53d Wing

Last updated

53d Wing
31st Test and Evaluation Squadron Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II 09-5006.png
Active1941–1944; 1955–1960; 1963–present
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
BranchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
RoleOperational test and evaluation
Size2100
Part of Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ Eglin Air Force Base
Motto(s)Defense by Offense (1941–1960)
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Organizational Excellence Award
Commanders
Current
commander		 Colonel Adrian Spain
Notable
commanders		 Paul V. Hester
Ronald Keys
Insignia
53d Wing emblem (Approved 26 May 1964) [2] 53d Wing.png

The 53d Wing (53 WG) is a wing of the United States Air Force based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wing reports to the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, which reports to Headquarters Air Combat Command.

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

Eglin Air Force Base census designated place

Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base in western Florida, located about three miles (5 km) southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County.

In military aviation, a wing is a unit of command. In most military aviation services, a wing is a relatively large formation of planes. In Commonwealth countries a wing usually comprises three squadrons, with several wings forming a group. Each squadron will contain around 20 planes.

Contents

The 53d Wing serves as the focal point for the combat air forces in electronic warfare, armament and avionics, chemical defense, reconnaissance, and aircrew training devices. The wing is also responsible for Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) of new equipment and systems proposed for use by these air forces. Current wing initiatives include advanced self-protection systems for combat aircraft, aircrew life support systems, aerial reconnaissance improvements, new armament and weapons delivery systems, and improved maintenance equipment and logistics support. The 53d Wing, which consists of four groups, numbers almost 2,000 military and civilians at 17 locations throughout the United States.

Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly unimpeded access to, the EM spectrum. EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and/or space by manned and unmanned systems, and can target humans, communication, radar, or other assets.

Avionics electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites, and spacecraft

Avionics are the electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites, and spacecraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform individual functions. These can be as simple as a searchlight for a police helicopter or as complicated as the tactical system for an airborne early warning platform. The term avionics is a portmanteau of the words aviation and electronics.

Chemical warfare type of warfare that involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons

Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare and biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for nuclear, biological, and chemical, all of which are considered "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs). None of these fall under the term conventional weapons which are primarily effective due to their destructive potential. In theory, with proper protective equipment, training, and decontamination measures, the primary effects of chemical weapons can be overcome. In practice, they continue to cause much suffering, as most victims are defenceless civilians. Many nations possess vast stockpiles of weaponized agents in preparation for wartime use. The threat and the perceived threat have become strategic tools in planning both measures and counter-measures.

Units

History

World War II

The group was activated in 1941 as the 53d Pursuit Group with the 13th, [3] 14th, [4] and 15th Pursuit Squadrons [5] assigned. [6] The 53d trained fighter pilots with Seversky P-35 and Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircraft from its activation until December 1941. [2] [7] After the United States entered World War II the group moved to the Panama Canal Zone to fly patrols in defense of the Panama Canal. [2] In conjunction with the move, the group converted to Bell P-39 Airacobra aircraft. [7] There it was redesignated as the 53d Fighter Group. [6] The group returned to Florida in November 1942, where it became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU) training replacement fighter pilots. RTUs were oversized units whose mission was to train individual pilots or aircrews. [8] It used P-39s until June 1943 and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts thereafter. [7] In early 1943, the group added a fourth squadron, the 438th Fighter Squadron. [9]

13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Minot Air Defense Sector, stationed at Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana where it was inactivated on 30 June 1968.

14th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 14th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 53d Fighter Group at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1960.

Seversky P-35 aircraft

The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Corps to feature all-metal construction, retractable landing gear, and an enclosed cockpit.

