page_title: 552d Air Control Wing
section_title: Air Defense Command warning and control
hierarchical_section_title: 552d Air Control Wing / History / Air Defense Command warning and control
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Air Force Lockheed EC-121D Warning Star (s/n 53-3400) of the 552nd Airborne Early Warning &amp; Control Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in 1968. This aircraft was retired to the AMARC on 1 December 1970.
context_page_description: The 552d Air Control Wing is an operational wing of the United States Air Force. It has been based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma since July 1976, operating the Boeing E-3 Sentry. It includes the
  552d Operations Group, 552d Maintenance Group, and 552d Air Control Group.
  The wing is responsible to the commander of Air Combat Command for the operation, maintenance, logistics, training, and combat support of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and Control and Reporting Centers. The wing provides combat-ready theater battle management forces and mobile command control, and communications radar element at the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It deploys, operates and supports these forces worldwide ensuring combat capability for all peacetime and contingency operations.
  From 1955 through 1976, it was located at McClellan Air Force Base, California, where it operated the Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star aircraft providing radar coverage off the Pacific coast of the United States.
context_section_description: The 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing was activated on 8 July 1955 at McClellan Air Force Base, California, when it assumed command of the 963d and 964th Airborne Air Control Squadrons, which had been activated that March.The wing's third operational squadron, the 965th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron was activated the next month.  The wing replaced the Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, Provisional, which had been organized at McClellan on 1 January.
  Initially, the wing was assigned to the 8th Air Division, which also controlled the 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, which performed the same mission off the Atlantic seaboard.  In July 1957, Air Defense Command (ADC) inactivated the 8th Division and the wing was assigned to Western Air Defense Force.  In July 1963, the 966th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida was transferred from the 551st Wing.  The 966th's mission was to provide expanded coverage off the Florida coastline, which included possible intrusions into American airspace from Cuba.  This assignment continued with a brief interruption until the 966th was inactivated in December 1969.  At the end of 1969, with the inactivation of the 551st Wing, the 552d assumed the responsibility for deploying EC-121s to Icerland.
  In 1962, the wing began to support Project Mercury, and in April 1963, it participated in the recovery of Faith 7, and astronaut Gordon Cooper.
  The wing deployed aircraft to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis and its aftermath.  It maintained Detachment 1 in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1970. Detachment 1 returned to Southeast Asia in 1971 to support Operation Linebacker and Operation Linebacker II operations.  On 15 August 1973, Detachment 1 EC-121s flew their final combat mission, and on 1 June 1974, the EC-121 was permanently withdrawn from Southeast Asia. Between 1965 and 1973 the EC-121s flew 13,921 combat missions; more than 98,000 accident-free flying hours; assisted in the shoot-down of 25 MiGs; and supported the rescue of 80 downed flyers. No aircraft were lost.
  The wing's operational squadrons began to be reduced starting in 1969, and on 1 July 1974, with only a single flying squadron assigned, the Air Force redesignated the wing as the 552d Airborne Warning and Control Group.  It was inactivated on 30 April 1976.
caption: 552d AEWCW EC-121Ds at Korat RTAFB in 1968.
exif: {}