478th Aeronautical Systems Wing

The 478th Aeronautical Systems Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. It was last based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where it was inactivated in 2009. The wing was first organized as the 478th Fighter Group (Two Engine), which briefly served as a Fourth Air Force Replacement Training Unit in 1944. The unit was disbanded when the Army Air Forces reorganized its training units into AAF Base Units to reduce manpower requirements in the United States.

The 478th Fighter Group (Air Defense) opened Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota under Air Defense Command in 1957 and managed its expansion as an air defense and strategic bombardment base. In 1960, the group also assumed an alert commitment when it gained the 18th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. In April 1961, the group was replaced by the 478th Fighter Wing as its responsibilities expanded to host a Strategic Air Command (SAC) wing. SAC activities at Grand Forks continued to expand with the planned addition of a strategic missile wing. In 1963 SAC took over host responsibilities for the base and the wing was inactivated.

In 1985 the 478th Group and 478th Wing were consolidated into a single unit. In the spring of 2007, the consolidated unit was redesignated the 478th Aeronautical Systems Wing and activated with three subordinate groups as a systems development unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Ohio. In 2009 the wing was inactivated along with two of its groups and its functions transferred to its subordinate 478th Aeronautical Systems Group.

The wing was first activated in late 1943 as the 478th Fighter Group (Two Engine) at Hamilton Field, California. Its original squadrons were the 454th, 544th, 545th and 546th Fighter Squadrons. The group drew its cadre from the 328th Fighter Group.

The group moved twice in the first two months of its existence, to Santa Rosa Army Air Field in December 1943, then to Redmond Army Air Field in February 1944. Starting in January its component squadrons dispersed to separate bases in California, Oregon, and Washington.

The group experienced delays and was not fully manned or equipped until March 1944, when it began operations as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU) using single engine Bell P-39 Airacobras despite its designation as a two engine unit. RTUs were oversized units whose mission was to train individual pilots or aircrews. The group's 454th Fighter Squadron did not equip as an operational squadron, but served as an administrative unit that processed fighter pilots before they were assigned to RTUs. This squadron was detached from the group in January 1944.

However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving poorly adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated. The 478th was disbanded at the end of the month in this reorganization.

The group's squadrons at Redmond and at Madras Army Air Field moved to Portland Army Air Base, where they were replaced by the 432d AAF Base Unit (Fighter Replacement Training Unit, Single Engine). The personnel and equipment of the 454th squadron at Salinas Army Air Base became part of the 451st AAF Base Unit (Night Fighter Replacement Training Unit) and those of the squadron at Paine Field were absorbed by the 465th AAF Base Unit. The 478th headquarters provided the cadre for the 317th Wing (P-39) which managed all P-39 training for Fourth Air Force.