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Constituted as Tenth AF on 4 Feb 1942 and activated on 12 Feb. Moved to India, Mar-May 1942. Served in India, Burma, and China until Mar 1943 when Fourteenth AF was activated in China. Then the Tenth operated in India and Burma until it moved to China late in Jul 1945. Returned to the US, Dec 1945-Jan 1946. Inactivated on 6 Jan 1946.
Visit our 10th Air Force Honor Project with rosters of servicemen who served in the groups of the 10th.
10th Army Air Forces Patch
Activated on 24 May 1946. Assigned first to Air Defense Command and later (Dec 1948) to Continental Air Command. Supervised reserve and national guard activities.
Groups. 3d Combat Cargo: 1944-1945. 7th Bombardment: 1942-1945. 12th Bombardment: 1944-1945. 33d Fighter: 1944-1945. Both Fighter: 1943-1945. 311th Fighter: 1943-1944. 341st Bombardment: 1942-1944. 443d Troop Carrier: 1944-1945.
Stations. Patterson Field, Ohio, 12 Feb-8 Mar 1942; New Delhi, India, 16 May 1942; Myitkyina, Burma, 2 Nov 1944; Piardoba, India, 15 May 1945; Kunming, China, 1 Aug 1945; Liuchow, China, 9 Aug-15 Dec 1945; Ft Lawton, Wash, 5-6 Jan 1946. Brooks Field, Tex, 24 May 1946; Offutt AFB, Neb, 1 Jul 1948; Ft Benjamin Harrison, Ind, 25 Sep 1948; Selfridge AFB, Mich, 16 Jan 1950-.
Commanders. Col Harry A Halverson, 17 Feb 1942; Maj Gen Lewis H Brereton, 5 Mar 1942; Brig Gen Earl L Naiden, 26 Jun 1942; Maj Gen Clayton L Bissell, 18 Aug 1942; Maj Gen Howard C Davidson, ig Aug 1943; Maj Gen Albert F Hegenberger, 1 Aug 1945-unkn. Col Edward N Backus, 6 Jun 1946; Maj Gen Howard M Turner, 18 Jun 1946; Brig Gen Harry A Johnson, 6 Jan 1948; Maj Gen Paul L Williams, 1 Jul 1948; Maj Gen Harry A Johnson, 30 Apr 1950; Maj Gen Grandison Gardner, 20 Jan 1951; Maj Gen Harry A Johnson, 1 Apr 1951; Maj Gen Richard A Grussendorf, 2 Jul 1953; Maj Gen Robert E L Eaton, 15 Sep 1955-.
Campaigns. Burma, 1942; India-Burma; China Defensive; Central Burma; China Offensive.
Decorations. None.
Insigne. On an ultramarine blue disc, a white shield in base, winged golden orange, the shield bearing the Arabic numeral "10" ultramarine blue, all below a white five pointed star charged with a red disc, encircled by a white annulet. (Approved 25 Jan 1944.)
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
Tenth Air Force was constituted and activated on February 12, 1942, and by that spring had moved to New Delhi, India, becoming the primary American air organization in the newly emerging China-Burma-India theater, one of the war's most logistically punishing and geographically remote combat environments. From the outset, Tenth Air Force faced the dual challenge of supporting Allied ground operations against Japanese forces in Burma while also contributing to the broader effort to keep China supplied and fighting, a mission that would soon require an entirely separate numbered air force of its own.
That separation came in March 1943, when Fourteenth Air Force was activated in China under General Claire Chennault, absorbing the China-focused mission (and much of the combat legacy of the American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers) while Tenth Air Force refocused primarily on operations in India and Burma. This division allowed each command to concentrate on the distinct operational demands of its geography: Tenth Air Force on the brutal jungle and mountain fighting of the Burma campaign, Fourteenth Air Force on air operations supporting China's continued resistance.
