1st Aberdeenshire Artillery Volunteers, Uniforms and insignia
From 1908 the standard RFA service dress was worn, initially with an unusual pattern of brass shoulder title bearing the words 'ABERDEEN CITY' over 'RFA'. This was later changed to the standard TF pattern with 'T' over 'RFA' over 'ABERDEEN'; the brigade ammunition column wore 'HIGHLAND'  in place of 'ABERDEEN'.


1st Academy Awards
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5 (which would be $75 in 2020, considering inflation), 270 people attended the event and the presentation ceremony lasted 15 minutes. Awards were created by Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation (at present merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television. The radio broadcast was introduced during the 2nd Academy Awards.


1st Academy Awards
During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards – now colloquially known as the Oscars – in 12 categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event. Some nominations were announced without reference to a specific film, such as for Ralph Hammeras and Nugent Slaughter, who received nominations in the now-defunct category of Engineering Effects. Unlike later ceremonies, an actor could be awarded for multiple works within a calendar year for the same category. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command. Also, Charlie Chaplin and Warner Brothers each received an Honorary Award.


1st Academy Awards
Major winners at the ceremony included 7th Heaven and Sunrise, which each received three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture, and Wings won the award for Outstanding Picture (now known as Best Picture). These two categories at the time were regarded equally as the top award of the night, intended to honor different and important aspects of superior filmmaking. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award and decided retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded.


1st Academy Awards, Background
In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was established by Louis B. Mayer, the founder of the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would be joined into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Mayer's purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry, including actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented on the creation of the awards "I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them ... If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill them to produce what I wanted.


1st Academy Awards, Background
That's why the Academy Award was created". Mayer asked Cedric Gibbons, art director of MGM, to design an Academy Award trophy. Nominees were notified through a telegram in February 1928. In August 1928, Mayer contacted the Academy Central Board of Judges to decide winners. However, according to the American director King Vidor, the voting for the Academy Award for Best Picture was in the hands of the AMPAS founders: Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, Sid Grauman, Mary Pickford, and Joseph Schenck.


1st Academy Awards, Ceremony
The ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located in Los Angeles. It consisted of a private dinner with 36 banquet tables, where 270 people attended and tickets cost $5 (equivalent to $75.36 in 2020). Actors and actresses arrived at the hotel in luxury vehicles, where many fans attended to encourage celebrities. The ceremony was not broadcast on radio or television, and was hosted by AMPAS director Fairbanks during a 15-minute event.


1st Academy Awards, Overview
Winners were announced three months before the ceremony. The recipients included: Emil Jannings, the inaugural first award recipient for Best Actor (The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command); Janet Gaynor for Best Actress (7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans); Frank Borzage for Best Director, Drama (7th Heaven); Lewis Milestone for Best Director, Comedy (Two Arabian Knights); and Wings for Best Picture (the most expensive film of its time).


1st Academy Awards, Overview
Two presentations were made of a Special Award: Charlie Chaplin, a multiple nominee for one movie (Best Actor, Best Writer and Best Director, Comedy; all for The Circus) having been removed from the list so as to recognize his total contribution to the industry; and Warner Brothers, an award for pioneering talking pictures (The Jazz Singer). Three categories were eliminated for subsequent presentations: Best Engineering Effects, Best Title Writing, and Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production. The larger film producers received the preponderance of awards: Fox Film Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Radio-Keith-Orpheum, and Warner Bros.


1st Academy Awards, Academy Awards of Merit
At the 1st Academy Awards (1927–1928), the nomination process allowed candidates to be nominated – and to be awarded – for either, a single film, multiple films, or without reference to any specific film.


1st Academy Awards, Academy Awards of Merit
Winners are listed first, in boldface, and indicated with an asterisk (*).


1st Academy Awards, Honorary Awards
The following Honorary Awards – then called Special Awards – were conferred:


1st Academy Awards, Changes to Academy Awards
After the 1st Academy Awards (1927–1928), the following changes were made by the AMPAS.


1st Academy Awards, Gallery
Wings is the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, which was at the time known as Outstanding Picture. Also won an award for the Best Engineering Effects.


1st Academy Awards, Gallery
Sunrise won the Academy Award for Best Unique and Artistic Picture, the only year that such a prize was awarded. The prize was intended to honor prestige art films separately from "commercial fare".


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Group
The 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Group (1 AEG) was a unit of the United States Air Force. It was created in 1951, and inactivated on 1 July 1975 when it was replaced by 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron.


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Group, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron
The 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was a unit of the United States Air Force. It was constituted as the 1st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron on 15 May 1951, and activated on 11 June 1951. The unit was redesiginated the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Flight on 20 December 1952, and then 1st Aeromedical Squadron on 8 April 1957. The Air Force inactivated the unit on 8 August 1958, activated the unit on 1 July 1975, and then inactivated it again on 1 July 1994. On 21 March 2003, the Air Force redesignated the unit as the 1st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and converted it to provisional status on 21 March 2003. On 18 December 2008, it was redesignated the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and withdrawn from provisional status.


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, History
In October 1983, the 1 AES deployed to Grenada in support of Operation Urgent Fury. The squadron aeromedically evacuated numerous casualties during the operation. From December 1989 through January 1990, the 1 AES was deployed in support of Operation Just Cause. During this period, 1 AES personnel established and supported the Joint Casualty Collection Point at Howard AFB, Panama. In addition to providing life-saving intervention and treatment of combat casualties, 1 AES personnel aeromedically evacuated wounded soldiers to stateside medical treatment facilities.


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, History
On 10 August 1990, the 1 AES deployed personnel to the Middle East for support of theater aeromedical operations in Operation Desert Shield. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, thousands of theater and strategic patient movements were managed by 1 AES personnel. Following these operations, the 1 AES deployed personnel in support of Operation Provide Comfort from May through October 1991. The squadron also provided support for US forces in Somalia in Operation Restore Hope. The 1 AES deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, on 18 December 1992 and managed more patient movements on  aeromedical evacuation missions.


1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, History
The 1 AES was realigned under the 317th Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, on 1 July 1992 as part of an Air Force-wide reorganization, and on 16 July 1993, the 1 AES was realigned under Air Combat Command and assigned to the 23rd Wing. Finally, the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was inactivated on 1 July 1994.


1st Africa Movie Academy Awards
The 1st Africa Movie Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 30, 2005 at the Gloryland Cultural Center in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, to honor the best African films of 2004. The ceremony was broadcast live on Nigerian national television. Nollywood actress Stella Damasus-Aboderin and Nollywood actor Segun Arinze hosted the ceremony.


1st Africa Movie Academy Awards, Winners, Major Awards
The winners of the 14 Award Categories are listed first and highlighted in bold letters.


1st Agricultural Construction Division (People's Republic of China)
2nd Independent Corps of Northwestern Military Region (Chinese: 西北军区独立第2军) was formed on December 19, 1949 in Zhongwei, Ningxia.


1st Agricultural Construction Division (People's Republic of China)
The corps was formed from defected Republic of China Army 81st Corps, the unit of Ningxia Hui clique Ma Hongbin.


1st Agricultural Construction Division (People's Republic of China)
The corps was originally composed of 2 divisions, with a total of 4 infantry regiments and a cavalry regiment and 9414 personnel.


1st Agricultural Construction Division (People's Republic of China)
In December 1950 the corps was reorganized as 1st Independent Division of Ninxia Military District(Chinese: 宁夏军区独立第1师).


1st Agricultural Construction Division (People's Republic of China)
In 1953 the division was reorganized as 1st Agricultural Construction Division(Chinese: 农业建设第1师).


1st Air Army
The 1st Air Army (Russian: 1-я воздушная армия) was an Air Army in the Soviet Air Force which served during World War II. It was formed on May 10, 1942, within the Soviet Western Front, and renamed the 26th Air Army on January 10, 1949, in the Belorussian Military District.


1st Air Army
After the war, it was reformed on July 1, 1957, and was active until 1998.


1st Air Army, Second World War
When it was formed, the 1st Air Army was made up of two fighter aviation divisions (with four fighter aviation regiments each), two mixed aviation divisions (with two fighter aviation regiments, two assault aviation regiments and one bombing regiment each) a training aviation regiment, a long-range reconnaissance aviation regiment, a communications squadron, and a night close-range bombing aviation regiment.


1st Air Army, Second World War, Structure 1942
From 22 February 1943 until May 1946, the 18th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment served with the 303rd Aviation Division (ru:303-я истребительная авиационная дивизия) of the Army.


1st Air Army, Second World War, Structure 1942
In March 1943, the Air Army also included the French Normandie-Niemen squadron, which was later reorganized into a regiment. In 1942, the 1st Air Army fought alongside the troops of the Western Front, supporting them near Yukhnov, Gzhatsk and Rzhev. The Air Army later participated in the Rzhev-Sychevka, Rzhev-Vyazma, Oryol, Smolensk, Belarusian, Memel and East Prussian offensive operations.


1st Air Army, Second World War, Structure 1942
Throughout the war, the 1st Air Army made 290,000 sorties. Five of the Air Army's formations where reorganized as "Guards Units", 50 formations were given "honourable titles", 44 formations received various awards, 145 pilots and navigators received the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" and over 17,000 of its servicemen were also given various medals and decorations.


