20th Air Base Group

Last updated

20th Air Base Group
Nichols Field (15164321167).jpg
Nichols Field in 1930
Active1918, 1921-1946
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Branch United States Army Air Corps
TypeSupport
RoleMaintenance and Base Administration
Part of Far East Air Force
Engagements Southwest Pacific Theater
Decorations Distinguished Unit Citation Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation
Insignia
Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Sq emblem [1] Base Hq & 20th Air Base Sq emblem.png

The 20th Air Base Group is a disbanded group of the United States Air Force. It was part of the Far East Air Force, during World War II. The group was based at Nichols Field, in the Philippines. It surrendered to the Japanese in the spring of 1942, but was kept on the rolls as an active unit until April 1946. It was disbanded in 1984.

Contents

The Unit's first predecessor, the 66th Aero Squadron served at a training base during World War I. It was consolidated with the 66th Service Squadron, which had provided maintenance support at Nichols Field since 1921. In the late 1930s, the unit assumed administrative support functions as well and was expanded to a group.

The first unit holding the name 20th Air Base Group was active up until 1942, and is where the majority of this article focuses. However, a second unit, the 20th Airdrome Group, was renamed the 20th ABG in 1948, remaining as part of the 20th Fighter Wing. It later became the 20th Mission Support Group, and is still supporting the 20th Fighter Wing.

History

World War I

The first predecessor of the group was the 66th Aero Squadron, [note 1] which was organized in April 1918 at Kelly Field, Texas. As soon as the squadron was organized it moved to Eberts Field, Arkansas to join the flying school there. In the summer of 1918, the Air Service reorganized its units at its flying schools as lettered squadrons and the squadron became Squadron A, Eberts Field. [2] Shortly after the end of the World War I, the squadron was demobilized and its personnel were absorbed by the Flying School Detachment at Eberts Field.

Interwar years in the Philippines

In June 1921, Air Park No. 11 was organized at Clark Field, Philippines, moving to what became Nichols Field before the end of the year. In 1923, the Air Service renamed its air parks as service squadrons and the unit became the 66th Service Squadron, [2] with the mission of providing second level maintenance for the aircraft of the 4th Composite Group at Nichols. Due to post-war shortages in officers, garrison units in the Philippines were manned assigned only 50% of their authorized officer personnel through the first half of the 1920s. [3]

In 1936 the Air Corps consolidated many of its World War I Aero Squadrons with units formed after the war but bearing the same number, and the old 66th Aero Squadron was consolidated with the post-war 66th Squadron. [2]

In 1938, the Air Corps reorganized its support units and the 66th was consolidated with the Station Complement, Nichols Field as the Base Headquarters and 20th Air Base Squadron. In the fall of 1940, air base squadrons expanded into groups and were assigned materiel squadrons for maintaining aircraft and air base squadrons to provide administrative support, and the unit became the 20th Air Base Group. [1]

Defense of the Philippines

The 20th Group's station at Nichols Field came under Japanese air attack as World War II began in the Pacific. Although Far East Air Force had built up to the largest American overseas force in terms of personnel, much of its equipment was en route when the Japanese attacked. [4] As the war began, the group supported the 2d Observation Squadron, 17th Pursuit Squadron and 34th Pursuit Squadron at Nichols. [5] Three days after the start of the war, 10 December 1941, saw the first concentrated Japanese attacks on Nichols. By the end of the attack all observation airplanes at Nichols had been destroyed or rendered unserviceable. [6] By 24 December, all bombers had been flown to Australia and air force headquarters and all combat units except for a few fighters soon followed. [7] [8]

By the end of December, all American forces were being withdrawn to Bataan. Colonel Harold H. George, of 5th Interceptor Command assumed control of all Air Corps units remaining in the Philippines. With the flying mission being performed by a handful of fighter pilots, the bulk of the group's personnel were employed as infantry. [9] By May 1942, resistance in the Philippines had ended and the group ceased to exist as an organized military formation.

Lineage

Squadron A, Eberts Field
Redesignated Squadron A, Eberts Field c. 1 July 1918
Reconstituted and consolidated with 66th Service Squadron on 16 October 1936 [2] [1]
20th Air Base Group
Redesignated 66th Service Squadron on 25 January 1923
Consolidated with Squadron A, Eberts Field on 16 October 1936 [2]
Consolidated with Station Complement, Nichols Field as the Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 25 May 1938 [1]
Redesignated Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron (1 Group) on 6 December 1939
Redesignated Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron (Single) on 1 February 1940
Redesignated Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron 20th Air Base Group (Reinforced) on 1 September 1940 [1]
Inactivated on 2 April 1946
Station Complement, Nichols Field
Consolidated with 66th Service Squadron as Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 25 May 1938 [2]

Assignments

Stations

Components

Awards and campaigns

Award streamerAwardDatesNotes
Streamer PUC Army.PNG Distinguished Unit Citation 7 December 1941-10 May 1942,20th Air Base Group [13]
Streamer PUC Army.PNG Distinguished Unit Citation8 December 1941–22 December 194120th Air Base Group [13]
Streamer PUC Army.PNG Distinguished Unit Citation6 January 1942-8 March 194220th Air Base Group [13]
Streamer PPUC.PNG Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation 7 December 1941 – 10 May 194220th Air Base Group [13]
Campaign StreamerCampaignDatesNotes
Streamer APC.PNG Philippine Islands7 December 1941 – 10 May 194220th Air Base Group [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">77th Fighter Squadron</span> Military unit

