Point classmates as Pewt or Benny. By his immediate subordinates and headquarters staff he was referred to as The Chief, born June 25,1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, Arnold was the son of Dr. Herbert Alonzo Arnold, a strong-willed physician and a member of the prominent political and military Arnold Family. His mother was Anna Louise Harley, from a Dunker farm family, Arnold was Baptist in religious belief but had strong Mennonite ties through both families. However, unlike her husband, Gangy Arnold was fun-loving and prone to laughter, when Arnold was eleven, his father responded to the Spanish–American War by serving as a surgeon in the Pennsylvania National Guard, of which he remained a member for the next 24 years. Arnold attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1903, the athletic fields at Lower Merion are named after him. Arnold had no intention of attending West Point but took the examination after his older brother Thomas defied their father. Arnold placed second on the list and received an appointment when the nominated cadet confessed to being married, prohibited by academy regulations. Arnold entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a Juliette and his cadet career was spent as a clean sleeve. At the academy he helped found the Black Hand, a group of cadet pranksters and he played second-team running back for the varsity football team, was a shot putter on the track and field team, and excelled at polo. Arnolds academic standing varied between the middle and the end of his class, with his better scores in mathematics. He initially protested the assignment, but was persuaded to accept a commission in the 29th Infantry, Arnold arrived in Manila on December 7,1907. Arnold disliked infantry troop duties and volunteered to assist Capt. Arthur S. Cowan of the 20th Infantry, Cowan returned to the United States following completion of the cartography detail, transferred to the Signal Corps, and was assigned to recruit two lieutenants to become pilots. Cowan contacted Arnold, who cabled his interest in transferring to the Signal Corps. In June 1909, the 29th Infantry relocated to Fort Jay, New York, in 1911, Arnold applied for transfer to the Ordnance Department because it offered an immediate promotion to first lieutenant. While awaiting the results of the competitive examination, he learned that his interest in aeronautics had not been forgotten
39.
China Air Task Force
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It consisted of the 23rd Fighter Group with four squadrons, the assigned 74th, 75th, 76th, and attached 16th Fighter Squadrons, plus the 11th Bombardment Squadron. It was a unit of the Tenth Air Force in India, commanded by Brig. Gen. Earl Naiden. Chennault had no respect for Bissell as an airman, wrote his biographer Martha Byrd. Their relationship, she wrote, was ugly, on 19 March 1943, the CATF was disbanded and replaced by the Fourteenth Air Force, with Chennault, now a major general, in command. In the nine months of its existence, the China Air Task Force had been credited with shooting down 149 Japanese planes, plus 85 probables, with a loss of only 16 P-40s. It had flown 65 bombing missions against Japanese targets in China, Burma and Indochina, dropping 311 tons of bombs, development of Chinese Nationalist air force Eagle Squadron—American volunteers in the RAF during World War II Roster of CATF
40.
Tenth Air Force
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The Tenth Air Force is a unit of the U. S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command. 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field, the command directs the activities of 14,000 Air Force Reservists and 950 civilians located at 30 military installations throughout the United States. In addition, Tenth Air Force units fly satellites for Air Force Space Command in support of the Department of Defense and NOAA. Tenth Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force created for operations in India, Burma and Indochina during World War II in the China Burma India Theater of operations. It was established at New Delhi, India on 12 February 1942, around a nucleus of air force personnel newly arrived from Java, the 10th Air Force is commanded by Maj Gen Richard W. Scobee. With approximately 60 full-time headquarters staff members, Tenth Air Force acts as the point for all matters pertaining to assigned Air Force Reserve units. Tenth Air Force is the only Numbered Air Force that touches every Major Command in USAF with the exception of the Air Force Material Command, the 610th Regional Support Group at NAS Fort Worth JRB is responsible for the management of twelve geographically separated units throughout the United States. Other organizations include combat air operations, medical, civil engineer, combat logistics, communications, security forces, aerial port, intelligence and aeromedical units. Reservists from 10th Air Force units are deployed to Air Expeditionary units in combat areas of Central. It had its headquarters at New Delhi, components of the air force moved to India over a three-month period from March to May 1942. The Tenth Air Force initially provided control of all USAAF combat operations in the China Burma India Theater under theater commander Lt. Gen. Joseph Stillwell. Units based in China were controlled by the China Air Task Force of the Tenth Air Force, created 4 July 1942 to replace the American Volunteer Group, and commanded by Brig. Gen. Claire Chennault. Units based in India were controlled by the India Air Task Force, created 8 October 1942, in March 1943 the China Air Task Force was dissolved and its components made part of the new Fourteenth Air Force, activated in China under Chennault. The Tenth operated in India and Burma as part of the Allied Eastern Air Command until it moved to China late in July 1945, the command was re-activated on 24 May 1946 at Brooks Field, Texas. It moved to Offutt AFB, Nebraska,1 July 1948, Fort Benjamin Harrison, the 56th Fighter Wing at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, joined Tenth Air Force on 1 December 1948, transferring in from SACs Fifteenth Air Force. Moved to Selfridge AFB, Michigan,16 January 1950 where for the decade it concentrated on air reserve training throughout the decade. On 1 July 1960, the Fifth Air Force Reserve Region was formed at Selfridge AFB, Tenth Air Force was reactivated on 20 January 1966, at Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri as part of Air Defense Command with the inactivation of its organization of Air Defense Sectors. Its area of responsibility was the region of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River
41.
