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ARCHIVAL COLLECTION
FROM THE 509TH COMPOSITE GROUP (CG)
58TH WING DIVISION
INCLUDES 6 BOOKS ON
HISTORY
STAFF
TRAINING
PROCEDURES
FLIGHT REGULATIONS
FLYING FORMATIONS
AND SOME 48 PERSONAL PHOTOS / SNAPSHOTS FROM SERVICEMAN
PLEASE REQUEST TO SEE MORE PHOTOS ASS SYSTEM ONLY PERMITS 24 IN A LISTING
THIS COLLECTION OF EPHEMERA / REAL PHOTO IMAGES / PAPER
IS OOAK / ONE OF A KIND
SCARCE AS HENS TEETH
(1) AIR TRANSPORT UNIT
(GREEN HORNET)
ROSWELL - KWAJALEIN
"CROSSROADS PROJECT"
LT. COL. PAYNE JENNINGS COMMANDING OFFICER
OPERATIONAL ROUTES CENTERFOLD
SOME 26 PAGES / STAPLE BINDING
(1) AIR PHOTO UNIT
24 PAGES OF FLIGHT CREWS
NAVIGATORS
PILOTS
BOMBADIER
(1) AAF DRONE UNIT
COVER SIGNED BY "DONALD J. YOUNG"
AIR INSTRUMENT & TEST REQUIREMENTS
32 PAGES
SIGNED EXTENSIVELY BY PERSONELL / STAFF
AUTOGRAPHS PAGE HAS SOME 27 SIGNATURES
THEN MORE SCATTERED THROUGH ON THE SEPIA PHOTOGRAPHS
ROSTER
AIR CREWS
ENIWETOK
AIR SEA RESCUE UNIT
CHAPLAIN HENRY DURHAM (MARYLAND)
A HUNDRED+ OF AUTOGRAPHS THROUGHOUT
(1) AIR SERVICE UNIT
56 PAGES / STAPLE BINDING
CLAY WILKINSON
OJ MCCARTHY
FRED A. "CHICK" CARTER
THE WHEELS
ATOMIC BLAST, KWAJALEIN'S ONLY MULTILITH REPRODUCTION SHOP
FINANCE
LIBRARY
JOYCE'S STEAK HOUSE
COMMUNICATIONS
MESSAGE CENTER & CRIPTO SECTION
WIRE SECTION
RADIO & MAINTENANCE
MILITARY POLICE
FIRE DEPARTMENT & CRASH CREW
MOTOR POOL
LAUNDRY
POST ENGINEERS
UNIT SUPPLY
AIR CORPS SUPPLY
SPECIAL SERVICES
RED CROSS CANTEEN
THE BEACHCOMBERS "LUKE'S BULL GANG"
THE "BOAT RIDE"
SAN FRANCISCO, "OPEN YOUR GOLDEN GATE"
(1) AIR ATTACK UNIT
42 PAGES / STAPLE BINDING
COL. WH BLANCHARD COMMANDER
LT COL. AJ PERNA DEPUTY GC
ADJUTANT
STAT CONTROL
AIR INSPECTOR
INTELLIGENCE
PUBLIC RELATIONS
PERSONAL EQUIPMENT
AIR ATTACK
ORDERLY ROOM
BILLETING OFFICE
OPERATIONS
BOMBING CREWS
ENOLA GAY: M/SGT EVERETT M. SMITH, S/SGT CHARLES SAMPSON, CPL ROY TROUTMAN, CPL EUGENE SHAW, PFC JAMES T. JOHNSON, PFC WALTER SMOTHRYS, PFC WAYNE A. UTT
BLAST GAUGE
INCLUDES TWO SIGND SCRIPT NOTES
"SHORT SNORTER" AND "JOINT TASK FORCE ONE" - "CROSSROADS"
PLEASE EMAIL FOR MORE PHOTOS
(1) THE ATOMIC BLAST NEWSPAPER
"WE'RE STILL HERE"
HE DROPPED IT - MAJOR HAROLD WOOD
HE FLEW IT - MAJOR WOODROW SWANCUTT
A DAY EXTRA JULY 1ST 1946 KWAJALEIN ISLAND
TAKE-OFF
SUCCESS
SIDELIGHT
PREPARATION
NOTABLES - VIEW OF BOMB TEST - W. STUART SYMINGTON US ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR, LT GENERAL ENNIS C. WHITEHEAD, BRIGADIER GENERAL RW RAMEY, US SENATOR WILLARD TYDINGS AND BACK TO CAMERA IS POSTMASTER ROBERT HANNIGAN
FOLD UP, WITH CREASES AND SOME TEARING
+++PLUS+++
48 BLACK AND WHITE
PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES
TAKEN BY SOLDIER
SOME PICTURES INCLUDE BOMB SITES SHOWING DEVESTATION
VAROIUS VESSELS DURING THE MISSION
MANY SHOTS OF SOLDIERS ENJOYING THE LOCAL SCENES AND SITES
OSAKA / OSAKA CASTLE
WAIKIKI BEACH, OAHU HAWAII
KYOTO W LOCALS
OSAKA BRIDGE PORT
JUNGLE
BOAT SST 978
BATTLESHIP SARATOGA
PEARL HARBOR
BOMB SITE
GARDENS / PAGODA
KYOTO BEACH
TSAKA
PALI PASS
OAHU STAFF ON BEACH
BUDHIST MONASTERY
KYOTO CITY HALL
WABAYAMA BOMB SITE
SAIPAN BARRECKS
OX CART
SAIPAN HARBOR WITH BATTLE SHIPS
USS CONWAY
TINIAN SEA
WABAYAMA STORE FRONTS
SEAFIELD OAHU
KYOTO LOCALS
SST 1088
BLUE HOLE OAHU
TOO MANY TO LIST
---------------------
FYI
The 509th Composite Group (509 CG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. It conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.