The 77th Fighter Squadron is part of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">13th Bomb Squadron</span> Military unit

The 13th Bomb Squadron is a squadron of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the 509th Operations Group, Air Force Global Strike Command, stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The squadron is equipped with the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">28th Bomb Squadron</span> Military unit

The 28th Bomb Squadron is a squadron of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the 7th Operations Group, Global Strike Command, stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. The squadron is equipped with the Rockwell B-1B Lancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">79th Fighter Squadron</span> Military unit

The 79th Fighter Squadron is part of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Air Refueling Squadron</span> Military unit

The 2nd Air Refueling Squadron, sometimes written as 2d Air Refueling Squadron, is a unit of the United States Air Force. It is part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The 2nd Air Refueling Squadron is the second-oldest squadron in the Air Force, having over 100 years of service to the nation. It was deployed to the Philippines after World War I, during the 1941-1942 Battle of the Philippines, it was wiped out, with the Japanese forcing some of the personnel to endure the Bataan Death March. It was re-formed as an air refueling squadron by Strategic Air Command in 1949. Today, it operates the KC-46 Pegasus aircraft, conducting aerial refueling missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">911th Air Refueling Squadron</span> United States Air Force Reserve squadron

The 911th Air Refueling Squadron is part of the 305th Operations Group, and is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The squadron was the Air Force's very first active duty squadron under the command of a reserve wing. In October 2016, the 911th, formerly geographically separated from the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida and operated as the active duty associate to the 916th Air Refueling Wing, became the first "I-Wing" or Integrated Wing. In July 2020, it was reassigned to the 305th Operations Group at the McGuire AFB entity of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">48th Flying Training Squadron</span> Military unit

The 48th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 14th Flying Training Wing based at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. It operates T-1 Jayhawk aircraft conducting flight training. The squadron is one of the oldest in the Air Force, being formed during World War I as the 48th Aero Squadron on 4 August 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">436th Training Squadron</span> Military unit

The 436th Training Squadron is a non-flying training squadron of the United States Air Force. The 436th Training Squadron, located at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, is a geographically separated unit (GSU) within Air Combat Command’s 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">867th Attack Squadron</span> Military unit

The 867th Attack Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. It was reactivated at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, on 10 September 2012 as a remotely piloted aircraft squadron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">74th Reconnaissance Squadron</span> Military unit

The 74th Reconnaissance Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, part of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California. The squadron was first active during World War II as the 74th Aero Squadron. In 1933 it was consolidated with the 74th Pursuit Squadron, which had been organized as a reserve training organization in 1927, activating in the Panama Canal Zone, where it served during World War II as the 74th Bombardment Squadron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">44th Reconnaissance Squadron</span> Military unit

The 44th Reconnaissance Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force's 432nd Wing, Air Combat Command and stationed at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, where it operates unmanned aerial vehicles. The squadron is assigned to the 432nd Operations Group, and has been reported to operate the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">17th Weapons Squadron</span> Military unit

The 17th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">429th Attack Squadron</span> Military unit

The 429th Attack Squadron is a classic associate squadron, stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. It is geographically separated from its parent 926th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">97th Intelligence Squadron</span> Nebraska-based unit studying and devising communication securities

The United States Air Force's 97th Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence unit located at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">43rd Electronic Combat Squadron</span> Military unit

The 43d Electronic Combat Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. Its current assignment is with the 55th Electronic Combat Group, being stationed as a tenant unit at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona as a geographically separated unit from its parent, the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It operates the Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call communications-jamming aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">50th Attack Squadron</span> Military unit

The 50th Attack Squadron is a squadron of the United States Air Force, stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, where it operates the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. It is assigned to the 25th Attack Group, also at Shaw AFB, and a component of the 432d Wing, located at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">482nd Attack Squadron</span> Military unit

The 482d Attack Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, where it is an operational squadron of the 25th Attack Group, operating the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">484th Bombardment Squadron</span> Military unit

The 484th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 505th Bombardment Group at Clark Field, Philippines, where it was inactivated on 10 June 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron</span> Military unit

The 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force (USAF) unit. It is assigned to the 378th Expeditionary Operations Group as part of the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. It has supported combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria from its previous location of Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. The squadron has a varied background, having been formed by a series of consolidations of no fewer than five distinct units.

References

Notes
  1. The unit is not related to an earlier 66th Aero Squadron, organized in August 1917, which had been renumbered as the 478th Aero Squadron (Construction).
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Clay, p. 1639
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Clay, p. 1421
  3. Maurer, Aviation in the U.S. Army, p. 50
  4. Williams, p. 20
  5. Williams, p. 26
  6. Williams, p. 35
  7. Williams, p. 32
  8. Maurer, Combat Units, p. 461
  9. Williams, pp. 36-37
  10. Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 575q, 27 Sep 1984, Subject: Disbandment of Units
  11. See Williams, p. 11 (organization of the service command).
  12. Markus, et al., p. 114
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 AF Pamphlet 900-2, 15 June 1971, p. 134

Bibliography