Northeast Air Command

Northeast Air Command
Northeast Air Command Emblem
Active	1950–1957
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Major Command (1950–1957)
Garrison/HQ	Pepperrell Air Force Base, St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was a short-lived organization in the United States Air Force tasked with the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United States established during World War II in Northeast Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. It was discontinued in 1957.

The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was originally formed from the World War II facilities of the United States Army Newfoundland Base Command (NBC), which formed on 15 January 1941. The NBC was formed to command bases in Newfoundland which came under United States control as a result of the 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement; the 1941 US-Danish Agreement on Greenland, and the development by Air Transport Command of airfields in the Canadian Northwest Territories and Greenland to support aircraft ferry routes to Great Britain.

In the summer of 1940, President Roosevelt began negotiating with British Ambassador to the United States, Lord Lothian for the American lease of British bases, the "rental" to take the form of fifty over-age destroyers. On 2 September 1940, the negotiations were completed. In exchange for the destroyers, the U. S. got ninety-nine-year leases for bases in Dominion of Newfoundland, Bermuda, British Guiana, Antigua, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The detailed lease agreements were not signed until March 1941. But by that time, American troops were already in Newfoundland.

The first United States troops arrived in Newfoundland on 29 January 1941. The first base occupied was a temporary tent camp near St. John's called Camp Alexander. Nearby Fort Pepperrell (renamed Pepperrell Air Force Base on 16 June 1949) received its first troops in November 1941. The Newfoundland Base Command (NBC) was assigned to the Northeastern (later Eastern) Defense Command a subordinate continental defense command of First United States Army whose area included the east coast of the United States and both commanded by Lt. General Hugh A. Drum, based at Fort Jay in New York City. NBC's mission was to provide ground, antiaircraft, and harbor defense of U.S. bases in Newfoundland, to work with Canada in defending Newfoundland, and to cooperate with the Navy in Newfoundland defense. The NBC was under the direct control of US Army General Headquarters for U.S. Troops in Newfoundland in the defense of the northeastern seaboard through First Army/Eastern Defense Command. The Base Command was responsible for its own supply, which was to be provided by the Second Corps area the service of supply organization also headquartered at Fort Jay to the same extent as for units of the field forces.