United States Air Force

The first F-35 Lightning II of the 33rd Fighter Wing arriving at Eglin AFB

An Air Force RQ-4 strategic reconnaissance aircraft

An Air Force KC-46 Pegasus refuels a C-17A Globemaster III

An Air Force A-10 demonstrating close air support at Nellis AFB

Test launch of a LGM-30 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg AFB

Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base

Roundels that have appeared on U.S. military aircraft
1.) 5/1917–2/1918
2.) 2/1918–8/1919
3.) 8/1919–5/1942
4.) 5/1942–6/1943
5.) 6/1943–9/1943
6.) 9/1943–1/1947
7.) 1/1947–

The SR-71 Blackbird was a Cold War reconnaissance plane.

The F-117 Nighthawk was a stealth attack aircraft (retired from service in April 2008).

A row of Douglas C-54 Skymasters during the Berlin Airlift in 1949

Various Air Force personnel pose during the Air Force's 74th birthday celebration at the Pentagon, September 17, 2021.

Organization of the United States Air Force within the Department of Defense

Pararescuemen and a simulated "survivor" watch as an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter comes in for a landing

U.S. Air Force trainee demonstrating a butt stroke on a strike dummy as part of Basic Military Training.

A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft

A C-17 Globemaster III, the USAF's newest and most versatile transport plane

E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system

F-22 Raptor stealth air superiority fighter

KC-10 Extender tri-jet air-to-air tanker

RQ-170 Sentinel stealth unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance aircraft

A WC-130J Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron

An unarmed Minuteman III ICBM shoots out of the silo during an operational test launch

Air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services.

- United States Air Force

500 related topics

Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force

thumb|General Nathan F. Twining, the first Air Force chief of staff to be appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

thumb|The fourth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Thomas Dresser White.

thumb|The fifth chief of staff, General Curtis Emerson LeMay smoking a cigar at a Senate committee hearing.

thumb|The sixth Air Force Chief of Staff, General John Paul McConnell being presented with the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal by President Richard Nixon at the White House.

thumb|The eighth Air Force Chief of Staff, General George Scratchley Brown piloting an Air Force Lockheed VC-140B JetStar.

thumb|The ninth Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Charles Jones addressing the audience during the Air Force Association annual meeting, January 15, 1975.

The tenth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Lew Allen, Jr.

thumb|The eleventh Air Force Chief of Staff, General Charles A. Gabriel briefing President Ronald Reagan and the National Security Council.

thumb|The twelfth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Larry D. Welch upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, October 29, 1988.

thumb|The thirteenth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Michael Joseph Dugan while visiting Air Force personnel deployed to Saudi Arabia during the early stages of the Gulf War, at King Fahd International Airport in 1990.

thumb|The fourteenth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Merrill Anthony "Tony" McPeak greets Air Force personnel deployed during Operation Desert Shield in 1991.

thumb|The fifteenth Air Force Chief of Staff, General Ronald Robert Fogleman.

thumb|General Michael E. Ryan, the sixteenth CSAF, congratulates General Rolf Portz on his presentation of the Legion of Merit, June 30, 2000.

thumb|The seventeenth Air Force Chief of Staff, General John P. Jumper, presents the Airman's Medal to Chief Master Sergeant Noel Sepulveda.

thumb|The eighteenth Air Force chief of staff, General T. Michael Moseley addresses the audience at the farewall ceremony for Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne.

thumb|The nineteenth Chief of Staff, General Norton A. Schwartz piloting a Lockheed-Martin C-130 Hercules.

thumb|General Mark Welsh, the twentieth Air Force chief of staff inspects the graduating U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2015.

thumb|The twenty-first Air Force chief of staff, General David L. Goldfein addresses National Guard soldiers at the 139th General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States, September 9, 2017.

thumb|The incoming twenty-second Air Force chief of staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., is sworn in by Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett.

The chief of staff of the Air Force (acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is a statutory office held by a general in the United States Air Force, and as such is the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force; and is in a separate capacity, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and thereby a military adviser to the National Security Council, the secretary of defense, and the President.

United States Department of the Air Force

One of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America.

Seal of the U.S. Space Force, which is organized within the Department of the Air Force.

The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18, 1947, per the National Security Act of 1947 (codified into Title 10 of the United States Code) and it is the military department within which the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force are organized.

Uniformed services of the United States

The United States has eight federal uniformed services that commission officers as defined by Title 10 and subsequently structured and organized by Title 10, Title 14, Title 32 and Title 42 of the U.S. Code.

