What is "air force"

1917, from air (n.1) + force (n.); first attested with creation of the Royal Air Force. There was no United States Air Force until after World War II. The Air Corps was an arm of the U.S. Army. In 1942, the War Department reorganized it and renamed it Army Air Forces. The National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of the Air Force, headed by a Secretary of the Air Force, and the U.S.A.F.

n. 1 The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20States%20Air%20Force. 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air%20Force%20Falcons representing the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20States%20Air%20Force%20Academy.

n. the airborne branch of a country's armed forces [syn: airforce]

Air Force is a 1943 American black-and-white World War II film from Warner Bros., produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, directed by Howard Hawks, that stars, John Garfield, John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy, and Harry Carey.

The story revolves around an actual incident that occurred on December 7, 1941. A bomber aircrew, flying an unarmed Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress named the Mary-Ann, is ferrying the heavy bomber across the Pacific to the United States Army Air Corps base at Hickam Field, when the bomber flies right into the middle of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of America's direct involvement in the second world war.

An uncredited William Faulkner wrote the emotional deathbed scene for actor John Ridgely, the pilot of the Mary-Ann. Made in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, Air Force was one of the first of the patriotic films of World War II, often characterized as a propaganda film.

Air force usually refers to Air force, armed service that primarily conducts aerial warfare

• List of air forces

Air Force can also refer to:

Air Force is the newspaper published for the Royal Australian Air Force. The paper is produced fortnightly and is uploaded online so that members can access it when deployed overseas.

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy, or a marine corps. Typically, air forces are responsible for gaining control of the air, carrying out strategic and tactical bombing missions, and providing support to land and naval forces.

The term "air force" may also refer to a tactical air force or numbered air force, which is an operational formation either within a national air force or comprising several air components from allied nations. Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft.

Many air forces are also responsible for operations of the military space, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and communications equipment. Some air forces may command and control other air defence assets such as anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, or anti-ballistic missile warning networks and defensive systems. Some nations, principally Russia, the former Soviet Union and countries who modelled their militaries along Soviet lines, have an air defence force which is organizationally separate from their air force.

In addition to pilot, air forces have ground support staff who support the aircrew. In a similar manner to civilian airlines, there are supporting ground crew as pilots cannot fly without the assistance of other personnel such as engineers, loadmasters, fuel technicians and mechanics. However, some supporting personnel such as airfield defence troops, weapons engineers and air intelligence staff do not have equivalent roles in civilian organizations.