Definition of "air force" []

• The aviation branch of a country's armed forces, such as the U.S. Air Force. (noun)
• A unit of the U.S. Air Force larger than a division and smaller than a command. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Harley Thompson was pulled out of VF-51 to become a naval liaison officer with the air force in Japan, and squadron veteran Red Gardner was killed in an F9F training accident at NAS San Diego."
• "On the nineteenth, a VF-172 Banshee flown by air force major Francis N."
• "Nor did he participate on the twenty-fifth in a massive air raid on the railyards at Rashin near the Soviet border—the first time navy fighters both Panthers and Banshees ever escorted air force bombers over hostile territory."