Ninth in Britain

For months the shoulder patch of the Ninth Air Force has been bright on the U.S. uniforms visible in British trains, pubs, and village dances. But not until last week was there official announcement that the outfit had been moved from the Mediterranean to join the new Allied Expeditionary Air Forces under Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory as part of the Tactical (close support) Air Force.

Under rough and rugged Major General Lewis H. Brereton, the Ninth was formed in the China-Burma-India theater, moved to the Middle East when Rommel banged at the back door of Egypt.* It supported the British Eighth Army as it advanced westward, from El Alamein to Cap Bon.

The new job for Annapolis-educated Lewis Brereton: to umbrella the invasion. Made Companion of the Order of the Bath last November, the General still wears baggy pants and an old sweater under his flying suit. His old habit of turning up unexpectedly at his medium-bomber and fighter stations has a new twist: now he leaves a trail of red printed placards which read "Keep Mobile--Brereton."

*Other principal U.S. air forces: Fifth, Southwest Pacific; Seventh, Central Pacific; Eighth, England (heavy bombers); Twelfth (tactical) and Fifteenth (heavy bombers), Mediterranean Theater.

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