Tenth Air Force's most distinctive wartime contribution came through its incorporation of the 1st and 2nd Air Commando Groups, genuinely innovative special-operations air units that combined fighters, bombers, gliders, and light aircraft to support deep-penetration ground operations behind Japanese lines. These units provided direct air support, resupply, and medical evacuation for Merrill's Marauders and British General Orde Wingate's Chindits, forces operating far from conventional supply lines in some of the most difficult terrain of the entire war. The Air Commandos' innovative use of gliders to establish forward airstrips behind enemy lines, most famously at "Broadway" in March 1944, represented genuinely pioneering special-operations aviation doctrine that influenced airborne and special operations concepts for decades afterward.
As Allied forces gradually cleared northern Burma and reopened the Burma Road through 1944 and into 1945, Tenth Air Force provided sustained close air support and interdiction against Japanese forces defending the region, before finally relocating to China itself in July 1945 as the war's final phase unfolded. A succession of commanders, including Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Major General Clayton L. Bissell, and Major General Howard C. Davidson (who led the command from August 1943 through most of the demanding Burma campaign), guided Tenth Air Force through what remains one of the least publicized but most operationally challenging theaters any American air command faced during the entire war.
a. Status, readiness, and supply of US armed forces
Tenth Air Force operated under some of the most severe logistical constraints faced by any American air command, dependent on supply lines running through India and, for its forward operations, on airlift over the Hump route from Assam to China, since the overland Burma Road remained cut for much of the war's middle years. This logistical reality shaped virtually every aspect of Tenth Air Force's readiness posture, forcing genuinely creative solutions like the Air Commando Groups' glider-based forward airstrip construction, essentially building operational capability from nothing in enemy-controlled jungle territory rather than relying on established base infrastructure.
b. Development of fighting men and command structures
The Air Commando concept developed within Tenth Air Force represents one of the most genuinely innovative organizational and doctrinal developments of the entire war, combining fighters, bombers, transports, gliders, and liaison aircraft under unified command structures specifically built to support deep-penetration special operations rather than conventional combat aviation missions. This organizational innovation required developing entirely new coordination procedures between air and ground special operations forces, procedures that had few direct precedents anywhere else in the Army Air Forces and that directly influenced postwar special operations aviation doctrine.
c. Prominent personnel and their role with the organization
Colonels Philip Cochran and John Alison, who jointly led the 1st Air Commando Group, became among the most celebrated tactical innovators of the CBI theater, developing and executing the glider-borne "Broadway" landing that inserted Wingate's Chindits deep behind Japanese lines in March 1944, an operation studied extensively in the years since as an early landmark in special operations aviation. Major General Howard C. Davidson's extended tenure commanding Tenth Air Force through the demanding 1943-45 Burma campaign provided crucial leadership continuity through the theater's most operationally difficult period, guiding the command through the reopening of the Burma Road and the eventual clearing of northern Burma.
Q1: When was Tenth Air Force established?
A1: The Tenth Air Force was constituted and activated February 1942, moving to India between March and May 1942 to establish American air presence in the China-Burma-India theater.
Q2: What was Tenth Air Force's relationship to Fourteenth Air Force?
A2: Tenth Air Force operated across all of CBI until Fourteenth Air Force was activated in China in March 1943, after which Tenth Air Force focused primarily on operations in India and Burma.
Q3: What special operations units did Tenth Air Force include?
A3: Tenth Air Force incorporated the 1st and 2nd Air Commando Groups, which supported Merrill's Marauders and Wingate's Chindits with glider assaults, air resupply, and close air support behind Japanese lines.
Q4: Who commanded Tenth Air Force during WWII?
A4: Commanders included Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Major General Clayton L. Bissell, and Major General Howard C. Davidson, who led the command from August 1943.
Q5: What campaigns did Tenth Air Force fight?
A5: Tenth Air Force earned campaign credit for Burma 1942, India-Burma, China Defensive, Central Burma, and the China Offensive.
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