Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force ( Air Forces Strategic ) ( 14 AF ) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command ( AFSPC ) . It is headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base , California . The command is responsible for the organization , training , equipping , command and control , and employment of Air Force space forces to support operational plans and missions for U . S . combatant commanders and their subordinate components and is the Air Force Component to U . S . Strategic Command for space operations . Established on 5 March 1943 at Kunming , China , 14 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II . It engaged in operations primarily in China . After World War II Fourteenth Air Force subsequently served Air Defense Command , Continental Air Command , and the Air Force Reserves ( AFRES ) . 14 AF is commanded by Lt . Gen . Susan J . Helms . Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sgt . Patrick F . McMahon . Overview . In 1993 , Fourteenth Air Force became part of Air Force Space Command responsible for performing space operations . As the Air Force ' s sole Numbered Air Force for space and its concurrent United States Strategic Command mission of Joint Space Operations , the operational mission of 14 AF includes space launch from the east and west coasts , satellite command and control , missile warning , space surveillance and command and control of assigned and attached joint space forces . The overall mission is control and exploit space for global and theater operations , thereby ensuring warfighters are supported by the best space capabilities available . In 1997 , 14 AF established the Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB in California for the 24 - hour command and control of all space operations resources . In 2002 , 14 AF became the Air Force space operational component of United States Strategic Command . In 2005 , 14 AF officially opened up its newly renovated operations center . The new command and control capabilities of the Joint Space Operations Center ensured unity of effort for all space capabilities supporting joint military operations around the globe . History . World War II . 1st American Volunteer group . With the United States entry into World War II against the Empire of Japan in December 1941 , Claire Chennault , the commander of the American Volunteer Group ( AVG ) ( known as the Flying Tigers ) of the Chinese Air Force was called to Chungking , China , on 29 March 1942 , for a conference to decide the fate of the AVG . Present at the conference were Chiang Kai - shek ; his wife , Madame Chiang ; Lt . Gen . Joseph W . Stilwell , commander of all U . S . forces in the China Burma India Theater ; and Colonel Clayton L . Bissell , who had arrived in early March . Bissell was General Henry H . ‘ Hap ’ Arnold ' s choice to command the USAAF ' s proposed combat organization in China . As early as 30 December 1941 , the U . S . War Department in Washington , D . C . , had authorized the induction of the Flying Tigers into the U . S . Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) . Chennault was opposed to inducting the Flying Tigers into the Army . Stilwell and Bissell made it clear to both Chennault and Chiang that unless the AVG became part of the U . S . Army Air Force , its supplies would be cut off . Chennault agreed to return to active duty but he made it clear to Stilwell that his men would have to speak for themselves . Chiang Kai - shek finally agreed to induction of the AVG into the USAAF , after Stilwell promised that the fighter group absorbing the induction would remain in China with Chennault in command . With the situation in Burma rapidly deteriorating , Stilwell and Bissell wanted the AVG dissolved by 30 April 1942 . Chennault , wanting to keep the Flying Tigers going as long as possible , proposed the group disband on 4 July , when the AVG ’ s contracts with the Nationalist Chinese government expired . Stilwell and Bissell accepted . China Air Task Force . Chennault was recalled to active duty in the USAAF on 15 April 1942 . He was promoted eight days later , on 23 April , from colonel to brigadier general . Chennault was told that he would have to be satisfied to command a " China Air Task Force " of fighters and bombers as part of the Tenth Air Force . Its mission was to defend the aerial supply operation over the Himalayan mountains between India and China — nicknamed the Hump — and to provide air support for Chinese ground forces . Bissell had been promoted to brigadier general with one day ' s seniority to Chennault in order to command all American air units in China as Stillwell ' s Air Commander ( in August 1942 he became commanding general of the Tenth Air Force ) . Friction developed when Chennault and the Chinese government were disturbed by the possibility that Chennault would no longer control combat operations in China . However , when Tenth Air Force commanding general Lewis Brereton was transferred to Egypt on 26 June , Stillwell used the occasion to issue an announcement that Chennault would continue to command all air operations in China . The CATF had 51 fighters in July 1942 – 31 81A - 1 and P - 40B Tomahawks , and 20 P - 40E Kittyhawks . Only 29 were