The 501st Combat Support Group 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 ...

organization. It was last active as part of the 501st Tactical Missile Wing at

RAF Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or more simply RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the England, English county of Berkshire. The airfi ...

, England, where it provided support for the wing and tenant organizations as the host organization for Greenham Common rom 1982 to 1991. The group was originally activated as the 501st Air Service Group, a support group, at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and continued this mission with the American occupation forces in Germany through the beginning of the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

, when it was inactivated as

United States Air Forces Europe United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

implemented the wing base organization system. In 1982 the group was consolidated with the 501st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, a

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 ...

unit that provided base support at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas from 1943 to 1944. The group was activated once again in 1953 as the 501st Air Defense Group, when

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) established it as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

for a dispersed fighter-interceptor squadron and the medical,

aircraft maintenance Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance ...

, and administrative squadrons supporting it. It was replaced in 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the 56th Fighter Group in a project that replaced air defense groups commanding fighter squadrons with fighter groups with distinguished records during World War II.

History

World War II and Occupation of Germany

The earliest predecessor of the 501st Combat Support Group was the 501st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, which was organized in 1943 as the

for Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, a

very heavy

bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or cities and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended obje ...

training base. Great Bend was one of the original bases where

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 ...

units received their training before deploying to the

China Burma India Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was ...

. However, the

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(AAF) found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving themselves 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. This resulted in the 501st, along with other units at Great Bend, being disbanded and its personnel, equipment and functions transferred to the 243d AAF Base Unit (Operational Training Unit, Very Heavy). The 501st Air Service Group was established toward the end of World War II to provide support for flying units in Germany and Austria from 1945 to 1948 as part of a reorganization of AAF support groups in which the AAF replaced service groups that included personnel from other branches of the Army and supported two combat groups with air service groups including only Air Corps units. It was designed to support a single combat group.Coleman, p. 208 Its 919th Air Engineering Squadron provided

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 743rd Air Materiel Squadron handled all

supply Supply or supplies may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as ...

matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support. The group moved to Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany, where it replaced the 97th Airdrome Squadron as the primary support

unit Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

for the airfield. It briefly supported the

before inactivation in 1948. It was replaced by elements of the 7150th AF Composite Wing in the Air Force wing base reorganization in 1948. which was adopted to unify control at air bases The group was disbanded later in 1948.

Air Defense of the United States

During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 501st Air Defense Group, and activated by

(ADC) at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

on 16 February 1953Cornett & Johnson, p. 82 with responsibility for air defense in the Great Lakes area. It was assigned the 62d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was already stationed at O'Hare, flying

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

s as its operational component.Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 239 The 62d had been assigned directly to the 4706th Defense Wing prior to the activation of the 501st Group. The group replaced the 83rd Air Base Squadron as USAF active duty host organization at O'Hare. It was assigned three squadrons to perform its support responsibilities.Cornett & Johnson, p. 146 The group added a second operational unit, the 42d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was activated at O'Hare eight days after the group headquarters, and also Flew F-86s.Cornett & Johnson, p.115 In March 1953, the 62d Squadron converted to newer

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 ...

equipped and Mighty Mouse rocket armed North American F-86Ds. The group was inactivated and replaced by the 56th Fighter Group in 1955 as part of ADC's Project Arrow, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.

Ground Launched Cruise Missile Support

In the early 1980s USAF began deploying Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in the European theater. The 501st Tactical Missile Wing was organized at

as the first USAF wing equipped with the

BGM-109 Tomahawk The BGM-109 Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is an American long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, Subsonic flight, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-att ...

missile. The 501st group was redesignated the 501st Combat Support Group and activated as the headquarters for organizations supporting the wing and hosted all USAF organizations at Greenham Common. As the

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state, the Russia, Russian Federation). President of the United States, US President Ronald Rea ...

was implemented, the USAF withdrew its missiles from Europe and the wing and group were inactivated.

Lineage

501st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron * Constituted as the 501st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron : Activated on 26 January 1943 : Disbanded on 1 April 1944Department of the Air Force DAF/MPM Ltr, 406q, 11 January 1982, Subject: Organization Actions Affecting Certain United States Air Forces in Europe Units * Reconstituted on 11 January 1982 and consolidated with the 501st Air Defense Group as the 501st Combat Support Group 501st Combat Support Group * Constituted as the 501st Air Service Group on 16 December 1944 : Activated on 1 June 1945 : Inactivated on 1 July 1948 : Disbanded on 8 October 1948 * Reconstituted and redesignated 501st Air Defense Group on 21 January 1953 : Activated on 16 February 1953 : Inactivated on 18 August 1955 * Redesignated 501st Combat Support Group on 11 January 1982 and consolidated with the 501st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron : Activated on 1 October 1982 : Inactivated on 31 May 1991

Assignments

, 26 January 1943 – 1 April 1944 * Unknown (probably European Air Transport Service) 1 June 1945 – ''ca''. June 1946 * Headquarters Command,

''ca''. June 1946 – 1 July 1948 * 4706th Defense Wing (later 4706th Air Defense Wing), 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * 501st Tactical Missile Wing, 1 October 1982 – 31 May 1991

Stations

* Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, 26 January 1943 – 1 April 1944 *

Bensheim Bensheim () is a town in the Kreis Bergstraße, Bergstraße district in southern Hessen, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhi ...

, Germany, c. 1 June 1945 * Tulln Air Base, Austria 25 August 1945 * Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany 1 June 1946 – 1 July 1948 * O'Hare International Airport, Illinois, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * RAF Greenham Common, England, United Kingdom, 1 October 1982 – 31 May 1991

Components

Operational Squadrons * 42d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 24 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * 62d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 Support Squadrons * 501st Air Base Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * 501st Civil Engineering Squadron, 1 October 1982 – 31 May 1991 * 501st Materiel Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * 501st Medical Squadron (later 501st USAF Infirmary),''See'' 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955 * 501st Missile Support Squadron, c. 1987 – 31 May 1991 * 501st Security Police Squadron, 1 October 1982 – c. 1 January 1983 * 743rd Air Materiel Squadron, 1 June 1945 – 1 July 1948 * 919th Air Engineering Squadron, 1 June 1945 – 1 July 1948

Aircraft

* North American F-86A Sabre, 1953 * North American F-86D Sabre, 1953–1955 * North American F-86F Sabre, 1953–1955

Awards and campaigns

References

Notes

; Explanatory nots ; Citations

Bibliography

* 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) * * * * *