Aviation Engineers in Mobile Warfare

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Aviation Engineers in Mobile Warfare

IX Engineer Command

This booklet records a few of the achievements of the IX Engineer Command. This record tells how aviation engineers, forming the spearhead for the air task force, blazed a trail of airfields across the continent and enabled the fighter-bombers and medium bombers of the Ninth Air Force to operate from bases always within effective range of their targets.

The IX (9th) Engineer Command (Advance) Headquarters was organized in England as a component of the Ninth Air Force on March 30th, 1944, with an authorized strength of 289 officers and men. Additional organizations were added to the Command so that by D-Day in Normandy (June 6th, 1944), the Headquarters controlled four Engineer Aviation Regiments, 16 standard Aviation Engineer Battalions (four in each Regiment), and three Airborne and one Camouflage Aviation Engineer Battalions that were under direct operational control of the Headquarters. The initial mission of the Command was to construct new airfields on the Continent and to rehabilitate captured airfields.

The men of one of the command's Battalions landed under enemy fire on D-Day in Normandy with their equipment and fought their way to an airfield site, captured it, and had it operational for fighter aircraft within 72 hours. After two months of operations, it was decided that the 9th could also best maintain the airfields already constructed so the Command assumed this responsibility also.

The achievements of the Command are best summed up in a report made by Air Forces commander General "Hap" Arnold, "With square steel mesh and asphalt-impregnated surfacing, they made landing strips, carving them from hedgerow country, orchards, and rough terrain — a full-fledged airdrome would be ready for operations in 3 to 8 days. Aviation Engineers went forward from St. Lo, sandwiching heavy construction equipment between tanks and artillery. When one field was finished they traveled all night and began work on another next morning. Despite the amazing speed of the advance of our ground troops, airstrips were always within 100 miles of the front lines. They were often within 5 miles of a fluid front. Engineers were actually ahead of the Infantry and working under sniper fire to put one of the Paris airfields into operation. The Engineer Battalion that went ashore the morning of D-Day was at the Maginot Line on D + 120 having built seven airfields in route. Between D-Day and 27 September, the Ninth Engineer Command built 98 airfields in western France, enough to make it possible to move all operational units of the Ninth Air Force from England to the continent."

Headquarters for the Ninth Engineers also moved to the continent and was located at Paris, and in September of 1944, the Commanding General of the Command, Brig. General James Newman, formed an Advance Headquarters and moved to the forward areas. The men of the Ninth Engineers continued to build and fight their way across Europe until the final German surrender. On April 5th, 1945, the elements of the command were organized into a Brigade structure and the Main Headquarters was redesignated as the 3rd Brigade and assigned to the Engineer Command, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe while the remaining units of the command were designated as the 1st and 2nd Brigades and remained with the Ninth until it was inactivated.

The shoulder patch worn by the IX Engineer Command was approved by the QMG on June 6th, 1945 based on a design submitted by the Command. In addition, the correspondence on this insignia indicated that General Spaatz had prepared the letter requesting the patch and that General Eisenhower had personally seen and approved it. The winged star is representative of the United States Army Air Forces, and the Roman numerals "IX" indicate the unit's designation. The three white lines above the star suggest aircraft runways and the primary mission of the command to provide airfields for the Ninth Air Force.

Originally published as a soft cover booklet in 1945 by the IX Engineer Command, ETO.

Military Reference Library #L119

Available as a PDF file (18 MB) from Merriam Press
High quality scan of every page of the original work
Not available for downloading
Will be shipped by mail on a CDR disc
- Shipment by first class mail to U.S. customers and airmail to foreign customers
- PDF files on CDR discs are sent separately from printed books
- No extra charge for shipping CDRs but the regular small order/shipping charges apply

Contents

Message: Brig. Gen. James B. Newman, Jr., U.S.A., Commanding

Stepping Stones to Victory
Build Up... Setting the Stage
Bulldozers Chase Jerries
Time, Weather, Tactics
Roll Out the Runways
Footnote to Victory
Build, Defend, Maintain
- D+VE Day: Airfields in Western Europe Constructed or Rehabilitated by IX Engineer Command
- Brigades
- 922nd Engineer Aviation Regiment
- 923rd Engineer Aviation Regiment
- 924th Engineer Aviation Regiment
- 925th Engineer Aviation Regiment
- 926th Engineer Aviation Regiment
- 2nd Airfield Maintenance Regiment
- 816th Engineers
- 818th Engineers
- 819th Engineers
- 820th Engineers
- 825th Engineers
- 826th Engineers
- 827th Engineers
- 829th Engineers
- 830th Engineers
- 831st Engineers
- 832nd Engineers
- 833rd Engineers
- 834th Engineers
- 837th Engineers
- 840th Engineers
- 843rd Engineers
- 844th Engineers
- 846th Engineers
- 847th Engineers
- 850th Engineers
- 851st Engineers
- 852nd Engineers
- 859th Engineers
- 861st Engineers
- 862nd Engineers
- 937th Engineer Aviation Camouflage Battalion
- 876th Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion
- 877th Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion
- 878th Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion
- Engineer Maintenance Companies
- Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squads
- Medical Dispensaries (Aviation)
- Headquarters
Units

64 pages
22 photos
13 drawings
1 map
26 airfield map plans

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