The AAF found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. [10] The group was disbanded in as a result of this reorganization in 1944 [2] and its personnel, equipment and mission were assumed by the 338th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter). [11]

Cold War Air Defense

The group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 53d Fighter Group (Air Defense) and activated [6] to replace the 521st Air Defense Group [12] at Sioux City Municipal Airport as part of Air Defense Command's Project Arrow to bring back on the active list fighter units that had achieved memorable records in the two World Wars. [13] The 14th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS), already at Sioux City transferred from the 521st, [4] while the 13th FIS moved to Sioux City to replace the 519th FIS. [3] Both squadrons flew rocket armed and radar equipped F-86D Sabres. [14] Between August 1955 and April 1960 the 53d served as an air defense unit, participating in North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) exercises and testing automated air defense systems. [2] It also was the host organization for the USAF and was assigned several support units to carry out this function. [15] [16] [17] [18] In the fall of 1957 both of the group's squadrons upgraded their Sabres to F-86L models with data link for interception control through the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system. [14] In July 1959 the 13th FIS moved to Glasgow AFB, Montana and was reassigned. The group and its remaining components were inactivated in 1960. [2] In 1985, the group was redesignated as the 53d Tactical Fighter Group, but it was never active under that designation. [2]

521st Air Defense Group

The 521st Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 31st Air Division at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa, where it was inactivated in 1955. The group was originally activated as a support unit for the 310th Bombardment Group at the end of World War II in Italy and then redeployed to the United States where it was inactivated in 1945.

519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 521st Air Defense Group, stationed at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa. It was inactivated on 18 August 1955.

Rocket (weapon) weapon utilizing a self-contained rocket engine to propel itself to its target

A rocket is a self-propelled, unguided weapon system powered by a rocket motor. Rockets are used primarily as medium and long-range artillery systems, although historically they have also seen considerable use as air-to-surface, some use as air-to-air weapons, and even a few examples of surface-to-air devices. Examples of modern surface-to-surface rocket systems include the BM-27 Uragan and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System.

Test and Evaluation

The USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center was activated in 1963 to improve use of USAF tactical aviation in support of ground forces by operationally testing weapon systems and tactics for the joint U.S. Strike Command. It employed a cross-section of tactical aircraft from Tactical Air Command (TAC) bases across the country. [2] During the Vietnam War it tested tactical weapons systems and tactics for use in Southeast Asia. [2] After the war it continued operational testing of new tactical aviation weapon systems. In 1977 the center began an annual series of Air Force-wide exercises to improve command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I) techniques. [2] Around the same time it embarked on the electronic warfare evaluation program, and continued OT&E of aviation weapon systems for TAC and later Air Combat Command, the Department of Defense, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. [2] From 1983 to present, responsible for the operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) of all Air Force aircraft/weapons systems, and providing range control for live-firing missile programs on the Gulf range and aerial targets, using full scale and subscale drones. [2] In September 1995, the 53rd Tactical Fighter Group and USAF Air Warfare Center were consolidated and the consolidated unit was redesignated as the 53d Wing the following month. [2]

Military tactics science and art of organizing a military force and techniques

Military tactics encompasses the art of organising and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, mobility, protection or security, and shock action. Tactics are a separate function from command and control and logistics. In contemporary military science, tactics are the lowest of three levels of warfighting, the higher levels being the strategic and operational levels. Throughout history, there has been a shifting balance between the four tactical functions, generally based on the application of military technology, which has led to one or more of the tactical functions being dominant for a period of time, usually accompanied by the dominance of an associated fighting arm deployed on the battlefield, such as infantry, artillery, cavalry or tanks.

Tactical Air Command 1947-1992 United States Air Force major command responsible for tactical fighter, attack, reconnaissance and other aircraft

Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command (ACC).

Vietnam War 1955–1975 conflict in Vietnam

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975.

Lineage

Group

Activated on 15 January 1941
Redesignated as the 53d Fighter Group on 15 May 1942
Disbanded on 1 May 1944
Activated on 18 August 1955
Discontinued on 1 April 1960
Redesignated as the 53d Tactical Fighter Group on 31 July 31, 1985
Consolidated with the USAF Air Warfare Center on 25 September 1995 (consolidated unit designated the USAF Air Warfare Center) [2]

Center

Redesignated as the USAF Air Warfare Center on 1 October 1991
Consolidated with the 53d Tactical Fighter Group on 25 September 1995 [2]

