The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force and Twelfth Air Force into a new numbered air force responsible for generating and presenting Air Combat Command's conventional forces.
Established on 1 November 1943, Fifteenth AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the European Theater of World War II, bombing Europe from bases in southern Italy and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft.
During the Cold War, 15 AF was one of three Numbered Air Forces of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC), commanding USAF strategic bombers and missiles on a global scale. Elements of 15th Air Force engaged in combat operations during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm.
15 AF was redesignated Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force (15 EMTF) on 1 October 2003. 15 EMTF provided support for strategic airlift for all United States Department of Defense agencies as well as air refueling for the Air Force in both peace and wartime for the Pacific region. 15 EMTF inactivated on 20 March 2012.
On 20 August 2020, 15 AF was reactivated as an Air Combat Command numbered air force, taking over the previous conventional flying forces of both the Ninth and Twelfth Air Forces.
Second World War
The Fifteenth Air Force (15th AF) was established on 1 November 1943 in Tunis, Tunisia as part of the United States Army Air Forces in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations as a strategic air force. It commenced combat operations the day after it was formed. The first commander was General Jimmy Doolittle.
15th AF resulted from a reorganization of American air forces in the Mediterranean in late 1943. Lewis H. Brereton's Ninth Air Force (9th AF) was moved to England, taking over the medium bomber units of Eighth Air Force, while Twelfth Air Force gave its strategic units to 15th AF, becoming the Americans' Mediterranean tactical air force. The new air force was activated with a strength of ninety Consolidated B-24 Liberators and 210 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, inherited from the Twelfth Air Force and Ninth Air Force. In December, new groups, most of which were equipped with B-24s soon started arriving from the United States. Thirteen new groups were added.
It was hoped that the 15th AF – stationed in the Mediterranean – would be able to operate when the Eighth Air Force (8th AF) in England was socked in by bad English weather. The 9th AF would later move to England to serve as a tactical unit to take part in the invasion of Europe. Once bases around Foggia in Italy became available, the 15th was able to reach targets in southern France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans, some of which were difficult to reach from England.
Operational Units 5th Bombardment Wing (B-17 Flying Fortress) "Y" Tail Code Transferred from: Twelfth Air Force Headquartered: Foggia, Italy, 13 December 1943 – 2 November 1945
2d Bombardment Group "Circle-Y" 97th Bombardment Group "Triangle-Y" 99th Bombardment Group "Diamond-Y" 301st Bombardment Group "Square-Y" (green) 463d Bombardment Group "Wedge-Y" (yellow)
483d Bombardment Group "Y-Star" (red) Transferred from MacDill Field, Florida, 2 March 1944 Attached: 68th Tactical Reconnaissance Group: November 1943 – April 1944
Airfields: Amendola Airfield (2d BW), Celone Airfield (463d BW), Cerignola Airfield (97th BW), Foggia (2d BW, 463d BW), Lucera Airfield (301st BW), Manduria, (68th RG), Maricianise (97th BW), Sterparone (483d BW), Tortorella (99th BW, 483d BW) 47th Bombardment Wing (B-24 Liberator) "The Pyramidiers" "Triangle" Tail Code Transferred from Ninth Air Force Headquartered: Manduria, Italy, 11 November 1943 – May 1945
98th Bombardment Group Triangle (Yellow/Black Tail Stripe) 376th Bombardment Group "Triangle Circle 2"
449th Bombardment Group "Triangle Circle 3" 450th Bombardment Group ("Cotton Tails" 1943–45) "Triangle Circle 5"
