When was the Eleventh Air Force established?
2221717#50
Six months after Eleventh Air Force had been redesignated in Alaska, another headquarters, also named Eleventh Air Force, was established on 13 May 1946 and activated at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania, on 13 June 1946. This new organization was assigned to Air Defense Command.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#2
Established on 28 December 1941 as the Alaskan Air Force at Elmendorf Field, Alaska Territory. 11 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the American Theater of World War II, providing air defense of Alaska and engaging in combat operations primarily in the Aleutian Islands and Northern Pacific during the Aleutian Islands Campaign.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#35
Several changes took place following the occupation of Kiska. The Eleventh Air Force became a component of Task Force "Y", still under Navy jurisdiction. Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was named ComNorPac and Major General Davenport Johnson relieved General Butler as commander of the Eleventh Air Force. One of General Johnson's first acts was the establishment of the Eleventh Air Force Instrument flying school and the promotion of an intensive training program in navigation and instrument flying, as well as the accelerated development of radio and navigation aids in the Aleutian Islands. Because of the tremendous advances brought about by intensive instrument training and the increased aids to navigation and radio, planes that used to be grounded by weather, were now flying regular schedules. Troop Carrier Command and Air Transport Command planes were operating in the Aleutian Islands with airline regularity.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#48
With the end of the war, many of the small air bases in the Aleutian Islands closed permanently, and postwar emphasis turned to training. Air Transport Command transferred Ladd Field to the Eleventh Air Force on 1 November. On 15 December 1945, The Army reorganized its organization in Alaska. Eleventh Air Force, which was under the jurisdiction of the Army Western Defense Command, headquartered at the Presidio of San Francisco since its establishment in 1941, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States Army Air Forces.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#49
Under the USAAF, it was re-designated as Alaskan Air Command' on 18 December 1945, without any change in headquarters location. Alaskan Air Command was established at the same Major Command echelon as the other overseas combat commands, the United States Air Forces in Europe, Far East Air Forces and Caribbean Air Command, with its mission being the air defense of the Territory of Alaska.
Eleventh Air Force
30871808#9
Following World War II, Elmendorf assumed an increasing role in the defense of North America as the uncertain wartime relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated into the Cold War. The Eleventh Air Force was redesignated as the Alaskan Air Command (AAC) on 18 December 1945. The Alaskan Command, established 1 January 1947, also headquartered at Elmendorf, was a unified command under the Joint Chiefs of Staff based on lessons learned during World War II when a lack of unity of command hampered operations to drive the Japanese from the western Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska.
Elmendorf Air Force Base
2221717#36
In November 1943 a second airfield, Casco Cove Army Airfield was constructed on Attu for long-range bombing operations.
Eleventh Air Force carried out another bombing mission against northern Kurils on 5 February 1944, when it attacked with six B-24s from the 404th Bomb Sqdn. (28th BG) and 16 P-38s from the 54th Fighter Sqdn. (343d FG). March 1944 saw Eleventh Air Force bombers over the Kuriles on daylight armed reconnaissance missions. Not many, but a sufficient number to convince the Japanese that there were aircraft in the Aleutian Islands and that the Kuriles were in constant danger of air attack. During the crucial period, while other United States forces were advancing in the South Pacific, the Japanese were forced to keep much-needed aircraft, in the Kuriles and Hokkaido as defense against possible attack from the North.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#7
Early in 1940, the question of air defense of the Alaska Territory came into the limelight when President Roosevelt pointed out in his message to Congress requesting funds for fortification of Guam and Wake Islands and other strategic points in the Pacific that airfields were needed in Alaska. The original request for $12,000,000 to be appropriated for the construction of Alaskan defenses was cut to $600,000, but still was sufficient to begin the construction of an air base at Anchorage, Alaska. Thus was begun the construction of Elmendorf Field, primary fourth-echelon base for all future Eleventh Air Force operations. Construction of the airfield began on 8 June when 25 locally hired men began clearing brush, the Army intending it to be a permanent airfield.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#52
With the activation of the Alaskan Command in 1989, the next logical step was to place its air component (AAC) under the Pacific Air Forces. By reorganizing AAC into a Numbered Air Force, the Air Force was able to reduce its administrative manpower requirements during a period of massive Air Force strength reductions. On 9 August 1990, the Alaskan Air Command was redesignated the 11th Air Force once again and assigned as a Numbered Air Force (NAF) under United States Pacific Air Forces. The new organization was allotted the lineage of the previous Eleventh Air Force that had served in Alaska.
Eleventh Air Force
2221717#34
These operations led to a joint mission on 11 September 1943, when Eleventh Air Force dispatched eight B-24 Liberators and 12 B-25s. However the Japanese were alert and reinforced their defenses. 74 crew members in three B-24s and seven B-25 failed to return. Twenty two men were killed in action, one taken prisoner and 51 interned in Kamchatka, Russia. It had proven that the Kurile Islands could be attacked, but new methods had to be devised as the raid lost Eleventh Air Force over half its offensive striking power. No more combat missions were flown in 1943.
Eleventh Air Force