The I Tactical Air Division is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

unit. It was last assigned to

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

, based at

Biggs Field Biggs Army Airfield (formerly Biggs Air Force Base) is a United States Army military airbase located on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. History Biggs Field/Biggs Army Airfield (1916–47) On 15 June 1919, following an attack b ...

, Texas. It was inactivated on 22 December 1945.

History

General Headquarters Air Force The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

(GHQ AF) reorganized its four regional air districts as

Numbered Air Force A Numbered Air Force (NAF) is a type of organization in the United States Air Force that is subordinate to a major command (MAJCOM) and has assigned to it operational units such as wings, squadrons, and groups.

s in the spring of 1941. By the fall of that year, each of these had organized as a support command and three combat commands. In the summer of 1941 GHQ AF had decided to establish commands to direct its

air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...

mission in each numbered air force, plus one additional command reporting directly to GHQ AF. These commands would be manned from inactivating

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

, and would initially control only observation squadrons, which would be transferred from the control of the corps and divisions, although they would remain attached to these ground units.Futrell, p. 13 4th Air Force organized 4th Air Support Command at Fresno Army Air Base, California in September 1941, soon moving to

Will Rogers Field Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...

, Oklahoma where it drew cadre and equipment from the

15th Bombardment Wing 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicio ...

, which was simultaneously inactivated.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 432–433 New observation groups were formed, with a cadre drawn from

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. N ...

squadrons that had been mobilized in 1940 and 1941. Following the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...

the command came under the control of the

Western Theater of Operations Western Defense Command (WDC) was established on 17 March 1941 as the command formation of the United States Army responsible for coordinating the defense of the Pacific Coast region of the United States during World War II. A second major res ...

and flew antisubmarine patrols off the Pacific coast. Most of the command's

observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. Th ...

units were withdrawn form antisubmarine operations in June 1942, although some patrols continued until January 1943.Futrell, p. 15 However, by early 1942, the command's first commander, like two of the other commanders of air support commands had moved overseas, and similar personnel demands led GHQ AF to believe it had little more than the "remnants" of the command remaining. The AAF determined that its continental air forces would specialize in their training operations and that all their air support commands would be reassigned to

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...

. In August 1943, the command was redesignated the III Tactical Air Division with the intent that the command would engage in combined training with army ground forces. At various times, it supervised heavy bomber flights to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

, gave air support to ground units in training, participated in air-ground maneuvers, and put on air support demonstrations.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 4th Air Support Command on 21 August 1941Maurer indicates unit was constituted as the "IV" Air Support Command. However, the unit was constituted and activated with an arabic number in its name. The use of

roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

s to designate Army Air Forces combat commands did not begin until September 1942. : Activated on 3 September 1941 : Redesignated 4th Ground Air Support Command 30 April 1942 : Redesignated IV Air Support Command 12 September 1942 : Redesignated III Tactical Air Division 4 September 1943 : Redesignated I Tactical Air Division c. 15 April 1944 : Inactivated on 22 December 1945 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948

Assignments

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reser ...

, 3 September 1941 *

, 12 August 1942 *

Desert Training Center The Desert Training Center (DTC), also known as California–Arizona Maneuver Area (CAMA), was a World War II training facility established in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, largely in Southern California and Western Arizona in 1942. It ...

, 21 January 1943 * Second Air Force, 1 December 1943 * III Tactical Air Command, c. 15 April 1944

, 24 October 1945 * Second Air Force, 23 November – 22 December 1945

Stations

* Fresno Army Air Base, California, 3 September 1941 * Hamilton Field, California, 11 September 1941 *

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...

, California, 7 February 1942 * Thermal Army Airfield, California, 20 January 1943 * Camp Young, California, c. September 1943 * Thermal Army Air Field, California, c. 15 December 1943 *

Esler Field Esler Field, also known as Esler Regional Airport , is a military and public use airfield in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States, near the City of Pineville. It is located 10 nautical miles (12 statute miles, 19 kilometres) northeast o ...

, Louisiana, c. 13 April 1944 *

Alexandria Army Air Base Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, Louisiana, September 1945 *

Barksdale Field Barksdale may refer to: Places * Barksdale, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Barksdale, Texas, an unincorporated community *Barksdale, Wisconsin, a town **Barksdale (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community *Barksdale Air Force ...

