Paul Warfield Tibbets IV (born 21 November 1966) is a former United States Air Force brigadier general. [34], On 1 September 1944, Tibbets reported to Colorado Springs Army Airfield, the headquarters of the Second Air Force, where he met with its commander, Major General Uzal Ent, and three representatives of the Manhattan Project, Lieutenant Colonel John Lansdale Jr., Captain William S. Parsons, and Norman F. Ramsey Jr., who briefed him on the project. On August 31, 1966, he retired from the USAF. He then worked for the air taxi company Executive Jet Aviation. He served as a founding board member of the company and remained its president from April 21, 1976, till 1986. [8][76] Tibbets had asked for no funeral or headstone, because he feared that opponents of the bombing might use it as a place of protest or destruction. [91] Tibbets figured largely in the 2000 book Duty: A Father, His Son and the Man Who Won the War by Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune. Furthermore, two representatives from Washington, D.C. were present on the island:[44] the deputy director of the Manhattan Project, Brigadier General Thomas Farrell, and Rear Admiral William R. Purnell of the Military Policy Committee. [31][32], After a year of developmental testing of the B-29, Tibbets was assigned in March 1944 as director of operations of the 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Very Heavy), a B-29 training unit based at Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska, and commanded by Armstrong. There, he served as an engineering officer and flew the A-20 Havoc. He was elevated to the position of captain later. At the time, he thought to himself, "People are getting killed down there that don't have any business getting killed. He was made the commander of the 509th Composite Group in September 1944. He was also interviewed in the 1970s British documentary series The World at War. [3] On 5 June 2015, he assumed command of the 509th Bomb Wing. In February 1943, Tibbets returned to the United States to help with the development of the B-29 Superfortress bomber. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati after his second year to complete his pre-med studies there, because the University of Florida had no medical school at the time. He retired from the company in 1987. Paul Warfield Tibbets IV is the grandson of Paul W. Tibbets Jr., the pilot of the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. He graduated from Western Military Academy in Alton, Ill., in 1933, and later attended the University of Florida and the . His citation read: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain Paul W. Tibbets IV, United States Air Force, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as a B-2 Mission Commander, at or near Yugoslavia, on 8 April 1999. So, how much is Paul Tibbets worth at the age of 92 years old? This article is about the WWII United States Air Force pilot. Updated January 04, 2023 10:44:57. But instead of being interred at home or at Arlington National . He is remembered for flying the first aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb, the 'B-29 Superfortress' known as "Enola Gay." At 02:45 the next day, Tibbets and his flight crew aboard the Enola Gay departed North Field for Hiroshima. Ent gave Tibbets a choice of three possible bases: Great Bend Army Airfield, Kansas; Mountain Home Army Airfield, Idaho; or Wendover Army Air Field, Utah. Still no regrets for frail Enola Gay pilot (Col. Paul Tibbets) Columbus Dispatch ^ | August 6, 2005 | Mike Harden Posted on 08/06/2005 4:18:39 AM PDT by Columbus Dawg. [8][60][72], Tibbets' grandson Paul W. Tibbets IV graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1989, and in April 2006 became commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron, flying the B-2 Spirit at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. Paul Tibbets was a retired Air Force brigadier general who flew the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A few weeks later, Tibbets flew the Supreme Allied Commander, Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Gibraltar. See, I'm 90. During 19401941, he worked as the personal pilot of Brigadier General George S. Patton, Jr. "When I was in 9th grade," he recalled "I became involved in youth service projects. [65] He subsequently served as B-47 project officer at Boeing in Wichita from July 1950 until February 1952. Paul III was born in 1940, in Columbus, Georgia, and graduated from Huntingdon College and Auburn University. I made up my mind then that the morality of dropping that bomb was not my business. [59][75] He had suffered small strokes and heart failure during his final years and had been in hospice care. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati after his second year to complete his pre-med studies there, because the University of Florida had no medical school at the time. Delegated as a second lieutenant, Tibbets earned his pilot rating at Kelly Field in San Antonio in 1938. As a boy he was very interested in flying. Of the 108 aircraft in the raid, 33 were shot down or had to turn back due to mechanical problems. I. Brig. Three weeks later he was named the commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group, equipped with the B-17D. He died on November 1, 2007, at his home in Columbus, Ohio, at 92. One day, his mother agreed to pay one dollar to get him into an airplane at the local carnival. By Bill Van Orman. