IX Tactical Air Command

The IX Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Camp Shanks, New York. It was inactivated on 25 October 1945.

IX Tactical Air Command
367th Fighter Group Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning 42-12982
Active	1943-1945
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Role	Fighter Command and Control

History

Formed in England during 1943 as IX Air Support Command (IX ASC). The primary mission of the command was to provide tactical Close Air Support of the United States First Army ground forces to interdict concentration of enemy forces, attack communications and ammunition dumps, and harass the enemy's retreat as well as provide reconnaissance to bombing support.

It was re-designated as IX Tactical Air Command (IX TAC) in April 1944 in England, and its mission initially was attacking battle field isolation, interdicting transportation and communication networks and enemy supplies in Occupied France and the Low Countries in preparation for the Normandy Invasion in June. Targets included bridges, roads, railroads and enemy interceptor aircraft both on the ground as well as in air-to-air combat.

After the D-Day invasion, IX Tactical Thunderbolts attacked enemy targets initially in the Cotentin Peninsula, then supported Operation Cobra, the breakout of Normandy and attacked enemy forces in the Falaise-Argentan Gap. Targets were expanded to include enemy tanks, vehicles of all types, and troop formations. Many times targets of opportunity on the ground were spotted and attacked when seen. Coordinated attacks were made with Allied ground forces and when Allied forces attacked strong enemy defenses, the enemy defenses received machine-gun and attacked by rockets and bombs from the P-47 Thunderbolts. In the air, IX Tactical aggressively sought combat with Luftwaffe aircraft and cleared the skies above the battlefield of enemy aircraft.

Wing headquarters and subordinate units operated primarily from liberated airfields and newly built temporary Advanced Landing Grounds in France, moved into north-central France, its groups attacking enemy targets near Paris then north-west into Belgium and the southern Netherlands. In December 1944/January 1945, engaged enemy targets on the north side of the Battle of the Bulge, then moved eastward into the Northern Rhineland as part of the Western Allied invasion of Germany.

Supported First Army as it crossed the Rhine River at Remagen then moved north to attack ground targets in the Ruhr, providing air support as Allied ground forces encircled enemy forces in the Ruhr Pocket, essentially ending organized enemy resistance in Western Germany. First Army halted its advance at the Elbe River in late April 1945, the wing engaging targets of opportunity in enemy-controlled areas until combat was ended on 5 May 1945.

Remained in Europe after the war as part of United States Air Forces in Europe, performing occupation duty and the destruction or shipment to the United States of captured enemy combat equipment. Assigned units also performed air defense duty over the American Zone of Occupation. Demobilized in Germany in the late summer, inactivated as an administrative unit in the United States during October 1945.

Lineage

• Constituted as IX Air Support Command on 29 November 1943

Activated on 4 December 1943

Redesignated IX Tactical Air Command in April 1944

Inactivated on 25 October 1945

Disbanded on 8 October 1948

Assignments

• Ninth Air Force, 29 November 1943 – 25 October 1945

Components

70th Fighter Wing: 3 October 1944 – 2 December 1945 84th Fighter Wing: 30 April 1944 – 12 August 1945 36th Fighter Group: 28 January-15 November 1945 48th Fighter Group: 31 March 1944 – 28 April 1945 50th Fighter Group: 4 April-29 September 1944 Under operational control of 84th Fighter Wing, 7 April-29 September 1944 358th Fighter Group: Attached, 1 August-1 October 1944; 1 October 1944-16 January 1945 362d Fighter Group: Attached, 13 April-1 August 1944 363d Fighter Group: Attached, 23 December 1943 – 1 August 1944 365th Fighter Group: Attached, 22 December 1943 – 1 August 1944; 1 August-1 October 1944

366th Fighter Group: 5 May-1 October 1944; 22 October 1944-28 January 1945 367th Fighter Group: Attached, 3 October 1944 – 16 January 1945 368th Fighter Group: Attached, 1 August-1 October 1944; 1 October 1944-16 January 1945 370th Fighter Group: Attached, 1 August-1 October 1944; 1 October 1944-1 February 1945 404th Fighter Group: 16 January – 1 August 1945; Attached: 1 August-26 October 1944 474th Fighter Group: Attached, 1 August 1944 – 21 November 1945 422d Night Fighter Squadron: 12 March-4 May 1944; 7 October 1944-30 September 1945

Stations

RAF Aldermaston (AAF-467), England, 4 December 1943 RAF Middle Wallop (AAF-449), England, February 1944 RAF Uxbridge, England, 15 February–June 1944 Au Gay, France, 10 June 1944 Les Oubeaux, France, 2 July 1944 Canisy, France, 2 August 1944 Coulouvray-Boisbenâtre, France, 12 August 1944 Haleine, France, 22 August 1944

Versailles, France, 2 September 1944 Janoulx, Belgium, 11 September 1944 Verviers, Belgium, 2 October 1944 Brühl, Germany, 26 March 1945 Marburg, Germany, 8 April 1945 Weimar Airfield (R-7), Germany, 26 April 1945 AAF Station Fritzlar, Germany, 26 June–September 1945 Camp Shanks, New York, 24–25 October 1945

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

External links

• Stars and Stripes, Achtung Jabos! The Story of the IX TAC (World War II Stars & Stripes unit history)