DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE UNIT HISTORIES
United States Air Force Lineage
Lineage is the unique, official, and traceable record of actions peculiar to each Air Force organization; therefore, it is the sole determinant of an organization’s rights to history, honors, and emblems. It allows the Air Force to avoid confusing one organization with another. The lineage of permanent organizations are continuous. Neither inactivation nor disbandment terminates their lineage or heraldry. A current organization may have begun its existence with a different number, designation, echelon, or all three, but lineage traces all changes to its current designation The Air Force Historical Research Agency is authorized to determine official lineage and honors data for regular Air Force organizations and Air Force Reserve organizations but not for Air National Guard. The official USAF statement of lineage forms the foundation of the organization's history and governs the organization's inheritance of emblem and honors. A basic policy of the Air Force is that each organization will have a unique lineage. This policy was in effect in the War Department when military aviation was under the Army and has been continued by the United States Air Force since its inception in 1947. No two organizations can have the same lineage, although at different times in their existence they may have possessed similar or even identical designations. Creating USAF organizations The Air Force regularly activates and inactivates units as a result of force structure and organizational changes. Organizations may be formed from an inactive unit. A new unit formed from an inactive unit inherits the lineage and honors of the former unit. Organizations may also be formed without using the lineage and honors of an inactive organization. Care is given to preserve units with the richest heritage by keeping them in active status. First priority is given to preserving units that trace their heritage to the original (pre-1939) Air Force formations. Second priority is given to units with records of unique historical achievements. Third priority is given to units which have gained the most years of service, unit decorations, and specific accomplishments. Designating USAF Organizations Organizations are not assigned the exact number, name, and type of another active or inactive unit. A numbered organization is assigned a number of no more than three numerals (for example, 305th Air Mobility Wing). Unit numbers are as low in sequence as possible. Organization numbers 101 through 299 are reserved for Air National Guard units. Wing and independent group numerical designations are not duplicated. There is only one 388th Wing (presently a fighter wing) or one 720th Group (presently a special tactics group). Since these numbers are taken, no other 388th or 720th wing or group is authorized. Groups and support squadrons have the same number as their parent organizations. If group and support squadrons can not be used due to duplication) they are assigned a number that bears a logical relationship to the parent. When feasible, number duplicate units 7XX or 8XX (where XX is the wing number). For example, duplicate squadrons under the 96th Civil Engineer Group would be the 96th Civil Engineer Squadron and 796th Civil Engineer Squadron. Mission squadrons assigned to groups or wings are not assigned the same number as their parent organizations. Unit nomenclature describes an organization's assigned mission. Composite wings and composite independent groups are not assigned "kind" designation (ie, 3rd Wing). Unit kinds and type are short and simple. Specific nomenclature is used at lower organizational levels. Units subordinate to a Numbered Air Force are assigned 6XX (where XX is the NAF number). Expeditionary organizations Provisional organizations A provisional unit is a temporary unit organized to perform a specific task and is attached rather than assigned to a permanent unit, thereby establishing the necessary command relationship. A provisional unit may be assigned to a higher provisional unit. Provisional units are temporary and once inactivated, their lineage ceases and may not be revived. Any provisional unit activated using the same nomenclature as a previous provisional unit may not claim the lineage, history, or honors of the previous unit. A provisional unit will be created when a specific organization is required and no organization exists to attach personnel. Provisional units will be organized the same as regular units. Based on Air Force policy and long-standing tradition, the history, lineage, and honors of a "provisional" unit terminates when it inactivates, and battle honors earned by the "provisional" unit are not shared with the permanent unit that provided the resources. Lineage and heritage of provisional organizations will terminate upon inactivation. No lineal connection exists between the expeditionary unit and the major force provider. Honors are normally "conferred" only at the wing, group, or squadron levels. Honors may be "conferred" only from a single expeditionary organization to a single permanent organization. For example, honors earned by the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron may be "conferred" only on the 4th Fighter Squadron. Expeditionary organization may borrow temporarily the major force provider's honors and history. Expeditionary organization may display officially approved emblem of the major force provider with its commander's permission. Bestowed History Combat squadrons of the Army Air Forces during World War II were normally organized into combat groups, with three or four squadrons to each group, and with the group serving as the basic combat element of the AAF. In many commands (although the practice was not uniform), two or more combat groups formed wings for administrative and operational control. This organization of combat elements changed in 1947 when the U.S. Air Force adopted a wing-base plan. Under the new plan, each combat wing was assigned one combat group (the group having three or four combat squadrons) and three support groups: an airdrome (later, air base or combat support) group; a maintenance and supply group; and a medical group. All of these organizations except the combat group were new organizations without a previous history. For the most part, wings that had existed during World War II were either inactivated or redesignated as air divisions. Those organizations comprising a new wing carried the same numerical designations. using the numerical designation of the already existing combat group. Thus the 1st Fighter Group of World War II gave its number, 1st, to the newly formed 1st Fighter Wing and to the 1st Airdrome (later, Air Base) Group, 1st Maintenance and Supply Group, and 1st Station Medical Group. In all cases, the functional designation of the combat group and the combat wing remained the same; a fighter wing had a fighter group, a bombardment wing had a bombardment group, a troop carrier wing had a troop carrier group. and a reconnaissance wing had a reconnaissance group. In the years after 1947, other changes eliminated the maintenance and supply (M&S) group and the medical group. The squadrons that comprised the M&S groups were retained. sometimes directly assigned to the wings and sometimes to the air base groups. But in many cases, particularly for combat-oriented wings, the air base groups were redesignated as combat support groups, and the former medical groups were redesignated as USAF or tactical hospitals, infirmaries, clinics, dispensaries, and other designations. In February 1951 the Strategic Air Command began to restrict the role of its World War II combat groups by reducing group headquarters to token strength (one officer and one enlisted man), with their combat squadrons placed under the direct operational and administrative control of the wing headquarters staff. Eventually, SAC inactivated the combat groups altogether, with the combat squadron assigned directly to the wings. The wings replaced the groups as the basic combat element. The groups began to inactivate on 16 June 1952 with the approval of Headquarters USAF, because the "paper units" served no practical purpose active, but unmanned. With SAC’s combat groups inactivated their World War II histories and honors also retired, leaving the SAC wings (all created in the postwar period) without any World War II history or honors. Deviation from the wing-base plan by other commands, particularly Air Defense Command, also adversely affected World War II histories and honors. In early 1954 SAC and ADC requested Headquarters USAF to allow the histories and honors won by the combat groups to be used by the postwar combat wings. (The combat squadrons, of course, still had their own individual history and honors, but the wings controlling the squadrons could not claim or use them.) A USAF committee reviewed the SAC and ADC requests and rejected the idea of redesignating combat groups as wings. Instead, the committee proposed: 1. Combat groups and combat wings be maintained as separate and distinct organizations. 2. The histories and honors of the combat groups be retained by the active combat groups. 3. The histories and honors of the inactive combat groups be bestowed upon the similarly designated combat wings. Although the hoc committee's suggestion of bestowing history and honors countered long-standing Air Force policy that forbade transferring the history and honors of one unit to another, Headquarters USAF accepted the committee's recommendations. In November 1954 the Department of the Air Force issued a series of letters that bestowed temporarily upon each active combat wing the history and honors of the wing’s similarly designated World War II combat group. But these bestowals of November 1954 divided between two classes: 1. Those where the combat groups were inactive (as in SAC). 2. Those where the combat groups remained active components of their related wings (as, for example, in TAC). Headquarters USAF went beyond the original idea proposed by SAC for perpetuating the histories and honors of inactive groups. Since the initial bestowals of November 1954, the Department of the Air Force has continued to bestow the history and honors of groups upon similarly designated wings. In some cases the DAF letters rebestowed group history on wings that had been covered by the November 1954 letters, but which subsequently had been inactivated. In other cases, the bestowals were newly made to wings that had not been active in November 1954. Meantime, other commands followed SAC's lead, eliminating combat groups and assigning combat squadrons directly to wings. The Air Force continued to regard each combat group, albeit inactive, as an integral part of the similarly designated combat wing. Despite the trend to eliminate combat groups, some of the groups survived as active organizations, and from time to time other combat groups have been activated again for a new period of service. Beginning about 1957, active combat groups have usually been assigned to divisions rather than to wings. The major exceptions appear in the Reserve forces where, since 1963, tactical wings usually have had two or more tactical groups (with numerical designations different from that of the wings), with one tactical squadron per group. In bestowing group history and honors on wings, Department of the Air Force directives have not specified any conditions or limitations except to note, in DAF letters issued after the initial