History
On 10 October 1917 an Antiaircraft Service in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was created at Arnouville-Les-Gonesse where an antiaircraft school was established. The antiaircraft units were organized as serially numbered battalions during the war, as follows:
- 1st Antiaircraft Battalion through the 10th Antiaircraft Battalion
- 1st AA Machine Gun Battalion through the 6th AA Machine Gun Battalion. These units were organized by Col. James A. Shipton but were disbanded in May 1918.
- The National Defense Act of 1920 formally assigned the air defense mission to the Coast Artillery Corps, and 4 battalions were organized in 1921. In 1924 under a major reorganization of the Coast Artillery the battalions were reorganized as regiments.
- (5) Anti-aircraft regiments
- 60th Coast Artillery (AA)
- 61st Coast Artillery (AA)
- 62nd Coast Artillery (AA)
- 63rd Coast Artillery (AA)
- 64th Coast Artillery (AA)
- (13) National Guard
- 197th Coast Artillery (AA) N.H.
- 198th Coast Artillery (AA) DE.
- 200th Coast Artillery (AA) N.C. ?
- 202nd Coast Artillery (AA) IL.
- 203rd Coast Artillery (AA) MO.
- 206th Coast Artillery (AA) AR.
- 207th Coast Artillery (AA) N.Y. ?
- 211th Coast Artillery (AA) MA.
- 212th Coast Artillery (AA) N.Y.
- 213th Coast Artillery (AA) PA.
- 214th Coast Artillery (AA) GA. ?
- 251st Coast Artillery (AA) CA.
- 369th Coast Artillery (AA) N.Y.
In 1938 there were only 5 Regular Army and thirteen National Guard regiments, but by 1941 this had been expanded to 37 total regiments. In November 1942, 781 battalions were authorized. However, this number was pared down to 331 battalions by the end of the war. On 9 March 1942 Antiaircraft Command was established in Washington D.C. and in 1944 the AAA school was moved to Fort Bliss. Army Anti-Aircraft Command (ARAACOM) was created July 1950, and in 1957, ARAACOM was renamed to US Army Air Defense Command (USARADCOM).
The serially numbered battalions bore the following titles
- Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
- Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion
- Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion
- Antiaircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion
- Barrage balloon Battalions
and later
- Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion.
In 1957 the Combat Arms Regimental System organized the battalions under regiments again. In 1968 the Air Defense Artillery Branch was created. In 2010 the United States Army Air Defense Artillery School was moved from Fort Bliss to Fort Sill.
Read more about this topic: Air Defense Artillery Branch (United States)
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