The group was activated on 17 December 1944 at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah. It was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets. Because it contained flying squadrons equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers, C-47 Skytrain, and C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite", rather than a "bombardment" formation. It operated Silverplate B-29s, which were specially configured to enable them to carry nuclear weapons.
The 509th Composite Group began deploying to North Field on Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands, in May 1945. In addition to the two nuclear bombing raids, it carried out 15 practice missions against Japanese-held islands, and 12 combat missions against targets in Japan dropping high-explosive pumpkin bombs.
In the postwar era, the 509th Composite Group was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946 and the only one equipped with Silverplate B-29 Superfortress aircraft capable of delivering atomic bombs. It was standardized as a bombardment group and redesignated the 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 10 July 1946.
History
The 509th Composite Group was constituted on 9 December 1944, and activated on 17 December 1944, at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah. It was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, who received promotion to full colonel in January 1945. It was initially assumed that the group would divide in two, with half going to Europe and half to the Pacific. In the first week of September Tibbets was assigned to organize a combat group to develop the means of delivering an atomic weapon by airplane against targets in Germany and Japan, then command it in combat. Because the organization developed by Tibbets was self-sustained, with flying squadrons of both Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" unit.
On 8 September, working with Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr.'s Manhattan Project, Tibbets selected Wendover for his training base over Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, and Mountain Home Army Airfield, Idaho, because of its remoteness. On 14 September 1944,[7] the 393d Bombardment Squadron arrived at Wendover from its former base at Fairmont Army Air Base, Nebraska, where it had been in operational training (OTU) with the 504th Bombardment Group since 12 March. When its parent group deployed to the Marianas in early November 1944, the squadron was assigned directly to the Second Air Force until creation of the 509th Composite Group. Originally consisting of twenty-one crews, fifteen were selected to continue training, and were organized into three flights of five crews, lettered A, B, and C. The 393d Bombardment Squadron was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Classen, who like Tibbets had combat experience in heavy bombers, commanding a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress with the 11th Bombardment Group.
The 393d Bombardment Squadron conducted ground school training only until delivery of three modified Silverplate airplanes in mid-October 1944 allowed resumption of flight training. These aircraft had extensive bomb bay modifications and a "weaponeer" station installed. Initial training operations identified numerous other modifications necessary to the mission, particularly in reducing the overall weight of the airplane to offset the heavy loads it would be required to carry. Five more Silverplates were delivered in November and six in December, giving the group 14 for its training operations. In January and February 1945, 10 of the 15 crews under the command of the Group S-3 (operations officer) were assigned temporary duty at Batista Field, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, where they trained in long-range over-water navigation.
