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 Signal ...

unit. It was last assigned to the

Long Range Proving Ground Division The Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45) is a unit of the United States Space Force. The Space Launch Delta 45 is assigned to Space Systems Command and headquartered at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The wing also controls Cape Canaveral Space F ...

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 550th Guided Missiles Wing was a short-lived unit of the

Air Proving Ground The Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command (AAF PGC) was the primary testing command of the United States Army Air Forces (1946-47), and then the United States Air Force (1947-57). In March 1946, the Army Air Forces Center was redesignated the A ...

, activated at

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The ...

, 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 The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

surface-to-air missile or for the

Hughes 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 ...

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. Th ...

and the Navy's Guided Missile Test Center at

Naval Air Station Point Mugu Naval Air Station Point Mugu was a United States naval air station near Oxnard, California, which operated as an independent base from 1941 to 2000, when it merged with nearby Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme to form Naval Base V ...

. While the Holloman detachment continued to assist the Glenn L. Martin Company with developmental testing of the MX-771 Matador (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 Patrick Space Force Base is a United States Space Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, USAAC. It is home to Space La ...

(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 The Lark project was a solid-fuel boosted, liquid-fueled surface-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy to meet the kamikaze threat. It was developed as a crash program to introduce a medium-range defensive layer that would attack ta ...

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 , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

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.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 *

, 1–29 December 1950The Air Force redesignated the wing as the 550th Tactical Missile Wing to activate at

RAF Molesworth Royal Air Force Molesworth or more simply RAF Molesworth is a Royal Air Force station located near Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, England with a history dating back to 1917. Its runway and flight line facilities were closed in 1973 and demolished ...

as a

BGM-109G The Ground Launched Cruise Missile, or GLCM, (officially designated BGM-109G Gryphon) was a ground-launched cruise missile developed by the United States Air Force in the last decade of the Cold War and disarmed under the INF Treaty. Overview T ...

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 vario ...

, 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 Fl ...

(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, prod ...

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 So ...

(1950)

Missiles

* SAM-N-2 Lark * MX-771 Matador *

SAM-A-1 GAPA Boeing's Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft (GAPA) was a short-range anti-aircraft missile (SAM) developed in the late 1940s by the US Army Air Force, and then the US Air Force after 1948. It was given the reference number SAM-A-1, the first Surface ...

* AAM-A-2 Falcon * Bell X-9 Shrike * ASM-A-2 RASCAL *

SM-62 Snark The Northrop SM-62 Snark is an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. The Snark was deployed by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 through 1961 ...

* SSM-A-5 Boojum

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