1st Air Army, Postwar
In 1957, the army was reformed by the amalgamation of the 29th Air Army and the 54th Air Army within the Soviet Air Forces. It served in the Far Eastern Military District until 1998.


1st Air Army, Postwar
The army's order of battle c.1988 according to Vad777 and supplemented by Holm/Feskov et al. 2013 was:


1st Air Army, Postwar
In 1989 the 1st Air Army disbanded the headquarters of the 33rd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, and in 1994 the headquarters of the 303rd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division.


1st Air Army, Postwar
The 1st Air Army was merged with the 11th Air Defence Army in 1998 to form the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.


1st Air Base Group
The 1st Air Support Group of the Puerto Rico State Guard (1ASG-PRSG) — is the main unit of the State Guard of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico that operates under the sole authority of the governor of Puerto Rico who, in turn, delegates such authority to the Puerto Rico Adjutant General and to the Commanding General of the Puerto Rico State Command.


1st Air Base Group, 21st century
Along with Texas, California and New York, the Puerto Rico State Command is one of the few SDFs that has an air division that embrace the Air Force culture. The 1st Air Support Group, located at Muñiz Air National Guard Base, is an excellent example of integration and teamwork with the PRANG units, especially with the current 156th Wing.


1st Air Base Group, 21st century
The 1ASG have two support flights to provide support to the 140th Air Defense Squadron in Punta Salinas and the 141st Air Control Squadron in Punta Borinquén Aguadilla. All 1st Air Support Group units are organized to meet the military training requirements necessary to take over the Puerto Rico Air National Guard installations upon mobilization and deployment of their units.


1st Air Base Group, 21st century
The 1st Air Support Group training is conducted in accordance with USAF regulations, which supplements the PRSG and PRNG regulations, directives and guidance. Unit Training Assemblies (UTAs) are performed jointly with PRANG's 156th AW in a consolidated drill concept. These trainings are performed jointly with 156th AW personnel. It allows 1ASG personnel to acquire hands-on experience of what their duty will be if PRANG units are mobilize and deployed. It also gives them the opportunity to be trained by their counterpart in their specialty and get the feeling of a real life scenario, while getting ready for it. These drills are performed concurrently with 156th AW UTA schedule.


1st Air Base Group, 21st century
All 1st Air Support Group units and members attend consolidated drills. This form of UTA's is used to:


1st Air Base Group, Duties
The PRSG is the state's authorized militia and assumes the state mission of the Puerto Rico National Guard in the event the National Guard is mobilized. Unlike the Civil Air Patrol or the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, the PRSG is a statutory military entity of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with each PRSG member subject to the Puerto Rico Code of Military Justice (Law 62). Under state law, enlisted members and officers of the PRSG have the same similar legal status, privileges, and/or immunities as members of the state National Guard (in state status) when called to State Active Duty (SAD) or in drill status.


1st Air Base Group, Duties
As a state-organized militia, the PRSG ranks are official state military ranks in accordance with the Article 1, Section 8, Clause 16 of the United States Constitution, where the US Congress received the power “to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress”.


1st Air Base Group, Duties
All PRSG appointments, commissions, warrants, and enlistments are recognized and authorized by the Governor of Puerto Rico through the Adjutant General of PR. The PRSG military personnel render to all members of the military community, and receive from them, all courtesies common to all such members, such as saluting, and forms of address.


1st Air Base Group, Duties
As a historic milestone for our Unit, From August 13 to 17, 2016, a selected group of nine 1st Air Base Group Civil Engineering Flight traveled and participated in a DFT Mission in support of the US Virgin Island National Guard. During the mission, our airmen performed rehabilitation and maintenance tasks at the USVING Joint Forces Headquarters. The group was excellently led by 1st Lt Alexander De Jesus, 1ABG CEF Commander. They were received, greeted and their outstanding performance was recognized by the USVI TAG, BG (VI) Deborah Howell and her Senior Staff.


1st Air Base Group, Uniform
As approved by the Puerto Rico Adjutant General, the military uniforms worn by the 1st Support Base Group personnel are a variation of the U.S. Air Force's Airman Battle Uniform, the USAF's Service Dress Uniform and the USAF's Mess Dress. 1st Air Base Group members must use the PRSG AIR FORCE distinctive marking on those authorized uniforms. All unit commanders will ensure that all members, individually and collectively, present a professional, well-groomed appearance, which will reflect credit upon PRSG Air Force as the State Guard of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The following Military and USAF Style Specialty Badges are authorized to professional members of the 1st Air Base Group:


1st Air Base Group, Uniform
As a regulation governing the use of those Specialty Badges, the 1ABG published the Career Field Education and Training Plan (CFETP) Policy Manual. The CFETP provides information for the Civil Engineer, Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Nurse Corps, Chaplain, Judge Advocate, Emergency Managers, Security Forces and Fire Protection occupational series. That plan outlines desired training, education, and experience to chart and execute a career in those career fields—from entry-level officer/NCO through squadron commander. The CFETP also provides officers, supervisors, and commanders a means to jointly plan and program training and education opportunities.


1st Air Base Group, Uniform
Each officer and NCO should use The CFETP to work with supervisors and commanders to determine appropriate levels and timing of education and training, and ensure they have every opportunity to attend continuing education courses. Every officer or NCO should take the initiative to determine realistic milestones for achieving their goals. Completion of education, training, and experience is a joint responsibility between the officer, their supervisor, and the commander.


1st Air Base Group, Training
In January 2014, the 1st Air Base Group published the 1ABG Airman Manual establishing military standards, qualifications, and as a means to verify readiness. This manual has been created to assist 1ABG airmen in their military careers. It is intended to provide quick guidance to the customs, courtesies, and basic knowledge of the United States Air Force (USAF) and life in the PRSG Air Force. Whether the member has prior military experience. This guide sets forth the basic military principles and policies required of an airman.


1st Air Base Group, Training
The contents of this publication are a compilation of materials from military manuals and guides and is designed to serve as a guide to all members of the 1st Air Support Group-Puerto Rico State Guard. This manual is intended to be used as an orientation resource for new members and a reference document for all personnel.


1st Air Base Group, Training
Also, all 1st Air Support Group personnel participate in other Professional Military Education specialized and general training:


1st Air Base Group, Training
During Training Year 2010-2011 the 1st Air Base Group participated as a Unit in the Military Emergency Management Specialist (MEMS) Program. The Military Emergency Management Specialist (MEMS) Academy was established by the State Guard Association of the United States, Inc. (SGAUS) in 1998 to promote and advance the practice of emergency management among the various State Defense Forces or State Military Reserves. The program is structured around the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS).


1st Air Base Group, Training
The 1ABG certified 90% of their personnel as MEMS Basic and NIMS Compliance, being the first and only State Defense Force Unit in the Nation to achieve that goal.


1st Air Base Group, Training
With the support of the PRSG MEMS Academy staff & instructors, the 1ABG completed the following FEMA-Emergency Management Institute classroom courses:


1st Air Base Group, Training
Also as a Group, as a requirement for the Basic MEMS Certification, they completed a Point of Distribution Exercise planned under Incident Command principles at Puerto Rico National Guard's Camp Santiago Joint Maneuvering Training Site, Salinas, PR.


1st Air Base Group, Training
In 2016, the 1st ABG, in a joint effort with the 156AW Security Forces Squadron, implemented the Security Forces Basic Orientation Course (SFBOC) for Air State Guard Personnel. The course serves as an introduction of Security Forces concepts of operations. It will also direct their knowledge toward the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard security forces culture. It will give all these personnel the basic necessary knowledge to support the PRANG Mission.


1st Air Base Group, Training
The participants completed 73 contact hours of Professional Military Education including the following topics: Security Forces Concepts of Operations, Military Law and Jurisdiction, Authority, Communications, Counter Bloodborne & Pathogens, Reports, Challenge (Foot & Vehicle), Handcuffing, Individual, Areas & Vehicles Searches, ASP Baton, Individual & Small Team Tactics, Entry Control Procedures, AF Form 1109, AF Form 52, Sec Forces Combative, Arming & Use of Force, Rules of Engagement.