Consolidated Wing

Assignments

Stations

Components

Wing

  • 4485th Test Wing: 16 March 1964 – 30 June 1965

Groups

  • 53d Test Management Group: 1 October 2002 – present
  • 57th Test Group: 1 October 1996 – 1 August 1997
  • 68th Electronic Combat (later 53d Electronic Warfare) Group: 15 April 1993 – present
  • 475th Weapons Evaluation (later, 53d Weapons Evaluation) Group: 23 January 1991 – present
  • 4441st Tactical Training Group (Blue Flag) (later, 41st Training Group): 1 March 1977 – 15 April 1993
  • 4442nd Tactical Control (later 505th Air Control; 505th Command and Control Evaluation) Group: 1 March 1980 – 1 October 1997
  • 4443rd Test and Evaluation (later 79th Test and Evaluation, 53d Test and Evaluation) Group: 1 July 1988 – present [2]

Squadrons

Fighter Squadrons

Test Squadrons

  • 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron: 1 June 1992 – 15 April 1993
  • 49th Test Squadron: 1 June 1992 – 15 April 1993
  • 513th Test Squadron: 1 June 1992 – 15 April 1993
  • 727th Tactical Control Squadron (Test): 1 October 1979 – 1 March 1980
  • 3907th Systems Evaluation Squadron: 1 June 1992 – 15 April 1993
  • 4484th Fighter Weapons Squadron: 1 October 1978 – 1 June 1984
  • 4484th Test Squadron: 15 October 1983 – 1 August 1988
  • 4485th Test Squadron: 12 April 1971 – 1 August 1988
  • 4486th Fighter Weapons Squadron: 1 October 1985 – 1 August 1988
  • 4487th Electronic Warfare Aggressor (later 87th Electronic Warfare Aggressor) Squadron: 1 October 1990 – 15 April 1993 [2]

Support Units

  • 53d USAF Infirmary [15] (later 53d USAF Dispensary), [16] 18 August 1955 – 1 April 1960
  • 53d Air Base Squadron, 18 August 1955 – 1 Apr 1960
  • 53d Materiel Squadron, 18 August 1955 – 1 Apr 1960 [18]
  • 53d Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 8 July 1957 – 1 May 1959 [17]

Aircraft flown

Awards and campaigns

Award streamerAwardDatesNotes
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 June 1998–31 May 200053d Wing [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 2002–31 May 200453d Wing [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 2004–31 May 200653d Wing [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award 1 January 1981 – 1 January 198353d Wing [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award28 February 1984–28 February 1986USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 March 1986–28 February 1988USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1989–31 December 1990USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1992–31 December 1993USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center [2]
AFOEA Streamer.jpg Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1994–30 April 1995USAF Air Warfare Center [2]
Campaign StreamerCampaignDatesNotes
American Campaign Streamer.png Antisubmarine7 December 1941 – 10 November 194253d Pursuit Group (later 53d Fighter Group) [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Aircraft is F-35A Serial 09-5006.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Robertson, Patsy (February 24, 2009). "Factsheet 53 Wing (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
  3. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 73
  4. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 78
  5. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 83–84
  6. 1 2 3 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 115–116
  7. 1 2 3 "Abstract, History 53 Fighter Group 1941-1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  8. ↑ Craven & Cate, Vol. VI, p. xxxvi
  9. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 543
  10. ↑ Craven & Cate, p. 75
  11. ↑ "Abstract, History Sections T and O 338 AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter)". Air Force History Index. May 1, 1944. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  12. ↑ Cornett & Johnson, p. 82
  13. ↑ Buss (ed), Sturm, Volan & McMullen, p. 6
  14. 1 2 Cornett & Johnson, p. 114
  15. 1 2 See "Abstract, History 53 Infirmary Jul-Dec 1956". Air Force History Index. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  16. 1 2 "Abstract, History 53 Infirmary Jul-Dec 1959". Air Force History Index. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  17. 1 2 Cornett & Johnson, p. 136
  18. 1 2 Cornett & Johnson, p. 145

Bibliography

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