The 550th Guided Missiles Wing is an inactive

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 S ...

unit. It was last assigned to the Long Range Proving Ground Division at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 30 December 1950. From 1949 through 1950 it was the Air Force's only experimental missile unit.

History

Established as an expansion of the

1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group The 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Air Proving Ground Command and stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 22 July 1949. The 1st EGMG was ...

, the 550th Guided Missiles Wing was a short-lived unit of the Air Proving Ground, activated at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Its mission was the supervision and evaluation of guided missile service tests as opposed to pure experimentation of its predecessor unit.Mindling & Bolton As part of the 550th Wing, the former 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Squadron was inactivated; its personnel and equipment reorganized as follows: * 1st Guided Missiles Squadron. Assigned the air-to-surface missiles and guided bomb testing program * 2d Guided Missiles Squadron. Operated QB/DB-17 Flying Fortress drone/director aircraft drones as flying targets for the early Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile or for the Hughes Falcon air-to-air missile. Often, the QB-17L would be the subject of intentional near misses to preserve the drone for as many missions as possible. It also supplied B-17 drones to support the Atomic Energy Commission Nuclear Testing program. The wing also included a headquarters squadron and a maintenance and supply squadron. Like its predecessor, the 550th Wing had detachments in tenant status at

Holloman Air Force Base Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. T ...

and the Navy's Guided Missile Test Center at Naval Air Station Point Mugu. While the Holloman detachment continued to assist the

Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company—also known as The Martin Company from 1957-1961—was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin, and operated between 1917-1961. The Martin Company produc ...

with developmental testing of the

MX-771 Matador The Martin MGM-1 Matador was the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile designed and built by the United States. It was developed after World War II, drawing upon their wartime experience with creating the Republic-Ford JB-2, a ...

(i.e., it witnessed test firings and reported on the results), the Point Mugu detachment completed its Navy Convair Lark missile training and moved to the Joint Long Range Proving Ground in early January 1950 On 1 July 1950, the 3d Guided Missiles Squadron was activated at the Long Range Proving Ground Air Force Base (later Patrick Air Force Base), on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. Its mission was to support the aerodynamic missiles being developed by the Long Range Proving Ground Division. The squadron launched three US Navy SAM-N-2 Lark

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s at Cape Canaveral in October and November 1950. The 550th Wing also continued its predecessor's support of the Atomic Energy Commission atomic bomb testing program. However, during the wing's brief existence, no tests were scheduled.Thompson,

Inactivation

By January 1950, the Air Proving Ground decided the QB/DB-17 drone mission needed to be separated from the missile testing mission. It recommended the establishment of a separate and permanent drone squadron. Drone support personnel from the 2d Guided Missiles Squadron were subsequently transferred to a new unit, the 3201st Air Base Support Squadron, which was placed under the 3201st Air Base Group at Eglin. While the 3201st Air Base Support Squadron was attached to the 550th for administrative purposes, its operations were essentially divorced from the 550th's missile activities when the 3200th moved to Eglin Auxiliary Field #3. In June 1951, the 3201st Squadron was upgraded to a group level as the

3200th Drone Group The 3205th Drone Group is a discontinued United States Air Force unit that operated obsolete aircraft during the 1950s as radio-controlled aerial targets for various tests. It was the primary post- World War II operator of surplus Boeing B-17G F ...

.Mueller, p. 139 By late 1950, Air Proving Ground decided to reorganize the missile testing program. The 550th Guided Missiles Wing was inactivated effective 30 December 1950.Ravenstein, pp. 284-285 The wing moved to Patrick Air Force Base in early December. At Patrick, the resources of the 550th Wing were transferred to the new 4800th Guided Missile Wing, which consolidated all Air Proving Ground activities at the base. The 1st Squadron terminated its gliding bomb mission and was inactivated. The 2d Guided Missiles Squadron was inactivated at Holloman, its resources moved to Patrick and on 10 April 1951 became the 4802d Guided Missiles Squadron. The personnel and equipment at Holloman Air Force Base became a detachment of the 3201st Air Base Support Squadron. The 3d Squadron already at Patrick was inactivated and transferred its mission, personnel and equipment to the 4803d Guided Missiles Squadron.

