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French, John, Brig Gen.
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The IX Troop Carrier Command was aUnited States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based atGreenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946. As a component command of theNinth Air Force, based in theUnited Kingdom.
The mission of IX Troop Carrier Command was air transport for the Allied airborne divisions in the European Theater of Operations.
The primary aircraft of IX TCC was theC-47 Skytrain and its variant, theC-53 Skytrooper, but in 1945 IX Troop Carrier Command equipped one group with 117C-46 Commando aircraft to determine their viability in the ETO. As a result of a 28% loss ratio duringOperation Varsity resulting from the C-46's high inflammability, IX TCC did not convert to the Commando, even though its cargo-carrying capacity was twice that of the C-47. IX TCC also had 1,922CG-4A Waco and 20Waco CG-13 gliders just prior to its last major operation in March 1945. IX Troop Carrier Command consisted of three troop carrier wings, 14 troop carrier groups, and one pathfinder group, totalling approximately 1380 operational aircraft including spares, and 2,000 gliders at its maximum strength in March 1945.
IX Troop Carrier Command conducted three multi-divisional combat air assaults: Operation Neptune: the invasion of France in June 1944, Operation Market: the airborne invasion of theNetherlands in September 1944, and Operation Varsity: the airborne crossing of the Rhine Riverin March 1945.
It also conducted relief operations for isolated units during the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944.