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday at his home in Columbus, Ohio after suffering a number of health problems. Place of Burial: Ocala, Marion County, Florida, United States. He was then assigned to the Air Command and Staff School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., from which he graduated in 1947. [15] It had been hastily assembled to meet demands for an early deployment, and arrived without any training in the basics of high altitude daylight bombing. General Spaatz Presents Distinguished Service Cross to Col. Paul Tibbets as General Davies Looks On, Col. Paul Tibbets stands in front of the Enola Gay, Tinian Joint Chiefs (Purnell, Farrell, Tibbets, Parsons). 1942 Aug 17th Flew the lead bomber for the first American daylight heavy bomber mission over occupied France. Bonsai worked at the 100-F Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project. When Major General Carl Spaatz, the commander of the Eighth Air Force, was directed to choose two of his best pilots for a covert mission, he selected Tibbets and Major Wayne Connors. Personal touch and engage with his followers. [49][50], On 5 August 1945, Tibbets formally named his B-29 Enola Gay after his mother. Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. And he remembers moving around quite a bit when he was a boy. [11] Tibbets remained on temporary duty with the 3d Bombardment Group, forming an anti-submarine patrol at Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina, with 21 B-18 Bolo medium bombers. In February 1956, he returned to the U.S. and took command of the 308th Bombardment Wing in Georgias Hunter Air Force Base. He started commanding the 6th Air Division at the MacDill Air Force Base in Florida from January 1958 and was elevated to the position of brigadier general the following year. [1][2], In the late 1920s, business issues forced Tibbets's family to return to Alton, Illinois, where he graduated from Western Military Academy in 1933. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated,[78] and his ashes were scattered over the English Channel;[79] he had flown over the Channel many times during the war. [24] "By reputation", historian Stephen Ambrose wrote, Tibbets was "the best flier in the Army Air Force. Tibbets recalled that the city was covered with a tall mushroom cloud after the bomb was dropped. When the operation was still in its development stages, Armstrong and Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson were the leading candidates to command the group who was designated to drop the atomic bomb. [13] and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. [67] During his posting to France, he met a French divorcee named Andrea Quattrehomme, who became his second wife. You have got to leave the moral issue out of it. Brig. EDUCATION. The Army Air Forces received the B-29-45-MO with the serial number 44-86292 on May 18 and the 509th assigned it to crew B-9 commanded by Capt. I'm only 87. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. An interview of Paul Tibbets can be seen in the 1982 movie The Atomic Cafe. Tibbets was made the deputy of Colonel Frank A. Armstrong Jr. after the latter replaced group commander Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius W. Cousland. He then attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, and became an initiated member of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1934. Tibbets married his wife, Andrea, in about 1953 or 1954. He died on November 1, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. After leaving the Air Force in 1966, he worked for Executive Jet Aviation, serving on the founding board and as its president from 1976 until his retirement in 1987. Colonel Tibbets said that while growing up, he was aware of what his grandfather had done during World War II. Explore Paul Tibbets Wiki Age, Height, Biography as Wikipedia, Wife, Family relation. He was survived by his wife Andrea and the three sons from his first marriage. He and Merle Haggard are 6th cousins, 1x removed. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it is capable of doing tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be enormous. [30], Working with the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas, Tibbets test-flew the B-29 and soon accumulated more flight time in it than any other pilot. He was 92. Lucy F Wingate was born circa 1907, at birth place, . On that date, Captain Tibbets made aviation history by leading the world's first B-2 combat sortie without package support during Operation Allied Force. He then became commander of the Proof Test Division at Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, where flight testing of the B-47 was conducted. He is best known as the pilot who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. When he was five years old, the family moved to Davenport, Iowa, and then to Iowa's capital, Des Moines, where he was raised, and where his father became a confections wholesaler. Children James Tibbets, Gene Tibbets, Paul III Tibbets Spouse