4) United States Air Force

Air Force Reserve Command

The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.

Air National Guard

A Galludet Tractor biplane which the New York National Guard aviators rented in 1915

Captain Charles A. Lindbergh, Missouri National Guard, and members of his National Guard unit, 110th Observation Squadron, after he flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927

Following a devastating blizzard in 1949, Colorado ANG C-47s dropped hay to stranded and starving livestock throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Altogether the Colorado Air Guardsmen flew 17 such missions dropping tons of hay that saved thousands of cattle and wildlife. Colorado ANG F-51s and A-26s also flew 10 reconnaissance missions during that emergency, 29 January 1949.

Captain John McMahn and Sergeant White, of the 182nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, Texas Air National Guard, close out flight records at Taegu AB (K-2), South Korea, following their F-84E Thunderjet becoming the first such aircraft to complete 1,000 flying hours, 1952

An Air National Guard Lockheed F-104A-25-LO Starfighter (AF Ser. No. 56-0863) from the 157th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, South Carolina Air National Guard, at McEntire Air National Guard Base, South Carolina

F-84F Thunderstreaks of the 110th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 131st Tactical Fighter Wing, Missouri Air National Guard, Toul Air Base, France – Deployed as a result of the Berlin Crisis 1961/62

An F-104A Starfighter interceptor from the 157th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, South Carolina Air National Guard, being loaded aboard a C-124 Globemaster II for shipment to Europe during the Berlin crisis, 1961

A ground crew preparing an F-100 of the Colorado Air National Guard's 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron for combat missions at Phan Rang Air Base, South Vietnam, 1968

A Lockheed EC-121S Coronet Solo from the 193rd Tactical Electric Warfare Group, Pennsylvania Air National Guard

110th Tactical Fighter Squadron McDonnell F-4C-23-MC Phantom II, AF Ser. No. 64-0749, of the Missouri ANG at Lambert Field ANGB, St Louis, MO, 1980

A-7 Corsair II aircraft of the Iowa ANG and South Dakota ANG flying near RAF Waddington, UK. These aircraft were deployed to the United Kingdom from 21 August to 12 September 1979 for NATO Exercise CORONET STALLION.

A New York Air National Guard F-16 pilot from the 174th Tactical Fighter Wing, 138th Tactical Fighter Squadron, preparing to take-off on a combat mission from a Saudi Arabian base during Operation Desert Storm, 1991

A Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II (AF Ser. No. 78-0652) from the 138th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 174th Tactical Fighter Wing, New York Air National Guard

An Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from the 104th Fighter Group, Massachusetts Air National Guard, taxis on the runway at Aviano Air Base, Italy to take off for NATO airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs, 6 September 1995

Emblem of the 107th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Michigan Air National Guard. Used at Balad Air Base during Operation Iraqi Freedom

An F-15C Eagle from 102nd Fighter Wing, Massachusetts Air National Guard, flies a combat air patrol over New York City as part of Operation Noble Eagle. F-15s from the 102nd were the first to arrive on scene over the World Trade Center following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

F-16s of the 119th Fighter Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard, flying a combat air patrol over Washington, DC, and the Pentagon in Operation Noble Eagle, November 2001

Personnel assigned to the 321st Air Expeditionary Squadron offloading supplies from a C-130H Hercules aircraft assigned to the 187th Airlift Squadron, 153rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard, at Kandahar, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom

Paktia Province, Afghanistan, 4 March 2002, Technical Sergeant Keary Miller of the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Kentucky Air National Guard, not only managed to drag a wounded helicopter pilot to safety at Taka Ghur, but also orchestrated the establishment of multiple casualty collection points. In between treating the wounded, Miller set up the distribution of ammunition for the Army Rangers who were taking the fight to the enemy. For his extraordinary life-saving efforts while putting himself in extreme danger under enemy fire, Sergeant Miller was awarded the Silver Star. (Keith Rocco, The Battle of Takur Ghar, National Guard Heritage Painting.)

Munitions personnel from the 160th Fighter Squadron, 187th Fighter Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, assigned to the 410th Air Expeditionary Wing at a forward deployed location work on guided munitions on the pylon of one of their F-16C Fighting Falcons. The Falcon has an AIM-120A Advanced Medium Air-to-Air Missile fixed to the wing tip. The 410th Air Expeditionary Wing prepares the aircraft for take off for sorties on A-Day, the commencement of the air war for Operation Iraqi Freedom, 19 March 2003.

