505th Command and Control Wing

Postwar era

On 21 May 1947, the wing was activated by Air Defense Command (ADC) as the 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group. Stationed at McChord Field, becoming the first post-World War II aircraft control and warning unit in ADC. For the remainder of 1947 the group supported two radar stations, one at Arlington, Washington, and one at Half Moon Bay near San Francisco. These stations worked with fighter squadrons to improve ground-control and interception techniques. The group included a fleet of B-25 Mitchells used extensively to perform radar calibration flights. The experience gained from operating the two sites proved invaluable to air defense planners who were in the process of designing a nationwide early warning radar network.

As tensions increased between the US and the USSR, the importance of the 505th mission grew. In September 1949, the group no longer operated B-25s, yet they remained focused on early warning systems, supporting detachments along the Pacific Northwest coast. The group provided early warning operating radar systems including the AN/TPS-1. On 15 March 1950, the reserve 564th ACWG was activated as a Corollary unit at Silver Lake, sharing the 505th's equipment and facilities. The 564th was called to active duty on 10 May 1951 and was inactivated, with its personnel used as fillers for the 505th. With a growing movement to assign homeland defense to reserve units, the 505 ACWG inactivated on 6 February 1952.

Vietnam War

On 2 November 1965, the 505 ACWG was re-activated as the 505th Tactical Control Group (TCG). Replacing the 6250th Tactical Air Support Group that activated three months earlier, 505 TCG called Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam home. The 505th was responsible with providing Command and Control (C2), for the Tactical Control System in Southeast Asia (SEA). This mission included the operation of numerous radar sites throughout South Vietnam and Thailand from 1965 to 1973. In addition to the radar sites, the group managed O-1 Bird Dog observation aircraft assigned to five squadrons from late 1965 through 1966. These O-1 units included the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23d Tactical Air Support Squadrons, operating from various bases throughout SEA. Forward Air Controllers (FACs) flew the "Bird Dogs" to find and mark enemy activity, direct air strikes and perform battle damage assessment.

Units included:

• The 619th Tactical Control Squadron activated at Tan Son Nhut Air Base on 8 April 1964[4]^:278 It was responsible for operating and maintaining air traffic control and radar direction-finding equipment for the area from the Mekong Delta to Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands with detachments at various smaller airfields throughout its operational area. It remained operational until 15 March 1973.
• The 620th Tactical Control Squadron with responsibility from Pleiku to the DMZ, was located at Monkey Mountain Facility.
• 505th Tactical Control Maintenance Squadron
• The 621st Tactical Control Squadron which supported tactical air operations in Thailand, located at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, and later at Udon Royal Thai Air Force Base.
• The 19th TASS which operated mainly from the Central Highlands south, located at Bien Hoa Air Base.
• The 20th TASS based at Da Nang Air Base.
• The 21st TASS headquartered at Pleiku Air Base.
• The 22nd TASS based at Binh Thuy Air Base.
• The 23rd TASS based at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base.

Maintenance support was provided by the 505th Tactical Control Maintenance Squadron first based at Tan Son Nhut and later at Bien Hoa AB. Initially assigned to the 2d Air Division in Vietnam, the 505th was reassigned to the Seventh Air Force on 1 April 1966. Soon afterward, the 505th received approval for its emblem and official motto – "Search and Direct". The group eventually lost its flying squadrons but the radar mission grew. The group was the only unit to furnish all of SEA an electronics ground environment system for aircraft control and warning and radar services. After eight years of service in Vietnam the group earned thirteen campaign streamers and five Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards with Combat "V" devices. With the American withdrawal in 1973 came the unit's inactivation.

Post-Vietnam era

The 505th's lineage continued with the activation of the 4442d Tactical Control Group on 1 March 1980. Functioning as the 4442d, the unit aligned under the USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center. The group established a headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida where it managed a command, control, communications (C3) and intelligence complex. Along with the C3 operations, the unit conducted operational tests and evaluated tactical air control elements. It also provided training on tactical air control and operated the USAF Air Ground Operations School until 1997. The 505th has remained at Hurlburt since 1980 but received several name changes to match the evolution of its mission.

With the elimination of MAJCOMs in 1991, the unit re-designated as the 505th Air Control Group. In April 1993, when the 505th began operating the new USAF Battlestaff Training School, the Air Force renamed the unit 505th Command and Control Evaluation Group. At the same time, the mission expanded to include a new detachment at Kirkland AFB, New Mexico. By 1998, with the ever-increasing importance of the Air Operations Center as a weapons system and the units expanding mission to train personnel in its use, the Air Force again changed the 505th's name, this time to the Air Force Command and Control Training and Innovation Center (AFC2TIC). The center continued to test new command and control systems and train personnel on their use in combat. Realizing that the center incorporated more than just a building with several detachments located around the US, the Air Force gave it group status on 15 April 1999.

Current era

The group became a wing on 12 March 2004. Now the 505th Command and Control Wing, it controls two groups: the 505th Test and Training Group at Hurlburt Field and the 505th Combat Training Group at Nellis Air Force Base.

Assignments

• Fourth Air Force, 21 May 1947
• 25th Air Division, 16 November 1949 – 6 February 1952
• Pacific Air Forces, 2 November 1965 (not organized)
• 2d Air Division, 8 November 1965
• Seventh Air Force, 1 April 1966 – 15 March 1973
• USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center (later USAF Air Warfare Center, 53d Wing), 1 March 1980
• Air and Space Command and Control Agency (later Aerospace Command and Control Agency, Aerospace Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center), 1 October 1997
• Air Warfare Center (later United States Air Force Air Warfare Center), 1 June 1992 – present[3]

Components

Stations

• McChord Field (later McChord Air Force Base), Washington 21 May 1947
• Silver Lake Air Warning Station, Washington, 26 September 1949
• McChord Air Force Base, Washington, 25 June 1951 – 6 February 1952
• Tan Son Nhut Airport, South Vietnam, 8 November 1965 – 15 March 1973
• Eglin Air Force Auxiliary Field No. 9 (Hurlburt Field), Florida, 1 March 1980 – present[3]

Weapons Systems Operated

• North American B-25 Mitchell (1947–1949)[3]
• Cessna O-1 Bird Dog (1965–1966)[3]
• AN/USQ-163 Falconer AOC (since 2000)

Notes

Citations

10. Henley, Debora, “505 CCW supports largest U.S. Army Warfighter Exercise on record” https://www.505ccw.acc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2445686/505th-ccw-supports-largest-us-army-warfighter-exercise-on-record/

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• 505th Command and Control Wing Website