XIX Tactical Air Command

XIX Tactical Air Command
Emblem of the XIX Tactical Air Command
Active	1944-1946
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Role	Fighter Command and Control

The XIX Tactical Air Command (XIX TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The unit's last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force based at Biggs Field, Texas. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946.

During World War II, the mission of the XIX TAC was to support General Patton's United States Third Army with tactical air support throughout during the army's advance from formation in France on 1 August 1944 until VE-Day.

Formed in England in early 1944, XIX TAC was a command and control organization, designed to provide air support to Army ground forces, primarily with P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang aircraft. XIX TAC supported all of Third Army's operations and more. Its roles included a bewildering number of missions: close air support, battlefield air interdiction, deep interdiction, dive bombing, counterair, reconnaissance, and even leaflet dropping.

XIX TAC's close air support mission took its most concerted, extended, and spectacular form in supporting Patton's armored and motorized infantry columns as they sped across France. The Third Army's tank crews and their accompanying air support officers pointed out enemy concentrations, and divisional artillery at times gave further assistance by marking targets with smoke. In return, the P-47 and P-51 pilots of XIX TAC provided cover for the tanks in one-hour shifts with four aircraft per flight, and four more on ground alert could be called in if necessary. As little as three minutes after being contacted, they could strike the designated target, thereby freeing the armored forces to continue their advance.

Another of XIX TAC's missions, dive bombing, is normally thought of as a tactic, but XIX TAC considered it a separate mission. It resembled deep interdiction, for both types of missions made use of various aerial bombing techniques and normally attacked similar, prearranged targets. But while deep interdiction was designed to cut off enemy movements either in or out of the combat zone, dive-bombing missions were most often used for static warfare. They were employed, for example, during the unsuccessful September attempt to seize Metz, and their most extensive use was during the siege at Brest.