Himalayas
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The Himalayas, or Himalaya, form a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayan range has the Earths highest peaks, including the highest, the Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall. The Himalayas are spread across five countries, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, the Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia, many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate and its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, is just west of the bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east, the name of the range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya, from himá and ā-laya. They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas, formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinsons poetry and Henry David Thoreaus essays. The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi, the Himalaya or The Land of Snow in Tibetan, the Hamaleh Mountain Range in Urdu, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice, the amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant. The extremes of high altitude combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms, the unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations, the oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some species, especially rhododendron, apple. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres in Southeastern Tibet, the Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock
42.
The Hump
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Flying over the Himalayas was extremely dangerous and made more difficult by a lack of reliable charts, an absence of radio navigation aids, and a dearth of information about the weather. The task was given to the AAFs Tenth Air Force. The operation began in April 1942, after the Japanese blocked the Burma Road, and continued daily to August 1945, final operations were flown in November 1945 to return personnel from China. The India-China airlift delivered approximately 650,000 tons of materiel to China at great cost in men, the Japanese invasion of French Indochina closed all sea and rail access routes for supplying China with materiel except through Turkestan in the Soviet Union. That access ended following the signing of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941, the rapid success of Japanese military operations in Southeast Asia threatened this lifeline, prompting discussion of an air cargo service route from India as early as January 1942. Chiangs foreign minister, T. V. Soong, estimated that 12,000 tons of materiel could be delivered monthly by air from India if 100 C-47 Skytrain-type transports were committed to an airlift. The original scheme envisioned the Allies holding northern Burma and using Myitkyina as a terminal to send supplies by barge downriver to Bhamo. However, on 8 May 1942 the Japanese seized Myitkyina and this, coupled with the loss of Rangoon, to maintain the uninterrupted supply to China, U. S. and other allied leaders agreed to organize a continual aerial resupply effort directly between Assam and Kunming. Tenth Air Force was hampered by a constant diversion of men and aircraft to Egypt and its Air Service Command was still en route by ship from the United States, forcing it to get aircraft and personnel for the India-China Ferry from any available source. Ten former Pan American World Airways DC-3s and flight crews were sent from the ferry route to outfit the new operation. Armys Services of Supply, commanded in the CBI by Maj. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler, the airlift was the final leg of a journey of 12,000 mi from Los Angeles to China often taking four months. Col. Robert L. Scott, a pursuit pilot awaiting an assignment in China, was assigned as his operations officer and a month later as executive officer. Haynes was a choice to be the airlifts first commander. However, at the time the India-China Ferry was conceived, the ABC Ferry Command was not prepared to plan, control and its formal organization was minimal, it had no units of its own, and its few aircraft were committed to establishing air transport routes. By June, however, the ABC Ferry Command had begun a greatly expanded wartime restructuring, the first mission over the hump took place on 8 April 1942. Flying from the Royal Air Force airfield at Dinjan, Lt. Col. William D, old used a pair of the former Pan Am DC-3s to ferry 8,000 U. S. gallons of aviation fuel intended to resupply the Doolittle Raiders. The collapse of Allied resistance in northern Burma in May 1942 meant further diversion of the already minuscule air effort, only two-thirds of the aircraft were serviceable at any time. Dinjan was within range of Japanese fighters now based at Myitkyina, forcing all-night maintenance operations, the official history of the Army Air Forces states, The Brahmaputra valley floor lies 90 feet above sea level at Chabua
43.
