581st Air Resupply Group The 581st Air Resupply Group is an inactive United States Air Force group . Its last duty assignment was at Kadena Air Base , Okinawa , where it was inactivated in 1956 . History . " for additional related history see 471st Special Operations Wing " In 1951 , the USAF created the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing ( ARCW ) , whose operational component was the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Group at Mountain Home Air Force Base , Idaho . The group consisted of four squadron s . The 581st Air Resupply and Communications Squadron ( later Air Resupply Squadron ) ( ARS ) , the 581st Airborne Materials Assembly Squadron , the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron , and the 581st Reproduction Squadron . The mission of the 581st ARS was the infiltration , resupply , and exfiltration of guerrilla - type personnel , and the aerial delivery of psychological warfare ( PSYWAR ) materiel ( leaflets and other similar materials ) . Of the four squadrons assigned to the group , the 581st Air Resupply Squadron ( ARS ) was the lone squadron devoted to flying operations . In the summer of 1952 the wing and group relocated to Clark Air Base in the Philippines , where it was assigned to Thirteenth Air Force . Korean War . Shortly before deployment to Clark , the group was reduced to paper status and its squadrons were attached directly to wing headquarters . This arrangement continued until the wing was inactivated in September 1953 and the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron and the 581st Reproduction Squadron were inactivated . The group was redesignated the 581st Air Resupply Group and gained a maintenance squadron . For all practical purposes , the wing headquarters became the group headquarters . For a more detailed description of the group ' s operations during this period , see 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing . First Indochina War . At the direction of the 315th Air Division commander , the 581st C - 119s provided limited airlift support to Far East Command ’ s Korean operations throughout 1952 . Beginning in 1953 , however , the C - 119s were employed in Southeast Asia in support of French operations in Indochina . Supplies , including ammunition , vehicles , and barbed wire , were delivered to Haiphong Airfield in ever increasing quantities . When US presence in Indochina could not be publicly escalated , plans were developed to utilize 581st personnel in a discrete support role . Refurbished C - 119s , under French markings , were flown into Indochina by 581st crews , and French C - 119s were flown out for depot repair at Clark AB . Instructors from the 581st were also tasked to train CIA - employed Civil Air Transport civilian aircrews in the C - 119 . American support for the French only prolonged the inevitable fall of the former colonial power . In May 1954 , the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu , thus ending 100 years of French colonial rule in Indochina . Inactivation . In September 1953 , after the Korean Armistice was signed that ended active conflict on the Korean peninsula the wing was inactivated and the group was reassigned directly to Thirteenth Air Force . The group was approximately one - half the size of the former wing and consisted of two squadrons — one flying squadron and one support squadron — as compared to six squadrons before the reorganization In October 1954 , the 581st relocated from Clark AB , Philippines , to Kadena AB , Okinawa , where it continued reduced operations out of that location for the next two years . In September 1956 the group was inactivated , thus closing a chapter in special operations history in the Pacific . References . Notes