, Louisiana, c. 16 November 1945 *

, Texas, c. 23 November – 22 December 1945

Components

Groups *

12th Bombardment Group 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria, South Africa See also * 12 (disambiguation) Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year Years * 12 BC * ...

, 3 September 1941 – 21 January 1942 *

47th Bombardment Group 47th may refer to: Chicago Transit Authority stations * 47th station (CTA Green Line), on the Green Line * 47th station (CTA Red Line) 47th is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Red Line. The station is loca ...

, 3 September 1941 – 15 February 1942 (attached to

IV Bomber Command The IV Bomber Command is a disbanded United States Air Force headquarters. It was established in September 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor to command bomber units assigned to 4th Air Force. Following the entry of the United State ...

after 17 December 1941) *

69th Observation Group The 69th Reconnaissance Group is an inactive United States Air Force that was part of Air Combat Command, the group was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota where it was a tenant of the 319th Air Base Wing. The group served ...

, 3 September 1941 – 21 August 1942 *

70th Observation Group 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, 13 September 1941 – November 1942 * 71st Observation Group, March 1942 – August 1942 * 75th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 18 April – 1 May 1944 * 85th Bombardment Group, 2 November 1942 - 21 January 1943 Squadrons *

3rd Observation Squadron The 3rd Special Operations Squadron flies MQ-1 Predator Remotely Piloted Aircraft and is currently located at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. The squadron is under the command of the Air Force Special Operations Command. History World Wa ...

: 7 September 1942 – 21 January 1943 * 4th Communications Squadron, Air Support (later

4th Air Support Communications Squadron Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

): 5 June 1942 – 21 January 1943 *

5th Liaison Squadron The 5th Liaison Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was first activated during World War II as the 5th Observation Squadron. It served as a training unit for cooperation with field artillery until 1942, when that mission w ...

: 11 August – 12 October 1943 (attached to 74th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 17 August – c. 15 September 1943) * 7th Tow Target Squadron: (see Tow Target Detachment, March Field) *

8th Photographic Squadron 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

: 1 February – 29 March 1942 * 8th Tow Target Squadron: (see Tow Target Detachment, McChord Field) * 10th Air Support Communications Squadron: 7 September 1941 – unknown * 13th Air Support Communications Squadron (later

13th Tactical Air Communications Squadron In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...

): c. 7 June 1943 – 15 April 1944 *

31st Observation Squadron The 31st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to XIX Tactical Air Command at Brooks Field, Texas, where it was inactivated on 3 February 1946. History The squadron was first activa ...

: 3 September 1941 – 29 March 1943 (attached to 69th Observation Group after December 1941) * 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron: 29 March 1944 – 12 April 1944 *

112th Liaison Squadron Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

: 1 January – 4 June 1941 * 116th Observation Squadron: 3–13 September 1941 * 125th Liaison Squadron: c. 11 October 1943 – 4 June 1944 (attached to

76th Tactical Reconnaissance Group The 76th Tactical Reconnaissance Group is a disbanded United States Army Air Forces organization. It was last active in 1944 as part of the Desert Training Center at Thermal Army Air Field, California. History The group was constituted and activa ...

until January 1944) * 155th Liaison Squadron: 10 January – 1 May 1944 * 156th Liaison Squadron: 10 February – 1 May 1944 * 157th Liaison Squadron: 18 April – 1 May 1944 * 161st Liaison Squadron: 24 June 1944 – 1 September 1945 (attached to

, after 3 May 1945) * 455th Fighter-Bomber Squadron: attached 8 March – 1 April 1944Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 561 Battalions * 835th Engineer Aviation Battalion: c. 16 April 1942 – c. January 1943 Companies * 319th Signal Company, Air Wing, 3 September 1941 – unknown Detachments * Tow Target Detachment, March Field (later 7th Tow Target Squadron), 3 September 1941 – November 1943 * Tow Target Detachment, McChord Field (later 8th Tow Target Squadron), 3 September 1941 – July 1942

References

Notes

Explanatory notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{USAAF 4th Air Force World War II Divisions of the United States Army Air Forces 1941 establishments in California Military units and formations disestablished in 1948