bestowals of November 1954, that such bestowals are temporary. Army Air Force/Air Force Base Units War Department Circular No. 24, 18 January 1944, authorized the new type of organization. A few weeks later, in February, a War Department letter authorized the U.S. based commands, air forces, and centers of the AAF to designate and organize AAF Base Units, one for each base in the United States, with separate additional base units to provide personnel overhead for wings, regions, and higher echelons. To the basic numerical designation and the AAFBU designation, the new units could have a parenthetical suffix that indicated the unit function, for example, 999th AAFBU (Bombardier School)." AAF Base Units were authorized lettered squadrons as functional components, but these squadrons were not units. Each squadron (Squadron A, Squadron B, etc.) had a specific function such as maintenance, supply', or motor pool. The parenthetical suffix to the base unit designation could be changed whenever the unit's functions changed, but the numerical portion could not be changed. Although controlling functional "squadrons," the base units had no headquarters as such and thus were miscellaneous units rather than establishments. In September 1947, upon establishment of the United States Air Force, all AAF Base Units were redesignated as Air Force Base Units (AFBUs); but by mid-1948 the remaining base units were discontinued or redesignated into a new type of four-digit T/D unit, the direct predecessor of the present MAJCON system. AAF BASE UNIT ALLOCATIONS Hq Army Air Forces 1-99 First Air Force 100-199 Second Air Force 200-299 Third Air Force 300-399 Fourth Air Force 400-499 Air Transport Command (in the US) 500-599, 8,33,36,62 AAF Proving Ground Command 600-699 AAF Materiel Command 700-799 I Troop Carrier Command 800-899 AAF Tactical Center (Later, AAF Proving Ground Command; Air Proving Ground) 900-999, 600-699 AAF Redistribution Command 1100-1599 Air Transport Command (overseas) 1100-1599 Air Training Command (Later, Air Training Command) 2000-3999, 106, 463,467 Service Command; Air Technical Service Command; Air Materiel Command 4000-4999, 600-699, 900-915, 917-999 AAF School (Later, Air University) 27, 41-49, 308 AAF Weather Wing (later, AAF Weather Service; Air Weather Service) 65-74 Army Airways and Communications System (later, Airways and Air Communications Service) 75-99, 700-799 Air Defense Command (Later, Aerospace Defense Command) 9-10, 12, 32, 61, 100-199, 306, 314-315, 331, 400-499, 916, 4101, 4103, 4122, 4131, 4159, 4161, 4163, 4169, 4204, 4211 Bolling Field Command (later HQ Command) 1, 3-7, 35 Continental Air Forces (later Strategic Air Command) 1, 2, 35, 36, 39, 60-64, 100-499, 800-899, 1077, 4118, 4166, 4188 Military Air Transport Service (later MAC) 33, 62, 65-99, 500-599, 700-799, 1100-1599 Tactical Air Command 300-399, 414, 800-899, 2002 Major Command Controlled Units In addition to the permanent AFCON wings, the USAF provided temporary organizations to be controlled by the Major Commands. The commands wanted a flexible organization at the lower echelons to permit rapid adjustments in manning that short-term requirements often dictated. Because the manning of permanent organizations was judged to be too rigid, in 1948 the Air Force created a new type of temporary organization. These major command-controlled organizations were identified as "MAJCON." Using four-digit numbers allotted to each command (for example, 3900-4399 for Strategic Air Command) by Headquarters USAF, the commands could create and end MAJCON organizations as needed. When a MAJCON organization was discontinued or inactivated, its life ended, never to be revived. The number of this organization could then be reused to designate another, entirely new MAJCON organization. Although the original intent was to provide major command flexibility in establishing and terminating short-lived, temporary organizations, some MAJCON organizations existed more than forty years. Hq USAF 1000-1099, 1947 Hq Command, USAF 1000-1199 Air Force Technical Applications Center 1155-1157 Mats (Later, MAC) 1200-2199, 6500-6999, 1099, 1100, 1185 Afcs (Later AFCC) 1800-2199 ADC (Later Aerospace Defense Command) 2200-2699, 4600-4799 Continental Air Command 2200-2699, 4400-4899 AFRES 2200-2699 AMC (Later AFLC) 2700-3199 Air Proving Ground (Later, Air Proving Ground Command) 3200-3299 Air Research And Development Command (Later, AFSC) 320-3249, 4900-4999, 6500-6599, 1155-1157 Air Training Command 3250-3799, 3800-3899 Air University 3800-3899 SAC 3900-4399 TAC 4400-4899 Long Range Proving Ground Division 4800-4849 Aerospace Defense Center 4800-4809 Air Pictorial Service 4850-4899 Special Weapons Command 4900-4999 Alaskan Air Command 5000-5499 Caribbean Air Command Later, USAF Southern Command 5500-5999 Far East Air Forces (Later, Pacific Air Forces) 6000-6499 PACAF 6500-6999 Northeast Air Command 6600-6899 USAF Security Service (Later ESC) 6900-6999 USAFE 7000-7599, 1141 3 Air Division 7500-7599 Joint Us Military Group Air Administration (Spain) Later 16 AF) 7600-7624 Air Force Intelligence Service 7600-7609, 7625-7649 Aeronautical Chart and Information Center 7650-7999 Reserve units of TAC 8000-8049 Reserve units of ESC 8075-8089 National Guard Bureau 8101-8300 Reserve units of Continental Air Command 8301-8749, 9000-9999 Reserve units of Air Force Reserve 8301-8711, 9000-9999 Reserve units of Hq, USAF 8490-8499 Reserve units of MATS/MAC 8500-8599, 8890-8899 Reserve units of ATC 8600-8699 Reserve units of Special Weapons Command 8750-8799 Reserve units of SAC 8800-8889 Reserve units of USAFE 8900-8949 Reserve units of Far East Air Force (Later PACAF) 8950-8999 Reserve units of Air Reserve Personnel Center 9000-9099 |
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