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The 11th AF participated in operations in the Aleutians and was involved with the defense of Alaska.
Visit our 11th Air Force Honor Project with rosters of servicemen who served in the groups of the 11th.
Constituted as Alaskan AF on 28 Dec 1941. Activated in Alaska on 15 Jan 1942. Redesignated Eleventh AF in Feb 1942. Participated in the offensive that drove the Japanese from the Aleutians, attacked the enemy in the Kuril Islands, and, both during and after the war, served as part of the defense force for Alaska. Redesignated Alaskan Air Command in Dec 1945
(This Eleventh AF is not related to an organization of the same name that was constituted on 13 May 1946, assigned to Air Defense Command, activated on 13 Jun 1946, and inactivated on 1 Jul 1948.)
Commands. XI Bomber: 1943-1944. XI Fighter: 1942-1944.
Stations. Elmendorf Field, Alaska, 15 Jan 1942; Adak, 10 Aug 1943; Elmendorf Field, Alaska, 1 Oct 1946-.
Commanders. Lt Col Everett S Davis, 15 Jan 1942; Col Lionel H Dunlap, 17 Feb 1942; Maj Gen William O Butler, 8 Mar 1942; Maj Gen Davenport Johnson, 13 Sep 1943; Brig Gen Isaiah Davies, 4 May 1945; Maj Gen John B Brooks, 22 Jun 1945; Brig Gen Edmund C Lynch, 21 Dec 1945; Maj Gen Joseph H Atkinson, 1 Oct 1946; Maj Gen Frank A Armstrong Jr, 26 Feb 1949; Maj Gen William D Old, 27 Dec 1950; Brig Gen Walter R Agee, 27 Oct 1952; Maj Gen George R Acheson, 26 Feb 1953-.
Campaigns. Air Offensive, Japan; Aleutian Islands.
Decorations. None.
Insigne. On an ultramarine blue shield, a red Arabic numeral "11" outlined in white, above a winged white star, bend sinisterwise, with a red disc in the center, wing golden yellow. (Approved 13 Aug 1943. This insigne was superseded by another on 23 May 1947.)
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
Eleventh Air Force was constituted as the Alaskan Air Force on December 28, 1941, just three weeks after Pearl Harbor, and activated at Elmendorf Field, Alaska, on January 15, 1942, redesignated Eleventh Air Force the following month. From its earliest days, the command faced a mission unlike any other numbered air force: defending a vast, sparsely developed American territory against a plausible Japanese threat while operating in one of the most punishing flying environments anywhere in the world.
That threat became reality in June 1942, when Japanese carrier aircraft struck Dutch Harbor and Japanese ground forces occupied the outer Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska, marking the only World War II battles fought on incorporated United States territory. Eleventh Air Force spent the following year conducting a sustained, grinding air campaign against these occupied positions, missions made exponentially more difficult by the Aleutians' notorious weather: chronic fog, sudden violent storms, and severe icing conditions that grounded aircraft and caused losses far more often than Japanese defenses did. The May 1943 recapture of Attu and the August 1943 landing on Kiska (where Japanese forces had secretly evacuated weeks earlier) finally eliminated organized Japanese resistance in the islands, a hard-won campaign fought as much against the environment as against the enemy.
With the Aleutians secured, Eleventh Air Force shifted to a sustained offensive posture against the Kuril Islands, the northernmost Japanese home islands, conducting regular long-range bombing missions against Japanese airfields and naval facilities there for the remainder of the war. These missions, flown across some of the most hazardous stretches of the North Pacific, kept pressure on Japan's northern flank and provided valuable operational experience and intelligence throughout the war's final two years, even though the Kurils campaign received far less public attention than the more prominent Central and Southwest Pacific offensives underway simultaneously.
Major General William O. Butler commanded Eleventh Air Force through the critical Aleutians campaign beginning March 1942, followed by Major General Davenport Johnson, who guided the command through the sustained Kuril Islands bombing campaign beginning September 1943. The organization's wartime achievement, defeating a genuine territorial invasion, however limited, and then sustaining offensive operations against the Japanese home islands from one of the war's most physically demanding operating environments, represents a genuinely significant, if historically understated, chapter in the Army Air Forces' Pacific War.
a. Status, readiness, and supply of US armed forces
Eleventh Air Force's rapid activation in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor reflects urgent, genuine concern about Alaska's vulnerability, concern validated just months later when Japanese forces actually struck Dutch Harbor and occupied the outer Aleutians. The command's sustained operations against a uniquely brutal climate, rather than solely against enemy defenses, represent a distinct readiness challenge: maintaining aircraft, crews, and mission tempo in conditions of near-constant fog, icing, and violent weather required specialized equipment adaptation and operational procedures with few direct parallels elsewhere in the Army Air Forces.
b. Development of fighting men and command structures
Service in Eleventh Air Force demanded genuinely specialized cold-weather and extreme-weather flying skill, developed largely through hard operational experience rather than prior training doctrine, since few AAF units anywhere else faced comparable environmental conditions. The command's shift from defensive Aleutians combat to sustained offensive Kuril Islands operations after August 1943 required developing long-range navigation and strike procedures across genuinely hazardous North Pacific routes, procedures that built directly on lessons learned during the harder-fought Attu and Kiska campaigns.
c. Prominent personnel and their role with the organization
Major General William O. Butler's leadership through the critical 1942-43 Aleutians campaign guided Eleventh Air Force through the only sustained ground combat fought on incorporated American territory during the entire war, a genuinely unique command responsibility among Army Air Forces numbered air force commanders. Major General Davenport Johnson's subsequent tenure, sustaining the Kuril Islands bombing campaign through the war's final two years, ensured continued pressure on Japan's northern approaches even as the war's main strategic focus shifted decisively toward the Central and Southwest Pacific, a lower-profile but genuinely persistent contribution to the broader Allied strategic pressure campaign against the Japanese home islands.
Q1: When was Eleventh Air Force established?
A1: Eleventh Air Force was constituted as the Alaskan Air Force on December 28, 1941, activated January 15, 1942, and redesignated Eleventh Air Force in February 1942.
Q2: What was Eleventh Air Force's role in the Aleutian Islands campaign?
A2: Eleventh Air Force conducted the sustained bombing campaign that helped drive Japanese forces from Attu and Kiska, then continued attacking Japanese positions in the Kuril Islands for the remainder of the war.
Q3: What made the Aleutians such a difficult combat environment?
A3: Eleventh Air Force crews contended with near-constant fog, severe icing, and violently unpredictable weather that frequently caused more losses and mission aborts than enemy action.
Q4: What campaigns did Eleventh Air Force earn credit for?
A4: Eleventh Air Force earned campaign credit for the Aleutian Islands campaign and the Air Offensive against Japan through its later strikes on the Kuril Islands.
Q5: Who commanded Eleventh Air Force during WWII?
A5: Commanders included Major General William O. Butler and Major General Davenport Johnson, who led the command through much of the sustained Kuril Islands bombing campaign beginning September 1943.
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