United States Air Force
The U.S. War Department created the first antecedent of the U.S. Air Force, as a part of the U.S. Army, on 1 August 1907, which through a succession of changes of organization, titles, and missions advanced toward eventual independence 40 years later. In World War II, almost 68,000 U.S. airmen died helping to win the war, with only the infantry suffering more casualties. In practice, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was virtually independent of the Army during World War II, and in virtually all ways functioned as an independent service branch, but airmen still pressed for formal independence. The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947 by President Harry S Truman, which established the Department of the Air Force, but it was not until 18 September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office that the Air Force was officially formed as an independent service branch.
Nineteenth Air Force
The Nineteenth Air Force was inactivated in July 1973, as part of the economies enacted after the end of the Vietnam War. On 4 August 1998, the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force (CSAF), General Michael E. Ryan, and the Acting Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF), F. Whitten Peters, announced their plans to implement a major change in the structure of the Air Force. They proposed to divide the USAF’s combat strength and the elements directly supporting it into ten Aerospace Expeditionary Forces (AEFs). Although the EAF concept was a major step in recasting the operations, outlook, and culture of the USAF, it sprang from the performance of missions traditionally performed by the Air Force — the timely response of land-based air power to the needs of the nation.