The534th Air Defense Group is a disbandedUnited States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the4706th Air Defense Wing atKinross Air Force Base, Michigan where it was inactivated in 1955. Thegroup was originally activated as the534th Air Service Group, a support unit for a combat group at the end ofWorld 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, whenAir Defense Command (ADC) established it as the headquarters for a dispersedfighter-interceptor squadron and the medical,aircraft maintenance, and administrativesquadrons supporting it. It was replaced in 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the507th Fighter Group in a project that replaced air defense groups commanding fighter squadrons with fighter groups with distinguished records during World War II.
Thegroup was activated as the534th Air Service Group shortly afterVE Day in a reorganization ofArmy 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.[1] Its 960th Air Engineering Squadron provided maintenance that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 784th Air Materiel Squadron handled all supply matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support.[1] The group provided support for one combat group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. It returned to the United States for inactivation. It was disbanded in 1948.[2]
During theCold War, the group was reconstituted and redesignated as the534th Air Defense Group, and activated atKinross Air Force Base in 1953[3] with responsibility for air defense of the North Central United States,[citation needed] but without an operational squadron until April, when the438th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS), flyingLockheed F-94B Starfires armed with 20 mm cannon.[4] was activated.[5] The 438th FIS upgraded toMighty Mouse rocket armedNorthrop F-89D Scorpions in December 1953.[4] The group replaced the 91st Air Base Squadron as USAF host base unit at Kinross. Assigned threesquadrons to perform its support responsibilities.[6][7]The 534th was inactivated[3] and replaced by507th Fighter Group (Air Defense), in 1955[8][9] as result ofAir 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.[10] The 534th was disbanded once again in 1984.[11]
^Aircraft is Northrop F-89-NO Scorpion, serial 49-2643. It was constructed as an F-89B, then modified as an F-89D. It crashed atEdwards AFB on 20 October 1953.Baugher, Joe (7 April 2023)."1949 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved12 April 2023.
^Aircraft is Lockheed F-94B-5-LO, serial 51-5356. It crashed in 1953.Baugher, Joe (7 April 2023)."1951 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved12 April 2023.
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)
Coleman, John M (1950).The Development of Tactical Services in the Army Air Forces. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
United States
United States Air Force
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency