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| 582d Air Resupply and Communications Wing | |
|---|---|
 SA-16 Albatrosses of the 582d Air Resupply Group – 25 October 1955 | |
| Active | 1943–1944; 1951–1956 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Psychological Warfare |
| Motto | Libertas Per Veritatem (Latin for 'Liberty Through Truth') |
| Insignia | |
| Patch with 582d Air Resupply And Communications Wing emblem[a][1] |  |
The582d Air Resupply and Communications Wing is an inactive United States Air Force wing. Its last duty assignment was atGreat Falls Air Force Base, Montana.
The first predecessor of thewing was the472d Bombardment Group, which trainedBoeing B-29 Superfortress crews for combat deployment until being disbanded in 1944 atClovis Army Air Field. The wing was activated in 1952 and trained forpsychological operations. Although the wing was inactivated in 1953, its operational group, the582d Air Resupply Group deployed toRAF Molesworth, England, where it conductedspecial operations until inactivating in October 1956.
In 1985, the582d Air Resupply and Communications Wing and the472d Bombardment Group were consolidated as the472d Special Operations Wing, but the consolidated unit has not been active.
The first predecessor of the wing, the472d Bombardment Group, was activated on 1 September 1943 atSmoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas. The 808th, 809th, 810th and 811th Bombardment Squadrons were simultaneously activated and assigned to the group. Although the 472d's mission was to trainaircrews on theBoeing B-29 Superfortress, the squadrons also flewBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses.[2][3] The group was assigned to the58th Bombardment Wing, which returned to Smoky Hill fromMarietta Army Air Field in the middle of the month. The472nd Bombardment Group was to be the initial group to receive the prototype YB-29 and first production B-29 Superfortresses.[citation needed]
President Roosevelt wanted B-29 bombing raids against Japan to start by January 1944. However, delays in the B-29 program forced General Arnold to admit to the president that the bombing campaign against Japan could not begin until May 1944 at the earliest. The crews of the B-29 needed a degree of specialist training that was not required for crews of other, less complex aircraft. It usually took 27 weeks to train a pilot, 15 to train a navigator, and 12 to train a gunner. The complexity of the B-29 was such that a lengthy process of crew integration had to take place before combat deployment could begin. By the end of December 1943, only 73 pilots had qualified for the B-29 and very few crews had been brought together as a complete team.[citation needed]
After the initial groups of the 58th Wing completed conversion training on the B-29, the 472d and its squadrons moved toClovis Army Air Field, New Mexico about 7 December 1943 to begin training follow-on B-29 crews. However the group also was involved in secret testing of the B-29 for suitability in carryingAtomic Bombs, which were being developed atLos Alamos, New Mexico.[citation needed]
However, theArmy Air Forces was finding that standard military units like the 472d, based on relatively inflexibletables of organization were not well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit including both operational and support elements.[4] The group was disbanded, and its elements were combined with support units at Clovis to form the 234th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Bombardment, Very Heavy).[2][5]
The582d Air Resupply and Communications Wing was activated atMountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho on 24 September 1952, and moved toGreat Falls Air Force Base, Montana, along withAir Resupply and Communications Service in May 1953.[1] As the previous two air resupply wings had done, the 582d spent its first year training and preparing its personnel for thepsychological warfare mission.[citation needed] In August 1953, the wing was inactivated,[1] along with two of its four squadrons, and its remaining elements were consolidated into the wing's operational group, which was redesignated the582d Air Resupply Group. In early 1954, it deployed toRAF Molesworth, United Kingdom and set up operations in Europe.
The 582d Group was assigned toThird Air Force and provided the bulk of its air support to the Army10th Special Forces Group, which had been transferred in total fromFort Bragg, North Carolina, toBad Tölz, West Germany. For the next two and one-half years, the 582d worked closely with the 10th Group providing airdrop, resupply, and airland support with its B-29 andFairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar aircraft.
TheGrumman SA-16 Albatross was utilized for amphibious missions, including night water-infiltration/exfiltration operations. Assigned SA-16s were also tasked to fly classified courier missions throughout the Mediterranean, Middle East and southern Europe.
By the mid-1950s the Air Force redirected its priorities away from psychological operations, the 582d Group was the last remaining unit with this mission, and it was inactivated on 25 October 1956.[6] The group's remaining special operations were transferred to the42d Troop Carrier Squadron, which was activated at Molesworth the same day.[7]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
