Ninth United States Air Force

Ninth United States Air Force. . Established at Bowman Field, Kentucky, as V Air Support Command on 21 August 1941 and activated on 1 September, the fledgling unit was redesignated 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942 and assigned, on 22 July 1942, to Bolling Field, Washington, DC. On 18 September 1942, 9th Air Force was redesignated Ninth Air Force and transferred two months later to Cairo, Egypt, without personnel and equipment for eventual service in Operation Torch (Tunisia). Its mission would be to gain and maintain air superiority, prevent replacement of enemy losses, and provide close air support on the battlefield. Ninth Air Force responded to the strategic and tactical elements of that mission throughout the war. In Operation Torch, the Ninth both attacked targets deep in enemy territory and delivered close air support to the troops in battle against the German Afrika Korps. , , By the end of 1942, 370 aircraft including B-24D Liberator heavy bombers, P-40 fighters, and twin-engine transports along with their crews had reached Ninth Air Force. The Casablanca Conference (January 1943) resulted in the formation of Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) in February, and Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder was named Air Commander-in-Chief of MAC. That same month, the Germans roared through Kasserine Pass, but the Allies, supported by Ninth Air Force and other MAC units, drove Afrika Korps into a pocket around Bizerte and Tunis, where it surrendered in May. , , Leading up to and throughout Operation Husky (Sicily), Ninth Air Force units attacked strategic targets, transported paratroopers, and delivered close air support and reinforcements to ground units. The Ninth also joined in the low-level assault of the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania on 1 August, but in September 1943, the commander, Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton, and his headquarters staff were transferred from Africa to the United Kingdom with orders to reform the unit in the European Theater of Operations so it could provide tactical support for Operation Overlord. , , Over the winter of 1943-44, Ninth Air Force expanded to 45 flying groups operating some 5,000 aircraft. Counting ground units supporting the mission, Ninth Air Force stood at more than 200,000 officers and men. In addition to conducting raids across the Channel, the Ninth trained for the aerial insertion of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and added 1,207 C-47 Skytrain troop carriers and over 1,400 Waco and Horsa gliders. , , On D-Day, the Ninth's Troop Carrier Command units flew more than 2000 sorties including combat parachute jumps and glider landings. The hundreds of sorties flown by other Ninth units included attacks with P-51 Mustangs, P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers, and B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder medium bombers. Scores of P-38 Lightnings provided air cover for the amphibious assault, and after the ground troops had secured the beaches, the Ninth's tactical air units began providing the commanding battlefield air power that supported the Allied advance from the Normandy beachhead through St. Lo, Cherbourg, and Caen as well as for Operation Cobra (the breakout). The reorganization of Ninth Air Force during the previous winter had given it the mobility and flexibility to deploy P-47 Thunderbolts to a beachhead landing strip on D+10. Numerous relocations to remain in range of the advancing frontline insured the availability of close air support during the push to and through Germany, which included Operations Dragoon (Southern France) and Market Garden (Netherlands), the Rhineland Campaign, Battle of the Bulge, and Central Europe Campaign. , , In memory of Major Darwin J. Mann, USAF, who served with distinction in World War II and the Korean War. Given by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Mann.