23d Fighter Group
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The 23d Fighter Group is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Wing and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, the 23d Fighter Group was established in World War II as the 23d Pursuit Group of the United States Army Air Forces. The 23d Fighter Groups aircraft are the only United States Air Force aircraft currently authorized to carry this distinctive, currently based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, the group is assigned as one of two operations groups of the 23d Wing at Moody. Both organizations serve as part of the Ninth Air Force and Air Combat Command, the 23d Fighter Groups primary missions are forward air control, close air support, air interdiction and combat search and rescue operations. The group has two squadrons assigned, the 74th and the 75th Fighter Squadrons both flying A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. By 15 June 1942, under orders from Tenth Air Force, without ceremony, the 23rd Fighter Group was activated 4 July 1942, marking the first such activation of a United States fighter unit on a field of battle in World War II. Claire L. Chennault, meanwhile, had recalled to active duty with the rank of brigadier general. The 23d Fighter Group became a component of the Task Force and was assigned three squadrons, the 74th, 75th, and 76th Fighter Squadrons, the group inherited the mission of the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers. Five of Chennaults staff officers, five pilots and 19 ground crewmen entered the United States Army Air Forces, approximately 25 Flying Tiger pilots, still in civilian status, volunteered to extend their contracts for two weeks to train the new group following the disbanding of their organization. Others from the ranks of the original Flying Tigers left China when their contracts expired, col. Robert L. Scott Jr. already in India as a commander of the Hump operation, became the first commander of the 23d Fighter Group. He would later author the military classic, God Is My Co-Pilot, on the very first day of its activation, the 23d Fighter Group engaged three successive waves of enemy aircraft and promptly recorded the destruction of five enemy aircraft with no losses to itself. The next three years saw the 23d Fighter Group involved in much of the action over southeast and southwest Asia and it provided air defense for the Chinese terminus of the Hump route, but its operations extended beyond China to Burma, French Indochina and as far as Taiwan. The unit helped pioneer a number of fighter and fighter-bomber tactics. The group used its so-called B-40 to destroy Japanese bridges and kill bridge repair crews, the unit gained another increase in capability with its conversion to the North American P-51 Mustang aircraft in November 1943. Representative of the encounters undertaken by small and often ill-equipped group was the defense against a major Japanese push down the Hsiang Valley in Hunan Province 17–25 June 1944. Ignoring inhibiting weather conditions and heavy fire, the 23d Fighter Group provided air support for Chinese land forces and repeatedly struck at enemy troops. Its efforts in this instance earned it the Distinguished Unit Citation for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy, in 1945 it help turn the Japanese spring offensive and harassed the retreating Japanese by strafing and bombing their columns. Thirty-two pilots of the group achieved ace status by shooting down five or more enemy aircraft, the 23d Fighter Group left the theater in December 1945 and was inactivated 5 January 1946, at Fort Lewis, Washington
44.
11th Bomb Squadron
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The 11th Bomb Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force, 2d Operations Group, 2d Bomb Wing located at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The 11th is equipped with the B-52H Stratofortress, the 11 BS is one of the oldest units in the United States Air Force, first being organized as the 11th Aero Squadron on 26 June 1917 at Kelly Field, Texas. The squadron deployed to France and fought on the Western Front during World War I as a Day Bombardment squadron and it took part in the St. Mihiel offensive and Meuse-Argonne offensive. During World War II the unit served in the Pacific Theater of Operations as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy, during the Cold War it was both a tactical MGM-1 Matador and BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile squadron as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe. Exceptional warriors ready now to provide responsive, flexible and accurate bomber combat power, see, 11th Aero Squadron for expanded World War I history The 11th saw combat as a day bombardment unit with First Army,14 September 1918, which was a bloody baptism of fire. But an attempted raid the following day practically devastated the fledgling squadron, out of a formation of six planes which crossed the lines, remembered surviving veteran Paul S. Green, only one succeeded in staggering back in a riddled condition. Henceforward, the 11th Squadron, earlier and officially designated the Jiggs Squadron was unkindly referred to throughout the U. S. Air Service as the Bewilderment Group, the Bewilderment Groups emblem featured the famous Jiggs with a bomb tucked under his arm. The 11th flew from then to the 5 November 1918 and went on to fly Mexican border patrol from c and it participated in demonstrations of effectiveness of aerial bombardment on warships on 5 September 1923. With the end of World War I, the 11th Aero Squadron returned to New York Harbor and it arrived in about 30 April where it transferred to Camp Mills, Long Island the next day. There most of the men of the 11th Aero Squadron were demobilized, on 26 May 1919, the 11th was transferred administratively to Ellington Field, Texas, where it was manned and equipped with war surplus Dayton-Wright DH-4s. Its mission was to part in the United States Army Border Air Patrol along the Mexican Border. Between August and November 1919, it operated from Marfa Field and it moved to Kelly Field, Texas on 8 November 1919 and became part of the 1st Day Bombardment Group, although it remained on standby if needed along the Mexican Border. In 1921 the Squadron was re-designated 11th Squadron, and in 1922 as the 11th Bombardment Squadron, transferred on 30 June 1922 to Langley Field, Virginia, and conducted bombing tests on obsolete warships off Chesapeake Bay. Transferred on 3 June 1927 to March Field, CA, Inactivated on 31 July 1927 due to budget issues at March Field and personnel transferred to the 54th School Squadron. Activated on 1 June 1928 at Rockwell Field, CA, transferred on 29 October 1931 to March Field, CA. Conducted food relief airdrop missions to Indians snowed-in on reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, awarded the Mackey Trophy for 1933. Transferred on 5 December 1934 to Hamilton Field, CA and these future Flying Falcons operated the B-18 bomber and the A-17 attack aircraft. Both Squadrons performed rescue and patrol duties from Fort Douglas, UT, in November 1941 the Squadrons prepared for reassignment to the Philippines
45.