The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron, the other flying unit of the 509th, came into being because of the highly secret work of the group. The organization that was to become the 509th required its own transports for the movement of both personnel and materiel, resulting in creation of an ad hoc unit nicknamed "The Green Hornet Line". Crews for this unit were acquired from the five 393d crews not selected to continue B-29 training. All those qualified for positions with the 320th chose to remain with the 509th rather than be assigned to a replacement pool of the Second Air Force.[10] They began using C-46 Commando and C-47 Skytrains already at Wendover, and in November 1944 acquired three C-54 Skymasters. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron originally consisted of three C-54 and four C-47 aircraft. In April 1945 the C-47s were transferred to the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit and two additional C-54s acquired. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron was constituted and activated on the same dates as the group.
Other support units were activated at Wendover from personnel already present and working with Project Alberta or in the 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit, both affiliated with the Manhattan project. Project Alberta was the part of the Manhattan Project at Site Y in Los Alamos, New Mexico, responsible for the preparation and delivery of the nuclear weapons. It was commanded by U.S. Navy Captain William S. Parsons, who would accompany the Hiroshima mission as weaponeer. On 6 March 1945, concurrent with the activation of Project Alberta, the 1st Ordnance Squadron, Special (Aviation) was activated at Wendover, again using Army Air Forces personnel on hand or already at Los Alamos. Its purpose was to provide "skilled machinists, welders and munitions workers" and special equipment to the group to enable it to assemble atomic weapons at its operating base, thereby allowing the weapons to be transported more safely in their component parts. A rigorous candidate selection process was used to recruit personnel, reportedly with an 80% "washout" rate. Not until May 1945 did the 509th Composite Group reach full strength.
The 390th Air Service Group was created as the command echelon for the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron, the 1027th Air Material Squadron, and its own Headquarters and Base Services Squadron, but when these units became independent operationally, it acted as the basic support unit for the entire 509th Composite Group in providing quarters, rations, medical care, postal service and other functions. The 603rd Air Engineering Squadron was unique in that it provided depot-level B-29 maintenance in the field, obviating the necessity of sending aircraft back to the United States for major repairs. On Tinian the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron was assigned to the 313th Bombardment Wing's "C" and "D" Service Centers, where it performed provided depot-level ("third echelon") maintenance for the entire 313th Bombardment Wing when it was not engaged in 509th activities. The 393d Bombardment Squadron's maintenance section was re-organized as a "combat line maintenance" section (also called PLM, or "production line maintenance," a technique developed by the Air Transport Command in India for "Hump" aircraft) to maximize use of personnel for first and second echelon maintenance.
Overseas movement
With the addition of the 1st Ordnance Squadron to its roster, the 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom deployed to Tinian. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron kept its base of operations at Wendover. In addition to its authorized strength, the 509th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel of Project Alberta, and two representatives from Washington, D.C., the deputy director of the Manhattan Project, Brigadier General Thomas Farrell, and Rear Admiral William R. Purnell of the Military Policy Committee.
Rear Admiral William R. Purnell, Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, and Captain William S. Parsons
Two anecdotes illustrate the level of security affecting the 509th's personnel and equipment. En route to Tinian on 4 June 1945, the B-29 that became The Great Artiste made an intermediate stop at Mather Field, near Sacramento, California. The commanding general of the base allegedly attempted to enter the aircraft to inspect it and was warned by a plane guard who aimed his carbine at the general's chest that he could not do so. A similar incident occurred to a Project Alberta courier, 2nd Lieutenant William A. King. King was escorting the plutonium core of the Fat Man implosion bomb to Tinian, strapped to the floor of one of the 509th's C-54s. On 26 July 1945 it made a refueling stop at Hickam Field, Hawaii. The commander of a combat unit returning to the United States learned that the Skymaster had only one passenger and attempted to enter the C-54 to requisition it as transport for his men. He was prevented from doing so by King, who aimed a .45 caliber automatic pistol at the colonel.
