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Rev. 7/19/2024

patchTC

Ninth Air Force and the

Airborne Troop Carrier

and

IX Troop Carrier Command

History  (source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IX_Troop_Carrier_Command)

Constituted as the V (5th) Air Support Command on 21 Aug 1941, activated on 1 Sep 1941, it was re-designated the  Ninth (9th) Air Force in April 1942 as one of the 20 numbered Air Forces of the US Army Air Force.  The 9th AF moved to Egypt and began operations on 12 Nov 1942, participating in the Allied drive across Egypt and Libya, the campaign in Tunisia, and the invasions of Sicily and Italy. All U.S. tactical air support units in Great Britain were consolidated into the Ninth Air Force on 16 October 1943, under the command of Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton. In October 1943, the 9th AF moved to England to become the tactical air force for the invasion of the Continent. The 9th AF was de-activated in Germany on 2 December 1945.

Components of the 9th Air Force during World War 2 included: 9th Air Division (formerly IX Bomber Command), 1942 - 1945; IX Air Defense Command, 1944 - 1945; IX Fighter Command, 1942 - 1945; IX Tactical Air Command, 1943-1945; IX Troop Carrier Command, 16 October 1943 - 1944; IX Troop Carrier Service Command. XIX Tactical Air Command, 1944-1945; XXIX Tactical Air Command: 1945.

In September, 1944, the IX Troop Carrier Command became part of the 1st Allied Airborne Army and the ‘AIRBORNE’ flash was added above the wing/glider/parachute emblem of the Troop Carrier Command.

Its first headquarters was located at Grantham Lodge, RAF Cottesmore, where it took control of a provisional headquarters established by the Eighth Air Force.  It was subsequently transferred to Ascot, Berkshire, its final location in Europe.

The IX Troop Carrier Command's original cadre came from Headquarters, 1st Troop Carrier Command (Provisional) established as a provisional headquarters by the Eighth Air Force in September with six officers and three aircraft of the 315th Troop Carrier Group (the remainder of the group's aircraft and squadrons were on detached service in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations). On 1 October 1943, the 434th Troop Carrier Group became part of the provisional command and was the only group assigned. Twelve airfields were designated for the new command, each to house 40 C-47s and a like number of gliders: RAF Fulbeck, RAF Langar, RAF Bottesford, RAF Wakerley, RAF Balderton, RAF North Witham, RAF Barkston Heath, RAF Cottesmore, RAF North Luffenham, RAF Saltby, RAF Folkingham, and RAF Woolfox Lodge. In October, 1943, Brigadier General Benjamin F. Giles became commanding officer.  On February 25, 1944, 9th AF commander Gen. Brereton appointed Brig. Gen. Paul L. Williams, experienced in directing airborne operations in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, to take over the IX TCC which, until that time, had been commanded by a “caretaker” commander [name unknown] to organize and train its new units for airborne operations as they arrived in theater.  

In November, the 435th Troop Carrier Group at RAF Welford was assigned, and command headquarters were moved to Grantham Lodge. RAF Ramsbury, RAF Aldermaston, and RAF Greenham Common also became available as landing areas for tactical training with the 101st Airborne Division and later became troop carrier bases.

Its first wing, the 50th Troop Carrier Wing, became operational on 17 October 1943. A second wing, the 52d Troop Carrier Wing, arrived from Sicily on 17 February 1944. Its five groups had participated in the large airborne assault during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily and had flown combat jumps on a smaller scale in Italy. On 11 March 1944 the final troop carrier wing assigned to the command, the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing, arrived from the United States along with five groups that had just completed their operational training. The wings were realigned to provide the 53rd, tasked as the primary unit for glider operations, with the four groups already operational in February 1944 (434th through 437th), while the least experienced groups were assigned to the 50th Wing. The command grew to a total of 14 groups in April 1944 when the 315th was taken off transport duties in the Mediterranean and assigned two additional squadrons (309th TCS and 310th TCS) to bring it up to full table of organization and equipment strength, and when the newly created 442d Troop Carrier Group arrived from the United States.

These groups went into training for Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, as they arrived in Britain. The groups of the 50th and 52nd Wings began intensive night formation training that included practice jumps with the airborne divisions assigned to them, which continued through April, when the division commanders decided to stop further unit jump training. The 53rd Wing began training at the beginning of March but had virtually no troop experience until mid-May, when they began a series of mock night operations to raise their level of training. Both the 315th and 442nd groups continued formation training until the end of May. Five groups also conducted training in night glider assaults during both April and May. By 1 June the command had approximately 1,200 C-47s and 1,400 gliders assigned, and 950 crews for each.

At the end of February 1944, using equipment and personnel from the 52nd Wing, the command established a training unit for airborne division pathfinders and the aircrews that would deliver them. The Command Pathfinder School was re-designated the 1st Pathfinder Group (Provisional) in August 1944.

IX Troop Carrier Command delivered both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in the American airborne landings in Normandy on 6–7 June 1944. In August, the command was attached to the First Allied Airborne Army, which, from 17–25 September 1944, landed both the American 82nd and 101st airborne divisions, the British 1st Airborne Division, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. The 50th Wing moved to bases in France in September as well.

In February and March 1945, the 52d and 53rd wings also deployed to bases in France, except for two groups of the 52nd assigned to support British airborne operations. The command carried out extensive formation training for Operation Varsity, an airborne assault across the Rhine River, and executed it on 24 March 1945, delivering the 17th Airborne Division. The groups of the 52nd Wing based in France returned to England to carry the British 6th Airborne Division in the assault.

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