1500th Air Transport Wing
The 1500th Air Transport Wing (ATW) is a discontinued United States Air Force unit. It was last active in 1971 at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii under the designation 6486th Air Base Wing (ABW). The 1500th ATW was a heavy cargo transport wing of Military Air Transport Service (MATS), formed on 1 June 1949. In 1952 the wing lost its operational elements and became the base support element for Hickam until it was replaced by the 15th Air Base Wing in 1971. History. 1500th Air Transport Group. Military Air Transport Service assumed responsibility for the strategic  airlift mission previously carried out by the Air Transport Command (ATC), transporting cargo and personnel to destinations within the Pacific and the Continental United States. It organized the 531st Air Transport Group (ATG) at Hickam to replace ATC's 1521st Air Force Base Unit (Air Transport). The group was initially equipped with three squadrons of C-54 Skymasters that could reach the Continental US, but required intermediate stopovers along the Pacific transport routes to stations as far away as Pakistan. The unit also had association with Naval Air Transport squadrons assigned to Hickam as part of the joint service organization of  MATS. The group was a tenant organization at Hickam, which was a Pacific Air Command (PAC) Base. In October 1948, the group was redesignated the 1500th ATG when MATS renumbered its Table of Distribution (TD) units to conform to USAF policy that its TD units be numbered between 1200 and 2100. 1500th Air Transport Wing. In 1949, Hickam transferred from PAC to MATS, and MATS organized the 1500th Air Transport Wing as the overall headquarters for the 1500th ATG and support organizations to operate Hickam. In 1949, MATS reorganized its units at Hickam and the wing briefly lost its host  responsibilities for Hickam and its operational squadrons. It soon received C-54 squadrons, which were transferred from the 1501st ATW at Fairfeld-Susun (later Travis) AFB. It received its first long-range C-97 Stratofreighter aircraft and two additional squadrons in 1951. The wing reorganized in May 1952 as the 1500th Air Base Wing and the 1500th Air Transport Group was reassigned to Pacific Division, MATS. The wing continued as a support organization for Hickam and the Pacific Division until 1954. At that time, in anticipation of the transfer of Hickam to Far East Air Forces (later Pacific Air Forces) (PACAF), the  wing was reassigned and renumbered as the 6486th Air Base Wing to reflect its new assignment. It remained the host at Hickam until being replaced by the 15th ABW in a USAF program to continue the histories of notable combat units. Lineage. Components. Groups Squadrons Note: 1284th Air Transport Squadron (later 50th ATS) operated a VC-97 version of Stratofreighter, 1951–1966 for VIP/Special Air Missions.