51st Operations Group
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The 51st Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 51st Fighter Wing, stationed at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The group was first activated during the buildup for World War II as the 51st Pursuit Group and it was one of the first groups deployed from the United States after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, traveling west to India via Australia and Ceylon. It has never returned to the United States, after the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December, the 51st served as part of the defense force for the west coast. Operational squadrons of the group were the 16th, 25th, 26th and 449th, the group was deployed to India via Australia and Ceylon beginning in January 1942 and arriving in March, serving in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. It was assigned to Tenth Air Force and equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, the group defended the Indian terminus of the Hump airlift route over the Himalaya Mountains between India and China and airfields in that area. The group flew strafing, bombing, reconnaissance, and patrol missions in support of Allied ground troops during a Japanese offensive in northern Burma in 1943, after moving to China in October 1943 the 51st FG was assigned to the 69th Composite Wing of Fourteenth Air Force. The group defended the Chinese end of the Hump route and air bases in the Kunming area, attached Japanese shipping in the Red River delta of Indochina and supported Chinese ground forces in their late 1944 drive along the Salween River. The group was reequipped with North American P-51D Mustangs in 1945 to defend the end of the route over the Hump. The 51st Fighter Group returned to India in the fall of 1945, the group was inactivated on 13 December 1945. The group was reactivated at Yontan Air Base Okinawa in 1946, the group was assigned to the Twentieth Air Force, 301st Fighter Wing. The group served as part of the force and provided air defense for Okinawa. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, elements of the 51st were dispatched first to Japan, then to South Korea. It entered combat service flying the Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star on 22 September of that year, eighth Army from the Pusan Perimeter. For nearly 4 years thereafter, the 51st FIW played a key role in the defense of South Korea despite moving to four different locations within a year, the wing moved to South Korea in October only to return to Japan in December, leaving combat elements behind. In May 1951, the 51st FIW moved to Suwon Air Base, southwest of Seoul, in November 1951 the 51st FIW transitioned to the North American F-86 Sabre with two squadrons, adding a third squadron the following May. The group operated a detachment at Suwon AB, Korea, beginning in May 1951, the wing ceased combat on 27 July 1953. The 51 FIWs war record was impressive, Wing pilots flew more than 45,000 sorties and shot down 312 MiG-15s, this produced 14 air aces including the top ace of the war, Captain Joseph C. The ratio of victories to losses was 10 to 1
46.
