page_title: 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing
section_title: Strategic bombardment
hierarchical_section_title: 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing / History / Strategic bombardment
caption_attribution_description: English: Emblem of the 70th Bombardment Wing (SAC)
context_page_description: The 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 16th Air Force. It is stationed at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
  Known as "America's Cryptologic Wing", is the only Air Force wing that supports the National Security Agency, the Sixteenth Air Force, and the entire United States Air Force with cryptologic intelligence.
  The 70th Reconnaissance Group conducted observation, artillery adjustment and fighter and bomber support training with United States Army ground forces during World War II. The group served as a reserve unit for two years later in the decade. During the Cold War, the 70th was a component wing of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force as a strategic reconnaissance organization and heavy bombardment wing.
context_section_description: 4123d Strategic Wing
  On 10 December 1957, SAC established the 4123d Strategic Wing (SW) at Carswell Air Force BaseTexas and assigned it to the 19th Air Division. The wing was assigned the 4123d Air Base Squadron, which had been the host unit at Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base, Oklahoma since July 1955, preparing Clinton-Sherman, a former World War II Naval Air Station, to receive operational SAC aircraft plus the 98th Bombardment Squadron (BS), consisting of 15 Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses, which had been one of the three squadrons of the 7th Bombardment Wing and a maintenance squadron at Carswell. The air base squadron was expanded into the 4123d Air Base Group and assigned component squadrons on 1 July 1958.
  At the end of 1958, the wing's first operational squadron, the 902d Air Refueling Squadron, flying Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, was activated at Clinton-Sherman and the wing moved its headquarters to the base on 25 February 1959 and was reassigned to the 816th Air Division at the beginning of March. Within a week the 98th Bombardment Squadron joined the wing at Clinton-Sherman as part of SAC's plan to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. The same month, the 55th Aviation Depot Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons. Starting in 1960, one third of the wing's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.  This was increased to half the wing's aircraft in 1962. The 4123d (and later the 70th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until inactivation.  In 1962, the wing's bombers began to be equipped with the GAM-77 Hound Dog and the GAM-72 Quail air-launched cruise missiles, The 4123d Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November to maintain these missiles
  However, SAC Strategic Wings could not carry a permanent history or lineage and SAC looked for a way to make its Strategic Wings permanent.
  70th Bombardment Wing
  In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.
  As a result, the 4123d SW was replaced by the newly redesignated  70th Bombardment Wing, Heavy (70th BW), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963.
  In the same way the 6th Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's B-47 reconnaissance squadrons, replaced the 98th BS. The 857th Medical Group, 55th Munitions Maintenance Squadron and the 902d Air Refueling Squadron were reassigned to the 70th. The 4123d's maintenance and support units were replaced by units with numerical designation of the newly established wing. Under the Dual Deputate organization, all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group element was activated. Each of the new units assumed the personnel, equipment, and mission of its predecessor.
  The 70th BW conducted strategic bombardment training and air refueling missions from February 1963 to December 1969. It was upgraded to the B-52D in 1968 by SAC along with receiving some older B-52Cs, which had limited use for training new aircrews. For several months in both 1968 and 1969, all of the 70th BW aircraft, most of the aircrew and maintenance personnel and some of its support people were loaned to other SAC units engaged in combat operations in the Far East and Southeast Asia. It was one of 11 SAC bomb wings that rotated such combat duty under the program known as Arc Light.
  By 1969, Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) had been deployed and become operational as part of the United States' strategic tri
caption: 70th Bombardment Wing Patch
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