The United States Air Forces in Europe
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An Air Force Major Air Command • . • The United States Air Forces in Europe ROOP airlifts and tactical airpower deployments bridging the Atlantic in record time with the Gen. Gabriel P. Disosway, T combat-ready forces shared top-line interest in the USAFE Commander in Chief since 1963, is a World War United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) during II veteran of the CBI air a year which focused attention on US capabilities for war and was shot down over rapid reinforcement of free-world defenses. China. He has served as Three major exercises, including Exercise Big Lift Commander, ATC's Flying of October-November 1963, brought troops and tacti- Training Air Force; with the cal aircraft from the US. Other intratheater maneuvers DoD's Weapons Systems demonstrated US Army-Air Force teamwork and capa- Evaluation Group; as TAC bilities of allied forces in NATO. Vice Commander; and as Extension of the in-flight range of tactical fighter USAFE Deputy Commander. rotations from the US and continued exchange of Army troops in Germany through Long Thrust air-mobility of Composite Air Strike Force (CASF) units to maneu- exercises were other operations in which USAFE had ver areas ranging from Germany to Iran and Norway. either direct or supporting roles. • Coordinated use of troop carrier aircraft in two At the end of June 1964, as the command continued simultaneous exercises under a new plan for single its day-by-day task of maintaining combat-ready management of theater airlift. strength for NATO defenses, the year's busy sequence Exercise Big Lift lived up to its name as USAFE of events had produced: support at bases in Germany and France helped the A record-breaking performance which established • Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) move the en- Big Lift as the largest and fastest single deployment tire 2d Armored ("Hell on Wheels") Division from of troops in US military history. Texas to Europe in sixty-three hours and five minutes • Demonstration of tactical airpower's long-range without an accident. punch through successive transatlantic deployments Included in the airlift were 15,422 personnel and 975,200 pounds of equipment. MATS performed this gigantic task with 236 missions in C-135, C-133, C-130, C-124, and C-118 aircraft, from which deplaning troops Symbolic of USAFE moved in a steady stream to "marry up" with preposi- readiness, an F-105 tioned armor and equipment. Republic-built USAFE also provided bases and support for the Thunderchief is CASF deployed in this big show of joint capabilities. silhouetted against The force included sixty-nine tactical jet aircraft, forty- the sky. USAFE had a busy year, fea- nine C-130 transports, and supporting personnel, all tured by Operation from Tactical Air Command ( TAC ). Speed of tactical Big Lift and a num- aircraft flights from departure points in Maine, aver- ber of important aging from six to seven and one-half hours, contributed intratheater exer- to the over-all success. All flights were nonstop, with cises, testing its refueling by Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) KC-135 combat abilities. tankers. Theater forces had a direct role in the field-training phase. While 40,000 troops fought a mock war in West 90 AIR FORCE Magazine • September 1964 Germany, units of Seventeenth Air Force, one of two USAFE combat-ready air arms, joined the CASF in close-support missions. In April, long-range capabilities were again demon- Day or night, the strated as a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division USAFE job keeps from Fort Campbell, Ky., and two TAC F-100 squad- getting done. Right, rons from Cannon AFB, N. M., were deployed to Incir- an RB-66 crew chief lik AB, Turkey, in Exercise Delawar. This massive Iran- gives his pilot the US operation, sponsored by the Central Treaty Organi- okay on aircraft zation (CENTO), produced a successful test of mobility checkup prior to a and speed in deploying American forces to Iran. night mission out of Airlift requirements were met by eighty C-133 and RAF Station Wilden- C-130 transports from TAC and MATS units in the rath in Germany. US. Logistic support was provided by The United States Logistics Group in Turkey ( TUSLOG ), a major USAFE subcommand with headquarters at Ankara, Turkey. All told, a joint US task force of 6,800 personnel from three military services participated in Delawar. and forty minutes to join Dutch, British, Belgian, and War games included two jumps in Iran by 2,300 Norwegian tactical air units. paratroopers, amphibious operations in the Persian Exercise North Wind, held simultaneously near Guff by US naval forces and Marines, and refueled Gunzburg, Germany, was a joint US airborne field- close-air-support missions by F-100s over Iran. training operation. It included two jumps by 2,200 In June, focus shifted to Norway and Germany, where paratroopers