Commando Solo EC-130E from the 193rd Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, sits on the ramp at undisclosed location during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in late 2005

A C-130E Hercules cargo aircraft from the 146th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard,
rigged with a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) making a Phos-Chek fire retardant drop on the Simi Fire in Southern California, 28 October 2003

Members of the Indiana Air National Guard participating in an emergency operation after recent flooding in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1 March 1982

LC-130Hs equipped with landing skis, operated by the 139th Airlift Squadron, 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, parked on the ice pack at McMurdo Station at Ross Island in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze 2001. The unit operates six LC-130s between Christchurch, New Zealand, and a number of U.S. National Science Foundation stations located on the Antarctic ice pack, 5 November 2001. (Photographer: MSgt Joe Cupido, Air Force photo)

U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, the 28th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, conducts a transition of responsibility order for newly promoted Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh during a Change of Responsibility ceremony at the Pentagon July 28, 2020.

The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

United States Secretary of Defense

Head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet.

Seal of the National Military Establishment (1947–1949)

Donald Rumsfeld is sworn-in as Secretary of Defense by Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart as U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General George S. Brown watch at The Pentagon on November 20, 1975.

Department of Defense organizational chart (December 2013)

Subject only to the orders of the president, the secretary of defense is in the chain of command and exercises command and control, for both operational and administrative purposes, over all service branches administered by the Department of Defense – the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force – as well as the Coast Guard when its command and control is transferred to the Department of Defense.

United States Army Air Forces

The major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945).

General of the Army Henry H. ("Hap") Arnold

USAAF insignia from July 1943 to January 1947

B-17G Fortresses of the 306th Bomb Group

P-51 Mustang of 361st Fighter Group, 1944

Medal of Honor recipient Major Richard Bong in Officer's Service Dress

Awards ceremony at RAF Debden, April 1944, illustrating varying shades of olive drab and the M-1944 "Ike jacket". Light shade 33 on left, dark shade 51 on right. Trousers are shade 33, khaki shade 1, and drab shade 54. The three combinations at right are "pinks and greens".

At the AAF School of Air Evacuation at Bowman Field, Ky., student flight nurses learned how to handle patients with the aid of a mock-up fuselage of a Douglas C-47 transport.

Female service dress in OD shade 33 at Randolph Field, 1944

It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States.

Chuck Yeager

P-51D-20NA, Glamorous Glen III, is the aircraft in which Yeager achieved most of his aerial victories.

Yeager in front of the Bell X-1, which, as with all of the aircraft assigned to him, he named Glamorous Glennis (or some variation thereof), after his wife.

Yeager, as Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School with a model of the North American X-15, 1959

Special Congressional Silver Medal awarded to Yeager in 1976

Old emblem of the General Chuck Yeager Cadet Squadron (formerly of the Civil Air Patrol)

Yeager in 2012, in front of a new Glamorous Glennis III F-15D Eagle

Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (, February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight.

United States Army Air Service

"Prop and Wings" branch insignia of the Air Service

Junior Military Aviator wings, 1917–1918

SPAD S.XIII in livery of Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, 94th Aero Squadron. Note U.S. national insignia painted on wheel hubs.

Nieuport 28 in 95th Aero Squadron markings

U.S. aircraft roundel in Europe, 1918–1919

Aces Eddie Rickenbacker, Douglas Campbell, and Kenneth Marr of the 94th Aero Squadron pose next to a Nieuport 28.

MB-3A of 94th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group

NBS-1 (MB-2) and pursuit in combat practice.

NBS-1s of the 2nd Bomb Group, April 1926

Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, Assistant Chief of Air Service, 1920–1925

Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick, Chief of Air Service, 1921–1926

Curtiss R-6 racer, 1922 Pulitzer Trophy winner

Capt. Lowell Smith, and Lts. John Richter, Virgil Hine, and Frank Seifert conduct first mid-air refueling, June 27, 1923

2nd Lt. Charles A. Lindbergh, March 1925

The United States Army Air Service (USAAS) (also known as the "Air Service", "U.S. Air Service" and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the "Air Service, United States Army") was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1918 and 1926 and a forerunner of the United States Air Force.

United States Department of Defense

Executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces.

President Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment of 1949

Joint Chiefs of Staff/Joint Staff organizational chart

Combatant command areas of responsibility

Defense Spending as a Percent of GDP (1792–2017)

Total United States Defense Outlays 1962–2024, $millions (2019-2024 estimated)

On 26 July 1947, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which set up a unified military command known as the "National Military Establishment", as well as creating the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, National Security Resources Board, United States Air Force (formerly the Army Air Forces) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.