A Special Presentation From Hahn's K-9 Section, 1961
Welcome To Our New
United States Air Force's Law Enforcement & Security AIR POLICE HISTORY PAGES!
Forewords
The United States Air Force Air Police's history has its roots back two hundred years ago to 1776, when at Valley Forge...
America's first provost marshal, a William Maroney of the Continental Army, was appointed by General George Washington on January 10, 1776. The new provost guard consisted of Maroney, one sergeant, one corporal and 12 men.
Later, in the summer of 1778, George Washington, now President of the United States, was authorized by Congress to raised the first provost corps of this new nation.
Captain Bartholomew Von Heer became the first provost marshal of the newly formed Marechausee (constabulary) Corps, which consisted of four lieutenants, one clerk, one quartermaster sergeant, two trumpeters, two sergeants, five corporals, forty three privates, and four executioners.
Their primary duties, were to patrol the camps and apprehend deserters, marauders, drunkards, rioters and stragglers. They were also ordered to detain all those, found without passes, and those who manner or appearance excited suspicion of them being a spy.
Not an awful lot has changed in the last two hundred years...except for the executioners, those in the Air Force's Security Force career field, still perform the same duties and alot more! This is their history!
MP...............AP...............SP.............SF
....1947............1948.............1966.........Present
Air Policeman,
Front Gate Duty. 1962 
Air Police Creed
I am a Air Police member,
I hold allegiance to my country,
devotion to duty and personal
integrity above all.
I will wear my badge
of authority with dignity and restraint,
and will promote by example
high standards of conduct,
appearance, courtesy,
and performance.
I seek no favor
because of my position.
I perform my duties in a firm,
courteous, and impartial manner,
irrespective of a person's
color, race, religion, national
orgin or sex.
I strive to merit
the respect of my fellow airmen
and all with whom I
come in contact.
 'The Cops' Photo © by Paul Kennedy
Overview Of The
DEFENDERS OF THE FORCE!
They went from Military Police in 1947, to Air Police in 1948, to Security Police in 1966, and as of July 1, 1997, they were officially redesig- nated the SECURITY FORCES.
But the Air Force's Defenders have changed more than just their name over the years.
The differences are as drastic as their choice of upgrade in vehicles, from the old Air Police jeeps to today's security "ride" of choice, the versatile humvee.
During the Korean War, the Air Police Units were usually the only armed fighting force on an Air Force base. And having forward bases overrun led to the development of air base defense capability. After the Korean War, the miission's focus switched to security of Cold War nuclear forces.
In the mid 1960s, Air Police became Security Police, which was considered more descript- ive of their two main mission elements, police and security forces. During the Vietnam War, the need for external base defense soon became apparent and led to specially trained and equipped units ...they were the original Blue Berets.
In 1971, the career field was divided into law enforcement and security. And with "the end" of the Cold War, emphasis soon shifted to the rapid deployment of defense forces in support of Air Expeditionary Forces.
On Oct. 31,1997, the combat arms training, combine maintenance, law enforcement and security career fields was merged into the Security Forces career field. And the United States Air Force defenders entered a new era of force protection.
Epilogue
From Military Police, to Air Police, to Security Police and now Security Forces, over the past 50 years, these dedicated airmen and women have provided security in both war and peace for the finest Air Force in the world.
Around the World, from Asia to Europe, they continue to stand guard and go in harm's way to ensure the capability of the U.S. Air Force to fly and to fight wherever and whenever it may be called upon to do so.
These pages are dedicated to them all...past ...present...and future Peace Keepers!
 From Army Olive Drabto Air Force Blue, 1952
Introduction On How We Got
From Army Khaki To Air Force Blue
And Became Peace Keepers!
American miliary aviation had its beginning in the early 1900s, when all "operations above the earth" were placed in the province of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, just as the baloons had been in the American Civil War.
And on August 1,1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division to be in charge of all matters pertaining to military balooning, and air machines, plus all other subjects.
At the time, the aeronautical division, was equipped with eight baloons and one small dirigible. It wasn't until August of 1909, that they accepted their first "improved" Wright Flyer.
The aeronautical division survived for almost seven years, until July 18, 1914, when it was replaced by the Aviation Section...still in the Signal Corps.
World War I
May 20, 1918, during World War One, the Aviation Section was transferred from the Signal Corps and separated into two agencies under the Secretary of War: the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Div. of Military Aeronautics. Four days later on May 24th, the War Department combined these two agencies into the Army Air Service.
With this change the Air Service had become the air combat arm of the Army. Its mission was to support the ground forces.
For the future Air Policeman, World War One didn't give so much as a hint of the Air Force that was to come. The "provost marshalcy" hadn't progressed much from George Washington's day, and there wasn't any Corps of Military Police...camp security and law enforcement was still just a extra detail and guarding the aircrafts wasn't a high priority.
After the war, in 1926, Congress changed the name of the Air Service to the U.S. Army Air Corps and in August of that year, created the Air Corps Training Center at San Antonio, Texas.
World War II
By June 1941 America's entry into the war was clearly imminent...the AAC was beginning to grow at a record pace, projections called for more than two million men under arms and a excess of 60,000 airplanes...all indication called for a reorganization!
It was Army Regulation 95-5 that created the new United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as a semi autonomous organization within the U.S. Army, on June 20th, 1941, with Major General H. H. Arnold commanding.
Who Will Defend These Bases?
Hundreds of new AAF bases (airfields) appeared overnight and the skies filled with planes, and with them came the question of "who will defend these new bases?"