airlifted from near Mainz and airdrops two air-ground exercises were held simultaneously. of heavy equipment. Tactical air support was provided The operation in Norway was Exercise Northern by Seventeenth Air Force and the 5th Air Division of Express, a major NATO exercise in which US interest the German Air Force. included both overseas and intratheater deployment Streamlining of theater airlift functions was demon- of troops, and a transatlantic CASF deployment con- strated in meeting the overlapping requirements of sisting of eighteen F-100s and six RF-101s from TAC these two exercises. MATS transports from the US par- units. Centered near Bardufoss, 200 miles above the ticipated in both, first flying US troops from Munich Arctic Circle, the exercise was primarily a test of the and Italian Alpine troops from Turin, Italy, to Norway, ability of Allied Command Europe ( ACE ) mobile and then joining TAC transport aircraft from rota- forces to reinforce NATO's northern flank. Approxi- tional squadrons in USAFE in airlift and airborne- mately 7,000 British, Italian, Belgian, Norwegian, and assault phases of North Wind. Redeployment, begin- American troops participated. ning with the return of North Wind troops, was simi- US troops included a contingent of Marines flown larly coordinated. in from the US to act as part of an "aggressor" force The two maneuvers were the first major tests of and ACE mobile elements drawn from Army troops realignment of theater airlift which became effective stationed in the Munich area of Germany. The CASF on April 1 with transfer to MATS of the 322d Air Divi- crossed the Atlantic from South Carolina in nine hours (Continued on following page) UNITED STATES AIR FORCES IN EUROPE Headquarters, Lindsey AS, Wiesbaden, Germany Commander in Chief. Gen. Gabriel P. Disosway 3d Air Force 17th Air Force Hq., South Ruislip, England Hq., Ramstein AB, Germany Maj. Gen. John S. Hardy Maj. Gen. James V. Edmundson Commander Commander 65th Air Division • The US Logistics Group (Defense) 322d Air Division 1MATt ITUSLOG) Torrejon AB, Spain Chateauroux AS, France Ankara, Turkey Col. Thomas C. Hayes, Jr. Col. Charles W. Howe Brig. Gen. Frederic C. Gray Commander Commander Commander AIR FORCE Magazine • September 1964 91 UNITED STATES AIR FORCES IN EUROPE CONTINUED sibilities, Third Air Force is the official point of con- tact in Great Britain in Air Force matters. In implementing realignment of airlift management, USAF's X-15 the redesignated 322d Air Division ( MATS ) moved astronaut, Lt. Col. its headquarters from Evreux-Fauville AB, France, to Robert M. White, Chateauroux AS, France. It controls two TAC rota- recently joined tional troop carrier squadrons at Evreux and a MATS USAFE as Com- rotational squadron at Rhein-Main AB, Germany. These mander of 53d units are used primarily for unscheduled logistic airlift Tactical Fighter within Europe and aerial delivery of cargo and per- Squadron, which is stationed at sonnel in conjunction with US Army forces in Europe. Bitburg AB, Ger- Scheduled air logistic service is to be accomplished by many. The 53d extension of MATS transatlantic routes. flies F-105s. A significant economy resulting from this plan was the return to the US of three squadrons of the 317th Troop Carrier Wing previously assigned to the 322d under USAFE. The move was completed in July. In Spain, USAFE's 65th Air Division was preparing sion, formerly a major USAFE subcommand. With this the Spanish Air Force for a final take-over of air de- change, the 322d assumed responsibility for centralized fense. Command personnel had assumed a training role management of all MATS and TAC aircraft performing in aircraft control-and-warning functions after depar- airlift operations within the European theater, respon- ture for the US of two F-102 interceptor squadrons. sive to needs of both MATS and USAFE. Over-all, the command continued to perform a mul- Other exercises during the year included Southex 63, tiple role as America's largest overseas air arm and a a NATO maneuver in September involving 60,000 primary instrument of western defense. Turkish, Greek, British, and US troops, twenty-nine Primarily, USAFE's mission is to train and equip US Navy ships and 200 naval aircraft, and tactical air combat-ready units pledged by the US to NATO. units of the Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force and In addition, the command provides tactical air and USAFE's 48th Tactical Fighter Wing. USAFE used logistic support for all NATO forces in Europe, assists twenty-five C-130s to airlift US troops and equipment air forces of other NATO members in developing their from Germany for airdrops in Turkey. combat capability, carries out Air Force responsibilities Long Thrust IX and X, in January and February, in the Military Assistance Program in the European continued Army-Air Force air-mobility exercises ro- area, provides command-wide aeromedical service, and tating troops to and from Germany.