Airfields: Brindisi (98th BG), Grottaglie (449th BG), Lecce (98th BG), Manduria (98th BG), San Pancrazio (376th BG, 450th BG) 49th Bombardment Wing (B-24 Liberator) "Red Tail" Transferred from Greenville AAB, South Carolina 6 April 1944 Headquartered: Bari Airfield, Italy, 6 April 1944 – 16 October 1945
451st Bombardment Group "Red Tail Red Dot" 461st Bombardment Group "Red Tail Red Dash"
484th Bombardment Group "Red Tail Red Bow"
Airfields: Gioia del Colle (451st BG), San Pancrazio (451st BG), Torretta (484th BG) 55th Bombardment Wing (B-24 Liberator) "Yellow/Black Tail" Transferred from: MacDill Field, Florida Headquartered: Taranto, Italy, March 1944 – July 1945
460th Bombardment Group "Yellow/Black Tail Square Dot" 464th Bombardment Group "Yellow/Black Tail Square l"
465th Bombardment Group "Yellow/Black Tail" 485th Bombardment Group "Yellow/Black Tail Square X"
Airfields: Gioia (464th BG), Pantanella (465th BG), Spinazzola Airfield (460th BG), Venosa Airfield (485th BG) 304th Bombardment Wing (B-24 Liberator) "Black Diamond" Activated in Italy Headquartered: Cerignola Airfield, Italy, 29 December 1943 – September 1945
454th Bombardment Group "Black Diamond" 455th Bombardment Group "Black Diamond Yellow Tail" 456th Bombardment Group "Black Diamond Red Tail"
459th Bombardment Group"Black Diamond Yellow/Black Check Tail"
Airfields: Giulia Airfield (455th BG), San Giovanni Airfield (454th BG, 455th BG, 456th BG) 305th Fighter Wing (Provisional) (Lockheed P-38 Lightning) Transferred from Twelfth Air Force, 1943 Headquartered:
Foggia, 29 December 1943 – 19 January 1944 Spinazzola Airfield, 19 January – 6 March 1944
Bari Airfield, 6 March – December 1944 Torremaggiore, December 1944 – 9 September 1945
1st Fighter Group 27FS (HV Red), 71st (LM Black), 94th (UN Yellow) 14th Fighter Group
82d Fighter Group
Airfields: Gioia del Colle Airfield (1st FG), Lesina (14th FG 82d FG), Salosa (1st FG), Triolo Airfield (14th FG), Vincenzo Airfield (82d FG) 306th Fighter Wing (Republic P-47 Thunderbolt)(North American P-51 Mustang) Activated in Italy Headquartered:
Bari Airfield, Italy, 15–27 January 1944 Foggia, Italy, 27 January – 23 February 1944 Lucera, Italy, 23 February – 8 March 1944
Torremaggiore, Italy, 8 March – 3 September 1944 Lesina Airfield, Italy, 3 September 1944 – 5 March 1945 Fano, Italy, 5 March – 15 July 1945
31st Fighter Group Red diagonal tail stripes after conversion from Spitfires 307FS (MX), 308FS (HL), 309FS (WZ) 52d Fighter Group Yellow Tails assigned 1 August 1944 2FS (QP) 4FS (WD), 5FS (VF) 325th Fighter Group Black / Yellow checkerboard Tails 317FS (10–39), 318FS (40–69), 319FS (70–99) 332d Fighter Group Red Tails assigned 1 August 1944 99FS (A00 – A39, Blue), 100FS (1–39, Black), 301FS (40–69, White), 302FS (70–99,01-09, Yellow) Airfields: Capodichino (332nd FG), Cattolica (332d FG), Madna Airfield (52nd FG), Mondolfo (31st FG. 325th FG), Montecorvino (332nd FG), Piagiolino (52nd FG), Ramitelli (332nd FG), Rimini (325th FG), Vincenzo Airfield (325th FG)
.* Sent to Aghione, Corsica from 10 to 21 August 1944 for Operation Dragoon (Invasion of Southern France) 15th Special Group (Provisional) Reported directly to Fifteenth Air Force Assigned to 15th Air Force in June 1944 Stationed at Brindisi Re-designated 2641st Special Group (Provisional) 859th BS flew Carpetbagger operations out of England until September 1944 before being moved to MTO 885th BS was initially known as 122nd BS assigned to 68th Reconnaissance Group operating B-17s in the MTO. Assigned to the 15th Special Group in January 1945. 305th Bombardment Wing Activated in Italy, 29 December 1943, No units assigned until 13 June 1945 Headquarters: Torremaggiore, December 1944 – September 1945
1st Fighter Group 14th Fighter Group 31st Fighter Group 52nd Fighter Group
82nd Fighter Group 325th Fighter Group 332d Fighter Group
Initial Operations
The 15th Air Force began its operations on 1 November 1943, attacking the Rimini Marshalling yard with 28 B-25's assigned to the 321st BG (M). On 1 December 1943, the Headquarters was moved to Bari Airfield, Italy.
