The 4721st Air Defense Group is a discontinued

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 ide ...

of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, 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 ...

. Its last assignment was with the

4700th Air Defense Wing The Spokane Air Defense Sector (SPADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command 25th Air Division (25th AD) at Larson Air Force Base in Grant County, Washington History SAGE Air ...

Larson Air Force Base Larson Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located five miles (8 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington. After its closure in 1966, the airport facility became ...

, Washington, where it was last active in 1959. The group was formed to provide a single command and support organization for the two fighter interceptor squadrons of Air Defense Command (ADC), that were tenants at Larson, a Tactical Air Command (TAC) base. It was discontinued after the

322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 408th Fighter Group at Kingsley Field, Oregon, where it was inactivated on 1 July 1968. The squadron was first activated durin ...

moved in 1959, leaving only a single fighter

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

at Larson.

History

The 4721st Air Defense Group was organized in December 1956 at

, WashingtonCornett & Johnson, p. 89 to centralize supervision and support of the

(FIS) and the 538th FIS. Both

s were already stationed at Larson, flying

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

equipped and Mighty Mouse rocket armed North American F-86D Sabre interceptor aircraft,Cornett & Johnson, p. 125Cornett & Johnson, p. 130 and assigned directly to the 9th Air Division.Maurer, p. 396Maurer, p.645 The 4721st was a tenant of Tactical Air Command (TAC)'s 62d Air Base Group (ABG), the host organization at Larson. In July 1957, the base transferred from TAC to Military Air Transport Service, although the 62d ABG remained the host unit. In the summer of 1957, both the 322d FIS and the 538th FIS upgraded to later model Sabres equipped with

data link A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...

to tie them directly into the

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. S ...

command and control system. About June 1958, the 538th FIS converted to

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...

s, armed with the

M61 Vulcan The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatically driven, six- barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and i ...

20mm rotary cannon and

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prove ...

missiles. In April 1959, the 322nd FIS moved to

Kingsley Field Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base is the home base of the Oregon Air National Guard's 173rd Fighter Wing (173 FW). History In 1928, the citizens of Klamath Falls approved the sale of $50,000 worth of bonds to construct an airport. The a ...

, Oregon and was reassigned out of the group as part of ADC's drawdown at Larson. The following month, the 4721st was discontinued and its remaining squadron, the 538th FIS, was assigned directly to the 4700th Air Defense Wing.

Lineage

* Designated as the 4721st Air Defense Group and organized on 1 December 1956 : Discontinued on 1 May 1959 Assignments * 9th Air Division, 1 December 1956 *

25th Air Division The 25th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force intermediate echelon command and control organization. It was last assigned to First Air Force, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC). It was inactivated on 30 September 1990 at McChord A ...

, 15 August 1958 * 4700th Air Defense Wing, 1 September 1958 – 1 May 1959 Components * 322d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 December 1956 – 1 April 1959 * 538th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 December 1956 – 1 May 1959 Stations * Larson Air Force Base, Washington, 1 December 1956 – 1 May 59

Aircraft

* F-86D 1956–1957 * F-86L 1957–1959 * F-104A 1958–1959

Commanders

* Col. Louis W. Ford, unknown – ''ca''. 30 June 1958 * Lt Col. John E. Gaffnery, ''ca''. 1 July 1958 – unknown

References

Notes

Bibliography

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