The 540th Combat Crew Replacement Wing is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unit. It was last active in 1946 at

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

, assigned to

Continental Air Forces Continental Air Forces (CAF) was a United States Army Air Forces major command, active 1944–1946. It was tasked with combat training of bomber and fighter personnel, and for Continental United States (CONUS) air defense after the Aircraft Wa ...

History

Prewar

The 16th Bombardment Wing was first activated at

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Langley Wakeman Collyer (1885–1947), one ...

, Virginia, in December 1940 as part of the expansion of the Air Corps expansion in response to the war in Europe (Woodring Plan). Its operational components, the 45th and 46th Bombardment Groups, were assigned in January 1941. It moved to Bowman Field, Kentucky, in the spring of 1941.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 385 In September 1941, the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

was inactivated and its personnel used to form the

5th Air Support Command Fifth is the Ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 5, five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a politic ...

Operational Training Unit

The

was again activated on 23 June 1942 at

Wendover Field Wendover is a town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road along t ...

, Utah, replacing the inactivating 102nd Bombardment Wing (Provisional). The 16th Wing was responsible for the supervision and control of the operational training of heavy bombardment

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

(

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

and

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

) during the second phase of their operational training. The 16th Wing inherited control from the 102nd Wing of Walla Walla Army Air Field,

Ephrata Army Air Field Ephrata Municipal Airport is a public use airport located southeast of the central business district of Ephrata, a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–20 ...

and

Geiger Field Spokane International Airport is a commercial airport in Spokane, Washington, United States, located approximately west-southwest of Downtown Spokane. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which consists of 30 counties and ...

in Washington;

Muroc Army Air Field Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

in California as well as Wendover. The 16th Wing controlled the training of the following units, which on completion moved to the

17th Bombardment Wing 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. 17 was described at MIT as "the least random number", according to the Jargon File. This is supposedly because, in a study where respondents were asked to ...

for third phase training. : Jul 1942:

91st Bombardment Group The 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. Classified as a heavy bombardment group, the 91st operated Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and was known unofficial ...

303rd Bombardment Group The 303rd Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit. In 2011, it was assigned to United States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed. The unit was first activated as the 303rd Bombardment Group in Febr ...

, 305th Bombardment Group and

306th Bombardment Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

. : Aug 1942: 96th Bombardment Group. : Aug-Sep 1942:

307th Bombardment Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

and

302nd Bombardment Group The 302d Airlift Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Twenty-Second Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. The wing's mission is tactical airlift ...

. : Sep-Oct 1942:

88th Bombardment Group The 88th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. During World War II, the group (military aviation unit), group served as a training unit for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress units and aircrews. It was inactivated in May 1944, ...

and

95th Bombardment Group 95 or 95th may refer to: * 95 (number) * one of the years 95 BC, AD 95, 1995, 2095, etc. * 95th Division (disambiguation) * 95th Regiment ** 95th Regiment of Foot (disambiguation) * 95th Squadron (disambiguation) * Atomic number 95: americium * I ...

. : Oct 1942:

2nd Bombardment Group The 2d Operations Group (2 OG) is the flying component of the United States Air Force 2d Bomb Wing, assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command Eighth Air Force. The group is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. 2 OG is one of ...

99th Bombardment Group 99th may refer to: * 99th Brigade (disambiguation) * 99th Division (disambiguation) * 99th Regiment (disambiguation) * 99th Squadron (disambiguation) * 99th Street (disambiguation) See also

* 99 (disambiguation) * * {{dab ...

, 100th Bombardment Group, 304th Bombardment Group and 308th Bombardment Group. Two groups, the 330th Bombardment Group at

Alamogordo Army Air Field Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Ba ...

, New Mexico and the

331st Bombardment Group 331st may refer to: *331st Air Expeditionary Group, inactive United States Air Force unit * 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, former unit of the United States Air Force * 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, formation of the Russian Airborne Troops, ...

Casper Army Air Field Casper (Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics, earlier CASPer or "CMSENS") is an admissions test developed by Harold Reiter and Kelly Dore. It was made for the McMaster University's Program for Educational Research and De ...

, Wyoming, provided second phase training to Replacement Combat Crews.

