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The '''IX Fighter Command''' is an inactive [[United States Air Force]] unit. Its last assignment was with the [[Ninth Air Force]], based at [[Erlangen]], [[Germany]]. It was inactivated on 16 November 1945.
The '''IX Fighter Command''' is an inactive [[United States Army Air Force]] unit. Its last assignment was with the [[Ninth Air Force]], based at [[Erlangen]], [[Germany]]. It was inactivated on 16 November 1945.

IX Fighter Command was the primary tactical fighter air arm of [[Ninth Air Force]] in the [[Western Desert Campaign]] in [[North Africa]] in 1942-1943. Reassigned to [[England]], it became the dominant tactical air force over the skies of [[Western Europe]] during the 1944 [[Battle of Normandy]] and the [[Western Allied invasion of Germany]] in 1945.

After its inactivation, the majority of its (along with [[Twelfth Air Force]]) units were incorporated into the postwar [[United States Air Force]] [[Tactical Air Command]].


== History==
== History==

Revision as of 00:38, 29 August 2009

IX Fighter Command
World War II Emblem of Ninth Air Force
Active1942-1945
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Army Air Forces
RoleFighter Command and Control

The IX Fighter Command is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Erlangen, Germany. It was inactivated on 16 November 1945.

IX Fighter Command was the primary tactical fighter air arm of Ninth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa in 1942-1943. Reassigned to England, it became the dominant tactical air force over the skies of Western Europe during the 1944 Battle of Normandy and the Western Allied invasion of Germany in 1945.

After its inactivation, the majority of its (along with Twelfth Air Force) units were incorporated into the postwar United States Air Force Tactical Air Command.

History

Lineage

  • Constituted as IX Interceptor Command on 19 Jan 1942
Activated on 1 Feb 1942
Redesignated IX Fighter Command in May 1942
Inactivated on 16 Nov 1945
Disbanded on 8 Oct 1948

Assignments

Stations

Components

Middle East

Western Europe

48th Fighter Group
RAF Ibsley, (P-47 Thunderbolt)
354th Fighter Group*
RAF Greenham Common (486); RAF Boxted (150); RAF Lashenden (410), (P-51 Mustang)
367th Fighter Group
RAF Stoney Cross; RAF Ibsley, (P-38 Lightning)
371st Fighter Group
RAF Bisterne, (P-47 Thunderbolt)
474th Fighter Group
RAF Warmwell, (P-38 Lightning)
366th Fighter Group
RAF Membury; RAF Thruxton, (P-47 Thunderbolt)
368th Fighter Group
RAF Greenham Common; RAF Chilbolton, (P-47 Thunderbolt)
370th Fighter Group
RAF Andover, (P-38 Lightning)
RAF Charmy Down; RAF Scorton (P-61 Black Widow)
RAF Charmy Down; RAF Scorton (P-61 Black Widow)

.* Assigned to 70th Fighter Wing, operationally controlled by XIII Fighter Command.

Royal Air Force Stations shown as assigned prior to D-Day USAAF Station ID shown in parentheses. Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) assigned to on Continental Europe after 6 June 1944 not listed. See specific unit for details.

Operations

Middle East

Entered combat in Egypt during January 1943 as command and control organization for Ninth Air Force fighter units assigned to Western Desert Campaign in Libya and Tunisia. Although subordinate wings assigned to command, combat groups attached to Royal Air Force Western Desert Air Force.

Command reassigned to England in November 1943 as tactical fighter component for Ninth Air Force as part of Normandy invasion planning. Assigned units reassigned to Twelfth Air Force

Western Europe

During the winter of 1943–44 IX Fighter Command expanded at an extraordinary rate so that by the end of May 1944, its complement ran to 45 flying groups operating some 5,000 aircraft. Initial missions from England consisted of figher sweeps over troop concentrations and attacks on enemy positions and airfields, primarily on German Fifteenth Army units in the Pas-de-Calais region of France as well as around Normandy and Cotentin Peninsula. On D-Day IX Fighter Command units carried out massive air attacks on German forces in Normandy area with P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers. Air cover during the morning amphibious assault by Allied forces on the beaches of France was flown by P-38 Lightnings.

With the beaches secure, grups began deploying to France on June 16, 1944, ten days after the Normandy invasion by moving P-47 Thunderbolts to a beach-head landing strip. During the Battle of Normandy, its tactical air units then provided the air power for the Allied break-out from the Normandy beachhead in the summer of 1944 during the Battle of Cherbourg, Caen, and the ultimate breakout from the beachhead, Operation Cobra.

By early August most IX Fighter Command groups were transferred to bases in France and assigned to the U. S. Twelfth Army Group. Command then reorganized, with units transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC) organizations which directly supported Army ground units.

After units reassigned, remained as command organization until after VE-Day when performed occupation duty in Germany.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
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