The 509th transferred four of its 14 training Silverplate B-29s to the 216th AAF Base Unit in February 1945. In April the third modification increment of Silverplates, which would be their combat aircraft, began coming off the Martin-Omaha assembly line. These "fly-away" aircraft were equipped with fuel-injected engines, Curtiss Electric reversible-pitch propellers, pneumatic actuators for rapid opening and closing of bomb bay doors and other improvements. The remaining 17 Silverplate B-29s were placed in storage. Each bombardier completed at least 50 practice drops of inert pumpkin bombs before Tibbets declared his group combat-ready.
The ground support echelon of the 509th Composite Group, consisting of 44 officers and 815 enlisted men commanded by Major George W. Westcott of the Headquarters Squadron, received movement orders and moved by rail on 26 April 1945 to its port of embarkation at Seattle, Washington. On 6 May the support elements sailed on the SS Cape Victory for the Marianas, while group materiel was shipped on the SS Emile Berliner. The Cape Victory made brief port calls at Honolulu and Eniwetok but the passengers were not permitted to leave the dock area. An advance party of the air echelon, consisting of 29 officers and 61 enlisted men commanded by Group Intelligence Officer (S-2) Lieutenant Colonel Hazen Payette, flew by C-54 to North Field, Tinian, between 15 and 22 May. It was joined by the ground echelon on 29 May 1945, marking the group's official change of station. Project Alberta's "Destination Team" also sent most of its members to Tinian to supervise the assembly, loading, and dropping of the bombs under the administrative title of 1st Technical Services Detachment, Miscellaneous War Department Group.
Equipment and crews
Three silver four-engine propellor aircraft parked next to a runway
Aircraft of the 509th Composite Group on Tinian. Left to right: Big Stink, The Great Artiste, and Enola Gay
The air echelon consisted of the members of the 393d Bombardment Squadron. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron remained at Wendover. It began deploying from Wendover 4 June 1945, with the first B-29 arriving at North Field on 11 June. The group was assigned to the 313th Bombardment Wing, whose four groups had been flying missions against Japan since mid-February, but for security reasons their permanent base area was near the runways on the island's north tip, several miles away from the main installations in the center of Tinian. The 509th, after spending most of June in an area previously occupied by the Seabees of the 18th Naval Construction Battalion, took over the 13th Naval Construction Battalion Area just west of North Field's Runway D, a self-contained base with 89 Quonset huts, a huge storage warehouse, a consolidated mess hall, chapel, administrative area, theater, and other amenities.
Each crew was required to attend the 313th Bombardment Wing's week-long "Lead Crew Ground School" on its arrival. The ground school indoctrinated combat crews in procedures regarding air-sea rescue, ditching and bailouts, survival, radar bombing, weather, wing and air force regulations, emergency procedures, camera operation, dinghy drills, and other topics related to combat operations. Two of the group's bombers were not delivered by Martin-Omaha until early July. They remained at Wendover until 27 July to act as transports for two of the Fat Man assemblies.
Because of their geographical isolation from the combat crews of other groups, rigidly enforced security measures, and exclusion from participation in regular bombing missions, crews of the 393d Bombardment Squadron were resented and ridiculed as "lacking in discipline" and having a "soft life". The official history of the Army Air Forces characterized the ridicule as "epitomized in a satirical verse entitled Nobody Knows, with a recurring refrain, 'For the 509th is winning the war.'"
The group was assigned tail markings of a circle outline (denoting the 313th Wing) around an arrowhead pointing forward, but at the beginning of August its B-29s were repainted with the tail markings of other XXI Bomber Command groups as a security measure, because it was feared that Japanese survivors on Tinian were reporting the 509th's activities to Tokyo by clandestine radio. The Victor (identification assigned by the squadron) numbers previously assigned the 393d aircraft were changed to avoid confusion with B-29s of the groups from whom the tail identifiers were borrowed. Victor numbers 82, 89, 90, and 91 (including the Enola Gay) carried the markings of the 6th Bombardment Group (Circle R); Victors 71, 72, 73, and 84 those of the 497th Bombardment Group (large "A"); Victors 77, 85, 86, and 88 those of the 444th Bombardment Group (triangle N); and Victors 83, 94, and 95 those of the 39th Bombardment Group (square P).
