Northwest African Tactical Air Force

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The Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) was a component of the Northwest African Air Forces which itself reported to the Mediterranean Air Command (MAC). These new Allied air force organizations were created at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 to promote cooperation between the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the American United States Army Air Force (USAAF), and their respective ground and naval forces in the North African and Mediterranean theater of World War II . Created on February 18, 1943, the NATAF and other MAC commands existed until December 10, 1943, when MAC was disbanded and the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) were established.

Contents

Acting Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, who had been air officer commanding Western Desert Air Force became the commander of NATAF. [1] and the WDAF became part of the new NATAF

Composition

The components of NATAF at the time of the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) on July 10, 1943, are illustrated below. [2] [3]

No. 112 Squadron Kittyhawk at Medenine, Tunisia in 1943. TR 000978 kittyhawk.jpg
No. 112 Squadron Kittyhawk at Medenine, Tunisia in 1943.
A 27th Fighter-Bomber Group North American A-36 Apache (Mustang). A-36 "Apache" of the 27th Fighter Bomber Group.jpg
A 27th Fighter-Bomber Group North American A-36 Apache (Mustang).
African American pilots of 99th Fighter Squadron standing by one of their P-40 Warhawks. Tuskegee Airmen - Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943.jpg
African American pilots of 99th Fighter Squadron standing by one of their P-40 Warhawks.
No. 601 Squadron Spitfires over North Africa in 1943. SpitfireVb 601Sqn Djerba1943.jpg
No. 601 Squadron Spitfires over North Africa in 1943.
Northwest African Tactical Air Force (Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham) [4] [5]
Desert Air Force
Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst
XII Air Support Command
Major General Edwin House
Tactical Bomber Force
Air Commodore Laurence Sinclair
No. 7 Wing (SAAF)

No. 2 Squadron, Supermarine Spitfire
No. 4 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 5 Squadron, Curtiss Kittyhawk [lower-alpha 1]

27th Fighter-Bomber Group (USAAF)
Lieutenant Colonel John Stevenson

522nd Squadron, North American A-36 [lower-alpha 2] Mustang
523rd Squadron, A-36 Mustang
524th Squadron, A-36 Mustang

No. 3 Wing (SAAF)

No. 12 Squadron, Douglas Boston light bomber
No. 21 Squadron, Martin Baltimore light bomber
No. 24 Squadron, Boston

No. 239 Wing

No. 3 Squadron RAAF, Kittyhawk
No. 112 Squadron RAF, Kittyhawk
No. 250 Squadron RAF, Kittyhawk
No. 260 Squadron RAF, Kittyhawk
No. 450 Squadron RAAF, Kittyhawk

86th Fighter-Bomber Group (USAAF)
Major Clinton True

525th Squadron, A-36 Mustang
526th Squadron, A-36 Mustang
527th Squadron, A-36 Mustang

No. 232 Wing (RAF)

No. 55 Squadron, Baltimore
No. 223 Squadron, Baltimore

No. 244 Wing
[lower-alpha 3] Brian Kingcome (RAF) [6]

No. 1 Squadron SAAF, Spitfire
No. 92 Squadron RAF, Spitfire
No. 145 Squadron RAF, Spitfire
No. 417 Squadron RCAF, Spitfire
No. 601 Squadron RAF, Spitfire

33d Fighter Group (USAAF)
Colonel William Momyer

58th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
59th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
60th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
-
99th Squadron, P-40, Detached

No. 326 Wing (RAF)

No. 18 Squadron, Boston
No. 114 Squadron, Boston

No. 322 Wing (RAF)
Colin Falkland Gray (RAF)

No. 81 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 152 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 154 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 232 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 242 Squadron, Spitfire

324th Fighter Group (USAAF)
Colonel William McNown

314th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
315th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
316th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk

47th Bombardment Group (USAAF)
Colonel Malcolm Green, Jr.

84th Squadron, A-20 Havoc [lower-alpha 4] light bomber
85th Squadron, A-20 Havoc
86th Squadron, A-20 Havoc
97th Squadron, A-20 Havoc

No. 324 Wing (RAF)
Daniel Le Roy du Vivier (RAF [lower-alpha 5] )

No. 43 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 72 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 93 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 111 Squadron, Spitfire
No. 243 Squadron, Spitfire

31st Fighter Group (USAAF)
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hill

307th Squadron, Spitfire
308th Squadron, Spitfire
309th Squadron, Spitfire

12th Bombardment Group (USAAF)
Colonel Edward Backus

81st Squadron, North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber
82nd Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
83rd Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
434th Squadron, B-25 Mitchell

57th Fighter Group (USAAF)
Colonel Arthur Salisbury

64th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
65th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
66th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk

111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Mustang 340th Bombardment Group (USAAF)
Lieutenant Colonel Adolph Tokaz

486th Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
487th Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
488th Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
489th Squadron, B-25 Mitchell
-

79th Fighter Group (USAAF)
Colonel Earl Bates

85th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
86th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk
87th Squadron, P-40 Warhawk

No. 225 Squadron (RAF), Spitfire
No. 285 Wing (Reconnaissance)

No. 40 Squadron SAAF, Detachment, Spitfire
No. 60 Squadron SAAF, de Havilland Mosquito
No. 1437 Flight RAF, Mustang

No. 241 Squadron RAF, Hurricane
No. 6 Squadron RAF, Hurricane

For Operation Husky, No. 242 Group RAF, originally a component of NATAF in February 1943, was assigned to the Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF). At the same time, Air Headquarters, Western Desert became known as Desert Air Force. All of the fighter units of Desert Air Force formed No. 211 (Offensive Fighter) Group commanded by Air Commodore Richard Atcherley on April 11, 1943, in Tripoli. The 99th Fighter Squadron (one of the Tuskegee Airmen units) was assigned to the XII Air Support Command on May 28, 1943, and subsequently attached to the 33rd Fighter Group. The actual squadron assignments and detachments varied throughout the war depending on the specific needs of the air force.

The table above illustrates the squadron assignments and commanders for the important period of World War II when the Allies prepared to invade Italy (Operation Husky), having just won the war in North Africa with the end of the Tunisia Campaign. In recognition of XII Air Support Command's operations in Sicily, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower presented Major General Edwin House with the Legion of Merit and saying that "...for the first time established the application of a tactical air force operating in support of an American Army." [7]

See also

Notes

  1. The British and Commonwealth forces used "Kittyhawk" as service name for Curtiss P-40D and later models
  2. Dive bomber version of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter/fighter-bomber
  3. 244 Wing was commanded by Ian Gleed until he was shot down on 16 April 16, 1943 then by W. G. G. Duncan Smith until replaced by Kingcome
  4. American designation of the same aircraft as the Boston
  5. le Roy du Vivier was a Belgian pilot who joined RAF in 1940

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References

  1. Craven, Wesley F. and James L. Cate. The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume 2, Chicago, Illinois: Chicago University Press, 1949 (Reprinted 1983, ISBN   0-912799-03-X).
  2. Richards, Dennis; Saunders, Hilary (1954). The Royal Air Force 1939-1945: Volume II The Fight Avails. History of the Second World War. HMSO via Hyperwar Foundation.
  3. Howe, George F., Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West, Center of Military History, Washington, DC., 1991.
  4. Participation of the Ninth & Twelfth Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign, Army Air Forces Historical
    Study No. 37, Army Air Forces. Historical Office Headquarters, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, 1945.
  5. Maurer, Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, 1983.
  6. Thomas, Andrew (2013). Spitfire Aces of North Africa and Italy. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 47. ISBN   9781849083447 . Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  7. "Biographies : Major General Edwin J. House". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012.