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US Air Force formation

The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern & Air Forces Space; 1 AF AFNORTH & AFSPACE) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the Contiguous United States (CONUS), United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Since May 2022, it also provides the Air Force contribution to United States Space Command, as Air Forces Space (AFSPACE), including support functions for NASA human space flight. It was one of the four original pre World War II numbered air forces formed during the existence of the United States Army Air Corps. It was activated as the Northeast Air District on 18 December 1940, at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York with a mission of air defense of the Northeastern United States and Great Lakes regions. Its primary mission was the organization and training of new combat units prior to their deployment overseas. It was active in 1941–42; 1942–58; 1966–69; and with minor name and function changes from 1985 to the present. First Air Force is commanded by Lieutenant General Steven S. Nordhaus. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sgt. Denny L. Richardson. It has the responsibility for ensuring the air sovereignty and air defense of the Contiguous United States (CONUS), United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. As the CONUS NORAD Region (CONR) for North American Aerospace Defense Command, CONR provides air defense in the form of airspace surveillance and airspace control. 1AF (AFNORTH) is also the designated air component for the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). USNORTHCOM's area of responsibility includes the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico, and its air, land and maritime approaches. With the transfer of responsibility for continental air defense from the active duty component of the Air Force to the Air National Guard, 1 AF became the first numbered air force to be made up primarily of citizen airmen. Furthermore, 1AF now has operational control (OPCON) of the Civil Air Patrol.

One of the four original numbered air forces, First Air Force was activated as the Northeast Air District of the GHQ Air Force on 18 December 1940, at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York. It was redesignated First Air Force on 9 April 1941 with a mission for the defense of the Northeast and Great Lakes regions of the United States.

During the initial months after the Pearl Harbor Attack, First Air Force organized what would eventually become the core of the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command (AAFSC), obtaining most of its forces from I Bomber Command to combat the German U boat threat along the Atlantic Coast. AAFSC would eventually expand that mission to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean until the antisubmarine mission was taken over completely by the Navy in mid 1943. Beginning in May 1942, the mission of First Air Force became operational training of units and crews, and the replacement training of individuals for bombardment, fighter, and reconnaissance operations. It received graduates of Army Air Forces Training Command flight schools; navigator training; flexible gunnery schools and various technical schools, organized them into newly activated combat groups and squadrons, and provided operational unit training (OTU) and replacement training (RTU) to prepare groups and replacements for deployment overseas to combat theaters. The First Air Force became predominantly a fighter OTU and RTU organization. Most P 47 Thunderbolt fighter groups were trained by I Fighter Command, along with P 39/P 63 Airacobra groups; C 47 Skytrain and later C 46 Commando groups by I Troop Carrier Command. By 1944, most of the Operational Training of groups ended, with the command concentrating on the training of individual replacements using Army Air Force Base Units (AAFBU) as training organizations at the airfields controlled by First Air Force. Air Defense Wings were also organized for the major metropolitan areas along the northeast coast, using training units attached to the Wings. By 1944 the likelihood of an air attack along the eastern seaboard was remote, and these air defense wings were reduced to paper units. By 1944, the vast majority of the USAAF was engaged in combat operations in various parts of the world, such as the Eighth Air Force in Europe and the Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific. The training units located within the United States (known as the Zone of the Interior, or "ZI".) under First, Second, Third and Fourth Air Force were all placed under the unified command of the Continental Air Forces (CAF) on 13 December 1944, with the Numbered Air Forces becoming subordinate commands of CAF.

In March 1946, USAAF Chief General Carl Spaatz had undertaken a major re organization of the postwar USAAF that had included the establishment of Major Commands (MAJCOM), who would report directly to HQ United States Army Air Forces. Continental Air Forces was inactivated, and First Air Force was assigned to the postwar Air Defense Command in March 1946 and subsequently to Continental Air Command (ConAC) in December 1948 being primarily concerned with air defense. First Air Force Headquarters was located at Fort Slocum, New York, from 1946 to 1949. The command was originally assigned the region of the New England states, along with New York and New Jersey. With the inactivation of the ADC Eleventh Air Force on 1 July 1948 due to budget restrictions, command's region of responsibility was increased to include the upper Midwest states of Michigan and Ohio, along with the Mid Atlantic region south to the North Carolina/Virginia Border. In 1949 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units were placed under First Air Force command, with its active duty units being reassigned to Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF) or to the 30th, 32d or 26th Air Divisions. The command was inactivated on 23 June 1958 for budgetary reasons, its assigned units being placed under ConAC. First Air Force was reactivated at Stewart Air Force Base, Newburgh, N. Y., on 20 January 1966 due to the inactivation of the ADC Air Defense Sectors. First Air Force assumed responsibility for the ADC 21st, 33d, 34th, 35th, and 36th Air Divisions, primarily located in the northeast and upper Midwest regions of the United States. It also was responsible for the air defense of Greenland, Iceland and parts of Canada. By July 1968, First Air Force had again assumed total responsibility for the air defense of the eastern seaboard, just as it had during World War II. On 16 January 1968 Air Defense Command was re designated Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM) as part of a restructuring of USAF air defense forces. First Air Force's second period of service was short lived, however, and the command was again inactivated as the result of a major ADCOM reorganization on 31 December 1969 of the First, Fourth, Tenth Air Forces and several Air Divisions. This reorganization was the result of the need to eliminate intermediate levels of command in ADCOM driven by budget reductions and a perceived lessening of the need for continental air defense against attacking Soviet aircraft. ADCOM reassigned the units under the inactivated First Air Force were reassigned primarily to the 20th, 21st or 23d Air Divisions.

In the years since its third activation, more of the responsibility for the defense of American air sovereignty has primarily shifted to the Air National Guard. Also, reorganization of the command structure of the U. S. Air Force saw the assignment of air defense to Tactical Air Command and later, its successor, Air Combat Command. In the 1970s and 1980s, the role of the Air National Guard in the defense of North America increased. As this role changed, discussions between the active Air Force and the Air National Guard commenced concerning roles and responsibilities. As the Cold War began to wind down and budgetary constraints became realities, more and more of the missions previously carried out by active duty forces began to be transferred into the reserve components. By the 1990s, 90 percent of the air defense mission was being handled by the Air National Guard. In October 1997, First Air Force became primarily composed of Air National Guard units charged with the air defense of the North American continent. Today, First Air Force consists primarily of members of the Air National Guard. Its headquarters is located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida and it comprises 9 fighter wings, 1 composite wing with a fighter mission, and two air defense sectors for the Eastern and Western regions of the continental United States (CONUS).

On July 15, 2021, First Air Force, now AFSPACE, assumed the operational command and control of the Human Space Flight Support (HSFS) mission, previously carried out by the Combined Force Space Component Command at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This mission is executed by its assigned Detachment 3, First Air Force, based at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. Detachment 3, formerly commanded by Space Launch Delta 45, came under First Air Force control during a redesignation and change of command ceremony held at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, that day. Air Force Lt. Gen. Kirk Pierce, commander, First Air Force, Continental U. S. NORAD Region, AFNORTH, and now AFSPACE, said First Air Force responsibilities now included ' to plan, train and execute worldwide rescue and recovery of NASA astronauts during contingency operations.'

15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron: 3 February 1946. 1st Sea Search Attack Group (Medium): November 1943 10 April 1944.

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