The Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) grew out of the WWII-era FEAF and is one of the nine major United States Air Force commands. It is responsible for the Asia Pacific, and as a new era of Great Power Competition heats up with China, PACAF’s role is growing in importance. Today, the PACAF is preparing for war with China and is working to become a more agile organization and operate from dispersed air fields. This is the brief history of the PACAF.
How the US became an East Asia air power
The United States annexed California from Mexico in 1848, giving it a coastline on the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It wasn’t long before the US expanded into the Pacific Ocean, annexing the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898, part of Samoa in 1899 (after compromising with the Germans), and the Philippines and Guam from Spain in 1898.
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Soon, World War I broke out, and the age of military air power dawned. In the interwar period and in the run-up to World War II, the US established air bases on its territories of Hawaii, the Philippines, Wake Island, and Midway. The Japanese drove the US out of the Eastern Pacific, but the US soon reversed the tide and island-hopped, sinking the Japanese navy and decimating its air force all the way to the Japanese home islands.
Major PACAF air bases: Location: Hickam Air Force Base: Hawaii Andersen Air Force Base: Guam Eielson Air Force Base: Alaska Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: Alaska Kadena Air Base: Okinawa, Japan Kunsan Air Base: South Korea Misawa Air Base: Japan Osan Air Base: South Korea Yokota Air Base: Japan
From FEAF To PACAF: A Brief History Of The US Pacific Air Forces