Andrea Quattrehomme (m. 1956-2007), Lucy Wingate (m. 1938-1955) Books Return of the Enola Gay, The Tibbets story, Tibbets Story Mission Hiroshim He was transferred to the 3rd Bombardment Groups 9th Bombardment Squadron at Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia, in June 1941. In simulated combat engagements against a P-47 fighter at the B-29's cruising altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100m), he discovered that the B-29 had a smaller turning radius than the P-47, and could avoid it by turning away. Paul James Tibbetsfound in 17 treesView all Paul James Tibbetsfrom tree Hallam Family Tree(Private) Record information. "Hiroshima; Enola Gay's Crew Recalls The Flight Into a New Era", Paul Tibbets interviewed in 1982 by Ann Blythe, Paul Tibbet interviewed by Kermit Weeks at Weeks Air Museum, Florida, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Tibbets&oldid=1136780636, People associated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II, Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States), Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States), Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 02:47. Paul Tibbets was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. The result of this attack was tremendous damage to the city of Hiroshima, contributing materially to the effectiveness of our strikes against the enemy. At age 5, he relocated with his family to Iowa, where his father worked as a confections wholesaler. 35the Enola Gay departed North Field for Hiroshima, Japan, with Tibbets at the controls. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron kept its base of operations at Wendover. 1938 Received pilot training in San Antonio, TX. Paul Warfield Tibbets IV (born 21 November 1966) is a former United States Air Force brigadier general. [7][8], While Tibbets was stationed at Fort Benning, he was promoted to first lieutenant[9] and served as a personal pilot for Brigadier General George S. Patton, Jr., in 1940 and 1941. He was born on 1 November 2007, in Columbus, Ohio.Columbus is a beautiful and populous city located in Columbus, Ohio United States of America. Thereafter, he served as the director of management analysis on a tour of duty at the Pentagon.. [1] It was at Fort Benning that Tibbets met Lucy Frances Wingate, then a clerk at a department store in Columbus, Georgia. He was elevated to the position of colonel in January 1945. At the time of his death he survived by his large extended friends and family. He was elevated to the position of first lieutenant while he was stationed at the U.S. army post of Fort Benning.. Tibbets was promoted to colonel in January 1945[39] and brought his wife and family along with him to Wendover. Many considered him responsible for ending the war with Japan. After flying 43 combat missions, he became the assistant for bomber operations on the staff of the Twelfth Air Force. Paul Tibbets was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. After receiving basic flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas in 1937, Tibbets quickly rose through the ranks to become commanding officer of the 340thBombardment Squadronof the97th Bombardment Group. [1], After graduation, Tibbets was assigned to the 16th Observation Squadron, which was based at Lawson Field, Georgia, with a flight supporting the Infantry School at nearby Fort Benning. He was a colonel in the United States Army Reserve and worked as a hospital pharmacist. . He died on November 1, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. I'm only 87. He was married to Andrea P. Quattrehomme and Lucy Frances Wingate. Gene Tibbets, son of Brig. [13] Tibbets had recently been given a battlefield promotion to colonel, but did not receive it, as such promotions had to be confirmed by a panel of officers. Armstrong was an experienced combat veteran against German targets, but he was in his forties and had been severely injured in a fire in the summer of 1943. Brandt appointed Tibbets as director of Directorate of Requirements's Strategic Air Division, which was responsible for drawing up requirements for future bombers. Jones Construction Company. He also became the deputy director of the National Military Command System in June 1963. Brig. According to the orders received in December 1941, Tibbets joined the 29th Bombardment Group at MacDill Field, Florida, and took training on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.. After qualifying for the Aviation Cadet Training Program, Tibbets enlisted in the army at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, on February 25, 1937. [68] They had a son, James Tibbets. Tibbets commenced terminal leave on 19 October 2018,[7][8][9] and he retired on 1 December 2018.[3]. On September 1, 1944, Tibbets met with Lt. Col. John Lansdale, Captain William S. Parsons, and Norman F. Ramsey, who briefed him about the Manhattan Project. [40] During a meeting with these "sanitary engineers", Tibbets was told by Robert Oppenheimer that his aircraft might not survive the shock waves from an atomic bomb explosion. You said 89. [12], In February 1942, Tibbets reported for duty with the 29th Bombardment Group as its engineering officer. On June 26, 1940, young pilot Lt. