[5] It was one of the four original numbered air forces formed in the first years of World War II.

Its primary mission was the organization and training of new combat units prior to their deployment overseas.

1AF (AFNORTH) is also the designated air component for the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).

USNORTHCOM's area of responsibility includes the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico, and its air, land and maritime approaches.

It was redesignated First Air Force on 9 April 1941 with a mission for the defense of the Northeast and Great Lakes regions of the United States.

In March 1946, USAAF Chief General Carl Spaatz had undertaken a major re-organization of the postwar USAAF that had included the establishment of Major Commands (MAJCOM), who would report directly to HQ United States Army Air Forces.

With the inactivation of the ADC Eleventh Air Force on 1 July 1948 due to budget restrictions, command's region of responsibility was increased to include the upper Midwest states of Michigan and Ohio, along with the Mid-Atlantic region south to the North Carolina/Virginia Border.

The command was inactivated on 23 June 1958 for budgetary reasons, its assigned units being placed under ConAC.

This reorganization was the result of the need to eliminate intermediate levels of command in ADCOM driven by budget reductions and a perceived lessening of the need for continental air defense against attacking Soviet aircraft.

The interceptors and warning radars were reassigned to Tactical Air Command (TAC).

In the 1970s and 1980s, the role of the Air National Guard in the defense of North America increased.

Its headquarters is located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida and it comprises 9 fighter wings, 1 composite wing with a fighter mission, and two air defense sectors for the Eastern and Western regions of the continental United States (CONUS).

Additionally, First Air Force provides operational control of alert Air National Guard air defense fighter units and supporting non-flying units: Non-flying units On July 15, 2021, First Air Force, now AFSPACE, assumed the operational command and control of the Human Space Flight Support (HSFS) mission, previously carried out by the Combined Force Space Component Command at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Detachment 3, formerly commanded by Space Launch Delta 45, came under First Air Force control during a redesignation and change of command ceremony held at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, that day.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency