471st Special Operations Wing The 471st Special Operations Wing is an inactive United States Air Force wing . The wing was formed through the consolidation of the 471st Bombardment Group and the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing . The 471st Bombardment Group was a World War II heavy bombardment replacement training unit , last assigned to the First Air Force at Westover Field , Massachusetts , where it was disbanded on 10 April 1944 . The 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing was a United States Air Force special operations wing , last assigned to Thirteenth Air Force at Clark Air Base , Philippines . History . World War II . The 471st Bombardment Group was activated at Alexandria Army Air Base , Louisiana in the spring of 1943 with the 805th , 806th , 807th , and 808th Bombardment Squadrons assigned . The group operated as a Consolidated B - 24 Liberator replacement training unit . Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrew s prior to their deployment to combat theaters . In January 1944 , Second Air Force began to concentrate on Boeing B - 29 Superfortress training . The 471st was reassigned to First Air Force and moved to Westover Field , Massachusetts . Training at Westover included long range overwater formation flights . 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 471st , along with other units at Westover , being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 112th AAF Base Unit ( Bombardment ( Heavy ) ) , which assumed the group ' s mission , personnel , and equipment . Cold War . In 1951 , the USAF created the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base , Idaho . The wing consisted of an operational group assigned four units . The 581st Air Resupply & Communications Squadron ( ARCS ) , 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 ) material ( leaflets and other similar materials ) . The wing was also assigned two support groups a communications squadron and a maintenance squadron . In early 1952 , the 581st received orders to forward deploy to Clark AB , Philippines , and to be assigned to Thirteenth Air Force . The first air resupply and communications wing to deploy overseas , the composite wing arrived at Clark AB , stripped of its support groups and communications squadron , in July 1952 . It retained four squadrons specifically tailored to perform the special operations mission and a maintenance squadron . Shortly before deploying , the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Group was reduced to a paper organization and its squadrons were attached to the wing . Of the five squadrons assigned or attached to the wing , the 581st ARCS was the lone squadron devoted to flying operations . Korean War . The 581st wing proved to be flexible , and its initial theater deployment plan , outlined in Far East Command Operations Plan ( OPLAN ) 3 – 52 , capitalized on this flexibility . The OPLAN established a concept of covert operations for theater forward deployment of assigned 581st ARCW assets . A key function of the wing was to maintain the capability to introduce special agents and guerrilla units into Communist countries and Communist - held areas , to supply them by and guerrilla units operating there , and to keep in contact with them by radio for the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) . The mission to introduce and extract special agents into Communist countries operated under the cover of psychological warfare , providing cover against inquiries into their clandestine purpose . Four of the wing ' s twelve Boeing B - 29 Superfortress es , and associated support personnel were placed on a 60 - day rotation schedule to Yokota Air Base , Japan , where they were co - located with the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron , which also flew the B - 29 . The wing ' s B - 29s were retrofitted to allow cargo or human " drops " and were stripped of armament , with the exception of the tail gun , and countermeasures in order to lighten their load and increase altitude and range . One crew member was trained as a CIA contact , known as the jumpmaster . The identities of these jumpmasters were kept secret , even from the wing commander who did not know of their CIA connection . However , the wing had a senior officer serving as a liaison with the CIA . This was Lt . Colonel George Pittman , whose identity was also kept secret from those who did not have a need to know . The four Fairchild C - 119 Flying Boxcar and support personnel were placed on a 90 - day rotation schedule . The commander , 315th Air Division determined where the aircraft would be deployed . Two Grumman SA - 16 Albatrosses were sent to K - 16 ( Seoul Airport ) in South Korea to augment B Flight of the 6167th Air Base Group . The four Sikorsky H - 19 A helicopters were also deployed to K - 16 to support the 2157th Air Rescue Squadron ( in fact , they were co - located with the 2157th but actually supported B Flight , as did the two SA - 16s ) . " 34 CCRAK " maintained Operational Control ( OPCON ) of these forces and employed them into North Korea along with B Flight and Special Air Missions detachment aircraft . The wing ' s planes were painted solid black after their arrival at Clark AFB , and they flew long - range leaflet drop missions over North Korea . PSYWAR “ leaflet bombs ” were loaded with various forms of PSYWAR materiel and then airdropped from high altitude . An altitude - sensitive fuse opened the container at a predetermined set altitude , dependent on pre - mission forecast winds and desired dispersal patterns . One of the most sensational missions of the 581st in Korea occurred on 12 January 1953 , when a 581st B - 29 ( tail number 44 - 62217 , call sign " Stardust Four Zero " ) on its first leaflet drop mission with the Wing Commander , Col . John Arnold ( as well as the commander of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing , Major William ( Bill ) Baumer ) on board , was shot down on their last leaflet target just south of the Yalu River in far northern Korea near the Chinese town of Antung . At the time , Russian fighter squadrons , some equipped for night flying , were supporting and supplying the Chinese with airpower . Twelve Russian MiG - 15 s from the 351st ( and perhaps the 535th ) Fighter Air Regiments intercepted the lone Superfortress south of the Yalu River , about 15 miles from the Chinese border . The MiGs were scrambled and vectored to the bomber ' s location by Russian radar - controlled searchlight units stationed near Antung , China . The searchlights illuminated the unarmed Superfortress and several MiGs engaged the bomber . Russian MiG pilot Senior Lt . Khabiev of the 351st regiment was credited with the intercept and downing of the B - 29 . Although US sources believe the B - 29 was flying in North Korean airspace at the time of its mayday call , a belief that is strongly disputed by the Chinese and Russian authorities , crew members who bailed out believe they landed in North Korean territory . Upon capture , the crew was rounded up , blindfolded and put aboard trucks , subsequently transported into China and later charged as CIA spies ( the Chinese subsequently learned of the CIA connection with the air resupply units ) . During the highly publicized Chinese trial in Baijing in October 1954 , the surviving crew members , along with captured CIA agents Fecteau and Downey , who were imprisoned two years earlier after they had been shot down while attempting to pick up their Chinese double agent , were given prison sentences ranging from 5 years to life . Not until 4 August 1955 , two years after the Korean War Armistice , were the surviving Stardust Four Zero crew members released from Chinese prison . These crew members were the longest held POW USAF captives of the war . First Indochina War . Beginning in 1953 , however , the wing ' s C - 119s began to be 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 . As this operation was underway , the wing was inactivated and its 581st Air Resupply Group , which received the wing ' s remaining assets , was transferred to control of Thirteenth Air Force . Lineage . 471st Bombardment Group 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing Components . Groups Squadrons