508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing


caption=Obsolete 508th Aircraft Sustainment Wing emblem
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country=United States
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branch=Air Force
type=Aircraft Support
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command_structure=Air Force Material Command
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garrison=Hill Air Force Base
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The 508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing (508 ASW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

Mission

The 508 ASW provides sustainment of existing systems as well as the acquisition of new and improved airpower capabilities. It was activated as the 508th Aircraft Sustainment Wing, but was redesignated in 2007, when the 526th ICBM Systems Group was placed under its control.

ubordinate organizations

* 526th ICBM Systems Group
* 508th Fighter Sustainment Group (508 FSG)
* 558th Aircraft Sustainment Group (558 ACSG) formerly the 508th Mature Aircraft and Simulator Sustainment Group (508 MASSG)
* 508th Attack Sustainment Squadron

History

Lineage

* Constituted as 508th Fighter Group on 5 Oct 1944: Activated on 12 Oct 1944: Inactivated on 25 Nov 1945.
* Established as 508th Fighter-Escort Wing on 19 Jun 1952.: Activated on 1 Jul 1952. : Redesignated 508th Strategic Fighter Wing on 20 Jan 1953. : Inactivated on 11 May 1956
* Redesignated 508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing in 2007.: Activated 2007

Bases Assigned

* Peterson Field, Colo, 12 Oct 1944
* Pocatello AAF, Idaho, 25 Oct 1944
* Bruning AAF, Neb, 15 Nov-18 Dec 1944
* Kahuku, TH, 6 Jan 1945
* Mokuleia, TH, 25 Feb 1945
* Bellows Field, TH, 16 Sep-25 Nov 1945

* Turner AFB, Georgia, (1953-1956)

* Hill AFB, Utah, 2007 - Present

Commands

* Army Air Forces Training Command, 1944 - 1945
* Seventh Air Force, 1945
* Strategic Air Command, 1953 - 1956
* Air Force Materiel Command, 2007 - Present

Operational History

World War II

The 508th Fighter Group was constutited on 5 Oct 1944 and activated on 12 Oct at Peterson Field, Colorado. The group trained with P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft to provide very-long-range escort for B-29 Superfortress bombardment units in the Pacific Theater.

The lack of significant Japanese fighter defense by late 1944 caused a change of mission and the group was reassigned to Seventh Air Force in Hawaii in Jan 1945 and served as part of the defense force for the islands. In Hawaii, the group also trained replacement pilots for other organizations, repaired P-47's and P-51's received from combat units, and ferried aircraft to forward areas.

The unit was inactivated in Hawaii on 25 Nov 1945 when it replaced by the 15th Fighter Group.

Cold War

The 508th Fighter-Escort Wing was activated by Strategic Air Command in 1952. It's mission was to provide fighter escort for B-29 and B-50, and later B-36 intercontinental bombeers. The Strategic Air Command was founded by men who had flown bombing raids against Germany during World War II. They usually encountered swarms of enemy fighters and knew the importance of having fighter escorts.

Advances in technology soon made fighter-escort wings obsolete. A single atomic bomb had more explosive power than all the bombs dropped during all of World War II, so only one of them could certainly destroy a target far more effectively than the large mass formations of World War II B-17s and B-24s. Thus SAC's missions were based on the use of an individual airplane, not a formation of them. During its first postwar decade (1945-1955), SAC flew many B-29s left over from the war and later propeller-driven B-50s and B-36s. They were soon replaced by new jet bombers, the B-47 and B-52. The jet bombers flew so fast and so high that they were virtually immune from fighters. Plus the early jet F-84s and F-86s in SAC's fighter inventory couldn't keep up with them. The fighter-escort wings were no longer necessary, so they were either inactivated or assigned to other commands.

The wing deployed at Misawa AB, Japan, to provide air defense, Feb~May1953 and Feb~May 1954.

It was inactivated on 11 May 1956

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.

External links

* [http://www.hill.af.mil/ Hill AFB Home Page]
* [http://usafengineers.com/modules.php?name=Units&file=details&id=245&unit=Aircraft 508th Aircraft Sustainment Wing]