<text id=00he0902><title>Building Tactical Air Power</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>Building Tactical Air Power</hdr><body>
<p>A major part of the pre-invasion task was the building of the Ninth Air Force. Its mission was to support and assist the invasion landings, and then work with the advancing armies on their drive to defeat and occupy Germany.
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<p>The decision for a separate air force, rather than an expansion of the VIII Air Support Command, the tactical arm of the Eighth Air Force, was General Arnold's. He moved Ninth AF from the Middle East to Europe, along with its commander, Lieutenant General Lewis Brereton. The Ninth's initial cadres were the VIII ASC and the VIII Tactical Air Service Area Command but, by early 1944, personnel were assigned directly from the United States.
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<p>There was severe competition between the Eighth and the Ninth for new fighter groups scheduled for European operations. Both organizations needed fighters, and both wanted them to be P-51 Mustangs. The Eighth won that competition initially but, later, as Mustang production poured from the US, both air forces got a large share.
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<p>Fighter strength of the Ninth just before the invasion was 13 full groups of P-47s, plus three of P-38s and two of P-51s, a total of about 1,500 assigned to IX Fighter Command. IX Bomber Command had 11 groups equipped with Martin B-26 medium bombers and Douglas A-20 light bombers. IX Troop Carrier Command had 14 groups of air transports.
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<p>As part of the pre-invasion assignment, the Ninth also struck targets in the Crossbow and Pointblank folders. Its medium bombers were sent on diversionary and primary attacks against German-used airfields, and its fighters also escorted the big birds of the Eighth. During 'Big Week', Ninth AF medium bombers supported the Eighth AF heavies with assaults on German airfields, and IX Fighter Command dispatched the major share of the escort force for those raids on strategic targets.
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<p>By April 1944, the Ninth was an operational tactical air force, ready to turn to direct support of the invasion. In addition to strikes against Crossbow sites, IX BC hit railway marshalling yards, and the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group photographed more than 160 miles (257 km) of French coastline and two inland belts about 120 miles (193 km) long.
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<p>It should he noted that these specific reconnaissance missions, like many other sorties, were only part of the total number of missions flown. There was danger of alerting the Germans to the prospective use of a particular stretch of beach. For every mission in the invasion area, one or two more were flown against a similar target geographically distant, to deceive the Germans.
