The 4081st Strategic Wing 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, stationed at

Ernest Harmon Air Force Base Ernest Harmon Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The base was built by the United States Army Air Forces in 1941 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kin ...

, Newfoundland, where it was inactivated on 25 June 1966.

History

The 4081st Strategic Wing was a non-flying ground service support element for

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) at

, Newfoundland, Canada from April 1957 until June 1966. When activated, the wing assumed the mission, manpower, equipment, weapons, and facilities of the 6605th Air Base Wing, which had been established on 1 June 1954.

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

provided intermediate command and control from its establishment until 1 January 1959, when the 45th Air Division became its assigned headquarters.

(USAF) and

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

personnel had been assigned to Harmon since 1941. It was first operated as a refueling stop on the North Atlantic transport route, later as a fighter-interceptor base assigned to

Northeast Air Command The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was a short-lived organization in the United States Air Force tasked with the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United St ...

. SAC assumed control of base in 1957 and established the 4081st Strategic Wing when facility was upgraded to provide a deployment base for SAC bombers and tankers. The base supported deployed aircraft, with no permanent operational aircraft assigned to the wing, controlling them through the "Harmon Task Force." The wing was discontinued in 1966 and its remaining personnel and equipment were transferred to the 4081st Air Base Squadron until the USAF presence at Harmon ended in January 1967 and the base was turned over to the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

Lineage

* Designated as the 4081st Strategic Wing * Organized on 1 April 1957 * Discontinued on 25 June 1966

Assignments

: 1 April 1957 * 45th Air Division: 1 January 1959 – 25 June 1966

Stations

* Ernest Harmon Air Force Base, Newfoundland, 1 April 1957 – 25 June 1966

Components

* 867th Medical Group, 1 October 1959 – 25 June 1966 * 4081st Air Base Group (later 4081st Combat Support Group), 1 April 1957 – 25 June 1966 * 4081st USAF Hospital, 1 April 1957 – 1 October 1959

References

{{Strategic Air Command Strategic wings of the United States Air Force Four Digit Wings of the United States Air Force Military units and formations established in 1957 Military units and formations disestablished in 1966 1959 establishments in Canada 1966 disestablishments in Canada