1st Air Base Group, Meritorious Unit Citation awarded by the State Guard Association of USA
On May 1, 2016, the 1ABG received the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded to the 1st Air Base Group-Puerto Rico Air State Guard by the State Guard Association of the United States. This national-level recognition is awarded to the 1st ABG for its achievements in the Emergency Management and Regional Points of Distribution Program in support to the PR Emergency Management Agency and FEMA mission. And for being the first State Guard Unit that qualifies more than 90% of their personnel as Basic Military Emergency Management Specialists.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade
The Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division is a divisional aviation brigade of the United States Army. It was activated on 16 September 1984.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, 1960s
The history of combat aviation in the 1st Cavalry Division goes back to 1963, when the Army began to gather helicopters into the 11th Aviation Group, 11th Air Assault Division (Test) at Fort Benning, Georgia, to test the airmobile concept. The 11th Aviation Group included the 227th, 228th and 229th Aviation Battalions. In 1965, the assets of the 11th AAD and the 2d Infantry Division were merged to form the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). This involved a simultaneous transfer of the swapping of the colors of the 1st Cavalry Division, then stationed in Korea, with the 2nd Infantry Division.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, 1960s
On 1 August 1965, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) was sent to Vietnam. Aviators participated in 14 campaigns and received seven decorations during its seven years of duty in Vietnam. The first Army aviator to be awarded the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War was a member of the 227th Aviation Battalion.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, 1960s
Following its return from Vietnam, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganized as an experimental TRICAP (Triple Capability) Division with a heavy (armor-mech) brigade, an airmobile brigade and an aviation brigade. This configuration was deemed unworkable and the division was reorganized as a standard heavy division. The division's aviation element consisted of the 227th Aviation Battalion. The colors of the 11th Aviation Group were separated from the division after the war and assigned to Germany by reflagging an existing aviation group already stationed there.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, 1960s
According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the lineage of the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division began when it was constituted on 1 September 1984 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and activated at Fort Hood, Texas. It was reorganized and redesignated on 16 October 1996 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Aviation Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, 1960s
The 227th Aviation Regiment itself appears to have been established on 16 July 1987.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Gulf War
In late 1990, the brigade deployed overseas to Saudi Arabia, where the unit postured for combat in Operation Desert Shield. On 25 February 1991, with the onset of Operation Desert Storm, the brigade conducted a raid as a part of the 1st Cavalry Division's deception plan to throw Iraqi forces off guard. The units of the brigade would serve as the vanguard of the division's movement north to cut off a retreating Iraqi Republican Guard division at Basra. In late spring of 1991, the units of the brigade redeployed to Fort Hood and their home stations.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Other operations
In January 1993 the brigade deployed command and control aircraft to Kuwait. With 48 hours' notice, the brigade deployed to Somalia, where it flew over 500 hours of combat missions. In Bosnia, in 1999, the brigade deployed to Operation Joint Forge. Units flew in the Balkans in support of Stabilization Force 4. Missions performed ranged from multi-national general support and airborne command and control, to air movement operations.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War
With the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, the brigade deployed the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation to Iraq to exercise their Longbow Apaches in combat operations for the first time. There, they assisted in setting the conditions for the defeat of the Iraqi Army and the liberation of Baghdad. In the early hours of 24 March 2003, Apache Longbows of the 1st Cavalry Division, fought a fierce battle with units of Iraq's Republican Guard Medina Division between the cities of Karbala and Al Hilah, south of Baghdad.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War
During March 2004 the brigade deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom II as part of Task Force Baghdad. The brigade fought throughout the Baghdad Area of Operations and in Fallujah, An Najaf, Al Kut, Karbala, and Balad. The brigade flew over 70,000 hours and was recognized with 84 awards for valor including the first Army Aviator to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and seven Distinguished Flying Crosses.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War
In 2006 the brigade deployed to Taji, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08. At the end of January 2007, the brigade participated in the Battle of An Najif, in which a 4-227, AH-64D was shot down in combat operations. One week later a 1-227, AH-64D was also shot down.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War
The brigade was deployed to Taji, Iraq again in 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 09-11.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War
In June 2011 the brigade deployed to Afghanistan and returned starting in April 2012 after being replaced by 12th Combat Aviation Brigade from Germany


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War, Events of 12 July 2007
On 12 July 2007, after several skirmishes in the area, two AH-64 Apache helicopters reportedly of the Air Weapons Team of the Combat Aviation Brigade observed a group of people milling around on a street in Baghdad, including what appeared to be two armed, and ten unarmed men. They reported all in the group to be armed, presumed them to be Iraqi insurgents, and fired on them, as well as a van seeking to pick up the wounded and a man severely wounded and incapacitated by the first attack. A total of 12 people were killed including Reuters journalist Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh. Two children were also severely injured.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Iraq War, Events of 12 July 2007
The attacks received worldwide media coverage following the leaking of 39 minutes of classified cockpit video footage in 2010. The Apache crews involved were criticized for their decision to attack a largely unarmed group, for re-attacking the wounded, attacking the unarmed men that came to the aid of the wounded, and for the callous language used by the Apache crews occasionally during the attacks.


1st Air Cavalry Brigade, History, Peacetime operations
After the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, the brigade deployed 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, elements of 615th Aviation Support Battalion and the brigade command team to Louisiana to support disaster relief operations in New Orleans. Immediately upon redeployment, 2-227 AVN, 615th ASB and the brigade command team redeployed to East Texas to assist relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Rita. Shortly after returning from the hurricane relief effort, the 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment and 615th ASB were called upon to support a humanitarian aid mission in the aftermath of the October 2005 earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan.


1st Air Command
The 1st Air Command (Serbo-Croatian: 1. vazduhoplovna komanda/ 1.   ваздухопловна команда) was a joint unit of the Yugoslav Air Force from 1959 to 1964 and served as the premier air force unit with Yugoslavia. The unit served during a time of uncertainty for the Yugoslav Air Force, in which internal and external forces put political pressure upon the force. This included the utilization of first NATO then Soviet aircraft, and the eventual dissolution of the 1st Air command in 1964.


1st Air Command, History
It was established by the order from June 27, 1959, year due to the "Drvar" reorganization plan of Yugoslav Air Force from the 44th Aviation Division with command at Batajnica. In 1961 it suffered a change in the organization.


1st Air Command, History
By the new "Drvar 2" reorganization plan of Yugoslav Air Force, on May 2, 1964, 1st Air Command was transformed into 1st Aviation Corps.


1st Air Corps (Germany)
I. Fliegerkorps (1st Air Corps) was formed 11 October 1939 in Cologne from the 1st Air Division. The Corps was also known as Luftwaffenkommando Don between 26 August 1942 until 17 February 1943. It was transformed to the 18th Air Division on 4 April 1945.


1st Air Defence Division (Russia)
The 1st Air Defence Division is a military formation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It traces its history to a corps of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, and later the Russian Air Force. The corps was headquartered at Severomorsk and was part of the 10th Air Defence Army from 1960 to 1994. It was formed as the Northern Air Defence Corps in 1957 and was assigned the designation "21st" three years later. It became a brigade in 2009 and was converted into a division in 2014.


1st Air Defence Division (Russia), History
The corps was originally established as the Northern Air Defence Corps in February 1957 with headquarters at Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast, part of the Northern Air Defence Army. On 21 March 1960 it gained a combined-arms number as the 21st Air Defence Corps, and at the same time the Northern Air Defence Army became the 10th Air Defence Army.


1st Air Defence Division (Russia), History
The corps included an anti-aircraft missile regiment with a headquarters in Murmansk (the only military unit in this city), the 5th Radio Technical Brigade with headquarters in Severomorsk, and fighter air regiments based on airfields Kilp-yavr, Afrikanda and Monchegorsk.


1st Air Defence Division (Russia), History
In April 1978, corps commander Vladimir Tsarkov ordered an Su-15 pilot to shoot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after the plane failed to respond to repeated orders to land, and approached the Soviet border with Finland. The Su-15 opened fire, forcing the plane to descend, and killing two of the 109 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 902. The plane made an emergency landing on the frozen Korpiyarvi lake (not to be confused with the Korpijärvi lake) near the Finnish border.


1st Air Defence Division (Russia), History
The 10th Air Defence Army disbanded in December 1994, and the corps transferred to the 6th Separate Air Defence Army, which became the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army in 1998. In 2009, the formation became the 1st Aerospace Defence Brigade, and the 6th Army became the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command. In December 2014, the brigade was converted, along like other aerospace defence brigades, into the 1st Air Defence Division, and became part of the Arctic Joint Strategic Command. The division became part of the Northern Fleet by early 2017.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment
The 1st Air Defense Artillery is an air defense artillery regiment in the United States Army first formed as a field artillery unit in 1821.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Constituted 1 June 1821 in the Regular Army as the 1st Regiment of Artillery, and organized from existing units with headquarters at Fort Independence (Massachusetts). The lineages of some of the units that initially made up the 1st U.S. Artillery include campaign credit for the War of 1812.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Twelve batteries of the regiment served in the American Civil War. Battery E and Battery H were the garrison of Fort Sumter under Major Robert Anderson during the bombardment of the fort in April 1861.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Battery E of the 1st Artillery participated in the Battle of Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Order of battle information shows that batteries of the regiment deployed outside the U.S. in the Spanish–American War of 1898. However, no battle honors for this war are on the official lineage and honors certificate dated 29 November 1996. Batteries E and K deployed to Cuba.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Regiment broken up 13 February 1901 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as separate numbered companies and batteries of the Artillery Corps.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Reconstituted 1 July 1924 in the Regular Army as the 1st Coast Artillery and partially organized with headquarters at Fort De Lesseps, Panama Canal Zone in the Harbor Defenses of Cristobal on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. The regiment was organized by redesignating the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 11th companies of the Coast Artillery Corps (CAC). Batteries B, C, and D carried the lineage and designations of the corresponding batteries in the old 1st Artillery.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
On 1 July 1924, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB) & Band activated at Fort De Lesseps and 3rd Battalion with Batteries E and G at Fort Randolph. Batteries A, B, C, D, & F were inactive.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Battery G inactivated 31 May 1926; 1st Battalion activated 1 June 1926 at Fort Randolph, Canal Zone; inactivated 31 July 1926 at Fort Randolph, Canal Zone.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Batteries A, B, C, D, F, & H activated 17 March 1932 (or 15 April 1932) with personnel from 2nd Coast Artillery (Harbor Defense) (HD) and 65th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) (AA). 1st and 2nd Battalions activated 15 April 1932 at Forts Randolph and Sherman, Canal Zone, respectively. 3rd Battalion inactivated same date. 1st Battalion served as AA and 2nd Battalion as HD under special tables of organization. HHB changed station to Fort Sherman 15 February 1940.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Regiment reorganized as HD 26 October 1939. 1st Battalion provided cadre for organization of 72nd Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment at Fort Randolph 1 November 1939.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
3d Battalion activated 15 March 1940 at Fort Randolph, Canal Zone.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
1st and 2nd Battalions and Batteries E and F inactivated 30 March 1941; 1st and 2nd Battalions activated 17 April 1942 at Fort Sherman, Canal Zone.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Regiment broken up 1 November 1944 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as follows:


