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Twelfth Air Force

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Twelfth Air Force / Air Forces Southern
Air Forces Southern emblem
Active1942
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Army Air Forces
(1942-1945, 1946-1947)
United States Air Force
(1947 - 1950, 1951 - Present)
Part ofAir Combat Command
Garrison/HQDavis-Monthan Air Force Base
Commanders
Notable
commanders		James Doolittle

Twelfth Air Force (12 AF) / Air Forces Southern (AFSOUTH) is a Numbered Air Force in United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.

AFSOUTH serves as a primary conventional fighter and bomber WFHQ trained and ready for worldwide employment of airpower. It is responsible for the combat readiness of seven active-duty wings, which comprise more than 33,000 personnel and 400 aircraft. AFSOUTH is also responsible for three active-duty Direct Reporting Units, which comprise more than 1,200 personnel; and 14 gained units of the AFR and ANG, featuring an additional 18,800 personnel and more than 200 aircraft.

The command serves as the air component to United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). This responsibility includes significant involvement in battling illegal narcotics trafficking from several forward operating locations.

The commander of AFSOUTH is Lt Gen Norman Seip.

Units

Active Duty

Direct Reporting Units

Air Force Reserve

History

12th USAAF patch in World War II

World War II

AFSOUTH (Twelfth Air Force) origins are traced back to a series of mid-1942 Allied planners' meetings to develop a strategy for the North African invasion or "Operation TORCH". Because this extensive operation required a new organization to provide enough manpower and equipment, activation plans were prepared simultaneously with the invasion strategy.

On 20 August 1942, Twelfth Air Force was activated at Bolling AAF, Maryland. On 23 September 1942. Brigadier General Jimmy Doolittle formally assumed 12 AF command with Colonel Hoyt S. Vandenberg as chief of staff. Barely four months after it was conceived, 12 AF made its first contributions to World War II. When the North Africa invasion D-Day arrived on 8 November 1942, 12th AF was ready to meet its assigned missions.

Initially Twelfth Air Force was a composite air force, containing both strategic heavy bombing, as well as tactical bombing and fighter elements, operating initially from French Morocco and Algeria after the Operation TORCH landings in November 1942. Operational elements came from the United States, as well as units transferred from Eighth Air Force in England and Ninth Air Force upon Ninth's deactivation in Lybia in late 1943 prior to it's transfer to England.

With the activation of Fifteenth Air Force in October 1943, the heavy bomber groups (B-17, B-24) were transferred and Twelfth became a tactical air force, operating in the Mediterranean, Sicily, Italy, and Southern France. By V-E Day, 12th AF had flown 430,681 sorties, dropped 217,156 tons of bombs, claimed destruction of 2,857 enemy aircraft, and lost 2,667 of its own aircraft.

When hostilities ended, Twelfth Air Force was inactivated at Florence, Italy, on 31 August 1945.

Commands

XII Tactical Air Command

XII Tactical Air Command was constituted as XII Ground Air Support Command on 10 September 1942 and activated on 17 September. It was assigned to 12th Air Force and redesignated as XII Air Support Command, and later redesignated as XII Tactical Air Command in April 1944. The command was moved to French Morocco on 9 November 1942 as part of the Operation Torch landings in North Africa.

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

XII Tactical Air Command served in combat in the Mediterranean and European theaters until May 1945.

Known XII Tactical Air Command units were:

  • 5th Bombardment Wing (1942)
    (Groups transferred to XII Bomber Command)
  • 57th Bombardment Wing (1943)
    Transferred from 9th Air Force
    (Groups transferred to XII Bomber Command)
  • 64th Fighter Wing (1943 - 1945)
    Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy
  • 87th Fighter Wing (Apr - Sep 1944)
    Algeria, Italy, Corsica
XII Bomber Command

XII Bomber Command was constituted on 26 February 1942 and activated on 13 March at MacDill AAF Florida. It was assigned to 12th Air Force in August and transferred, without personnel and equipment, to High Wycombe England where the command was re-formed. XII Bomber Command was moved to Tafaraoui, Algeria on 22 November 1942 as part of the Operation Torch landings in North Africa.

