Fifteenth Air Force
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World War II was well underway when the Fifteenth Air Force was established in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations as a strategic air force and commenced combat operations the day after it was formed.
The new air force drew its operational forces from heavy bombers of the IX Bomber Command, the strategic bomber command of the Ninth Air Force which was relocating to the the United Kingdom to become a tactical air force in the European Theater of Operations.
Mainly operating out of bases in southern Italy, the the Fifteenth Air Force, along with the Eighth Air Force and RAF Bomber Command, became the instruments used by the Allies to carry the strategic air offensive to Axis occupied Europe and Germany.
In the postwar years it became one of Strategic Air Command's primary numbered air forces. Since its transfer to Air Mobility Command in 1992, Fifteenth Air Force has assumed responsibility for airlift and air refueling missions.
Further reading
- "B-24 Liberator Units of the Fifteenth Air Force", by Robert F Dorr, Pub NY Osprey, ISBN 1841760811
- "The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B24s over Germany, 1944-1945", by Stephen Ambrose, Pub NY Simon & Schuster, 2001.
- "P-47 Thunderbolt Aces of the Ninth and Fifteenth Air Force" by Jerry Scutts, Pub Osprey, ISBN 1855329069
External links
- The 15th Air Force (http://www.376hbgva.com/history/15thairforce.html)