Ninth Air Force is a Numbered Air Force in Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. It is an intermediate echelon responsible primarily for fighter units in the eastern United States. The Ninth Air Force also serves as the Air Force component of the United States Central Command.

Most of the Ninth Air Force was created from USAAF units which had been part of the U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME) fighting in the Egypt-Libya Campaign in late 1942. As the Ninth Air Force they were initially under the overall command of AFHQ in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. In 1943 they moved to RAF Burtonwood, England. They left behind the heavy bombers of IX Bomber Command which joined the newly created Fifteenth Air Force, while the Ninth flew transports such as C-47s for parachute drops and other transport from stations like RAF Folkingham. Following the war, Ninth Air Force served as one of the tactical air forces of Tactical Air Command.

Commands During World War II

• IX Bomber Command 1942-45
• IX Air Defense Command 1944-45
• IX Fighter Command 1942-45
• IX Tactical Air Command 1943-45
• IX Troop Carrier Command 1943-44
• XIX Tactical Air Command 1944-45
• XXIX Tactical Air Command 1945

External links

• 9th Air Force web site
• GlobalSecurity.org 9th Air Force info page
• WWII Bomb Groups - European Theater of Operations (ETO)

Numbered air forces of the United States Air Force

9th USAAF