Post atomic bomb operations
After each atomic mission the group conducted other combat operations, making a series of pumpkin bomb attacks on 8 and 14 August. Six B-29s visually attacked targets at Yokkaichi, Uwajima, Tsuruga, and Tokushima on 8 August, bombing two primary and three secondary targets with five bombs. Seven aircraft visually attacked Koromo and Nagoya on 14 August. Some Punkins (Crew B-7, Price) is believed to have dropped the last bombs by the Twentieth Air Force in World War II. After the announcement of the Japanese surrender, the 509th Composite Group flew three further training missions involving 31 sorties on 18, 20 and 22 August, then stood down from operations. The group made a total of 210 operational sorties from 30 June to 22 August, aborted four additional flights, and had only a single aircraft fail to take off. Altogether, 140 sorties involved the dropping of live ordnance. Some 60 flights were credited as combat missions: 49 pumpkin bomb and 11 atomic bomb sorties.
Three B-29s (Full House, Straight Flush, and Top Secret) flew six combat missions each. Crews A-1 (Taylor) and C-11 (Eatherly) flew the most combat missions, six (including one atomic mission) each, while six other crews each flew five. Only the late arrivals (A-2 [Costello] and C-12 [Zahn]) did not participate in any combat missions, although Costello's B-29 was used by another crew for weather reconnaissance of Nagasaki on the second mission. Including training and test flights, crews B-8 (McKnight) and C-13 (Bock) flew the most missions, with 20 total (5 combat). Crew B-7 (Price) is the only crew to fly all of its missions (18 total, 5 combat) in its normally assigned aircraft, Some Punkins.
The 509th Composite Group returned to the United States on 6 November 1945, and was stationed at Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico. Colonel William H. Blanchard replaced Tibbets as group commander on 22 January 1946, and also became the first commander of the 509th Bombardment Wing. It was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command when it was formed on 21 March 1946. The 715th and 830th Bombardment Squadrons were assigned to the 509th on 6 May 1946, and the group was redesignated the 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 10 July. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron was inactivated on 19 August. At Roswell, the 509th became the nuclear strike and deterrence core of the Strategic Air Command, and was the only unit capable of delivery of nuclear weapons until June 1948, when B-50 Superfortresses were initially deployed. The 509th itself converted to the B-50 in 1950, and transferred its Silverplate B-29s to the squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Wing at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas.
---------------
The 58th Air Division (58th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, based at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. It was inactivated on 1 February 1959.
The 58th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Heavy) was constituted on 22 April and activated on 1 May 1943 at Smoky Hill AAF, Kansas. The wing's mission was to train the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircrews and help prepare the new aircraft for operational combat duty. On 1 June 1943 the wing was reassigned to the Boeing manufacturing plant at Marietta Army Air Field, Georgia in advance of delivery of the first YB-29 prototypes. By July, seven YB-29s had been delivered to the USAAF and were used to equip new training squadrons of the 472d Bombardment Group, the first operational group of the 58th Bomb Wing.
In August 1943, it was decided that 58th Bombardment Wing would be stationed in the China Burma India Theatre by the end of 1943 and would begin attacking Japanese home island targets by flying out of bases in China. It would be commanded by General Kenneth B. Wolfe and would consist of four operational groups of B-29s. It was envisaged that once sufficient numbers of B-29s were available, Japan could be forced out of the war within six months by the destruction of her war industries, making a costly seaborne invasion of the home islands unnecessary. It was projected that such a program could defeat Japan by mid-1945.
On 15 September 1943, the headquarters of the 58th BW was moved to Smoky Hill AAF, with some of its groups near the Wichita factory. The 58th Bomb Wing however, initially had 5 groups (the 40th, 444th, 462d, 468th, and 472d Bombardment Groups). The 40th was reassigned from Sixth Air Force in the Caribbean, the others were newly formed. The 472d Group was destined to remain at Smoky Hill Field as an operational training unit (OTU), and the others were to be deployed to India.