flyable . The 81A - 1s and P - 40Bs were from the original 100 fighters China had purchased for use by the Flying Tigers ; the P - 40Es had been flown from India to China in May 1942 as part of the 23rd Fighter Group , attached to the AVG to gain experience and provide continuity to the takeover of operations of the AVG . Both fighters were good medium - altitude day fighters , with their best performance between 15 , 000 and 18 , 000 feet , and they were excellent ground - strafing aircraft . Chennault also had seven B - 25C Mitchell medium bombers , out of an original 12 sent from India ( four were lost on a bombing mission en route and a fifth developed mechanical problems such that it was grounded and used for spare parts ) . The AVG was disbanded on 4 July 1942 , simultaneous with the activation of the 23rd FG . Its personnel were offered USAAF commissions but only five of the AVG pilots accepted them . The remainder of the AVG pilots , many disgruntled with Bissell , became civilian transport pilots in China , went back to America into other jobs , or joined or rejoined the other military services and fought elsewhere in the war . An example was Fritz Wolf who returned to the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant , senior grade and assigned as fighter pilot instructor at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida . The American Volunteer Group was replaced the 23rd Fighter Group with the 74th , 75th and 76th Fighter squadrons . A fourth fighter squadron for the 23rd Group was obtained by subterfuge . In June and July 1942 , Chennault got the Tenth Air Force in India to transfer the 16th Fighter Squadron , commanded by Major John Alison , to his main base in Kunming , China , to gain combat experience . When the last 16th Squadron Curtiss P - 40E Kittyhawks arrived in Kunming in July 1942 , Chennault took them into the CATF – and never returned them . The 11th Bombardment Squadron ( Medium ) , consisting of the seven B - 25s flown in from India , made up the other half of Chennault ’ s command . On 19 March 1943 , the CATF was disbanded and its units made part of the newly activated Fourteenth Air Force , with Chennault , now a major general , still in command . In the nine months of its existence , the China Air Task Force shot down 149 Japanese planes , plus 85 probables , with a loss of only 16 P - 40s . It had flown 65 bombing missions against Japanese targets in China , Burma and Indochina , dropping 311 tons of bombs and losing only one B - 25 bomber . The members of Fourteenth Air Force and the US press adopted the name Flying Tigers for themselves after the AVG ' s dissolution . Especially the 23d Fighter Group was often called by the same nickname . Fourteenth Air Force . The Fourteenth Air Force official web site says : Chinese - American Composite Wing . In addition to the core Fourteenth Air Force ( 14AF ) structure , a second group , the Chinese - American Composite Wing , existed as a combined 1st Bomber , 3rd Fighter , and 5th Fighter Group with pilots from both the United States and the Republic of China . U . S . service personnel destined for the CACW entered the China theater in mid - July 1943 . Aircraft assigned to the CACW included late - model P - 40 Warhawks ( with the Nationalist Chinese Air Force 12 - pointed star national insignia , rudder markings , and squadron / aircraft numbering ) and B - 25 Mitchell light bombers . In late 1944 , USAAF - marked P - 51 Mustangs began to be assigned to CACW pilots — first P - 51B and C models followed by , in early 1945 , D and K models , which were reduced - weight versions sharing many of the external characteristics of the D model aircraft including the bubble canopy . All U . S . pilots assigned to the CACW were listed as rated pilots in Chinese Air Force and were authorized to wear the pilot ' s wings of both nations . Members of the 3rd FG were honored with a Distinguished Unit Citation ( now Presidential Unit Citation ) for a sustained campaign : Mission " A " in the late summer of 1944 . Mission " A " halted a major Japanese ground offensive and resulted in the award of individual decorations for several of the group ' s pilots for the planning and execution of the mission . Most CACW bases existed near the boundary of Japanese - Occupied China and one " Valley Field " existed in an area within Japanese - held territory . Specific field locations included Hanchung , Ankang , Hsian , Laohokow , Enshih , Liangshan , Peishyi , Chihkiang , Hengyang , Kweilin , Liuchow , Chanyi , Suichwan , and Lingling . Today , the 1st , 3rd and 5th Groups of CACW are still operating in Taiwan , reorganized as 443rd , 427th and 401st Tactical Fighter Wings of the Republic of China Air Force . John Birch . American missionary John Birch was recommended to Chennault for intelligence work by Jimmy Doolittle , whom he had assisted when Doolittle ' s crew landed in China after the raid on Tokyo . Inducted into the Fourteenth on its formation , and later seconded to the OSS , he built a formidable network of Chinese informants to provide the Flying Tigers with intelligence on Japanese land and sea military positions and the disposition of shipping and railways . He was killed by Chinese communists when he attempted to see a downed plane