From the very beginning, the new AAF Command realized, that there were clear differences in the requirements for policing the air bases, and the normal role of the regular Army's Military Police to move troops along a road; not that, this was their only duties.
At home and abroad, a brand new breed of Military Policeman was being born!
The Beginning!
In November 1941, the Army Air Force formed a number of its own law enforcement and special air base security units; placed on a permanent basis, and given their own doctrine, training and all other attributes of professional units.
Military Police Companies Avn.
& Air Base Security Battalions
1942, General Hap Arnold, Commander in Chief of the AAF, signed the general order estabishing the new office of the Air Provost Marshal.
Air Base Security Battalions
The first troops to serve in the AAF ABS Battalions, were all black enlisted men, with an all white officer corp, these were the first blacks to serve in the Air Force.
In 1941, the United States armed forces were totally segregated, the Army Air Force especially so, it took popular sentiment and some political pressure for the Roosevelt administration to order black Americans to be assigned to AAF units.
And considering that the miliary hierarchy of the day, didn't want black troops and when forced to accept them, employed them in only what amounted to labor units.
When the Army Air Force was finallly forced to use blacks in meaningful roles, the AAF set up the 1st ABS Training Group at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and "cycled through" about twenty two ABS Battalions between June 1942 and February 1943, when the formation of any new units ceased.
Despite all the obstacles the ABS Battalions had to overcome; training, supplies, duty assignments and prejudice, they did a remarkable job! They were the first in the AAF to have the mission of defending air bases!
ABS Battalions saw service in North Africa, Italy, as well as in the Pacific. Due to the large number of air bases in North Africa, they generally were broken up into smaller units, which made them less effective, as they were trained to operate as a battalion, and defend an single base.
Their history is truly an integral part of the early history of the USAF Air Police, and Security Police.
Military Police Company, Aviation
Base Law Enforcement and General Police duties in the overseas theater of operation during WW II were performed by AAF Military Police units, designated Military Police Company, Aviation (Avn.). In the continental United States (ConUS), these same units were designated Guard Companies.
For all Military Policemen training became the new dimension, Major General Allen W. Gullion, was the Provost Marshal General throughout much of the war; and it was Gullion, who had the first opportunity to provide training and established AAF MP schools at a number of military posts.
Most of the Military Police Companies Avn, who were bound for overseas units received some formal police and base defense training. On the other hand, units based in ConUS, were mostly trained on site and on-the-job. Guard Squadrons were simply activated on the bases to be protected, and were often augmented units, a practice, that would last well after the end of the war.
Post War, AAF Military Police!
Down sizing and manpower shortages plagued the AAF Military Police units after the end of the war, as they lost their most experienced personnel, leaving behind the young and inexperienced in undermanned units, with officers and NCOs in command, who had little or no police training at all. Actually, any formal military police school training became almost non existented, as it wasn't a requirement for the career field.
Even before the separation of the Air Force from the Army, the AAF Chief of Staff, General Carl Spaatz saw the need to lay the ground work for the Air Force's new police force. In 1946, he appointed Col. Joseph Dillon Air Provost Marshal for the USAAF, and requested the services of Col. Mitchell "Mike" Mabardy, Army Provost Marshal, Germany, to plan and formulate the establishment of the Air Force's Military Police.
Working under Dillon, Mabardy and his colleagues established the initial organization, equipment, training and operational doctrine of the USAF military police.
The Air Provost Marshal of the U.S. Air Force would report to the Inspector General, USAF.
And each major air command:
Strategic Air Command (SAC)
Tactical Air Command (TAC)
Continental Air Command (ConAC)
Far East Air Forces (FEAF)
...also had an air provost marshal on the stall of the commander, and each numbered Air Force under MAJCOM had an air provost marshal reporting to its commanders; and each air base under each of the numbered Air Force had its own air provost on staff of the base commmander.
All the Air Provost Marshals worked for their own commander, not for Col. Dillon, hence the Air Police operated under the directives written by the Office of the Air Provost Marshal, USAF, as interpreted by the various major command and the local commanders.
...and interpreted they did, every AAF MP squadron looked different, from their duty uniforms to the type of headgear worn, even within the same unit!
Enter The New United States Air Force
September 18, 1947
With the end of World War II and the emergence of the United States Air Force as a separate service; it gave birth to a new Policeman, along with a brand new identity and a new mission!
They were still called Military Police, and continued to looked like the Army's Military Policeman but unlike his Army counterpart who was continually on the move, the new Air Force's Policeman's base of operation remained static.
The threat he had to guard against was likely to be saboteurs or a small guerrilla attack on his air base.
He continued to wear army olive drab, and the old MP brassard, even after the name changed to Air Police in November 1948, but a new AF brassard gradually replaced the older one.
The first U.S. Air Force brassard had yellow letters spelling out "Air Police" on a band of Air Force blue, but before it could be widely distributed, it was replaced by another with dull gray letters on a dark blue band.
In the early fifties, the Air Force Dress Blue uniform shade 84 was gradually introduced, and in '52 army olive drab was finally phrased out.
The Fifties!
The AF Air Policemen of the fifties were mostly the untrained, under equipped, under manned, working long shifts for base commanders, who saw them as a necessary nuisance! But they got the job done!
Even during the Korean Conflict, the AP units were short handed, and lacked the necessary equipment to do their job properly. But from Korea the skills of the Air Policeman were honed in battle and from that United Nations police action we became the infantry of the United States Air Force and Peace Keepers!
------------------------
Note: AP History Continues On Page 2
RETURN TO -------------- VISIT OUR
50TH INDEX K9 HISTORY
SiteBuilder,
TF Newton...
An Member of The Air Force Security Police Association |