Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the U.S. Air Force established?
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest[13] and most technologically advanced[14] air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
Over the following decades most countries with any substantial military capability established their own independent air forces.The South African Air Force was formed on 1 February 1920 and the Royal Australian Air Force was formed shortly afterwards on 31 March 1921, although it was not until 1922 that the head of the Service was titled as Chief of the Air Staff, placing him on a par with his Australian Army and Navy counterparts. The Canadian Air Force was formed at the end of World War I, and was abolished and reorganized several times between 1918 and 1924. It became the permanent Royal Canadian Air Force when it received the "Royal" title by royal proclamation on 1 April 1924. It did not however become independent of the Canadian Army until 1938 when its head was also designated as Chief of the Air Staff. Similarly, the Royal New Zealand Air Force was established in 1923 as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force but did not become independent of the New Zealand Army until 1937. Other British-influenced countries also established their own independent air forces. For example, the Royal Egyptian Air Force was created in 1937 when Egyptian military aviation was separated from Army command.The Afghan Air Force was established on 22 August 1924,with support of The Soviet Union and Great Britain, but the civil war destroyed most of the planes and it wasn't until 1937,when King Mohammed Nadir Shah took power and reestablished the Afghan air Force.
Headquarters 4 ATAF moved several times over more than forty years. Established about 1951 at Trier Air Base, the headquarters was moved to Ramstein Air Base in November 1957 where it remained until December 1980 when it was moved to Heidelberg where it was colocated with Headquarters Central Army Group. An operational Air Defence Operations Centre was operated at Ouvrage Molvange from 1961 until 1967 when it was moved to a USAF site in Kindsbach just south of Ramstein Air Base. The headquarters also operated a number of communications sites which were concerned with secure communications for the release of tactical nuclear weapons through the NATO Quick Reaction Alert Force. In 1985 NATO began with the construction of a new Static War Headquarters bunker in Ruppertsweiler, Germany. Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force commanded besides Seventeenth Air Force, the U.S. 32nd Army Air Defense Command, 1 Canadian Air Group and two German Air Force ("Luftwaffe") divisions, as well as extensive secure communications, air defense and radar installations manned by Germany and the U.S. Air Force.
On 8 October 1932, the Indian Air Force was established in British India as an auxiliary air force of Royal Air Force, and adopted the Royal Air Force uniforms, badges, brevets and insignia. In 1948, first airstrip was built in Haryana when Ambala Air Force Station was established following the independence of India. After the independence of India in 1947, an air force logistics base was established at Faridabad.
The U.S. military codified their forward air control (FAC) experience from World War II in 1946, when the most recent edition of Field Manual 31–35 "Air Ground Operations" (FM 31–35) was issued for the U.S. Army. The Army Air Force organized its strategic bombers into the Strategic Air Command (SAC), and split its fighters into Air Defense Command (ADC), and Tactical Air Command (TAC). The latter was tasked with close air support (CAS), and thus with forward air control. The Air Force's doctrine, based on Second World War experience called for three necessary conditions for successful close air support. One was gaining air superiority over the enemy. Another was isolating the battlefield via interdiction strikes on a foe's lines of communication. The third was the delivery of air strikes via a forward air control system supporting the Army's ground forces. The Army tended to believe the latter was given the lowest priority by the Air Force and resented it. In 1947, the newly established U.S. Air Force also adopted FM 31–35. However, this failed to set a single forward air control system within the U.S. military. As part of the division of forces when the Air Force became independent, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps kept their aviation components and their forward control systems. The Army kept its light liaison aircraft and the few helicopters of the era, but was still dependent on the Air Force for most air support, including forward air control.
The county is also the location of the March Air Reserve Base, one of the oldest airfields continuously operated by the United States military. Established as the Alessandro Flying Training Field in February 1918, it was one of thirty-two U.S. Army Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917. The airfield was renamed March Field the following month for 2d Lieutenant Peyton C. March, Jr., the recently deceased son of the then-Army Chief of Staff, General Peyton C. March, who was killed in an air crash in Texas just fifteen days after being commissioned. March Field remained an active Army Air Service, then U.S. Army Air Corps installation throughout the interwar period, later becoming a major installation of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Renamed March Air Force Base in 1947 following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force, it was a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation throughout the Cold War. In 1996, it was transferred to the Air Force Reserve Command and gained its current name as a major base for the Air Force Reserve and the California Air National Guard.