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., was summoned to aid Col. Samuel R. Hopkins, whose wife and son were in a terrible automobile accident near Elmira. He felt that allowing married men in the group to bring their families would improve morale, although it put a strain on his own marriage. Underwood worked at the 200 West Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project. Although Tibbets was too young to remember World War I, he does remember his father coming home in uniform, after serving overseas as a captain with the 33rd Infantry Division. Now we've had a nice lunch, you and I and your companion. He was the man who dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat against an enemy city. A rigorous candidate selection process was used to recruit personnel, reportedly with an 80% rejection rate. Meanwhile, he took training in private flying at the Opa-locka Airport in Miami. deRussy. "[61], The 509th Composite Group returned to the United States on 6 November 1945, and was stationed at Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico. [36] Tibbets selected Wendover for its remoteness.[37]. Wikipedia: Paul Tibbets; Find A Grave: Memorial . He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The two married on May 4, 1956, and had a son named James. [19] On 9 October 1942, Tibbets led the first American raid of more than 100 bombers in Europe, attacking industrial targets in the French city of Lille. I don't care whether you are dropping atom bombs, or 100-pound bombs, or shooting a rifle. Died Nov. 1, 2007.General Tibbets was born in Quincy, Ill., in 1915. Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (February 23, 1915 - November 1, 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. Gene Tibbets, son of Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, in an exclusive interview with WSFA 12 News. [13] Crews were reluctant to embrace the troublesome B-29, and to overcome crew anxiety, Tibbets taught and certified two Women Airforce Service Pilots, Dora Dougherty and Dorothea (Didi) Moorman, to fly the B-29 as demonstration pilots,[33] and the crews' attitude changed. Tibbets later received an invitation from President Harry S. Truman to visit the White House. Listen to Paul Tibbets's Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project Spotlight: Paul Tibbets. Paul Tibbets with other members of the 509th. [3] After his undergraduate work, Tibbets had planned on becoming an abdominal surgeon. We will update Paul Tibbets's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible. Family (1) Trivia (6) He was the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay", which dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Lewis would fly the mission as Tibbets's co-pilot. Paul Tibbets: Hey, you've got to correct that. Paul Tibbets personally selected one of them to be his operational aircraft on May 9, 1945. Among the old photos of the B-29 bombers that made up this wing, one stands out. He died in West Monroe, Louisiana, in 2016. Courtesy of the Joseph Papalia Collection. He does look like an old man, but not a 90-year-old man. Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born on February 23, 1915, in Quincy, Illinois. Paul Tibbets net worth is $15 Million Paul Tibbets Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (February 23, 1915 - November 1, 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known as the pilot of the Enola Gay - named for his mother - the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. Some accounts say he attended Central Elementary School, others Silver Bluff. The banks foreclosed on EJA in 1970, and Bruce Sundlun became president. His father worked there as a confections wholesaler. After leaving the Air Force in 1966, he worked for Executive Jet Aviation, serving on the founding board and as its president from 1976 until his retirement in 1987. Paul Tibbets was born on February 23, 1915 in Quincy, Illinois, USA. He released his memoir, Flight of the Enola Gay, in 1989.He condemned the 50th anniversary exhibition of Enola Gay held at the Smithsonian Institution in 1995. He, however, dropped out from the university after 1.5 years, to become a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps. He then got enlisted in the United States Army.. You said 89. [83] Tibbets was also the model for screenwriter Sy Bartlett's fictional character "Major Joe Cobb" in the film Twelve O'Clock High (1949), and for a brief period in February 1949 was slated to be the film's technical advisor until his replacement at the last minute by Colonel John H. