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The United States Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense.
- List of United States Air Force Installations
This change reflects a Cold War expansion, retirement of...
- Charles Q. Brown Jr
Charles Quinton Brown Jr. (born 1962) is a United States Air...
- Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), headquartered...
- Chief of Staff of The United States Air Force
The chief of staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or...
- Uniforms of The United States Air Force
Current Service Dress uniforms worn by senior general...
- List of Equipment of The United States Air Force
The equipment of the United States Air Force can be...
- List of United States Air Force Installations
Emblem of the USAF. The following is a list of currently active military aircraft in the United States Air Force.
- World War I and Between Wars
- World War II
- Cold War and Korean War
- Vietnam War
- Combat Operations Since 1975
- 2010s
- Further Reading
- External Links
World War I
In 1917, upon the American entry into World War I, the first major U.S. aviation combat force was created when an Air Service was formed as part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Major General Mason Patrick commanded the Air Service of the AEF; his deputy was Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. These aviation units, some of which were trained in France, provided tactical support for the U.S. Army, especially during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne offensives. Among the...
Billy Mitchell: Air power court martialed
Americans were fascinated with aviation in the 1920s and 1930s and refused to allow War Department conservatism to block innovation. General Billy Mitchell, the deputy director of the Air Service sought to wrest control of coastal defense away from the Navy. He went public insisting that his planes could sink battleships any day, a claim proven with a series of tests that culminated in the sinking of the SMS Ostfriesland. Mitchell lost his self-control in 1925 when he accused the Navy in a pr...
Command structure
In 1935, as a result of recommendations from two civilian review boards, the next advancement toward independence for the Air Force occurred when all flying units, which heretofore had been distributed to various ground commands, were grouped together as an aerial task force under one air commander as the General Headquarters Air Force. The Air Corps, headed by the Chief of the Air Corps, continued as before but now held responsibility only for supply, airfields, and training, in effect split...
The Air Force came of age in World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the lead after the Munich Agreement, calling for a vastly enlarged air force based on long-range strategic bombing. President Roosevelt instituted a plan to construct 15,000 military aircraft per year, which grew to 50,000 per year after the Axis victory in the Battle o...
In practice, the Army Air Forces became virtually independent of the Army during World War II, but its leaders wanted formal independence. In November 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower became Army Chief of Staff, while General Carl Spaatz began to assume the duties of Commanding General, Army Air Forces, in anticipation of General Arnold's announc...
The USAF was heavily deployed during the Vietnam War. The first bombing raids against North Vietnam occurred in 1964, following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. In March 1965, a sustained bombing campaign began, code-named Operation Rolling Thunder. This campaign's purpose was to destroy the will of the North Vietnamese to fight, destroy industrial bas...
The USAF modernized its tactical air forces in the late 1970s with the introduction of the F-15, A-10, and F-16 fighters, and the implementation of realistic training scenarios under the aegis of Red Flag. In turn, it also upgraded the equipment and capabilities of its Air Reserve Components (ARC) by the equipping of both the Air National Guard and...
Today, the United States Air Force is the largest air force in the world, with about 5,778 manned aircraft in service, approximately 156 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles, 2,130 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, and 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The USAF has 328,439 personnel on active duty, 74,000 in the Selected and Individual Ready Reserves, a...
John T. Correll, The Air Force and the Cold War(2002), short official history of USAFCorrell, John T. "The EAF in Peace and War." Air Force Magazine 85:24–31 July 2002on World War ICraven, Wesley and James Cate, eds. The Army Air Forces In World War II official history. (1948–55; also reprinted)Futrell, Robert F. The United States Air Force in Korea; 1950–1953(1983)."United States Air Force And Its Antecedents: Published And Printed Unit Histories, A Bibliography" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
The structure of the United States Air Force refers to the unit designators and organizational hierarchy of the United States Air Force, which starts at the most senior commands.
The equipment of the United States Air Force can be subdivided into: aircraft, ammunition, weapons, and ground vehicles. [1]
NameTypeAir-to-surface cruise missileAir-to-surface anti-radiation missileThe official website of the U.S. Air Force. AF.MIL delivers the latest breaking news and information on the U.S. Air Force including top stories, features, leadership, policies, and more.
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Learn how the U.S. Air Force evolved from airpower to global superpower since 1912. Explore the major wars, technological breakthroughs and milestones that shaped the Air Force and its missions.
