The 1600th Air Transport Group is a discontinued

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

unit. It was last assigned to the

Atlantic Division, Military Air Transport Service The 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force (21 EMTF) was one of two EMTFs assigned to the Air Force's Air Mobility Command. It was headquartered at McGuire Air Force Base, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The 21 EMTF was a redesignat ...

Westover Air Force Base Westover may refer to: People * Al Westover (born 1954), American professional basketball player in Australia * Arthur Westover (1864–1935), Canadian sport shooter and 1908 Olympian * Charles Westover (1934–1990), better known as Del Shannon, ...

, Massachusetts. It provided strategic airlift between the United States and Europe until it was discontinued on 19 June 1955.

History

The

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

was formed from the personnel and equipment of the 1st Air Transport Group (Provisional), a

C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...

unit of

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

(ATC) at Westover when

Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...

(MATS) replaced ATC in 1948. The 1st had been organized as the operational element of the 2d Air Transport Wing (Provisional) Under the experimental wing base (

Hobson Plan The Hobson Plan was an organizational structure established by the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1948, following experimental organization in 1947. Known as the "Wing-Base Organization," it replaced the organization used by the United States A ...

) organization system. When the 1600th was organized it became the operational element of the 520th Air Transport Wing (later the 1600th Air Transport Wing). The group became

's primary strategic transport

airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distanc ...

provider between the United States and Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1953, the group was transferred to the direct control of the Atlantic Division took as the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

was reduced to control of support elements in 1953 in anticipation of transfer of Westover from MATS to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

(SAC). The unit operated large numbers of

Douglas C-124 Globemaster II The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is an American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. The C-124 was the primary heavy-lift transport for United States Air Force (USAF ...

heavy transports, as well as

Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long-range heavy military cargo aircraft developed from the B-29 and B-50 bombers. Design work began in 1942, the first of three prototype XC-97s flew on 9 November 1944 (none saw combat), and the first of s ...

s. It provided passenger service on Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmasters and supported VIP transportation for Atlantic Division Headquarters at Westover. In the summer of 1948, the group's 16th Air Transport Squadron was reassigned directly to the Atlantic Division and in the fall it became part of Continental Division, MATS and moved to

Gravelly Point Gravelly Point is an area within the National Park Service's George Washington Memorial Parkway in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. It is located on the west side of the Potomac River, north of Roaches Run and Ronald Reagan Wash ...

, Virginia where it became a forerunner of the 89th Airlift Wing. In July 1952, MATS replaced its table of distribution (four digit) air transport squadrons, which were controlled by the command with table of organization units whose organization was controlled by Headquarters, United States Air Force (USAF). The USAF controlled units were ferrying and transport squadrons that had been assigned to ATC during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Unlike the MATS controlled squadrons that had been formed in peacetime, these units had histories that included wartime actions and could be continued even after inactivation. Each of the new squadrons assumed the mission, personnel, and equipment of the squadron it replaced. The group was inactivated in 1955 when MATS moved its Atlantic Division headquarters and airlift operations to

McGuire AFB McGuire AFB/McGuire, the common name of the McGuire unit of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Air Force base in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, approximately south-southeast of Trenton. McGuire is under the j ...

, New Jersey and SAC assumed control of Westover AFB.

Lineage

* Designated as the 520th Air Transport Group on 14 May 1948 : Organized on 1 June 1948 : Redesignated 1600th Air Transport Group on 1 October 1948 : Discontinued on 25 June 1955

Assignments

* 520th Air Transport Wing (later 1600th Air Transport Wing), 1 Jun 1948 * Atlantic Division, Military Air Transport Service, 1 July 1953 – 25 Jun 1955

Components

* 11th Air Transport Squadron (later 1250th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy): 1 Jul 1948 – 6 Jun 1949 (C-54) * 12th Air Transport Squadron (later 1251st Air Transport Squadron): 1 Jun 1948 – 6 June 1949 (C-54) * 14th Air Transport Squadron (later 1252d Air Transport Squadron): 1 Jul 1948 – 20 July 1952 * 15th Air Transport Squadron: 1 Jun 1948 (later 1253d Air Transport Squadron, Heavy), 1 Jul 1948 – 20 July 1952 * 15th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy: 20 Jul 1952 – 20 Apr 1955 (C-124) * 16th Air Transport Squadron: 1 Jun 1948 – 1 July 1948 (C-54) * 20th Air Transport Squadron, Medium (later 20th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy): 20 Jul 1952 – 20 May 1955 (C-124) * 29th Air Transport Squadron, Medium (later 29th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy): 20 Jul 1952 – 13 Apr 1955 (C-124) * 30th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy (later 30th Air Transport Squadron, Medium): 20 Jul 1952 – 5 May 1955 (C-118) * 31st Air Transport Squadron, Heavy: 20 Jul 1952 – 9 May 1955 (C-124) * 1257th Air Transport Squadron: 24 May 1950 – 20 Jul 1952 (C-54) * 1282d Air Transport Squadron, Medium: 23 Jun 1951 – 1 Sep 1953 (C-97) * Squadron VR-6 (USN), 3 Aug 1949 – 10 Jun 1955 (R6D-1)

Stations

Westover AFB Westover Air Reserve Base is an Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) installation located in the Massachusetts communities of Chicopee and Ludlow, near the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. Established at the outset of World War II, today West ...

, Massachusetts, 1 June 1948 – 19 June 1955

Aircraft

, 1947–1952 *

C-97 Stratofreighter The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long-range heavy military cargo aircraft developed from the B-29 and B-50 bombers. Design work began in 1942, the first of three prototype XC-97s flew on 9 November 1944 (none saw combat), and the first of s ...

, 1951–1953 *

C-124 Globemaster II The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is an American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. The C-124 was the primary heavy-lift transport for United States Air Force (USAF ...

, 1952–1955 *

C-118 Liftmaster The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

, 1949–1955

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{cite book, last=Ravenstein, first=Charles A., title=A Guide to Air Force Lineage and Honors, edition=2d, Revised, year=1984, publisher=USAF Historical Research Center, location=Maxwell AFB, AL Air transport groups of the United States Air Force Four digit groups of the United States Air Force Military units and formations in Massachusetts