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama,[1] and was inspired to join the United States Air Force (USAF) not by his famous grandfather but by his father, Paul W. Tibbets III, a pharmacist and hospital administrator who served in the United States Army Reserve, retiring as a colonel. For Tibbets, the war in North Africa introduced him to the realities of aerial warfare. For his grandson, see, United States Air Force general (19152007), Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Very Heavy), European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb, "Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew plane that dropped first atomic bomb, dies at 92", "General Paul Tibbets Reflections on Hiroshima", "Literary Fallout: The legacies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki", "Miamian who bombed Hiroshima in 1945 dies", "Paul W. Tibbets Jr., Pilot of Enola Gay, Dies at 92", "Paul Tibbets Jr., 92; piloted Enola Gay over Hiroshima", "Paul Tibbets: A Rendezvous with History by Di Freeze", "Face of Defense: Grandson Carries on Grandfather's Service", "Grandson of Enola Gay Pilot Takes Command of B-2 Bomb Wing", "Man Who Dropped Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Dies at 92", "Tibbets did his duty, and this country should be thankful", "Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War", General Paul Tibbets: Reflections on Hiroshima, A dramatic retelling of the Hiroshima mission with Paul Tibbets. Flying the 1,500 miles of open water to the coast of Japan, he guided his plane over the island of Shikoku and the Inland Sea, threatened with the constant danger of anti-aircraft. Paul Harrison Tibbitt IV is a former SpongeBob SquarePants crew member. Tibbets received the Distinguished Service Cross from Spaatz and became a national hero overnight, following the Hiroshima bombing. He chose Tibbets and Major Wayne Connors. Paul Tibbets: Hey, you've got to correct that. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible. The 509th Composite Group reached full strength in May 1945. When Tibbets was eight years old, his family moved once again, to Miami, Florida. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 92 years old group. With the end of the war in 1945, Tibbets organization was transferred to what is now Walker Air Force Base, Roswell, N.M., and remained there until August 1946. Courtesy of the Joseph Papalia Collection. He was the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay", which dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Brig. He returned to Whiteman in July 2003, where he served as a T-38 and B-2 flight examiner, director of operations of the 325th Bomb Squadron and then the 13th Bomb Squadron. Its role was to transition pilots to the B-29. The group consisted of around 1,800 men who were supposed to be equipped with 15 B-29s and were to be given high priority for any kind of military stores. To the end of his days, Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. believed that dropping the first atomic . The two quietly married in a Roman Catholic seminary in Holy Trinity, Alabama, on 19 June 1938 even though Tibbets was a Protestant. Tibbets protested that flak would be most effective at that altitude. His walk has slowed, but he remains erect and dignified. As the University of Florida had no medical school at that time, Tibbets completed his second year from the university and then took a transfer to the University of Cincinnati to finish his pre-med studies. Paul Tibbets and Dutch Van Kirk after the Hiroshima mission. In his later years, he would draw the ire and criticism of nuclear activists something he would make no apologies for. Brigadier General Paul Tibbets IV in 2017, United States College of Naval Command and Staff, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal, Air Force Overseas Short Tour Service Ribbon, Air Force Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon, "Face of Defense: Grandson Carries on Grandfather's Service", "Col. Paul Tibbets IV qualifies on B-52, continuing family's Air Force legacy", "Grandson of Enola Gay Pilot Takes Command of B-2 Bomb Wing", "Air Force general to retire after probe finds misconduct", "One-star general and Enola Gay pilot's grandson forced to retire after misconduct claims", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_W._Tibbets_IV&oldid=1135442470, College of Naval Command and Staff alumni, Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal, Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States), Military personnel from Montgomery, Alabama, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 18:16. For his service in Operation Allied Force, Tibbets was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. During that time, Tibbets took private flying lessons at Miamis Opa-locka Airport with Rusty Heard, who later became a captain at Eastern Airlines. Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born in Quincy, Illinois, on 23 February 1915, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets Sr. and his wife, Enola Gay Tibbets. His primary and basic flight training was undertaken at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., the commander and pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II, died yesterday at his. He was married to Andrea P. Quattrehomme and Lucy Frances Wingate. Scroll Down and find everything about him. He married Sarah Frost about 1726, in Dover Neck, Strafford, New Hampshire, British Colonial America. He was the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. An interview of Paul Tibbets can be seen in the 1982 movie Atomic Cafe. He displayed exceptional courage, skill, and endurance while flying a 30-hour combat mission, penetrating an advanced integrated air defense system that included an impressive array of ground threats, with no suppression/destruction of enemy air defense or offensive counter-air support available.