500th Air Defense Group

{{Infobox military unit

|unit_name= 500th Air Defense Group

|image=71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre 1950.jpg

|image_size=300

|caption=71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-86A Sabre{{efn|Aircraft is North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre, serial 48-214. On 20 May 1950, this plane set a world speed record. It was transferred to the Air National Guard in 1954, and to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center and scrapped in 1958. {{cite web |url= http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1946.html |last1=Baugher|first1=Joe |title=1946-1948 USAF Serial Numbers|date=January 19, 2023|publisher=Joe Baugher|access-date=April 5, 2023}} At the time the picture was taken in 1950, the 71st Squadron was still assigned to another group.}}

|dates=1945–1946; 1947; 1953–1955

|country={{USA}}

|branch={{air force|USA}}

|type=Fighter Interceptor

|role=Air Defense

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|equipment=North American F-86 Sabre

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The 500th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force (USAF) organization. Its last assignment was with the 4708th Air Defense Wing at Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania. It was last active on 18 August 1955.

The group was originally activated as a support group at the end of World War II and provided logistics and administrative support for the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Germany and the United States until 1946, when the two groups were inactivated. The groups were activated again in 1947, but the 500th was soon discontinued when the USAF reorganized its combat and support units in the wing base reorganization in which a single wing was responsible for a base.

The group was activated once again in 1953, when ADC established it as the headquarters for a dispersed fighter-interceptor squadron and the medical, maintenance, and administrative squadrons supporting it. It was replaced in 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the 54th 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=

The group was activated as the 500th Air Service Group shortly after V-E Day in a reorganization of Army Air Forces (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 918th Air Engineering Squadron provided maintenance that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 742nd Air Materiel Squadron handled all supply matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support. It supported 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Germany and then returned to the US, where both groups were inactivated.Maurer, Combat Units, p. 133

=Cold War=

When the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was reactivated in 1947, the 500th Air Service Group once again activated to support it.See Mueller, p. 371 The 500th was inactivated and replaced by 67th Airdrome Group, 67th Station Medical Group, and 67th Maintenance & Supply Group in the experimental Wing Base reorganization of 1947 (Hobson Plan),See Ravenstein, p. 10 which was designed to unify control at air basesGoss, in Craven & Cate, p. 75 The group was disbanded in 1948.Department of the Air Force Letter, 322 (AFOOR 887e), 8 October 1948, Subject: Disbandment of Certain Inactive Air Force Units

The group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 500th Air Defense Group, and activated at Greater Pittsburgh Airport on 18 February 1953Cornett & Johnson, p. 81 with responsibility for air defense of Western Pennsylvania.{{Citation needed|reason=need support for area of responsibility|date=April 2012}} It was assigned the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was already stationed at Greater Pittsburgh Airport, and flying North American F-86 Sabres,Cornett & Johnson, p.118 as its operational component.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 99 The 71st had been assigned directly to the 4708th Defense Wing. The group also replaced the 81st Air Base Squadron as host organization for USAF portion of Greater Pittsburgh Airport. The group was assigned three squadrons to perform its support responsibilities.Cornett & Johnson, p.147 The group was inactivated and replaced by 54th Fighter-Interceptor Group in 1955Maurer, Combat Units, p.116 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.Buss, Sturm, Volan, & McMullen, p.6 The group was disbanded once again in 1984.Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 575q, 27 September 1984, Subject: Disbandment of Units

Lineage

Constituted as the 500th Air Service Group on 16 December 1944

: Activated on 1 June 1945

: Inactivated on 31 March 1946

: Activated on 25 July 1947

: Inactivated on 25 November 1947

: Disbanded on 8 October 1948

Reconstituted and redesignated 500th Air Defense Group on 21 January 1953

: Activated on 16 February 1953

: Inactivated on 18 August 1955

: Disbanded on 27 September 1984

=Assignments=

Unknown 1945 – March 1946, (probably IX Air Force Service Command – September 1945, Third Air Force – January 1946, First Air Force – March 1946)
Tactical Air Command, March 1946 – 31 March 1946
Twelfth Air Force, 25 July 1947 – 15 November 1947
4708th Defense Wing (later 4708th Air Defense Wing), 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955

=Stations=

Haguenau Airfield, France, 1 June 1945{{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/102/808.xml |title=Abstract, History 500th Air Service Group, Mar–Apr 1946|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=8 February 2014}} (lists stations in 1945–1946)
Drew Field, Florida, 16 September 1945
MacDill Field, Florida, 21 December 1945

Shaw Field, South Carolina, February 1946 – 31 March 1946Mueller, p.531
March Field, California, 25 July 1947 – 15 November 1947
Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955

=Components=

71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955{{cite web |url= http://www.dafhistory.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/434036/71-fighter-training-squadron-acc |last1=Dollman|first1=TSG David|title=Fact Sheet, 71 Fighter Training Squadron (ACC)|date=17 October 2016|publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency|access-date=21 November 2016}}
500th Air Base Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
500th Materiel Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955Cornett & Johnson, p.146
500th Medical Squadron (later 500th USAF Infirmary, 500th USAF Dispensary),Department of the Air Force Letter, 322 (AFOMO 882h), 14 January 1954 Subject: Redesignation of Certain USAF Medical Units 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
742nd Air Materiel Squadron 1 June 1945 – 31 March 1946, 25 July 1947 – 15 November 1947
918th Air Engineering Squadron 1 June 1945 – 31 March 1946, 25 July 1947 – 15 November 1957

=Aircraft=

North American F-86A Sabre, 1953–1955

References

=Notes=

; Explanatory notes

; 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)
{{cite book|last=Coleman|first=John M|title=The Development of Tactical Services in the Army Air Forces|year=1950|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York, NY}}
{{cite book|last=Cornett|first=Lloyd H|author2=Johnson, Mildred W|title=A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980|url=http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf|year=1980|publisher=Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center|location=Peterson AFB, CO|access-date=19 November 2011|archive-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213173347/http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf|url-status=dead}}
{{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180735/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 20 December 2016 |edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979}}
{{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 20 December 2016|edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
{{cite book|last=Ravenstein|first=Charles A.|title=Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977|year=1984|url=https://archive.org/details/airforcecombatwi0000rave|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-12-9|url-access=registration}}