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United States Air Force

The Air Force Song The song was officially introduced at the Cleveland Air Races on September 2, 1939.

National Security Act of 1947

The National Security Act of 1947 became law on 26 July 1947. The lawmakers stated their intentions in a Declaration of Policy at the beginning of the act: To provide a comprehensive program for the future security of the United States; to provide three military departmentsthe Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; to provide for their coordination and unified direction under civilian control; and to provide for the effective strategic direction and operation of the armed forces under unified control. To coordinate national security matters, the act established the National Security Council (NSC), the Central Intelligence Agency under the NSC, and the National Security Resources Board.

The law created the civilian positions of Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Air Force, to be filled by presidential appointment. The functions assigned to the Commanding General, Army Air Forces, were to be transferred to the Department of the Air Force. The act provided for the orderly transfer of these functions as well as the property, personnel, and records over a two-year period.

The United States Air Force was established within the Department of the Air Force. The Army Air Forces (and the Army Air Corps and the Air Force Combat Command) would be transferred to the Air Force, and the agencies themselves would cease to exist. Under the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff, was to exercise command over the new service.

The USAF began operating as a separate service on 18 September 1947.

General Carl A. Spaatz became the first Chief of Staff of the Air Force on 26 September 1947. When General Spaatz assumed his new position, the first Secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was already on the job, having been sworn in on 18 September 1947. He had been Assistant Secretary of War for Air and had already worked closely with General Spaatz. The new Air Force was fortunate to have these two men as its first leaders. They regarded air power as an instrument of national policy and of great importance to national defense. Both men also knew how to promote air power and win public support for the Air Force.

AIR FORCE Magazine From Air Force operations, programs, and people to the exploits of Air Force heroes, AIR FORCE Magazine reports on important aerospace news and developments, and provides authoritative background material. AIR FORCE Magazine is the reference for the Air Force and aerospace. Its special issues and features include the Air Force Almanac and Space Almanac, special aircraft, and informative charts. In February 1983, Air Force Magazine began a series of one-page stories about Air Force heroes. We called the new series Valor. It ran monthly, and was enormously popular from the start. By the time the fourth story was published in May 1983, we had recruited Col. John L. Frisbee, USAF Ret., and a former editor of Air Force Magazine, as the regular author. He has written all of the episodes that appeared after that. The final article was published in December 1999. The full collection of articles presented here is, without doubt, the most extensive body of material in existence anywhere about heroism in the US Air Force and its predecessor organizations.

Neatly lettered above ready-room doors or scrawled in officer's club bars, the unofficial motto has been the same: "The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly and fight. And don't you forget it."

The sentiment might seem obvious: If the Air Force has another mission, what would it be? However, there is much, much more to military aviation than flying and fighting. After all, wars and rumors of wars have been with us for millennia, as testified in Scripture. But the actual work of the U.S. Air Force is perennial, unending. That mission is to be prepared to fight anywhere on the planet, often on short notice. That means maintaining a constant supply of well-trained aircrews and maintenance personnel at such a state of readiness that a potential aggressor will think twice (or thrice) before launching an attack. It hasn't always worked that way - witness Pearl Harbor and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military readiness is one thing; political willpower is another.

However, wars are best won by deterrence, and no better example exists than the half-century Cold War, enforced in large part by the bombers and missiles of the Strategic Air Command. The third leg of the "nuclear triad" was the U.S. Navy's missile-carrying submarines. Among them, they kept a brittle, often uneasy peace to manageable levels while avoiding a global catastrophe. In the meantime, a succession of lesser "conflicts" occupied two generations of Air Force officers and enlisted personnel.

Guard And Reserve

The Air National Guard traces its history to the 1920s, as Army National Guardsmen flew border patrols and searched out forest fires after World War I. When the Air Force became a separate service in 1947, the Guard and Reserve continued providing experienced fliers and support personnel as "citizen airmen."

The Air Force Reserve consists of officers and enlisted personnel who have completed their obligatory service but want to participate on a part-time basis. They remain current in the same types of aircraft that the Regular Air Force flies and report for active duty as needed. The Reserve accounts for about 10 percent of total Air Force manpower but typically conducts 30 percent of the missions required, with some 300 flying and support units organized into 36 wings.

Air National Guard units are controlled by the individual states, but, like the Reserves, they maintain designated levels of training and staffing. Like the Army National Guard, the Air Guard serves three roles: supporting national security; protecting life and property; and contributing to local, state, and national programs. Air Guard units generally own their aircraft, whereas the Reserve units often use Regular Air Force planes on weekends. Both the Guard and Reserve have proven highly capable organizations, usually with greater levels of experience than the Regulars. Both programs offer continuing training, education, and retirement benefits.

Whether Regular, Guard, or Reserve, the basic Air Force tactical unit is the squadron, typically organized around a specific aircraft or function. Each wing (fighter, bomber, transport, etc.) is composed of two or more squadrons, although composite wings with a variety of aircraft are organized for specific missions, usually in a particular part of the world. The echelons above wings are administrative rather than operational, including air divisions and numbered or named air forces (7th Air Force or Pacific Air Forces). Squadrons normally are commanded by lieutenant colonels, wings by colonels.

Civil Air Patrol: Flying Minutemen

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a civilian organization founded during World War II, operates as an auxiliary of the Air Force. It was the idea of aviation writer and poet Gill Rob Wilson, who, with the support of General Hap Arnold, established the organization one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The CAP provided private aircraft to perform search duties, especially coastal patrols for enemy submarines. During the war, CAP fliers were credited with sinking two U-boats in American waters. Logging half a million miles, the "flying minutemen" also conducted search and rescue missions, courier flights, and the dangerous, thankless job of towing aerial targets.

In 1948, Congress chartered the CAP as the Air Force's official auxiliary, making the organization eligible for financial and material assistance. The law simultaneously expanded the organization's responsibilities to include aerospace education and training, cadet programs, and civilian flight instruction. Since 1951, the CAP has held workshops at colleges and universities, explaining to educators the advantages and requirements of an Air Force career or other work in the aerospace field. The CAP also sponsors the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education, keeping qualified instructors updated with information, materials, and teaching techniques.

The cadet program includes young people from the sixth grade to age 20, beyond which individuals are eligible for the adult program. Most states have a CAP wing responsible for activities within that jurisdiction, including recruiting and periodic encampments. Nationwide there are more than 1,700 units, with more than half containing both cadets and adults. Total enrollment tops 50,000, including 34,000 seniors. The CAP itself maintains some 530 light aircraft, while individual members own about 4,700 more. The planes are widely used for instruction and emergency work. The CAP is heavily involved in search and rescue work throughout the country, accounting for at least 80 percent of such operations within the borders of the United States.

Additionally, the CAP owns nearly 1,000 vehicles suitable for emergency relief or search and rescue functions. Communications also feature prominently in the Patrol's capabilities, with thousands of land, air, and mobile stations used by trained operators.

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