527th Air Defense Group

{{Infobox military unit

|unit_name= 527th Air Defense Group

|image=63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre 49-1223.jpg

|image_size=300

|caption=F-86 Sabres of the 63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron{{efn|Aircraft in the foreground is North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre, serial 49-1223}}

|dates=1945, 1953–1955

|country={{USA}}

|branch={{air force|USA}}

|type=Fighter interceptor

|role=Air defense

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The 527th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4708th Air Defense Wing at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, where it was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activated as the 527th Air Service Group, a support unit for the 461st Bombardment Group at the end of World War II in Italy and then redeployed to the United States where it was inactivated in 1945.

The group was activated once again in 1953, when Air Defense Command 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 412th 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 527th Air Service Group in Italy shortly after VE Day{{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/102/965.xml |title=Abstract, History 527 Air Service Group May–Jul 1945|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=9 January 2012}} 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, designed to support a single combat group.Coleman, p. 208 Its 953rd Air Engineering Squadron provided maintenance that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 777th Air Materiel Squadron handled all supply matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support. The group supported the 461st Bombardment Group in Italy. It returned to the US, passing through Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, and was inactivated.{{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/102/966.xml |title=Abstract, History 527 Air Service Group Jun–Aug 1945|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=9 January 2012}} It was disbanded in 1948.Department of the Air Force Letter, 322 (AFOOR 887e), 8 October 1948, Subject: Disbandment of Certain Inactive Air Force Units

=Cold War=

File:Northrop F-89 Scorpion in JBER 1.jpg

During the Cold War, the group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 527th Air Defense Group, and activated at Wurtsmith AFB in 1953Cornett & Johnson, p. 83 with responsibility for air defense of the Great Lakes area.{{Citation needed|reason=need support for area of responsibility|date=April 2012}} The group was assigned the 63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was already stationed at Oscoda Air Force Base, (renamed Wurtsmith Air Force Base the day before the 527th was activatedMueller, p. 611), and flying North American F-86 SabresCornett & Johnson, p.117 as its operational component.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 241–242 The 63rd had been assigned directly to the 4706th Defense Wing. The group also replaced the 84th Air Base Squadron as USAF host unit at Wurtsmith. It was assigned three squadrons to perform its support responsibilities.Cornett & Johnson, p.147See {{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/407/135.xml |title=Abstract, History 527 Infirmary, Jan–Jun 1955|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=22 June 2012}}

The 63d upgraded to later model Mighty Mouse rocket armed and airborne intercept radar equipped Sabres in May 1954 and to two-seat Northrop F-89 Scorpions in early 1955. The 527th was inactivated in August 1955 and replaced by the 412th Fighter Group (Air Defense)Maurer, Combat Units, p. 297{{cite web|url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9992 |last1=Bailey |first1=Carl E. |title=Factsheet 412 Test Wing (USAFE) |date=2007-12-28 |publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency |url-status=dead |access-date=3 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927104307/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9992 |archive-date=27 September 2015 }} as part of Air Defense Command'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 Sep 1984, Subject: Disbandment of Units

Lineage

Constituted as 527th Air Service Group

: Activated on 27 May 1945

: Disbanded on 28 August 1948

Reconstituted and redesignated as 527th Air Defense Group on 21 January 1953

: Activated on 16 February 1953

: Inactivated on 18 August 1955

: Disbanded on 27 September 1984

=Assignments=

Unknown, 27 May 1945 – 28 August 1945{{efn|Probably Air Service Command, Mediterranean Theater of Operations.}}
4708th Defense Wing (later 4708th Air Defense Wing), 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955

=Stations=

Santuario dell' Incoronata, Italy, 27 May 1945 – 1945
Torretto, Italy, 1945–1945
Sioux Falls Army Air Field, SD, 1945 – 28 August 1945
Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955

=Components=

Operational Squadron

63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955{{cite book |last1=Robertson|first1=Patsy|title=Factsheet 63 Fighter Squadron (AETC)|date=2009-05-22|publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency}}

Support Units

527th Air Base Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
527th Materiel Squadron, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
527th Medical Squadron (later 527th USAF Infirmary), 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
777th Air Materiel Squadron, 27 May 1945 – 28 August 1945
953rd Air Engineering Squadron, 27 May 1945 – 28 August 1945

=Aircraft=

North American F-86F Sabre, 1953–1954
North American F-86D Sabre, 1954–1955
Northrop F-89D Scorpion, 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=20 November 2011|archive-date=23 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123115752/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://archive.today/20210115181723/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 January 2021 |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}}