they had been assigned to guard 10 days after the war ended , which led to him being chosen as the namesake of the John Birch Society . The incident is recounted in the memoir of Paul Frillmann , " China : The Remembered Life " , who had started the war as the chaplain for the Flying Tigers . Air Defense Command . In March 1946 , USAAF Chief General Carl Spaatz had undertaken a major re - organization of the postwar USAAF that had included the establishment of Major Commands ( MAJCOM ) , who would report directly to HQ United States Army Air Forces . Continental Air Forces was inactivated , and Tenth Air Force was assigned to the postwar Air Defense Command in March 1946 and subsequently to Continental Air Command ( ConAC ) in December 1948 being primarily concerned with air defense . The command was re - activated on 24 May 1946 at Orlando Army Air Base ( later , AFB ) , Florida . It was originally assigned to provide air defense over a wide region of the Southeast United States along the border of North Carolina , Tennessee , Arkansas and Oklahoma , including Texas south to the Rio Grande . In addition to the command and control of the active Air Force interceptor and radar units in its region , it also became the command organization for the Air Force Reserve and state Air National Guard units . By 1949 with the establishment of the Western Air Defense Force ( WADF ) and Eastern Air Defense Force ( EADF ) , the air defense mission of the command was transferred to primary to the EADF , leaving Fourteenth AF free to focus on its reserve training tasks . It was then reassigned to Continental Air Command and moved to Robins AFB , Georgia , in October 1949 . During the Korean War , 14 AF participated in the mobilization of Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units and individuals from its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base ( AFB ) , Georgia . After the Korean War , the reserve wings of 14 AF participated in various airlift operations , such as Operation SIXTEEN TONS , Operation SWIFT LIFT and Operation READY SWAP . 14 AF was inactivated on 1 September 1960 . Fourteenth Air Force was reactivated on 20 January 1966 , at Gunter AFB , Alabama as part of Air Defense Command with the inactivation of its organization of Air Defense Sectors . Its area of responsibility was essentially the same as its 1948 region , with its region shifted slightly west to include New Mexico . Eastern North and South Carolina were under the reactivated First Air Force . On 16 January 1968 Air Defense Command was re - designated Aerospace Defense Command ( ADCOM ) as part of a restructuring of USAF air defense forces . The command was re designated as Fourteenth Aerospace Force on 1 July 1968 and moved to Ent AFB , Colorado , absorbing resources of 9th Aerospace Defense Division . As part of ADCOM ' s new emphasis on defenses against the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ( ICBM ) and Submarine - launched ballistic missile ( SLBMs ) , the mission of the 14th Aerospace Force it was responsible for detecting foreign missile launches , tracking missiles and satellites in space , providing space vehicle launch services , maintaining a satellite data base of all man - made objects in space and performing anti - satellite action . Its former region of the southeast being reassigned to the 31st and 32d Air Divisions . As the 14th Aerospace Force , the command supervised the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ( BEWMS ) network of Radars along the Arctic Circle . Additional radars came under the command ' s control for the sole purpose of detecting , identifying , tracking and sending back to NORAD data on any SLBM . All man - made objects became numbers in the USAF SPACETRACK network operated by the 14th Aerospace Force . Air Force Reserve . Budget reductions and reorganizations within ADCOM brought many changes and reductions in aerospace resources along with almost continual turmoil in the command structure of 14 AF during the 1970s . In 1976 the headquarters of the 14th Aerospace Force was inactivated , being moved to Dobbins AFB , Georgia and reactivated as the Fourteenth Air Force ( Reserve ) . The mission of the command at Dobbins was the command was changed to the supervision and support of Air Force Reserve Forces . Assigned to the Air Force Reserve it managed airlift forces for Military Air Command and participated in such missions as Operation JUST CAUSE . It was again re - designated Fourteenth Air Force on 1 December 1985 , and inactivated on 1 July 1993 . Air Force Space Command . On 1 July 1993 , 14 AF returned to its former space role and became a Numbered Air Force for Air Force Space Command , responsible for performing space operations . In 1997 , 14 AF established the Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB in California for the 24 - hour command and control of all space operations resources . In 2002 , 14 AF became the Air Force space operational component of United States Strategic Command . In 2005 , 14 AF officially opened up its newly renovated operations center . The new command and control capabilities of the Joint Space Operations Center ensured unity of effort for all space capabilities supporting joint military operations around the globe .