16th Weapons Squadron
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The 16th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the USAF Weapons School, based at Nellis AFB, the 16th began as the 16th Pursuit Squadron on 20 November 1940. During World War II, the 16th Pursuit Squadron flew missions in New Guinea, India, and China in the P-40, P-47, during the Korean War, the 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron flew missions from Korea and Japan in the F-80 and F-86. After the Korean War, the 16th was stationed in Japan, Florida, Norway, Turkey, Korea, in January 1979, the 16th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron became the USAFs first F-16A/B operational squadron. Activated at Hamilton Field, California in 1941 as a P-40 Pursuit Squadron to defend the West Coast, deployed to the CBI in March 1942, initially arriving at Karachi, India moving via Australia and Ceylon. It was assigned to Tenth Air Force, the squadron defended the Indian terminus of the Hump airlift route over the Himalaya Mountains between India and China and airfields in that area, operating from the Assam Valley of northeast India. The squadron flew strafing, bombing, reconnaissance, and patrol missions in support of Allied ground troops during a Japanese offensive in northern Burma in 1943, moved to southeast China in October 1943, being assigned to Fourteenth Air Force. The squadron defended the Chinese end of the Hump route and air bases in the Kunming area, attacked Japanese shipping in the Red River delta of Indochina and supported Chinese ground forces in their late 1944 drive along the Salween River. Was reequipped with North American P-51D Mustangs in 1945 to defend the end of the route over the Hump. They returned to India in the fall of 1945 and sailed for the United States in November, reactivated at Yontan Air Base Okinawa in 1946 and moved to Naha AB when Yontan closed in 1947. The squadron was assigned to the Twentieth Air Force, 301st Fighter Wing, pilots engaged in combat operations in Korean War, 1950–1953, returned to Naha Air Base to resume air defense coverage of the Ryukyu Islands in 1954. In the early 1960s, the Air Force was implementing Project Clearwater, however, the Gulf of Tonkin incident intervened and the 16th was kept in the Pacific to maintain an air defense capability there. It deployed F-102s to the Philippines and South Vietnam from August to October 1964 for air defense against possible Communist North Vietnamese air attacks, returned to the United States, activating at Eglin AFB, Florida. Became combat ready in the F-4 aircraft in December 1965 with a program of training operations to maintain proficiency. Participated in numerous demonstrations, provided close air support of Army troops during tactical exercises. From December 1966 to mid -1967 performed F-4 replacement training, deployed to South Korea, and assumed alert status at Kunsan and Osan ABs June–September 1970, providing air defense, participating in exercises, and maintaining combat readiness. Reassigned to Hill AFB, Utah, and received first production F-16A Fighting Falcon aircraft to be delivered to a squadron on 6 January 1979. Many of the early F-16 pilots went through the 16th TFTS, as it was the first RTU for the F-16 and acted as a worldwide RTU, training over 240 pilots in the F-16
47.
John R. Alison
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John Richardson Johnny Alison was a highly decorated American combat ace of World War II and veteran of the Korean War, and is often cited as the father of Air Force Special Operations. Born in Micanopy, Florida, near Gainesville in 1912, Alison graduated from the University of Florida School of Engineering and he earned his wings and was commissioned at Kelly Field in 1937. Prior to Americas entry into World War II, he served as Assistant Military Attache in England, in October 1941, Alison traveled to Moscow to administer the sensitive U. S. -Soviet P-40 Lend-Lease program. He trained Russian pilots in the P-40, A-20, and B-25 Mitchell aircraft, in his autobiography, Jimmy Doolittle wrote, After ten months and repeated requests for reassignment to combat, Alison got his wish. Alison was called into theater by the commander of the AVG, Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault. On 30 July 1942, Alison was credited with the first night kills in the theater, for his experimental night interception, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Alison again demonstrated his aggressiveness in early 1943, when he took off during an attack on his own airfield and he then vectored arriving reinforcements to the battle, after which he made a stern attack on another enemy fighter at close range, shooting it down. His gallantry and fighting earned him the Silver Star. Ending his tour as commander of the 75th Fighter Squadron, Alison left as an ace with seven confirmed victories, the 1st Air Commandos supported the British Chindit Special Forces infiltration of Japanese rear supply areas. In March 1944, Alisons men flew more than 200 miles behind enemy lines, transporting, re-supplying, Alisons innovative leadership and combat daring as co-commander of the 1st Air Commandos helped to turn the tide of the Allied war effort in the CBI theater. Alison later commanded the 3rd Air Commando group in the Pacific serving in the Philippines, after the war, he served as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce, President of the Air Force Association, and as a major general in the Air Force Reserve. He retired as president of the Northrop Corporation in 1984 and is a 1994 inductee into the Air Commando Hall of Fame. In 1985,2004 and 2009, Alison was honored at the Air Universitys Gathering of Eagles program, in 2005 Alison was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Alison died on June 6,2011 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on October 3,2011, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz provided the eulogy at the Old Post Chapel at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. Following the chapel service, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley presented the American flag to Alisons wife, Penni, Alison was survived by Penni, and their two sons, John and David. Shortly before his passing, he authorized the Washington DC Chapter of the Air Commando Association to use his name, boltz, Richard W. Phil Cochran and John Alison, Images of Apollos Warriors. Doolittle, James H. Glines, Carroll V, I Could Never Be So Lucky Again. Hill, David Lee, Schaupp, R. Tex Hill, National Aviation Hall of Fame John R. Alison Enshrinee Biography
United States of America
United States Air Force (18 September 1947 – present)
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Army Air Forces, 5 March 1943 – 18 September 1947)
Air Force Space Command
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