XII Bomber Command served in combat in the Mediterranean theater until 1 November 1943 when most of the personnel were withdrawn. The command was restaffed in January 1944 and served in combat until 1 March. It was disbanded in Corsica on 10 June 1944.

Known XII Bomber Command units were:

XXII Tactical Air Command

XXII Tactical Air Command was constituted on 26 February 1942 and activated on 5 March. It was redesignated as XII Fighter Command in May 1942, and XXII Tactical Air Command in November 1944.

The command was assigned to 12th Air Force in August 1942 and was moved to RAF Wattisham England in September, then on to Tafaraoui, Algeria on 8 November 1942 as part of the Operation Torch landings in North Africa.

XXII Tactical Air Command served in combat in the Mediterranean theater until the end of the war. It was inactivated at Pomigliano Italy on 4 October 1945.

Known XXII Tactical Air Command units were:

XII Troop Carrier Command

Cold War

With the end of combat in the Mediterranean and European theaters in 1945, Twelfth Air Force was inactivated at Florence, Italy, on August 31, 1945. However XII Tactical Air Command was reassigned as part of the occupation force in Germany of the United States Air Forces in Europe. Units assigned for occupation duty were:

XII Tactical Air Command was inactivated at Bad Kissingen Germany on 10 November 1947.

Postwar USAF Twelfth Air Force emblem

Twelfth Air Force was reactivated at March AAF, California, on 17 May 1946, and assigned to Tactical Air Command with training responsibilities. When in December 1948, TAC was assigned to Continental Air Command, 12th Air Force lost its functions associated with tactical airpower and became concerned primarily with reserve and national guard activities. It was deactivated on 1 July 1950.

Headquarters 12th Air Force was reactivated on 21 January 1951 at Wiesbaden, West Germany and was assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe. Twelfth Air Force became the first USAFE unit to be committed to NATO. Along with French and Canadian air units, 12 AF was part of the 4th Allied Tactical Air Forces charged with conducting NATO's Allied Air Forces Central Europe aerial mission.

In 1953, Headquarters Twelfth Air Force was transfered to the newly-opened Ramstein Air Base. On 10 November 1957 the command was transferred to Connally AFB, near Waco Texas, and was assigned to Tactical Air Command. On January 1, 1958, the scope of the command was expanded when tactical airlift units of the deactivating Eighteenth Air Force were reassigned to 12th AF, adding 16 troop carrier wings flying C-45, C-46, C-47, C-54, C-82, C-119, C-122, C-124 and C-130 aircraft.

During 10 years at Connally its mission began to focus on training tactical air crews to a state of combat readiness capable of conducting joint air operations. In September 1968, Twelfth Air Force moved to Bergstrom AFB Texas. During the war in Vietnam, the Twelfth was a primary source for tactical fighter, reconnaissance, and airlift forces in that theater.

In 1987, the Twelfth Air Force commander took on the United States Air Forces in Southern Command responsibility. As such, the Lt. Gen. manages all Air Force personnel and assets in the United States Southern Command area of responsibility--Central and South America. During the 1989 Operation JUST CAUSE, for example, 12 AF and other Air Force units deployed in support of U.S. forces, returning democracy to Panama. In 1994, 12 AF managed and orchestrated Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY's air operations, the mission to restore Haitian democracy while at the same time supporting US Southern Command's Operation SAFE HAVEN for Cuban refugees.

Post Cold War

On 13 July 1993, Headquarters Twelfth Air Force officially moved from Bergstrom AFB to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Since then, 12 AF personnel and units have participated in operations in many other parts of the world: SOUTHERN WATCH, PROVIDE COMFORT, DENY FLIGHT, PROVIDE PROMISE, RESTORE HOPE, and JOINT ENDEAVOR. During Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM 12 AF provided fighter and reconnaissance aircraft to support U.S. Central Command Air Forces.

Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, AFSOUTH (Twelfth Air Force) has worked closely with Caribbean, Central, and South American countries in the Global War on Terrorism. The command has supported efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. and neighboring counties. AFSOUTH (Twelfth Air Force) has also provided forces to Operations ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan, IRAQI FREEDOM, and NOBLE GUARDIAN in the U.S. Today AFSOUTH (Twelfth Air Force) directs seven combat wings, five Direct Reporting Units, as well as 12 AF gained Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units.

References

  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
  • Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.

External links

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