The 63d Fighter Wing (63 FW) is a disbanded unit of the

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 Si ...

, last stationed at

Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegis ...

, Houston, Texas. It was withdrawn from the

Texas Air National Guard The Texas Air National Guard (TX ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Texas, United States of America. It is, along with the Texas Army National Guard, an element of the Texas National Guard. No element of the Texas Air National Guard is ...

(TX ANG) and inactivated on 11 October 1950. This wing is not related to the 63d Troop Carrier Wing, Medium, or subsequent units that was constituted on 10 May 1949 and activated on 27 June 1949.

History

The wing was first organized as a command and control organization for

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was deployed to Algeria in January 1943, and initially used to organize air defense units. Transferred to

XII Fighter Command Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year Years * 12 BC * AD 12 * 1912 * 2012 Film * ''Twelve'' (2010 film), based on the 2002 novel * ''12'' (2007 film), by Russian director and actor Nikita ...

and controlled fighter groups engaged in escort, patrol, strafing, and reconnaissance missions against enemy forces in North Africa. Later moved to Italy and participated in Italian Campaign, also in Rhone Valley Campaign in Southern France; Western Allied Invasion of Germany in the spring of 1945. Inactivated in November 1945. The wing was allocated to the

for command and control origination for units in the South Central region (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana) of the United States. It was extended federal recognition and activated on 24 May 1946. At the end of October 1950, the Air National Guard converted to the 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. As a result, the wing was withdrawn from the Texas ANG and was inactivated on 31 October 1950. Its assigned units were federalized as a result of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

and assigned to USAF Major Commands.

Lineage, assignments, and components

* Constituted as 2d Air Defense Wing on 12 December 1942 and activated the same day. : Re-designated 63d Fighter Wing in July 1943 : Inactivated on 11 December 1945. * Allotted to the Texas ANG on 24 May 1946 : Extended federal recognition and activated on 23 May 1948 : Inactivated, and returned to the control of the Department of the Air Force, on 31 October 1950 * Disbanded on 15 June 1983

Assignments

First Air Force The First Air Force (Air Forces Northern; 1 AF-AFNORTH) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the C ...

, 12 December 1942 * XXII Tactical Air Command, 27 January 1943 * XII Tactical Air Command, 7 April 1945 *

Army Service Forces The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large comman ...

, December 1945. *

, 23 May 1949 – 31 October 1950

Components

World War II

* 52d Fighter Group: 16 November 1943 – 1 May 1944 *

350th Fighter Group The 350th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Force formed in 1942 and inactivated in 1945. The fighter group consisted of 345th, 346th and 347th Fighter Squadron. The group was formed in England in 1942 flying Be ...

: 6 January 1943 – 14 July 1945

Texas Air National Guard

136th Fighter Group The 136th Operations Group is a component of the 136th Airlift Wing of the Texas Air National Guard. It was first activated in June 1943 as the 368th Fighter Group. After training with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts in the United States, it depl ...

, 23 May 1948 – 10 October 1950 *

137th Fighter Group 137th may refer to: *137th (Calgary) Battalion, CEF, unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War * 137th Air Reconnaissance Regiment, air reconnaissance and guidance regiment, part of the SFR Yugoslav Air Force * 137th Speci ...

, 23 May 1948 – 26 October 1950 (Oklahoma ANG) * 122d Bombardment Group (Light), 23 May 1948 – 30 October 1950 (Louisiana ANG)

Stations

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territory ...

, New York, 12 December 1942 – 13 January 1943 *

Oran Es Sénia Airport Ahmed Ben Bella Airport ( ar, مطار أحمد بن بلة), formally Es-Sénia Airport is an airport located 4.7 nm (8.7 km) south of Oran (near Es Sénia), in Algeria. History During World War II, La Sénia Airport was first used by t ...

, Algeria, 27 January 1943 *

Maison Blanche Airport Houari Boumediene International Airport ( ar, مطار هواري بومدين الدولي, Maṭār Hawwārī Būmadyan al-Duwaliyy) , also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving A ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

, Algeria, c. May 1943 *

Rerhaia Airfield Rerhaia Airfield was a World War II military airfield in Algeria, located approximately 3 km northwest of Boudouaou, about 32 km east-southeast of Algiers. It was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 350th Fig ...

, Algeria, 8 August 1943 *

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

, Corsica, c. October 1943 *

San Pietro a Patierno San Pietro a Patierno is a suburb of Naples, the chief city in Campania, Italy. Geography It is one of the largest suburbs of Naples and is relatively lightly populated compared to surrounding areas, with around 20,000 residents. The district o ...

(Naples),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, c. 15 October 1944 *

Vittel Vittel (; archaic ) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Mineral water is bottled and sold here by Nestlé Waters France, under the '' Vittel'' brand. History In 1854, after visiting the baths at nearby ...

, France, 22 November 1944 *

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

, Germany, c. 7 April 1945 *

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...

, Germany, 14 June 1945 *

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

, Germany, 17 July 1945 – unknown *

Camp Kilmer Located in Central New Jersey, Camp Kilmer is a former United States Army camp that was activated in June 1942 as a staging area and part of an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation. The camp was organized as part of the Army Service ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, December – 11 December 1945. *

, Texas, 23 May 1949 – 31 October 1950

References

* Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . {{Navboxes , list = {{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II 0063 063 Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1950