488th Tactical Missile Wing The 488th Tactical Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was formed by the consolidation of the 488th Bombardment Group and the 588th Tactical Missile Group in 1985 , but has not been active since consolidation . The 488th Bombardment Group was a United States Army Air Forces heavy bomber replacement training unit that served during World War II . It was last assigned to Third Air Force at MacDill Field , Florida , where it was disbanded on 1 May 1944 . The 588th Tactical Missile Group was a United States Air Force tactical missile training unit that served during the Cold War . It was last assigned to 4504th Missile Training Wing at Orlando Air Force Base , Florida , where it was inactivated on 15 July 1958 . History . World War II . The 488th Bombardment Group was activated in the spring of 1943 with the 840th , 841st , 842d , and 843d Bombardment Squadrons assigned at Geiger Field , Washington . The group operated as a Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress operational training unit under Second Air Force . The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to “ satellite groups . Toward the end of 1943 Second Air Force prepared to concentrate on Boeing B - 29 Superfortress training and Geiger was transferred to Fourth Air Force and became a training base for Aviation Engineer units . The 488th was transferred to Third Air Force and moved to MacDill Field , Florida . At MacDill the group operated as a B - 17 replacement training unit under Second Air Force . Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrew s prior to their deployment to combat theaters . However , the Army Air Forces found that standard military units , based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission . Accordingly a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit . This resulted in the 488th , along with other units at MacDill , being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 317th AAF Base Unit , which assumed the group ' s mission , personnel , and equipment Cold War . The 588th Tactical Missile Group ( TMG ) was formed as a unit including launch , maintenance and support squadrons which could be deployed together rather than Tactical Air Command ' s previous practice of organizing independent missile squadrons . The 588th was part of to Ninth Air Force and its initial components were the 17th Tactical Missile Squadron ( TMS ) , the 588th Communications and Guidance Squadron and the 588th Support Squadron . Initial training included preparation to deploy overseas . However , the 17th TMS deployed to Pacific Air Forces by itself in early 1958 , where it became the nucleus for the 6214th Support Group at Tainan AS , Taiwan . In April the 24th TMS was reassigned from the 589th TMG to the 588th TMG and plans began to deploy to Osan AB , South Korea . The 24th engaged in crew training at Orlando AFB but never received any missiles . The squadron did , however , deploy to Cape Canaveral AFS and launched for Matador missiles under the guidance of the 6555th Guided Missile Squadron . However , when the 588th ' s personnel deployed , the United States Air Force decided to redesignate two fighter units at Osan instead of replacing them with new missile units . Deploying personnel and equipment were reassigned to the 58th Fighter - Bomber , Group which was reactivated as the 58th Tactical Missile Group ; the 310th Tactical Fighter Squadron , which became the 310th Tactical Missile Squadron ; or the newly activated 58th Support Squadron and 58th Communications and Guidance Squadron . In July 1958 the 4504th Wing reorganized and the 588th was inactivated and replaced by the 4504th Tactical Missile Training Squadron and the 4504th Support Squadrons , which absorbed its remaining personnel and equipment . The 488th Bombardment Group and the 588th Tactical Missile Group were consolidated on 31 July 1985 , but the consolidated unit has not been active . Lineage . 488th Bombardment Group 588th Tactical Missile Group References . Bibliography . Further reading