The 527th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4708th Air Defense Wing at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, whre it was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activated as the 527th Air Service Group, a support unit for the 461st Bombardment Group at the end of World 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, when Air Defense Command ADC established it as the headquarters for a dispersed fighter-interceptor squadron and the medical, maintenance, and administrative squadrons supporting it. It was replaced in 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the 412th Fighter Group in a project that replaced air defense groups commanding fighter squadrons with fighter groups with distinguished records during World War II.
History
World War II
The group was activated as the 527th Air Service Group in Italy shortly after VE Day[1] in a reorganization of Army 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, designed to support a single combat group.[2] Its 953rd Air Engineering Squadron provided maintenance that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 777th Air Materiel Squadron handled all supply matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support.[2] The group supported the 461st Bombardment Group in Italy. It returned to the US, passing through Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, and was inactivated.[3] It was disbanded in 1948.[4]
Cold War
F-89 Scorpion as flown by the 63d FIS in 1955
During the Cold War, the group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 527th Air Defense Group, and activated at Wurtsmith AFB in 1953[5] with responsibility for air defense of the Great Lakes area.[citation needed] The group was assigned the 63d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was already stationed at Oscoda Air Force Base, (renamed Wurtsmith Air Force Base the day before the 527th was activated[6]), and flying North American F-86 Sabres[7] as its operational component.[8] The 63rd had been assigned directly to the 4706th Defense Wing.[8] The group also replaced the 84th Air Base Squadron as USAF host unit at Wurtsmith. It was assigned three squadrons to perform its support responsibilities.[9][10]
The 63d upgraded to later model Mighty Mouse rocket armed and airborne intercept radar equipped Sabres in May 1954[7] and to two-seat Northrop F-89 Scorpions in early 1955.[7] The 527th was inactivated in August 1955[5] and replaced by the 412th Fighter Group (Air Defense)[11][12] as part of Air 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.[13] The group was disbanded once again in 1984.[14]
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