The Militia Act of 1903 divided what had been the militia into what it termed the "organized" militia, created from portions of the former state guards to become state National Guard units, and the "unorganized" militia consisting of all males from ages 17 to 45, with the exception of certain officials and others, which is codified in . Some states, such as Texas, California, and Ohio, created separate state defense forces for assistance in local emergencies. Congress later established a system of "dual enlistment" for the National Guard, so that anyone who enlisted in the National Guard also enlisted in the U.S. Army. When the U.S. Air Force was established as an independent service in 1947, the National Guard was further divided into the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. Under this construct, the 1933 defense act's "dual enlistment" facet was further amended so that enlisted soldiers and commissioned officers in the Army National Guard were also enlisted or commissioned in the Reserve Component of the U.S. Army. Enlisted airmen and commissioned officers in the Air National Guard were also enlisted or commissioned in the Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force.
On 1 December 1948, under the command of First Air Force and Air Defense Command of the U.S. Army Air Force, the entire 101st was transferred to the Continental Air Command (CONAC) shortly after the U.S. Air Force was established on 18 September 1947 as a separate branch of the Armed Forces.
With the end of World War II, much of the former U.S. Army Air Forces installation was transferred to the city with the exception of for the National Guard. With the establishment of an independent U.S. Air Force in 1947, the military facilities became part of the newly established Air National Guard. This facility became the foundation for the current Rosecrans Air National Guard Base.
When the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate executive department under the National Security Act of 1947, Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington, requested FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to loan General Carroll to the services to organize a U.S. Air Force agency for investigative and counterintelligence functions. He organized and directed this new organization, the AFOSI, along the lines of the FBI rather than the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC or CID). General Carroll was tendered a commission as a colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve, January 12, 1948. He was ordered to active duty in the grade of brigadier general May 6, 1948, and promoted to major general August 11, 1950.
AFPC is organized into six directorates.The Air Force Military Personnel Center was established 1 April 1963, as a Headquarters Air Force field extension of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel, and in 1971 became a separate operating agency. Its name was changed to the Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center in 1978, when the Air Force integrated the manpower and personnel functions at U.S. Air Force Headquarters level. In October 1985, the manpower function was realigned and separated from personnel. This resulted in the center being renamed the Air Force Military Personnel Center on 1 January 1986. The center became a field operating agency on 5 February 1991.
The first unified command in the European area was established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 1 August 1952. Designated the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), it was established to provide "unified command and authority" over all U.S. forces in Europe. Prior to 1 August 1952, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Army presence in Europe maintained separate commands that reported directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The respective titles of the service commands were: Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE); Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean; and Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European Command. In line with the creation of the joint-service European Command, the Army command in Europe was redesignated U.S. Army Europe on 1 August 1952.
"...that established a fixed wing weight limit (for the Army) of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated ..." (Pushing the Envelope, pg. 196)
One of the consequences of President Harry S Truman creating the modern U.S. Defense Department was the splitting off of the U.S. Army Air Forces (the Army Air Corps was disestablished in 1942) from the U.S. Army, and creating the U.S. Air Force. With the Air Force's natural inclination towards Air Superiority and Strategic (i.e., nuclear) priorities, the Army wanted some air capabilities of its own. However, this would mean the duplication of some resources between the Army and Air Force. Eventually there was a meeting between Air Force Secretary Thomas K. Finletter and Army Secretary Frank Pace resulted in the Pace-Finletter MOU of 4 November 1952.
After World War II, the area was occupied by the US Army and renamed "Camp Lindsey" (after Captain Darrell R. Lindsey). U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE), however, retained a small presence at Lindsey Air Station. Lindsey AS was established as a U.S. Army Air Forces installation on 13 November 1946, became a U.S. Air Force installation in 1947, and achieved its greatest prominence between December 1953 and 14 March 1973 when it was the host base for USAFE Headquarters. On that date USAFE Headquarters moved to Ramstein Air Base.