Operational Training Unit

On 2 November 1942, the Second Air Force reorganized its bombardment training. From that date its wings controlled new bombardment groups from its activation until completion of operational training. The wing also assumed responsibility for training replacement combat crews. With this reorganization the 16th Bombardment Training Wing now controlled Operational Training Units (OTUs) at

Clovis Army Air Field Cannon Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base, located approximately southwest of Clovis, New Mexico. The host unit at Cannon is the 27th Special Operations Wing (27 SOW) also known as "The Steadfast Line". It is under the jurisdic ...

, New Mexico, Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona;

Kearney Army Air Field Kearney or Kearneys may refer to: Places Australia * Kearneys Falls, Queensland * Kearneys Spring, Queensland Canada * Kearney, Ontario * Kearney Lake, Nova Scotia Northern Ireland * Kearney, County Down, a townland in County Down United St ...

, Nebraska and

, New Mexico. It also was assigned Replacement Control Centers (RCCs) at Pueblo Army Air Field, Colorado and

Biggs Field Biggs Army Airfield (formerly Biggs Air Force Base) is a United States Army military airbase located on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. History Biggs Field/Biggs Army Airfield (1916–47) On 15 June 1919, following an attack b ...

, Texas. It was assigned the following OTU groups to conduct training: : 39th Bombardment Group at Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona: parent group, First Phase OTU. :

at Pueblo AAB, Colorado: parent group, First Phase Training RCC. : 330th Bombardment Group at Alamogordo AAFld, New Mexico: Second Phase OTU. : 330th Bombardment Group at Biggs Field, El Paso, Texas: Second Phase RCC. : 333d Bombardment Group at Topeka AAF, Kansas: Third Phase Training RCC. In May 1945 the wing mission changed to very heavy bombardment group training (

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Bo ...

), which lasted until operations ceased in late 1945. It moved to

, Colorado, where it was a paper unit until inactivating in 1946.

Lineage

* Constituted as 16th Bombardment Wing on 19 October 1940 : Activated on 18 December 1940 : Inactivated on 1 September 1941 * Activated on 23 June 1942 : Redesignated 16th Bombardment Training Wing in January 1943 : Redesignated 16th Bombardment Operational Training Wing in April 1943 : Redesignated 16th Bombardment Operational Training Wing, Very Heavy in May 1945 * Inactivated on 9 April 1946 * Disbanded on 8 October 1948 * Reconstituted on 31 July 1985 and redesignated 540th Combat Crew Training WingDepartment of the Air Force/MPM Letter 648q, 31 July 1985, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Organizations (not active)

Assignments

First Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern & Air Forces Space; 1 AF-AFNORTH & AFSPACE) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission i ...

: 18 December 1940 – 1 September 1941 *

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

: 23 June 1942 – 8 April 1946

Stations

* Langley Field, Virginia, 18 December 1940 * Bowman Field, Kentucky, March 1941 – 1 September 1941 * Wendover Field, Utah, 23 June 1942 * Biggs Field, Texas, November 1942 * Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, c. 1 June 1943 * Biggs Field, Texas, October 1943 * Colorado Springs, Colorado, December 1945 – 9 April 1946

Components

* 45th Bombardment Group: 15 January 1941 – 21 August 1941 * 46th Bombardment Group: 15 January 1941 – 1 September 1941 * See above for 1942–1944. After 1944 assigned various AAF Base Units.

Commanders

* Brig. Gen. Junius W. Jones, c. Apr-c. 1 Sept. 1941 * Col. Ernest H. Lawson, 23 Jun 1942 * Brig. Gen. Robert B. Williams, 4 Apr 1943 * Col. Walter R. Agee, May 1943 * Brig. Gen. Newton Longfellow, 11 Oct 1943 * Col. Claude E. Duncan, c. 25 Nov 1945-unknown

Campaigns

* * American Theater of World War II

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * ''History of the Second Air Force, December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1942'', United States Air Force Microfilm #A4091, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama * ''History of the 16th Bombardment Operational Training Wing, 5 June to 31 December 1942'', United States Air Force Microfilm #B0917, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama {{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II Military units and formations established in 1985 0540