The 4620th Air Defense Wing (Air Def Wg) is a discontinued

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 ...

of the

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 ...

. Its last assignment was with

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

(ADC) at

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, where it was discontinued in 1961. The wing was organized in 1955 to ensure that the

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

(SAGE)

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

system, was compatible with ADC's operational requirements. It also performed operational testing and training on SAGE and earlier systems. Once SAGE started to become operational, the need for the wing no longer existed and it was discontinued, although one of its subordinate groups continued the SAGE training mission until 1962.

History

The 4620th Air Defense Wing was established to implement the

(SAGE)

system, a system of

analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses physical phenomena such as Electrical network, electrical, Mechanics, mechanical, or Hydraulics, hydraulic quantities behaving according to the math ...

-equipped direction centers that could process information from ground

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s, picket ships and ground observers onto a generated radar scope to create a composite picture of the emerging air

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

. The wing was responsible to ensure that SAGE computer systems were based on approved operational concepts for air defense and provided guidance to operational units concerning the implementation, installation, testing, and utilization of SAGE

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

s. Until December 1958, the wing also provided training on the existing manual

control systems that were being replaced by SAGE. The 4620th was originally located with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

's Lincoln Laboratories, which had developed the SAGE system, to permit close coordination with the organization developing SAGE.Cornett & Johnson, p. 65 In 1957, the 4620th Air Defense Group was organized at

Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport is a former airport that operated alongside Richards-Gebaur Air Reserve Station (also Richards-Gebaur Air Force Station) until the base's closure in 1994, and until it was closed in 1999. Formerly, it was oper ...

, Missouri to manage programming and

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

for the SAGE system and was assigned to the wing.Cornett & Johnson, p. 87 The wing moved to Santa Monica, California in 1958. Anticipating the wing move to Santa Monica, the 4620th

Group 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 ...

was reassigned directly to ADC. On 15 September, the 4620th group was renumbered as the 4606th Air Defense Group, and continued with that designation until discontinued on 25 June 1962. The wing prepared the operational employment plan for integration of IM-99 Bomarc

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s into the SAGE system. Preceded by extensive planning and testing of almost three years, the first SAGE air defense sector (New York) became operational on 26 June 1958.Leonard, p. 311 The first SAGE division (New York) became operational on 1 January 1959. As the SAGE system was becoming fully operational in 1961,Cornett & Johnson, p. 34 the 4620th Wing had completed its mission and was discontinued.

Lineage

* Designated and organized as 4620th Air Defense Wing (SAGE Experimental) on 1 June 1955 : Discontinued on 1 February 1961

Assignments

* Air Defense Command, 1 June 1955 – 1 February 1961

Components

* 4620th Air Defense Group (SAGE Programming and Training), 8 May 1957 – 1 July 1958 : Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Missouri

Stations

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

, 1 June 1955 – 8 August 1958 * Santa Monica, California, 8 August 1958 – 1 February 1961

Commanders

* Col. Robert J. Stevenson, by July 1958 – 24 June 1959 * Lt Col. George R. Kauffman, 24 June 1959 – 1 July 1959 * Col. Samuel C. Galbreath, 1 July 1959 – 1 February 1961

References

Notes

Bibliography

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