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Coast Artillery Group.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
After 1 November 1944 the above units underwent changes as follows:


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Coast Artillery Group, reorganized and redesignated 2 January 1945 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Harbor Defenses of Cristobal. Inactivated 15 January 1947 at Fort Sherman, Canal Zone. Redesignated 21 June 1950 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Group. Consolidated 18 November 1952 with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Group (see ANNEX), and consolidated unit designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Group. Activated 15 April 1953 in Germany. Inactivated 26 December 1957 in Germany.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
1st Coast Artillery Battalion disbanded 1 February 1946 at Fort Sherman, Canal Zone. Reconstituted 21 June 1950 in the Regular Army as the 1st Coast Artillery to consist of the 1st and 2nd Battalions; 1st and 2nd Battalions concurrently redesignated as the 1st and 54th Antiaircraft Battalions, respectively.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
1st Antiaircraft Battalion redesignated 17 March 1955 as the 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion Activated 15 April 1955 at Irwin, Pennsylvania. Inactivated 1 September 1958 at Irwin, Pennsylvania.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
54th Antiaircraft Battalion redesignated 15 December 1954 as the 54th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion and activated at the United States Army Chemical Center, Maryland. Inactivated 1 September 1958 at the United States Army Chemical Center, Maryland.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Group, and the 1st and 54th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalions consolidated 19 March 1959 with the 1st Field Artillery Battalion (organized in 1907) and consolidated unit reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
1st Artillery (less former 1st Field Artillery Battalion) reorganized and redesignated 1 September 1971 as the 1st Air Defense Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System (former 1st Field Artillery Battalion concurrently reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Field Artillery - hereafter separate lineage).


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage
1st Air Defense Artillery withdrawn 16 June 1987 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage, Annex (1st AAA Group)
Constituted 5 August 1942 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Group (or 1st Coast Artillery Group (Antiaircraft)).


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage, Annex (1st AAA Group)
Activated 17 August 1942 at Fort Bliss, Texas. Departed the United States 1 March 1943; arrived in North Africa 9 March 1943 and landed in Sicily on 9 August 1943. Transferred to Sardinia 4 December 1943.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Lineage, Annex (1st AAA Group)
Redesignated 31 December 1943 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Antiaircraft Artillery Group at Sassari, Sardinia. Moved to Corsica 25 July 1944; landed in France 2 November 1944.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Decorations
The 1st Air Defense Artillery has received the following decorations:


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Coat of arms
Gules, two pallets argent, overall a cubit arm habited in the artillery uniform of 1861 erased holding aloft a burning torch or, between two of a snake vert, lipped and eyed of the third above and behind a prickly pear cactus all proper, fesswise.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Coat of arms
On a wreath of the colors, argent and gules, a palmetto tree vert behind an arm embowed habited in the artillery uniform of 1861 issuing from the upper portion of an embattled tower and grasping a rammer staff fessways all or.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Coat of arms, Symbolism
The shield is scarlet for artillery. With two white stripes, alluding to the campaign streamer of the War of 1812, the age of some of the units of the regiment is depicted. The snake and cactus, from the State Seal of Mexico, represent the Mexican War. The hand holding the torch of loyalty commemorates the defense of Fort Pickens, the only fort south of Fort Monroe that remained loyal to the federal government throughout the Civil War.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Coat of arms, Symbolism
The arm and rammer staff rising out of a tower in front of a palmetto tree indicate participation in the Civil War at Fort Sumter. The palmetto tree is taken from the State Seal of South Carolina.


1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Distinctive unit insignia
The distinctive insignia is an adaptation of the crest and motto of the coat of arms.


1st Air Defense Brigade (South Korea)
The 1st Air Defense Brigade (Korean: 제1방공여단, Hanja: 第一防空旅團) is a military formation of the Republic of Korea Army. It is subordinated to the Capital Defense Command. It headquartered in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and is responsible for defending the P-73A and P-73B areas of Seoul, the South Korean capital city.


1st Air Defense Brigade (South Korea), History
On 1 December 1986, the unit were established as 3rd Air Defense Brigade. The 3rd Air Defense Brigade was reorganized into the 1st Air Defense Brigade after being left with the Army when the Air Defense Command transferred to the Republic of Korea Air Force on 1 July 1991. After that, the brigade was under the command of the Third ROK Army, and on 1 December 2011, it was merged with the 10th Air Defense Group and transferred to the Capital Defense Command.


1st Air Defense Force Corps (People's Republic of China)
1st Air Defense Corps(Chinese: 防空第1军) was activated on July 12, 1955, from Headquarters, 12th Public Security Division in Fuzhou, Fujian province. The corps was mainly tasked with the defense of major cities and facilities in Fujian province when Republic of China Air Force had taken control of the air superiority.


1st Air Defense Force Corps (People's Republic of China)
In August 1958, along with the formal activation of People's Liberation Army Air Defense Force, the corps was redesignated as 1st Air Defense Force Corps(Chinese: 防空军第1军).


1st Air Defense Force Corps (People's Republic of China)
The corps was a part of People's Liberation Army Air Defense Force, then a major branch of the People's Liberation Army.


1st Air Defense Force Corps (People's Republic of China)
From July 1, 1956, 107th Anti- Aircraft Artillery Division attached to the corps.


1st Air Defense Force Corps (People's Republic of China)
In July 1957, during the combination of the People's Liberation Army Air Force and the People's Liberation Army Air Defense Force, the corps was redesignated as 1st Air Force Corps.


1st Air Division (Germany)
1st Air Division (1. Flieger-Division) was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II.


1st Air Fleet
The 1st Air Fleet (第一航空艦隊, Daiichi Kōkū Kantai) also known as the Kidō Butai ("Mobile Force"), was a name used for a combined carrier battle group comprising most of the aircraft carriers and carrier air groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), during the first eight months of the Pacific War.


1st Air Fleet
At the time of its best-known operation, the attack on Pearl Harbor, in December 1941, the 1st Air Fleet was the world's largest fleet of aircraft carriers.


1st Air Fleet
In its second generation, 1st Air Fleet was a land-based fleet of "kichi kōkūtai" (base air unit(s)).


1st Air Fleet, Origins
In 1912, the British Royal Navy had established its own flying branch, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The IJN was modeled on the Royal Navy and the IJN Admiralty sought establishment of their own Naval Air Service. The IJN had also observed technical developments in other countries and saw military potential of the airplane. In 1913, the IJN seaplane carrier Wakamiya was converted into a seaplane tender and aircraft were purchased. The 1st and 2nd Air Fleet were to be the primary attack force of the IJNAS.


1st Air Fleet, Origins
The Japanese carriers' experiences off China had helped further develop the IJN's carrier doctrine. One lesson learned in China was the importance of concentration and mass in projecting naval air power ashore. Therefore, in April 1941 the IJN formed the 1st Air Fleet to combine all of its fleet carriers under a single command. The IJN centered its doctrine on air strikes that combined the air groups within carrier divisions, rather than each individual carrier. When more than one carrier division was operating together, the divisions' air groups were combined with each other.


1st Air Fleet, Origins
This doctrine of combined, massed, carrier air attack groups was the most advanced of its kind of all the world's navies. The IJN, however, remained concerned that concentrating all of its carriers together would render them vulnerable to being wiped out all at once by a massive enemy air or surface strike. Thus, the IJN developed a compromise solution in which the fleet carriers would operate closely together within their carrier divisions but the divisions themselves would operate in loose rectangular formations, with approximately 7,000 metres (7,700 yd) separating the carriers from each other.


1st Air Fleet, Origins
Although the concentration of so many fleet carriers into a single unit was a new and revolutionary offensive strategic concept, the First Air Fleet suffered from several defensive deficiencies which gave it, in Mark Peattie's words, a "'glass jaw':  it could throw a punch but couldn't take one." Japanese carrier anti-aircraft guns and associated fire control systems had several design and configuration deficiencies which limited their effectiveness. The IJN's fleet combat air patrol (CAP) consisted of too few fighter aircraft and was hampered by an inadequate early warning system, including a lack of radar.


