581st Air Resupply Group

Last updated

581st Air Resupply Group Pacific Air Forces.png
Active 1951–1956
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
BranchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
Role Special Operations
Part of Pacific Air Forces
Motto(s) Latin: Libertas per Veritatem (Liberty Through Truth)
Insignia
Patch displaying the 581st emblem (approved 12 June 1952 for the 581st Wing) [1] 581st Air Resupply Wing - Emblem.jpg

The 581st Air Resupply Group is an inactive United States Air Force group. Its last duty assignment was at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where it was inactivated in 1956.

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.

Kadena Air Base U.S. Air Force base in Japan

Kadena Air Base is a United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the “Keystone of the Pacific”. Kadena Air Base is home to the USAF's 18th Wing, the 353d Special Operations Group, reconnaissance units, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery, and a variety of associated units. Over 20,000 American servicemembers, family members, and Japanese employees live or work aboard Kadena Air Base. It is the largest and most active US Air Force base in the Far East.

Contents

History

for additional related history see 471st Special Operations Wing

471st Special Operations Wing

The 471st Special Operations Wing is an inactive United States Air Force wing. The wing was formed through the consolidation of the 471st Bombardment Group and the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing.

In 1951, the USAF created the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing (ARCW), whose operational component was the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Group at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. [2] The group consisted of four squadrons. The 581st Air Resupply and Communications Squadron (later Air Resupply Squadron) (ARS), the 581st Airborne Materials Assembly Squadron, the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron, and the 581st Reproduction Squadron. The mission of the 581st ARS was the infiltration, resupply, and exfiltration of guerrilla-type personnel, and the aerial delivery of psychological warfare (PSYWAR) materiel (leaflets and other similar materials). Of the four squadrons assigned to the group, the 581st Air Resupply Squadron (ARS) was the lone squadron devoted to flying operations.

Mountain Home Air Force Base census designated place

Mountain Home Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in the western United States. Located in southwestern Idaho in Elmore County, the base is twelve miles (20 km) southwest of Mountain Home, which is forty miles (65 km) southeast of Boise via Interstate 84. The base is also used by the Republic of Singapore Air Force, which has a detachment of F-15SG fighters on long term assignment to the base. They undergo training in combat tactics by U.S. airmen.

Squadron (aviation) unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews

A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.

Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PSYOP), have been known by many other names or terms, including MISO, Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Minds", and propaganda. The term is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people". Various techniques are used, and are aimed at influencing a target audience's value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. It is used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives, and are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics. It is also used to destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops' psychological states. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and is not just limited to soldiers. Civilians of foreign territories can also be targeted by technology and media so as to cause an effect in the government of their country.

In the summer of 1952 the wing and group relocated to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, [3] where it was assigned to Thirteenth Air Force.

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.

A group is a military aviation unit, a component of military organization and a military formation. The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches of a national defence force.

Clark Air Base

Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Angeles, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was previously a United States military facility, operated by the U.S. Air Force under the aegis of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) and their predecessor organizations from 1903 to 1991. The base covered 14.3 square miles (37 km2) with a military reservation extending north that covered another 230 square miles (600 km2).

Korean War

Shortly before deployment to Clark, the group was reduced to paper status and its squadrons were attached directly to wing headquarters. This arrangement continued until the wing was inactivated in September 1953 and the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron and the 581st Reproduction Squadron were inactivated. The group was redesignated the 581st Air Resupply Group and gained a maintenance squadron. For all practical purposes, the wing headquarters became the group headquarters. For a more detailed description of the group's operations during this period, see 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing.

First Indochina War

At the direction of the 315th Air Division commander, the 581st C-119s provided limited airlift support to Far East Command’s Korean operations throughout 1952. Beginning in 1953, however, the C-119s were employed in Southeast Asia in support of French operations in Indochina. Supplies, including ammunition, vehicles, and barbed wire, were delivered to Haiphong Airfield in ever increasing quantities. When US presence in Indochina could not be publicly escalated, plans were developed to utilize 581st personnel in a discrete support role. Refurbished C-119s, under French markings, were flown into Indochina by 581st crews, and French C-119s were flown out for depot repair at Clark AB. Instructors from the 581st were also tasked to train CIA-employed Civil Air Transport civilian aircrews in the C-119. American support for the French only prolonged the inevitable fall of the former colonial power. In May 1954, the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, thus ending 100 years of French colonial rule in Indochina.

Haiphong Municipality in Vietnam

Haiphong is a major industrial city, the second largest city in the northern part of Vietnam, and third largest city overall in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the northern coast of Vietnam.

Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consisted in assistance to "Free World" allies according to the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949.

Inactivation

In September 1953, after the Korean Armistice was signed that ended active conflict on the Korean peninsula the wing was inactivated and the group was reassigned directly to Thirteenth Air Force. The group was approximately one-half the size of the former wing and consisted of two squadrons—one flying squadron and one support squadron—as compared to six squadrons before the reorganization

In October 1954, the 581st relocated from Clark AB, Philippines, to Kadena AB, Okinawa, [3] [4] where it continued reduced operations out of that location for the next two years. In September 1956 the group was inactivated, thus closing a chapter in special operations history in the Pacific.

Lineage

Activated on 23 July 1951
Inactivated 12 October 1956

Components

Assignments

Bases Assigned

Aircraft

See also

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References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). A Guide to Air Force Lineage and Honors (2d, Revised ed.). Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Research Center. p. 289.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 224. ISBN   0-912799-53-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fletcher, Harry R (1993). Air Force Bases , Vol. II, Air Bases Outside the United States of America (PDF). Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History. p. 27. ISBN   0-912799-53-6.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Fletcher, p. 65

Further reading