Lineage

* Established as 550th Guided Missiles Wing on 27 June 1959 : Activated on 20 July 1949 : Inactivated on 30 December 1950

Assignments

* Air Proving Ground, 20 July 1949 * Long Range Proving Ground Division, 1–29 December 1950The Air Force redesignated the wing as the 550th Tactical Missile Wing to activate at RAF Molesworth as a BGM-109G GLCM unit. This action was revoked, however and the 303d Tactical Missile Wing was activated instead.

Components

* 3200th Proof Test Group, 26 April-11 December 1950 * 1st Guided Missiles Squadron, Air to Surface Missile, attached 20 July 1949 – 31 July 1950, assigned 1 August–30 December 1950 * 2d Guided Missiles Squadron, Surface to Surface Missile, attached 20 July 1949 – 31 July 1950, assigned 1 August–30 December 1950 * 3d Guided Missiles Squadron, Interceptor, 1 August 1950 – 30 December 1950 * 550th Maintenance Squadron, Guided Missiles, 20 July 1949 – 30 December 1950 *

3200th Drone Squadron The 3205th Drone Squadron is a discontinued United States Air Force unit. It was last active with the Air Proving Ground Center based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where it was discontinued on 25 October 1963. The squadron operated variou ...

, attached 26 April 1950 – 30 June 1950, assigned 1 July–1 December 1950, 1 July-1 December 1950Components in Ravenstein, pp. 284-285, except as noted

Stations

* Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 20 July 1949 * Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, 11–30 December 1950 Detachments: * Detachment 1: Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, 21 July 1949 – 31 January 1950 * Detachment 2: Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, 7 November 1949 – 25 October 1950 * Detachment 3: Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, 6–11 December 1950

Aircraft

* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (1949-1950) : DB-17 Flying Fortress: Drone director aircraft : MB-17 Flying Fortress: Airborne missile/gliding bomb launcher : QB-17 Flying Fortress: Unmanned drone aircraft used as aerial weapons targets *

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...

(1949-1950) *

Lockheed T-33 T-Bird The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

(1950) *

Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, produ ...

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing ...

(1950)

Missiles

* SAM-N-2 Lark * MX-771 Matador * SAM-A-1 GAPA *

AAM-A-2 Falcon The Hughes AIM-4 Falcon was the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the United States Air Force. Development began in 1946; the weapon was first tested in 1949. The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956. Produced in both hea ...

Bell X-9 Shrike The Bell X-9 Shrike was a prototype surface-to-air, liquid-fueled guided missile designed by Bell Aircraft as a testbed for the nuclear-armed GAM-63 RASCAL. It is named after the shrike, a family of birds. Testing Thirty-one X-9 rockets were de ...

ASM-A-2 RASCAL The GAM-63 RASCAL was a supersonic air-to-surface missile that was developed by the Bell Aircraft Company. The RASCAL was the United States Air Force's first nuclear armed standoff missile. The RASCAL was initially designated the ASM-A-2, th ...

* SM-62 Snark *

SSM-A-5 Boojum The XSSM-A-5 Boojum, also known by the project number MX-775B, was a supersonic cruise missile developed by the Northrop Corporation for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s. Intended to deliver a nuclear warhead over intercontinental r ...

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite book, last1=Thompson, first1=Scott A., title=Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors , edition=4th , orig-year=1990, year=2011, publisher=Pictorial Histories & Aero Vintage Books, location=Missoula,MT, isbn=978-1-57510-156-9 Missile wings of the United States Air Force Military units and formations established in 1949 Military units and formations disestablished in 1950 1949 establishments in Florida 1950 disestablishments in Florida