1st Air Fleet, Origins
Poor radio communications with the fighter aircraft inhibited effective command and control of the CAP. The carriers' escorting warships were deployed as visual scouts in a ring at long range, not as close anti-aircraft escorts, as they lacked training, doctrine, and sufficient anti-aircraft guns. These deficiencies would eventually doom Kaga and other First Air Fleet carriers.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
The First Air Fleet (Dai-ichi Kōkū Kantai) was a major component of the Combined Fleet (Rengō Kantai). When created on 10 April 1941, it had three kōkū sentai (air flotillas; in the case of aircraft carriers, carrier divisions): On that date, First Kōkū Sentai consisted of Akagi and Kaga and their aircraft units. Later that spring, a number of destroyers were added. On 10 April 1941, Second Kōkū Sentai comprised Sōryū, Hiryū and the 23rd Kuchikutai (Destroyer Unit). Fourth Kōkū Sentai consisted solely of light carrier Ryūjō and her aircraft unit, until two destroyers were added in August.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
(At its inception, First Air Fleet did not include Third Kōkū Sentai and it did not include it on 7 December 1941. Third Kōkū Sentai (3rd Carrier Division, see table below) was attached to First Fleet, as distinct from First Air Fleet. On 1 April 1942, Third Kōkū Sentai was disbanded.) See the table titled "Transition", below.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
When formed on 10 April 1941, First Air Fleet was a naval battlegroup with the single most powerful concentration of carrier-based aircraft in the world at the time. Military historian Gordon Prange called it "a revolutionary and potentially formidable instrument of sea power."


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
Fifth Kōkū Sentai (5th Carrier Division) was created on 1 September 1941 and was added to First Air Fleet . When the new aircraft carrier Zuikaku was added to Fifth Kōkū Sentai, First Air Fleet consisted of Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Ryūjō, Kasuga Maru (renamed Taiyō ca. 31 August 1942), Shōkaku and Zuikaku , along with their aircraft units and a number of destroyers. On 25 September 1941, Kasuga Maru was transferred from Fifth Kōkū Sentai to Fourth Kōkū Sentai. (Kasuga Maru was used to ferry aircraft to distant Japanese bases and should not be considered a front-line aircraft carrier.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
The status of any aircraft unit that she may have had is unclear.) Light carrier Shōhō was added to Fourth Kōkū Sentai on 22 December 1941. She was destroyed on 7 May 1942 in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū were lost in the Battle of Midway.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
Each Kōkū Sentai of First Air Fleet tended to include a pair of aircraft carriers, and each included the respective hikōkitai/hikōtai (aircraft/aviation unit(s)) of each aircraft carrier. Each Kōkū Sentai of First Air Fleet was a tactical unit that could be deployed separately or combined with other Kōkū Sentai of First Air Fleet, depending on the mission. For example, for operations against New Britain and New Guinea in January 1942, First Kōkū Sentai and Fifth Kōkū Sentai participated.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
The number (from approximately two dozen up to approximately 80 aircraft) and type of aircraft varied, based on the capacity of the aircraft carrier. The large fleet carriers had three types of aircraft; fighters, level/torpedo bombers, and dive bombers. The smaller carriers tended to have only two types of aircraft, fighters and torpedo bombers.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
At the beginning of the Pacific War, First Air Fleet included six fleet carriers: Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku, and two light carriers: Ryūjō and Kasuga Maru (later renamed Taiyō), as shown in the table below.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet
On 14 July 1942, First Air Fleet was converted into Third Fleet (第三艦隊) and Eighth Fleet (第八艦隊), and 2nd Carrier Division (first generation) and 5th Carrier Division were disbanded. On the same date, the Japanese Navy's front-line aircraft carriers and their aircraft units came under the command of the 3rd Fleet, which was created in its sixth generation on that date.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet, Kidō Butai
The Kidō Butai (機動部隊, "Mobile Unit/Force") was the Combined Fleet's tactical designation for its combined carrier battle groups. The title was used as a term of convenience; it was not a formal name for the organization. It consisted of Japan's six largest carriers, carrying the 1st Air Fleet. This mobile task force was created for executing the attack on Pearl Harbor under Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo in 1941.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Carrier-Based Fleet, Kidō Butai
For the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Kidō Butai consisted of six aircraft carriers (commanded by Chūichi Nagumo, Tamon Yamaguchi and Chūichi Hara) with 414 airplanes, two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers, eight tankers, 23 submarines, and four midget submarines. However, these escort ships were borrowed from other fleets and squadrons. It was considered the single most powerful naval fleet until four of the six aircraft carriers of the unit were destroyed in the disastrous Battle of Midway.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Land-Based Air Fleet
On 1 July 1943, the 1st Air Fleet was recreated as an exclusively land-based air fleet. It was intended to consist of nearly 1,600 aircraft when completed, but the war situation prevented it from reaching that figure, and the second generation of this fleet began with only two Kōkūtai: Dai 261 Kaigun Kōkūtai (a one-month-old Zerosen unit) and Dai 761 Kaigun Kōkūtai (a bomber unit that was created on the same day as this fleet was). On 30 September 1943, a cabinet meeting planned the Absolute National Defense Zone (絶対国防圏, Zettai Kokubōken) strategy.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Land-Based Air Fleet
The plan intended the Kuril Islands, Bonin Islands, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, Biak, Sunda Islands and Burma to be unsinkable aircraft carriers. The 1st Air Fleet became the main force of this plan. However, it was soundly beaten in the Battle of Philippine Sea. The IJN then moved the air fleet to the Philippines to regroup. However, due partly to the aircrews' lack of combat experience, the air fleet suffered severe losses in the Formosa Air Battle. After the battle it had only 30 aircraft. The only tactic left for them was the kamikaze attack.


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Land-Based Air Fleet, Commanders
Vice Admiral Kakuji Kakuta (4th Carrier Division - from 1941)


1st Air Fleet, Organization, As a Land-Based Air Fleet, Commanders
Vice Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka (Chief of staff, 1st Air Fleet)


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Pearl Harbor
The Kidō Butai (also known as the Carrier Striking Task Force) set sail from Hitokappu Bay, Japan under Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo on 26 November 1941, arriving in Hawaiian waters on Sunday, 7 December 1941 Hawaiian time. At around 8am, the first wave began its attack on the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor and on outlying airfields. By the end of the day 21 American ships were either sunk or crippled, 188 aircraft were destroyed, and almost 2,500 Americans were killed. Japan was now formally at war with the United States.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Pearl Harbor
For the attack on Pearl Harbor, this fleet had a strength of 103 level bombers, 128 dive bombers, 40 torpedo bombers, 88 fighter planes, and plus 91 planes with a total of 441 planes.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Bombing of Darwin
The Bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java. The town was only lightly defended and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon the Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Indian Ocean Raid
Between 31 March and 10 April 1942 the Japanese conducted a naval sortie against Allied naval forces in the Indian Ocean. The Fast Carrier Task Force (Kidō Butai), consisting of six carriers commanded by Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, inflicted heavy losses on the British fleet, with the sinking of 1 carrier, 2 cruisers, 2 destroyers, and 23 merchant ships for the loss of 20 aircraft. Attacks on the island of Ceylon were also carried out.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Battle of the Coral Sea
The 1st Air Fleet dispatched the Fifth Carrier Division in the Coral Sea during the return from the Indian Ocean. On May 7 the USN sighted the Port Moresby invasion force and mistook it for the main carrier force. Admiral Fletcher sent an aircraft strike which sank the IJN light carrier Shōhō. After this loss of air cover, the Port Moresby invasion force abandoned its mission and retreated north. On the same day the IJN sighted and sank USN destroyer Sims and oiler Neosho. The primary action took place on 8 May. Both carrier forces sighted and attacked each other. As a result, Lexington was sunk and Yorktown was damaged by a Japanese air strike. USN aircraft managed to damage Shōkaku, meaning that she and her sister ship were unable to participate in the following operation. The remaining fleet returned to Japan to prepare for the Midway invasion (Operation MI).


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Battle of Midway
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned to lure and destroy USN carriers by attacking the Midway Islands in June 1942. The Japanese were unaware that the United States had broken their naval code. As a result of this, USN carriers were already in the area when the Japanese attacked Midway. On 3 June US land-based bombers from Midway attacked the Japanese fleet but scored no hits. On 4 June, due to the poor reconnaissance efforts and tactical mistakes of Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, USN dive bombers were able to surprise the Japanese carrier force and destroyed three carriers (Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū).


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Battle of Midway
At the time of the attack the Japanese carriers were in the process of preparing to launch an air strike against the US carriers and their hangars were full of loaded aircraft, bombs and aviation fuel which decisively contributed to their destruction. Carrier Hiryū managed to survive the attack and Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi launched a strike against Yorktown. Aircraft from Hiryū managed to cripple Yorktown, which was later sunk by a Japanese submarine I-168. In response, US launched a strike against Hiryū and sank her. That day the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers and much of their experienced aircrew.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Battle of the Philippine Sea
The US Navy's attack on the Japanese base at Truk (Chuuk) on 17 February 1944 (Operation Hailstone) surprised the Japanese military. In response, the Japanese Navy ordered all of the 61st Air Flotilla to the Marianas Islands. Its Number 261 Kaigun Kōkūtai (fighter) advanced to Saipan circa 19–24 February 1944, but attrition in air combats and illness weakened the unit greatly and it played only a minor role in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Elements of No. 263 Kaigun Kōkūtai (fighter) of the 61st Air Flotilla were stationed on Guam from 15 June 1944 and participated in the battle.


1st Air Fleet, Operations, Battle of Leyte Gulf
After disastrous losses at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese carrier force was again practically without aircrew and aircraft. This meant that at the Battle of Leyte Gulf the IJN carrier force was only used as a decoy force where it was ultimately destroyed, the battle that saw the last Kidō Butai survivor, Zuikaku, along with Zuiho, Chiyoda and Chitose succumbing to US air attacks of Admiral William F. Halsey's Task Force 38.


