Seattle Fighter Wing#History

Along the Pacific coast, Western Defense Command established a "vital air defense zone", extending from the coast approximately {{convert|150|mi|km}} inland and {{convert|200|mi|km}} to sea.Goss, Air Defense, p. 296, map, p. 297 To carry out this mission, Fourth Air Force organized regional air defense wings in August 1942.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 426-430; Goss, Air Defense, p. 296 White, p. 38 The Seattle Air Defense Wing was organized to provide air defense for the northwest Pacific coast and train fighter groups and pilots.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 426-427 Its air defense responsibility was to provide protection primarily for the Boeing plants and military facilities in the northwest from Vancouver, British Columbia to Portland, Oregon.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} The wing consisted of fighter groups assigned to airfields in the northwest engaged in training and would, if necessary, provide a defensive unit in case of, presumably, a Japanese attack.

The Army Air Forces later found that standard military units like the wing, whose manning was based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training mission, even more so to the replacement mission. Accordingly, the Army Air Forces adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, with similar flexible units established for headquarters.Goss, Organization & Responsibilities, p. 75

In this reorganization, the wing's headquarters squadron was replaced by the 412th AAF Base Unit (Fighter Wing) on 1 April 1944. Maurer writes that the wing itself was disbanded on 7 June 1944. and the 412th was redescribed as the 412th AAF Base Unit (Air Defense Region). Other air force documents say that the June 1944 action was a redesignation to the Seattle ADR, 412 AAFBU.See {{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/110/400.xml |last1=|first1=|title=Abstract, History Seattle Fighter Wing, Jan-Jun 1944|date=|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=February 10, 2022}} In 1946, it became the 412th AAF Base Unit (Seattle Control Group).But see {{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/097/922.xml |last1=|first1=|title=Abstract, History Seattle Control Group, Jul 1944-Mar 1945|date=|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=February 10, 2022}}, where this change is supposed to have taken place in July 1944. On 1 January 1947, it became the 412th AAF Base Unit (Western Aircraft Warning and Control Group). It moved to McChord Field the following month. It was discontinued at McChord on 20 May 1947 and its personnel and assets used to form the 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group.

• Constituted as the Seattle Air Defense Wing on 6 August 1942

: Activated on 11 August 1942

: Redesignated the Seattle Fighter Wing c. 2 July 1943

: Disbanded on 7 June 1944Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 429-430 or redesignated Seattle Air Defence Region, 412th AAF Base Unit.

• IV Fighter Command, 11 August 1942
• Fourth Air Force, 31 March – 7 June 1944

• 55th Fighter Group: 22 June 1942 – 23 August 1943
• 372d Fighter Group: 7 December 1943 – 29 March 1944
• 478th Fighter Group: 3 February – 31 March 1944Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 429-430. (years only)

• Seattle, Washington, 20 August 1942 – 7 June 1944

; Explanatory notes

{{Reflist|group=note}}

; Citations

{{Reflist|40em}}

{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}

• {{cite book|last=Goss|first=William A.|editor=Craven, Wesley F |editor2=Cate, James L|url=http://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329898/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-005.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218064307/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329898/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-005.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 February 2017|access-date=December 17, 2016|title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=I, Plans and Early Operations|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|lccn=48003657|chapter=Tactical Demands, Chapter 8, Air Defense of the Western Hemisphere}}
• {{cite book|last=Goss|first=William A.| editor=Craven, Wesley F.|editor2=Cate, James L. |url= https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329890/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-012.pdf |access-date=December 17, 2016 |title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|oclc=704158| lccn=48003657|chapter=The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF}}
• {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|origyear= 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|pages=}}
• {{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|access-date= December 17, 2016|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
• {{cite web |url= https://www.dafhistory.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/51-100/AFD-090601-030.pdf |last1=White|first1=Jerry|title=Combat Crew and Unit Training in the AAF 1939-1945, USAF Historical Study No. 61|date=August 1949|publisher=Air Historical Office, United States Air Force|access-date=January 30, 2022}}

{{USAAF 4th Air Force World War II}}

Category:Fighter wings of the United States Army Air Forces

Category:1942 establishments in Washington (state)