The U.S. War Department created the first antecedent of the U.S. Air Force, as a part of the U.S. Army, on 1 August 1907, which through a succession of changes of organization, titles, and missions advanced toward eventual independence 40 years later. In World War II, almost 68,000 U.S. airmen died helping to win the war, with only the infantry suffering more casualties.[23] In practice, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was virtually independent of the Army during World War II, and in virtually all ways functioned as an independent service branch, but airmen still pressed for formal independence.[24] The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947 by President Harry S Truman, which established the Department of the Air Force, but it was not until 18 September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office that the Air Force was officially formed as an independent service branch.[25][26]
The Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service is a defunct organization that operated movie theaters on US Army and Air Force installations from 1920 until 1975. Before World War I, licensing rights to show motion pictures were the responsibility of individual installation commanders. The Army Motion Picture Service (AMPS) was established on June 22, 1920 under the US War Department as a centralized entity to regulate admissions and film licenses among Army movie theaters, followed by the establishment of the Army Library Service in 1923. In 1941, the AMPS was transferred to the command of the Army Special Services, operating 94 theaters at that time. In 1948, after the separation of Air Force as a distinct branch, the Army Motion Picture Service was redesignated the Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service. The AAFMPS was merged with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service on June 28, 1975, and its functions are now part of the U.S. Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; the G9 Division of the U.S. Army Installation Management Command (for the U.S. Army) and the Air Force Services Agency (for the U.S. Air Force).
During World War II, the installation was a U.S. Army Air Forces training base known as Lockbourne Army Airfield, becoming an air force base in 1948 a few months following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as an independent branch of the U.S. armed forces. Rickenbacker ANGB is a former Strategic Air Command (SAC) base previously named Lockbourne AFB from 1948 to 1974 and later Rickenbacker AFB from 1974 to 1980. The facility was transferred from SAC and the active duty Air Force on 1 April 1980 and turned over to the Air National Guard.
Given that the U.S. Air Force evolved from its predecessors, the U.S. Army Air Service, the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Army Air Forces, the rank of major general in the Air Force coincides with its establishment as an independent service in 1947.
In September 1947 the combat elements of the Army Air Forces separated from the U.S. Army, forming the United States Air Force. But a few Air Force support functions, such as medical care, remained U.S. Army responsibilities for the next two years. Starting in 1948, the Air Force and the Air Surgeon, Maj. Gen. Malcolm C. Grow (1887-1960), began to convince the U.S. Army and the administration of President Harry S. Truman that the Air Force needed its own medical service. In the summer of 1949, Air Force General Order No. 35 established a medical service with the following officer personnel components: Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, Air Force Nurse Corps, and Women’s Medical Specialist Corps.
On 8 October 1932, the Indian Air Force was established in British India as an auxiliary air force of Royal Air Force, and adopted the Royal Air Force uniforms, badges, brevets and insignia. In 1948, first airstrip was built in Haryana when Ambala Air Force Station was established following the independence of India. After the independence of India in 1947, an air force logistics base was established at Faridabad.
Following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force, most SAC installations on U.S. territory were renamed as "Air Force Base" during late 1947 and into 1948, while non-U.S. installations were renamed as "Air Base."
United States Forces Korea (USFK) is a sub-unified command of United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). USFK is the joint headquarters through which U.S. combat forces would be sent to the South Korea/US (ROK/U.S.) Combined Forces Command's (CFC) fighting components — the combined ground, air, naval, marine and special operations forces component commands. Major USFK elements include Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA), U.S. Air Forces Korea (Seventh Air Force), U.S. Naval Forces Korea (CNFK), U.S. Marine Forces Korea (MARFORK) and Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR). It was established on .
Air University (AU), established in 1946, continues the proud tradition of educating tomorrow's planners and leaders in air and space power for both the U.S. Air Force as well as other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, federal government civilians and many international organizations. Today, AU has a reach worldwide affecting the careers of every member of the United States Air Force.
Tactical Air Command was established to provide a balance between strategic, air defense, and tactical forces of the post–World War II U.S. Army Air Forces followed by, in 1947, the U.S. Air Force. In 1948, the Continental Air Command assumed control over air defense, tactical air, and air reserve forces. After two years in a subordinate role, Tactical Air Command (TAC) was established as a major command.
Being "local" ground forces affiliated with the Army, militias were considered state-centric/territorial-centric in nature, this versus naval forces, which were considered wholly activities of the federal government. This distinction accounts for why there are no National Guard components in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps or U.S. Coast Guard. Because the present day U.S. Air Force evolved from the U.S. Army, it was only natural that a separate Air National Guard would be established with the divestiture of the former U.S. Army Air Forces and its establishment as a separate and independent U.S. Air Force in 1947. 