1st Air Force Wing Reserve
The 1st Air Force Wing Reserve (1AFWR), formerly called the 1st Ready Reserve Air Wing (1RRAW) is a combat-support unit under the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), Philippine Air Force, and is based in Colonel Jesus A. Villamor Air Base in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. Its headquarters offices are located at the AFRC building inside the air base. The wing covers all Air Force reserve units in the National Capital Region. 1st AFWR is divided into the 11th, 12th, and 13th Air Force Groups Reserve (AFGR). Currently, the 1st AFWR is under the command of Brig. Gen. Raymundo T. Francisco, who took over the position in 2015.


1st Air Force Wing Reserve
A reserve wing in the Philippine Air Force is equivalent in size to a brigade in the army. A reserve air group is equivalent to a battalion. Subordinate units in the reserve air group include squadrons (companies) and flights (platoons).


1st Air Force Wing Reserve
In Luzon, the other air force reserve wings are the 2nd AFWR based at Clark Air Base that covers the area from Central Luzon up to all of northern Luzon, and the 3rd AFWR at Fernando Air Base in Batangas that covers all of southern Luzon from Cavite through the Bicol Region.


1st Air Reconnaissance Regiment (Yugoslavia)
The 1st Air Reconnaissance Regiment (Serbo-Croatian Latin: 1. puk VOJIN, 1. пук ВОЈИН) was an air reconnaissance regiment established in 1955 as the SFR Yugoslav Air Force 211th Air Reconnaissance Regiment.


1st Air Reconnaissance Regiment (Yugoslavia), History
The 211th Air Reconnaissance Regiment was established on 8 June 1955, from the 101st Air Reconnaissance Battalion and 103rd Air Reconnaissance Battalion with its headquarters at Belgrade. As part of the "Drvar" re-organisation plan in 1959, the regiment was redesignated as the 1st Air Reconnaissance Regiment. In accordance with an order issued on 27 January 1963, its reserve location was changed from Zemun to Batajnica. On 12 June 1992, the regimental headquarters was transformed into the headquarters of the 126th Air Reconnaissance Brigade.


1st Air Squadron (Japan)
The 1st Air Squadron (第一飛行戦隊　Dai-ichi-hikō sentai) was a flying unit of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. The unit was established on 5 July 1938 at Kagamigahara, Japan. The unit saw service in Manchuria during the Manchuria Incident, China during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Burma, Netherlands East Indies, Indochina, Rabaul, Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Philippines, Formosa and Japan during World War II. The unit was disbanded at Takahagi, Japan in late 1945.


1st Air Support Operations Group
The United States Air Force's 1st Air Support Operations Group (1st ASOG) is a combat support unit located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The 1st ASOG provides Tactical Command and Control of air power assets to the Joint Forces Air Component Commander and Joint Forces Land Component Commander for combat operations.


1st Air Support Operations Group
The 1st ASOG directs four squadrons operating from 11 locations in Washington, Alaska, Hawaii and Japan. The group provides an Air Support Operations Center and Tactical Air Control Parties to US Army combat units at multiple echelons including United States Army Pacific, I Corps, and nine aviation, airborne, infantry and Stryker brigade combat teams of the 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions. The 1st Weather Squadron provides operational and staff weather services for Army combat units across the Pacific Command area of responsibility. In addition, they train and maintain combat readiness for worldwide battlefield weather deployments. The groups Air Liaison Officers and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers advise Army commanders and staffs on all aspects of joint airpower employment, integrating and synchronizing close air support, air mobility, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities into strategy, plans, and operations.


1st Air Support Operations Group
Prior to the reformation of the Special Operations Weather career field into the new Special Reconnaissance field, the 1st ASOG operated a small contingent of SOWT airmen.


1st Air Support Operations Group
The 1st ASOG has been administratively assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, since Oct. 1, 2012. The 1st ASOG itself is a Geographically Separated Unit stationed at Fort Lewis, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA.


1st Air Support Operations Group, Subordinate units
The following units and aircraft are assigned to the 1st Air Support Operations group:


1st Air Support Operations Squadron
The United States Air Force's 1st Air Support Operations Squadron was a combat support unit located at Wiesbaden, Germany.


1st Air Support Operations Squadron, Mission
The squadron provided tactical command and control of airpower assets to the Joint Forces Air Component Commander and Joint Forces Land Component Commander for combat operations.


1st Air Support Operations Squadron, History
In March 2011, when the 1st Armored Division was relocated back to the United States, the squadron was inactivated and the remaining mission was taken over by the 4th Air Support Operations Group.


1st Air Support Operations Squadron, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


1st Air Wing (JASDF)
The 1st Air Wing (第1航空団 (dai-ichi-koukudan)) is a wing of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It comes under the authority of the Air Training Command and resides in Shizuoka Prefecture.


1st Air Wing (JASDF), History, Formation
The 1st Air Wing was formed in 1 December 1955.


1st Air Wing (JASDF), Organisaion
As of 2017 it has two squadrons, both equipped with Kawasaki T-4 aircraft:


1st Air Wing (JASDF), Organisaion
It is currently based at Hamamatsu Air Base in Shizuoka Prefecture.


1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command
The 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command was a command of the Russian Air Force. It was located at Voronezh and supervised air force operations in the Western Military District. It was redesignated on 1 December 2009 and the Western Military District air forces were taken over by the 6th Army of Air and Air Defence Forces.


1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command
On 1 August 2015, it was reorganized as the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan)
The 1st Airborne Brigade (Japanese: 第1空挺団, Dai-Ichi Kūtei Dan), also known as the Narashino Airborne Brigade (Japanese: 習志野空挺団), is stationed in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Camp Narashino in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan)
The Brigade serves as Japan's elite paratrooper unit meant to counter against either guerrillas or enemy special forces units. Since 1999, the Brigade has a "Guide Unit" (Japanese: 誘導隊), serving as its NEO (Non-combatant Evacuation Operations) unit. Currently, they are attached to current homeland defense and international combat operations under the JGSDF's Ground Component Command (Japanese: 陸上総隊) (formerly under the Central Readiness Force).


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
In 1958, the Airborne Brigade's first platoon was formed after Hayao Kinugasa was made the first commander of the unit. It continued to increase in numbers as ranger and free-fall training were added in 1962 and 1969. An additional armed transport unit was established in 1973.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
In 1985, the 1st Airborne Brigade was involved in rescue operations of the downed Japan Airlines Flight 123 in the ridges of Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture after the local volunteer fire corps found some survivors, marking the first time that the Brigade was seen in the public eye. Later on, they were also deployed in Yamanashi Prefecture for civil operations and after the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
A Guide Unit was established on October 20, 1999, and based at Funabashi, Chiba. Preparations to create a new special forces unit went underway in the Brigade in 2000. In 2003, the framework of the Special Operations Group was established as an anti-guerrilla/terrorist unit embedded in the Brigade, but was established and separated from the Brigade in 2004 and placed under the control of the Defense Agency via the JGSDF like most of the JSDF's special forces units.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
Brigade paratroopers were involved in Iraq as the Brigade rotated ground personnel as part of the Japanese government's commitment to Iraq. They were withdrawn alongside the bulk of the Japanese Iraqi Reconstruction Support Group in the middle of 2006. The brigade was added to the Central Readiness Force on March 28, 2007.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
On October 9, 2006, members of the Oregon National Guard had a hand in assisting soldiers of the 1st Airborne Brigade in establishing a sniper school to train the unit's first generation of highly skilled snipers during Orient Shield '07.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History
Due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Japan, the brigade has conducted protective measures by letting its paratroopers wear facemasks and limiting the presence of spectators with its first exercise on January 13, 2021.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History, Controversy, Firearms Handling
In 1994, Colonel Yasunobu Hideshima was arrested by JGSDF military police officers for violating both the Self-Defense Forces Law and the Firearm and Sword Control Law when he allowed three of his friends to use JGSDF firearms without prior authorization. Lieutenant Colonels Yoshiharu Amano and Michihiko Suzuki were suspended for 20 days for neglect of duty.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), History, Controversy, Iraq War
Another scandal emerged from within the unit when a 38-year-old 1st Airborne Brigade paratrooper was arrested in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture for shoplifting. He admitted to officers that he did it to demonstrate that he was serious in his effort to avoid deployment to Iraq. When JGSDF officials heard about this, they told press officials that they require the consent of the troopers and their relatives. Otherwise, they would not be deployed. The Iraq deployment had caused a national debate in Japan, and a new public consensus was necessary for the military to develop a modern role and structure.


