309th Maintenance Wing

309th Maintenance Wing
Active 1942–1944, 1949-1951, 1955-1957, 2005-2012
Country United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Type Equipment Support
Part of Air Force Materiel Command
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award

The 309th Maintenance Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force last based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. On July 12, 2012 it was inactivated and its function became part of the newly formed Ogden Air Logistics Complex.

History

World War II

The wing was first activated in the early expansion of the Army Air Forces during World War II as the 309th Bombardment Group at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona.[1] Its initial components were the 376th,[2] 377th,[3] and 378th Bombardment Squadrons,[4] and the 37th Reconnaissance Squadron.[5] The group was an Operational Training Unit (OTU), which trained bombardment groups until January 1943.[6] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups."[7] It then became a Replacement Training Unit and trained replacement aircrews, using B-25 Mitchell aircraft in both training programs.[1] In addition, the group operated specialist training schools, with as many as eight in operation at once.[6] However, the AAF was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to performing the mission. Accordingly a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[8] As a result, in 1944, the group was disbanded and replaced by the 329th Army Air Force Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Medium, Bombardment), which absorbed the mission, material, and personnel of the group.[9] The group's four squadrons became Sections A through D of the Base Unit.

Reserve Airlift Operations

Postwar the group was reconstituted and redesignated as the Continental Air Command reserve 309th Troop Carrier Group. The 309th used the aircraft of the active duty 314th Troop Carrier Wing, to which it was attached for training.[10] The group was transferred to Tactical Air Command in 1950, after which it apparently ceased flying operations.[10] It was inactivated in 1951 and its personnel deployed to Far East Air Forces to support 315th Air Division transport units during the Korean War.

Assault Airlift Operations

The unit was reactivated at Ardmore AFB in 1955. It replaced the 16th Troop Carrier Squadron, which was flying the Air Force's fleet of YC-122 Avitrucs. The group became the first fixed wing assault airlift group in the Air Force and was the first to fly the C-123B.[11] The 309th trained to airlift troops, equipment, and supplies for assault landings.[1] After training with the 463d Troop Carrier Wing, the group deployed to Europe. Less than a year later, the group was inactivated and its squadrons transferred to the 60th Troop Carrier Wing.

Maintenance Wing

The wing remained inactive until Air Force Material Command (AFMC) replaced many of its traditional subordinate command staff agencies with wings, groups, and squadrons in the Air Force Material Command Transformation Initiative. The 309th became the 309th Maintenance Wing and provided depot repair, modification and maintenance for the F-22A Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt, C-130 Hercules, and the Peacekeeper and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.[12] In 2012, AFMC reversed this action in the process of reducing its number of centers and inactivated the wing.[13] On 12 July 2012, all wing components were attached to the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and the wing was inactivated on 1 October.

Lineage

Activated on 15 March 1942
Disbanded on 1 May 1944
Activated on 26 June 1949
Inactivated on 20 February 1951.
Activated on 8 July 1955[14]
Inactivated on 12 March 1957[10]
Activated on 18 February 2005[10]
Inactivated on 1 October 2012

Assignments

Components

Groups

Squadrons

Stations

Aircraft

Decorations and Awards

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 184. ISBN 0-912799-02-1.
  2. ↑ Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 465. ISBN 0-405-12194-6.
  3. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 466
  4. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 467
  5. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 522-523
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Abstract, History 309th Bomb Group (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  7. ↑ Craven, Wesley F & Cate, James L, ed. (1955). "Introduction". The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. xxxvi. LCCN 48-3657.
  8. ↑ Craven & Cate, p. 75
  9. ↑ Abstract, History of Columbia AAB. Apr-Jun 1944 (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 AFHRA Factsheet, 309th Maintenance Wing (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  11. ↑ Oklahoma Historical Marker, Ardmore AFB (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  12. ↑ Hill AFB Factsheet, 309th Maintenance Wing (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  13. ↑ 309 MXW to Inactivate; Members to be Part of OO-Air Logistics Complex, Hilltop Times, June 7, 2012 (accessed Oct 19, 2012)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lineage information through 1955 is in Maurer, Combat Units, p. 184
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Air Force Unit Awards (accessed 19 Oct, 2012)

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

External links