President Roosevelt wanted the B-29 bombing raids against Japan to start by January 1944. However, delays in the B-29 program forced General Arnold to admit to the President that the bombing campaign against Japan could not begin until May 1944 at the earliest.
The crew training program was one of the more difficult aspects of the entire B-29 program. Because of the complexity of the B-29 aircraft, a lengthy process of crew integration was required before combat operations could begin. There was no time to start from scratch, so volunteers were called for from B-24 crews returning from operations in Europe and North Africa. The crews of the B-29 needed a degree of specialist training that was not required for crews of other, less complex Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft. It usually took 27 weeks to train a pilot, 15 to train a navigator, and 12 to train a gunner. The complexity of the B-29 was such that a lengthy process of crew integration had to take place before combat deployment could begin.
Although a total of 97 B-29s had been produced by the beginning of 1944, only 16 of the aircraft were really airworthy. Most of the others were in AAF modification centers, located near the Bell-Marietta and Martin-Omaha plants and at air bases in Kansas, undergoing a series of modifications and changes necessitated by the lessons of air combat over Europe. At that time, much of the equipment and components of the Superfortress had still not been perfected, and rather than delay production by stopping the assembly lines to incorporate modifications and add new equipment, it was decided to let the first production airplanes leave the lines at Wichita deficient in combat readiness and deliver them to these USAAF modification centers to bring them up to combat standards.
Crews began to arrive at Kansas bases in November 1943, but few bombers were ready to receive them. At that time, there was only one Superfortress for every twelve crews, and most crews had to train on Martin Martin B-26 Marauders or Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. By the end of December, only 67 pilots had managed to fly a B-29 and few crews had been brought together as a complete team. Many gunners did not even see their first B-29 until early 1944.
It was not until December 1943 that the decision not to use the B-29 against Germany was finally made, and to concentrate the B-29 exclusively against Japan. However, in early 1944, the B-29s were still not ready to begin Roosevelt's promised offensive against Japan Most of the B-29s were still held up at the modification centers, awaiting conversion to full combat readiness. By March 1944, the B-29 modification program had fallen into complete chaos, with absolutely no bombers being considered as combat ready. The program was seriously hampered by the need to work in the open air in inclement weather, by delays in acquiring the necessary tools and support equipment, and by the USAAF's general lack of experience with the B-29.
The 58th Bomb Wing returned to the United States late in 1945, being assigned to March Field, California. It was reassigned to Continental Air Forces, later Strategic Air Command, on 21 March 1946. The newly formed Strategic Air Command was ill-equipped. it had inherited the headquarters buildings previously occupied by the Continental Air Forces at Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., and some of "operational assets" that had been assigned to it. On 7 June 1946, Eighth Air Force was relocated to MacDill Field, Florida, from Okinawa and assigned as one of SAC's two Numbered Air Forces, (the other being Fifteenth Air Force) but it was only moved on paper; it did not involve the moving personnel or equipment. The 58th Bomb Wing was assigned to Eighth Air Force. In fact, Eighth Air Force headquarters were manned chiefly by personnel from the 58th Bombardment Wing stationed at Fort Worth Army Air Field, Texas.
SAC's bomb wings were drastically undermanned and under equipped. Not all had aircraft. At the close of 1946, demobilization was in full swing and few were fully equipped and manned. The entire Strategic Air Command had a total of 148 bombers, all B-29s. Virtually all were equipped to drop conventional bombs, as the United States then had only nine Atomic Bombs and only a few B-29s of the 509th Group to deliver them if necessary. The Truman Administration was determined to balance the national budget. It seemed as if America's vast military power was no longer needed, so appropriations were drastically slashed. One unit after another was disbanded. The command staff and all personnel of the wing were eliminated on 1 November 1946 and the organization was reduced to a paper unit. For two years the wing remained in this status until the 58th Bomb Wing was inactivated on 16 October 1948.
Air Defense Command
"Inactive for seven years, the 58th was reactivated as the 58th Air Division (Defense) in September 1955 and assumed responsibility for the defense of parts of Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, and supported operations, when necessary, of other commands. It supervised training programs for its subordinate units and supported exercises such as 'Hour Hand, Blue Light, Red Cap, Iron Ba', and Surefire."
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