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), Requirements
Before joining the 1st Airborne Brigade, all potential candidates must be able to pass the following requirements:


1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), Requirements, Ranger qualification
1AB paratroopers receive ranger qualification at the end of the brigade's intensive training. The Ranger badge is highly sought by active duty SDF personnel.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron
The 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron is part of the 595th Command and Control Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It operates the Boeing E-4 aircraft conducting airborne command and control missions.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron
The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 25 September 1917, when it was organized at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. It served overseas in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The squadron saw combat during World War II, and became part of the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, World War and Balloon School
The first predecessor of the squadron was organized at Fort Omaha Nebraska in September 1917 as Company A, 2d Balloon Squadron. Two months later it departed for overseas service on the Western Front (World War I), arriving in France in January 1918. It entered combat as an observation unit with the French Eighth Army on 19 April 1918, operating observation balloons over the front lines. Once forces of the American Expeditionary Forces, had built up, it continued to operate as the 1st Balloon Company with the American I Corps  until 17 October 1918. Following the end of the war, it served with III Corps as part of the occupation forces until April 1919.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, Interwar years
In the spring of 1919, the squadron returned to the United States and was stationed at Ross Field, California as part of the Air Service Balloon School. In June 1922, the Balloon School moved to Scott Field, Illinois and Ross Field was closed as a military installation. The squadron was inactivated with the closure of Ross.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, Interwar years
The second predecessor of the squadron, also designated the 1st Balloon Company, was activated at Scott in May 1929. After a brief period of training with the 21st Airship Group at Scott, it moved to Post Field, located on Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where it was assigned to the Field Artillery School. It trained and conducted exercises with the school. At the beginning of World War II, it operated barrage balloons, but that mission was assigned to the coast artillery and the squadron was disbanded two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, World War II
The third predecessor of the squadron was activated in April 1942 at Long Beach Army Air Base as the 1st Air Corps Ferrying Squadron, the location of a Douglas Aircraft Company manufacturing plant. It ferried aircraft from the Douglas factory and other factories in the Western Procurement District to overseas departure points. However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training and logistics support mission. Accordingly it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. In March 1944, Air Transport Command units assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group were combined into the 556th AAF Base Unit.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, Airborne command and control
On 1 June 1962, Headquarters Command organized the 1000th Airborne Command Control Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base to operate the National Emergency Airborne Command Post and assigned it to the 1001st Air Base Wing. By 1965, the squadron was operating Boeing EC-135 aircraft to support this mission. On 1 July 1969, the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron was activated and assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 1000th Squadron.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, History, Airborne command and control
In 1974, the squadron began to replace its EC-135s with more capable Boeing E-4s, completing the upgrade the following year. In November 1975, the squadron was reassigned from Andrews' 1st Composite Wing to the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. On 1 July 1977, it moved to joined the 55th Wing at Offutt On 1 October 2016, the unit was reassigned to the newly activated 595th Command and Control Group under the control of Air Force Global Strike Command.


1st Airborne Command Control Squadron, References, Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website .


1st Airborne Corps (Soviet Union)
The 1st Airborne Corps was an airborne corps of the Red Army during World War II. It fought in the Battle of Kiev, the Battle of Moscow and in the Battle of Demyansk.


1st Airborne Corps (Soviet Union), History
The 1st Airborne Corps was formed in April 1941 from the 1st, 204th and 211th Airborne Brigades in the Kiev Special Military District, commanded by Major General Matvei Usenko. It was temporarily moved to Odessa Military District in preparation for a possible invasion of Romania but moved back to Kiev within a short period. After Operation Barbarossa, the corps fought to defend Kiev from the advancing Army Group South, along with the 5th Army and the 6th Army. After being reinforced by the 2nd and 3rd Airborne Corps, the corps fought in the Battle of Kiev. It was almost surrounded during the German encirclement of Kiev and was disbanded afterwards on 6 August.


1st Airborne Corps (Soviet Union), History
The corps was reformed in early September and conducted training around Saratov. On 24 November, it was subordinated to Western Front High Command. On the next day, the corps left Saratov for new bases near Moscow in the vicinity of the Lyubertsy airfield. In December, it participated in airborne operations to disrupt German troops around Moscow. Between 16-17 February 1942, the 204th Airborne Brigade's 4th Battalion was airdropped in the Rzhev operation. During late February and early March, the corps fought around Demyansk.


1st Airborne Corps (Soviet Union), History
During the Demyansk fighting, the corps was sent behind German lines in an unsuccessful operation to capture airfields supplying the Demyansk Pocket, but suffered heavy losses with only 900 out of 8,500 men in the corps returning to Soviet lines. In August, the corps was converted into the 37th Guards Rifle Division and fought at Stalingrad.


