53rd Wing

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 in turn reports to Headquarters Air Combat Command.

53d Wing
Active1941–1944; 1955–1960; 1963–present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleOperational test and evaluation
Size2100
Part ofAir Combat Command
Garrison/HQEglin Air Force Base
Motto(s)Defense by Offense (1941–1960)
DecorationsAir 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]

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.

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]

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]

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 53d Tactical Fighter Group and USAF Air Warfare Center were consolidated and the consolidated unit was redesignated as the 53d Wing the following month.[2]

Lineage

Group

  • Constituted as the 53d Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 20 November 1940
Activated on 15 January 1941
Redesignated as the 53d Fighter Group on 15 May 1942
Disbanded on 1 May 1944
  • Reconstituted and redesignated as the 53d Fighter Group (Air Defense), on 20 June 1955
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

  • Designated and organized as the USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center on 1 November 1963
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

  • Redesignated as the 53d Wing on 1 October 1995[2]

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
  • 4443d 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, later 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron
  • 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
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 1998 – 31 May 200053d Wing[2]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 2002 – 31 May 200453d Wing[2]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 2004 – 31 May 200653d Wing[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1981 – 1 January 198353d Wing[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award28 February 1984 – 28 February 1986USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 March 1986 – 28 February 1988USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1989 – 31 December 1990USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1992 – 31 December 1993USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center[2]
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award1 January 1994 – 30 April 1995USAF Air Warfare Center[2]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
Antisubmarine7 December 1941 – 10 November 194253d Pursuit Group (later 53d Fighter Group)[2]

See also

References

Notes
  1. Aircraft is F-35A Serial 09-5006.
  2. Robertson, Patsy (24 February 2009). "Factsheet 53 Wing (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
  3. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 73
  4. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 78
  5. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 83–84
  6. Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 115–116
  7. "Abstract, History 53 Fighter Group 1941-1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 4 May 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. 1 May 1944. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  12. Cornett & Johnson, p. 82
  13. Buss (ed), Sturm, Volan & McMullen, p. 6
  14. Cornett & Johnson, p. 114
  15. See "Abstract, History 53 Infirmary Jul-Dec 1956". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  16. "Abstract, History 53 Infirmary Jul-Dec 1959". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  17. Cornett & Johnson, p. 136
  18. Cornett & Johnson, p. 145

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  • Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1956.
  • Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center.
  • Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657.
  • Hagendorn, Dan (1995). Alae Supra Canalem: Wings Over the Canal. ingram Publishing Services. ISBN 978-1563111532.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
  • Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.
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