On 4 January 1944, the Fifteenth, along with Twelfth Air Force, were organized into Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, along with No. 205 Group Royal Air Force. MAAF was the southern component of U.S. Strategic Air Forces, Europe, the overall USAAF command and control organization in Europe.
The first major operation carried out by Fifteenth Air Force was bombing missions in support of the Anzio Landings in Italy, Operation Shingle beginning on 22 January 1944. Strikes on German and fascist Italian targets were carried out and caused widespread damage to Axis forces.
Big Week
"Big Week" was the name of an intense Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces series of attacks on Germany in a series of co-ordinated raids on the German aircraft industry. The plan, code-named "Operation Argument," was to use both American strategic air forces in Europe, with support by the Royal Air Force with night bombing raids to destroy or seriously cripple the German ability to produce combat aircraft.
The Americans were facing strong Luftwaffe fighter opposition to their daylight bombing raids over Nazi-occupied Europe, and it was planned to initiate Operation Argument at the earliest possible date.
On 22 February 1944, Fifteenth Air Force made its first attack on Germany, with an attack on Regensburg. The Fifteenth dispatched a force of 183 bombers to the Oberstraubing Messerschmidt assembly plant. Some 118 bombed with good results but fourteen were shot down. The next day the 15th sent 102 bombers to the Steyr ball-bearing works in Austria where they destroyed twenty percent of the plant. On 24 February, over 180 Liberators inflicted considerable damage to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 assembly plant at Gotha, losing 28 aircraft in the process. On 25 February 114 B-17s and B-24s were dispatched to Steyr again, but the force became separated and the Liberators bombed the Fiume oil refinery instead. Seventeen bombers were lost.
Despite these losses, it was believed that the USSTAF had dealt the German aircraft industry a severe blow.
Oil industry targets
In April, General Eisenhower ordered the USSTAF to attack German fuel production centers by striking both the oil refineries and the factories producing synthetic fuels. The 15th started the offensive on 5 April when it dispatched 235 B-17s and B-24s from Italy to transportation targets in the vicinity of the Ploiești oilfields in Romania. The refineries were attacked again on 15 and 24 April, inflicting additional damage.
Attacks on oil targets had assumed top priority by October and vast fleets of heavy bombers, escorted by P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fighters, attacked refineries in Germany, Reichsgau Sudetenland, Slovakia and Romania. The P-51 escorts were able to establish an environment of air superiority, enabling the bombers to roam widely across southern and eastern Europe, attacking targets at Brüx in Reichsgau Sudetenland, Bratislava in Slovakia, Budapest, Komárom, Győr, and Pétfürdő in Hungary, Belgrade and other cities in Yugoslavia, and Trieste in north-eastern Italy.
Soviet support By June 1944, the 15th Air Force was bombing railway networks in southeast Europe in support of Soviet military operations in Romania. Throughout the summer of 1944, Austrian aircraft manufacturing centers at Wiener Neustadt were bombed and oil producing centers were attacked. On 2 June, the 15th Air Force flew its first "shuttle" mission when 130 B-17s and P-51 escorts landed in Russian controlled territory after a raid in Hungary. Two more shuttle missions followed.
Operation Anvil