1st Airborne Corps (Soviet Union), History
The corps was reformed in fall 1942. On 8 December, its units were used to form two new guards airborne divisions. Its 1st, 204th, and 211th Airborne Brigades were used to form the 9th Guards Airborne Division. Its headquarters became a part of the 4th Guards Airborne Division.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was formed in late 1941 during World War II, after the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, demanded an airborne force, and was initially under command of Major-General Frederick A. M. Browning. The division was one of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, with the other being the 6th Airborne Division, created in May 1943, using former units of the 1st Airborne Division.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
The division's first two missions—Operation Biting, a parachute landing in France, and Operation Freshman, a glider mission in Norway—were both raids. Part of the division was sent to North Africa at the end of 1942, where it fought in the Tunisian Campaign, and when the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, the division undertook two brigade sized landings. The first, Operation Ladbroke, carried out by glider infantry of the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the second, Operation Fustian, by the 1st Parachute Brigade, were far from completely successful. The 1st Airborne Division then took part in a mostly diversionary amphibious landing, codenamed Operation Slapstick, as part of the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
In December, most of the 1st Airborne Division (minus the 2nd Parachute Brigade) returned to England, and began training and preparing for the Allied invasion of Normandy. It was not involved in the Normandy landings in June 1944, being held in reserve. In September 1944 the 1st Airborne took part in Operation Market Garden. The division, with the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade temporarily attached, landed 60 miles (97 km) behind German lines, to capture crossings on the River Rhine, and fought in the Battle of Arnhem. After failing to achieve its objectives, the division was surrounded and took very heavy casualties, but held out for nine days before the survivors were evacuated.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
The remnants of the 1st Airborne Division was returned to England soon after. The division never fully recovered from their losses at Arnhem and the 4th Parachute Brigade was disbanded. Just after the end of the war in Europe, the depleted formation took part in Operation Doomsday in Norway in May 1945. They were tasked with the disarmament and repatriation of the German occupation army. The 1st Airborne Division then returned to England and was disbanded in November 1945.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Background
Inspired by the success of German airborne operations during the Battle of France, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a force of 5,000 parachute troops. As a result, on 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando assumed parachute duties, and on 21 November was re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Background
On 21 June 1940 the Central Landing Establishment was formed at Ringway airfield near Manchester. Although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the use of gliders to transport troops into battle. At the same time, the Ministry of Aircraft Production contracted General Aircraft Ltd to design and produce a glider for this purpose. The result was the General Aircraft Hotspur, which was capable of transporting eight soldiers and was used for both assault and training purposes.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Background
The success of the first British airborne raid, Operation Colossus, prompted the War Office to expand the airborne force through the creation of the Parachute Regiment, and to develop plans to convert several infantry battalions into parachute and glider battalions. On 31 May 1941, a joint army and air force memorandum was approved by the Chiefs-of-Staff and Winston Churchill; it recommended that the British airborne forces should consist of two parachute brigades, one based in England and the other in the Middle East, and that a glider force of 10,000 men should be created.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
The existing 11th Special Air Service Battalion was renamed the 1st Parachute Battalion and, together with the newly raised 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions, formed the first of the new airborne formations, the 1st Parachute Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Richard Nelson Gale, who would later command the 6th Airborne Division. The 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions were formed from volunteers, between the ages of twenty-two and thirty-two, who were already serving in infantry units. Only ten men from any one unit were allowed to volunteer.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
In October 1941, Brigadier Frederick Arthur Montague "Boy" Browning was promoted to major general, named the Commander Parachute and Airborne Troops, and ordered to form a headquarters to develop and train airborne forces. The next unit formed was the 1st Airlanding Brigade on 10 October 1941, by the conversion of the mountain warfare trained 31st Independent Infantry Brigade Group, commanded by Brigadier George Frederick "Hoppy" Hopkinson, later to command the division. The brigade comprised four battalions: the 1st Border Regiment, 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, and the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles. The men who were unsuitable for airborne forces were replaced by volunteers from other units. By the end of the year Browning's command had become the headquarters of 1st Airborne Division.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
Browning expressed his opinion that the force must not be sacrificed in "penny packets", and urged the formation of a third brigade. Permission was finally granted in July 1942, and the 2nd Parachute Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Ernest Down, was formed. The 2nd Parachute Brigade was assigned the existing 4th Parachute Battalion, and two new battalions converted from line infantry units, the 5th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion, converted from the 7th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, and the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion, from the 10th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
The 3rd Parachute Brigade was formed in November 1942 and assigned to the 1st Airborne Division. The brigade, under Brigadier Alexander Stanier, comprised the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion, previously the 10th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, the 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion, converted from the 13th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and the 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion, formerly the 10th Battalion, Essex Regiment. Soon afterwards, the 1st Parachute Brigade left the division, to take part in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa, and ended up participating in numerous operations in North Africa, although fighting in an infantry role.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
In April 1943, the commander of the 1st Airlanding Brigade, Hopkinson, was promoted to major general and given command of the division. Later that year, the division was deployed to Tunisia for operations in the Mediterranean theatre. The 3rd Parachute Brigade and two battalions from the 1st Airlanding Brigade—the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles and 2nd Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry—remained behind in England, forming the nucleus of the newly raised 6th Airborne Division. On arrival, the 1st Airborne Division was reinforced by the 4th Parachute Brigade. The 4th Parachute Brigade had been formed in the Middle East during 1942. In addition to the 156th Parachute Battalion, which had been raised from British troops stationed in India, it comprised the 10th and 11th Parachute Battalions, which had been raised from troops based in Egypt and Palestine.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history
The division took part in two brigade sized operations in Sicily, and an amphibious assault at Taranto in Italy. During the fighting in Italy, Major General Ernest Down became the divisional commander, after his predecessor, Major General Hopkinson, died of wounds received in the fighting. After service in the Mediterranean, the division returned to England in December 1943, leaving the 2nd Parachute Brigade behind as an independent formation.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history, 1944–1945
After the division arrived in England, Ernest Down was posted to India to oversee the formation of the 44th Indian Airborne Division, and was replaced by Major General Roy Urquhart. In September 1944, for Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade was attached to the division. Following Market Garden, fewer than 2,200 men from the 10,000 that were sent to the Netherlands returned to the British lines. Having suffered such severe casualties, the 4th Parachute Brigade was disbanded, with its surviving men being posted to the 1st Parachute Brigade.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Formation history, 1944–1945
The division then went through a period of reorganisation, but had still not fully recovered by the end of the war, due to the acute shortage of manpower throughout the British Army in 1944–1945. Still under strength in May 1945, it was sent to Norway to disarm the German army of occupation; returning to Britain in November 1945 where the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, France
Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid, was the codename for a raid by Combined Operations in 1942. Their objective was a German Würzburg radar installation at Bruneval in France. Due to the extensive coastal defences erected by the Germans to protect the array, it was thought a commando raid from the sea would incur heavy losses, and give the garrison sufficient time for the radar equipment to be destroyed. It was therefore decided that an airborne assault followed by sea-borne evacuation would be the ideal way to surprise the garrison and seize the technology intact.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, France
On the night of 27 February, 'C' Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, under the command of Major John Frost, parachuted into France a few miles from the installation. The force then proceeded to assault the villa in which the radar equipment was kept, killing several members of the German garrison and capturing the installation after a brief fire-fight. A technician that had come with the force partially dismantled the Würzburg radar array and removed several key pieces to take back to Britain; the raiding force then retreated to the evacuation beach.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, France
The detachment assigned to clear the beach had failed to do so, however, and another brief fire-fight was required to eliminate the Germans guarding the beach. The raiding force was then picked up by a small number of landing craft and transferred to several Motor Gun Boats which brought them back to Britain. The raid was entirely successful. The airborne troops suffered only a few casualties, and the pieces of the radar they brought back, along with a German radar technician, allowed British scientists to understand German advances in radar and to create counter-measures to neutralise those advances.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Norway
Operation Freshman was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, its target was the Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway, which produced heavy water for Nazi Germany. By 1942 the German atomic weapons programme had come close to being able to develop a nuclear reactor, but in order for the reactor to function it would require a great deal of heavy water.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Norway
The source of this water was the Norsk Hydro plant, which had been occupied in 1940; when the British government learned of the German nuclear developments, it was decided that a raid would be launched to destroy the plant and deny the Germans the heavy water. Several tactics were discussed and discarded as impractical, and it was finally decided that a small force from the 1st Airborne Division, comprising 30 sappers from the Royal Engineers, would land by glider a short distance from the plant, and demolish it with explosives.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Norway
Two aircraft, each towing one glider, left Scotland on the night of 19 November 1942. All managed to reach the Norwegian coast, but none were able to reach their objective. The first pair suffered from navigational difficulties and severe weather, which resulted in the tow rope snapping and the first glider crash-landing, with its towing aircraft returning to base; eight airborne troops were killed outright, four were severely injured and five unhurt. The survivors were captured shortly after the crash.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Norway
The second pair fared even worse, with both aircraft and glider crashing into a mountain for unknown reasons; the aircrew and several men were killed outright, and those who survived were taken prisoner. None of the prisoners survived for very long, being either poisoned or executed as a result of Adolf Hitler's Commando Order, which stated that all British Commandos personnel were to be killed immediately when captured.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
Operation Turkey Buzzard, also known as Operation Beggar, was a supply mission to North Africa that took place between March and August 1943. The mission was undertaken by the division's glider pilots and No. 295 Squadron Royal Air Force, as part of the preparations for the Allied invasion of Sicily.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
The mission involved Halifax bombers towing Horsa gliders 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from England to Tunisia. The Horsas were needed to complement the smaller American Waco gliders, which did not have the capacity required for the planned operations. During the mission two German Condor patrol aircraft located and shot down a Halifax-and-Horsa combination. Altogether five Horsas and three Halifaxes were lost, but 27 Horsas arrived in Tunisia in time to participate in the invasion of Sicily.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
Operation Ladbroke was a glider assault by the 1st Airlanding Brigade near Syracuse, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of the invasion of Sicily. The brigade were equipped with 144 Waco and six Horsa gliders. Their objective was to land near the town of Syracuse, secure the Ponte Grande Bridge, and ultimately take control of the city itself with its strategically important docks.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
On the way to Sicily, 65 gliders were released too early by the towing aircraft and crashed into the sea, drowning around 252 men. Of the remainder, only 87 men arrived at the Pont Grande Bridge, which they successfully captured and held beyond the time they were to be relieved. Finally, with their ammunition expended and only 15 soldiers remaining unwounded, they surrendered to the Italian forces. The Italians sought to demolish the bridge after regaining control of it, but were unable to do so because the airborne forces had removed the explosive charges. Other troops from the airlanding brigade, who had landed elsewhere in Sicily, destroyed communications links and captured artillery batteries.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
Operation Fustain, the division's second mission in Sicily, was carried out by the 1st Parachute Brigade. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the Simeto River. The intention was for the parachute brigade, with glider-borne forces in support, to land on both sides of the river. While one battalion seized the bridge, the other two battalions would establish defensive positions to the north and south. They would then hold the bridge until relieved by the advance of XIII Corps, part of the Eighth Army which had landed on the south eastern coast three days previously.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
The start of the operation was a disaster. Many of the aircraft carrying the paratroopers from North Africa were shot down, or were damaged and turned back, due to both friendly fire and enemy action. The evasive action taken by the pilots scattered the brigade over a large area, and only the equivalent of two companies of troops were landed in the correct locations. Despite this and the defence by German and Italian forces, the British paratroops captured the bridge. Resisting attacks from the north and south, they held out against increasing odds until nightfall.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Sicily
The relieving force led by the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, which was short of transport, found it hard going to reach the parachute brigade and were still 1 mile (1.6 km) away when they halted for the night. By this time, with casualties mounting and supplies running short, the brigade commander, Brigadier Gerald Lathbury, had relinquished control of the bridge to the Germans. The following day the British units joined forces, and the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry with armour support attempted to recapture the bridge. It was not finally secured until three days after the start of the operation, when another battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, led by the paratroopers, established a bridgehead on the northern bank of the river.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Italy
Operation Slapstick was an amphibious landing at the Italian port of Taranto, part of the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943. The mission had been planned at short notice, following an offer by the Italian government to open the ports of Taranto and Brindisi on the heel of Italy to the Allies. The 1st Airborne Division was selected to undertake the mission, but at the time they were located in North Africa.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Italy
A shortage of transport aircraft meant the division could not land by parachute and glider, and all the landing craft in the area were already allocated to the other landings: Operation Avalanche at Salerno on the western coast, and Operation Baytown at Calabria. Instead, the division had to be transported across the Mediterranean by ships of the Royal Navy. The landing was unopposed, and the airborne division successfully captured the ports of Taranto, and later Brindisi on the Adriatic coast, in working order.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Italy
The only German forces in the area were elements of the German 1st Parachute Division, which engaged the advancing British in ambushes and at roadblocks during a fighting withdrawal north. By the end of September, the 1st Airborne Division had advanced 125 miles (201 km) to Foggia. Reinforcements from two infantry divisions, the 8th Indian and British 78th, had by then been landed behind them, which allowed the airborne troops to be withdrawn back to Taranto.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, Italy
Despite casualties for the 1st Airborne Division in Italy being relatively light, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major-General George Hopkinson, was killed while watching an assault by the 10th Parachute Battalion where he was mortally wounded by a burst of machine gun fire. He was replaced by Brigadier Ernest E. Down, previously the commander of 2nd Parachute Brigade.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, England
By December 1943 the division had returned to England and begun training for operations in North-West Europe under the supervision of I Airborne Corps. Although the 1st Airborne Division was not scheduled to take part in the Normandy landings, a contingency plan, Operation Wasteage, was drawn up whereby the division would be parachuted in to support any of the five invasion beaches if serious delays were experienced. This plan turned out not to be required.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, England
While the 6th Airborne Division were still fighting in Normandy, numerous plans to parachute the 1st Airborne Division into France were formulated, all to no avail.


1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom), Operational history, England
In June and July 1944, the plans included Operation Reinforcement, which was a landing to the west of St Sauveur-le-Vicomte to support the US 82nd Airborne Division, and Operation Wild Oats that would have seen the division land south of Caen to meet the advancing 7th Armoured Division moving from Villers-Bocage and the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and 4th Armoured Brigade advancing south out of the Orne bridgehead in a move to encircle and capture Caen. Such an airborne operation was vetoed by Trafford Leigh-Mallory, as being too risky for the aircraft involved.