327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing

Group's first plane, the Curtiss P-40

P-47 as flown by the 327th Fighter Group

The 327th Fighter Group was activated at Mitchel Field, New York flying Curtiss P-40 Warhawks and assigned to I Fighter Command in late August 1942 with the 323d,[2] 324th,[3] and 325th Fighter Squadrons[4] assigned. Within a few days of activation, the group moved to Philadelphia Airport, and the following month to Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia. The group was part of the air defense force in the Mid-Atlantic region, and also served as an Operational Training Unit (OTU).[1] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups."[5]

In February 1943, the 327th replaced its Warhawks with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and added a fourth squadron, the 443d Fighter Squadron, to the group.[1][6] In 1944 the group became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU) training replacement Thunderbolt pilots for combat duty.[1] As an RTU, the group split, with group headquarters and the 323d and 324th Squadrons remaining at Richmond, while the 325th and 443d Squadrons moved to Norfolk Army Air Field, Virginia.[4][6][note 1] However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each of its bases was organized into a separate numbered unit. In the general reorganization, the group was disbanded on 10 April 1944[1] and replaced by Army Air Forces Base Units at Richmond and Norfolk as part of a major reorganization of the Army Air Forces.[7]

323d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-86D[note 2]

The group was reconstituted, redesignated as the 327th Fighter Group (Air Defense), and activated in 1955 to replace the 520th Air Defense Group[8] as part of Air Defense Command's Project Arrow, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.[9] It assumed the personnel and equipment of the 520th, while the 520th's operational squadrons, the 432d[10] and 456th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons[11] transferred their personnel and rocket armed and radar equipped North American F-86D Sabres[12] to the 323d and 325th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons, which moved on paper to Truax from Larson Air Force Base, Washington[2] and Hamilton Air Force Base, California[4] respectively. These moves were made because another purpose of Project Arrow was to reunite fighter squadrons with their traditional groups.[9] The group was assigned air defense of Great Lakes area and also was the host organization for USAF units at Truax. It was assigned a number of support organizations to fulfill its host responsibilities.[13][14][15]

325th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-102s

The group's 323d Squadron converted to Convair F-102A Delta Daggers in November 1956, while the 325th Squadron followed in February 1957.[12] In October 1957, the 61st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was assigned to the group and moved to Truax Field from Ernest Harmon Air Force Base, Canada, where it had been part of the 4731st Air Defense Group,[16] in a swap with the 323d, which replaced the 61st at Ernest Harmon.[2] The group was reduced to a single operational squadron in 1960, when the 61st inactivated.[16]

On 22 October 1962, at the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when President Kennedy announced the presence of Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) directed the dispersal of interceptors within the United States. The group sent one third of its aircraft to Grand Island Airport, Nebraska. All group aircraft, including those at home and those at Grand Island were armed and placed on fifteen-minute alert status. The increased alert posture was maintained through mid-November, when CONAD returned units to their normal alert status, except for those under the control of its 32d Region, which controlled air defense in the Southeastern United States.[17][18]

Although the number of ADC interceptor squadrons remained almost constant in the early 1960s, attrition (and the fact that production lines closed in 1961) caused a gradual drop in the number of planes assigned to a squadron, from 24 to typically 18 by 1964. The force reduction continued, finally resulting in a reduction in the number of interceptor units, and the group was inactivated in the spring of 1966.[19][20]

The group was redesignated the 327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing and activated in 2005 as part of the Air Force Materiel Command Transformation initiative that replaced traditional staff offices in the command's centers with wings, groups, and squadrons. The wing organized, directed and controlled total life-cycle management of 94 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, 585 Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers and C-135s, 69 Rockwell B-1 Lancers and 416 contractor logistics (including tanker, trainer, telemetry, airlift, command & control and US Presidential aircraft) aircraft.[21] Other supported systems included the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft, Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems (TRACALS), and the worldwide High Frequency Global Communications System.[21] The wing was also responsible for modification and upgrades to these systems.[21] It was inactivated in 2010 and replaced by the Aerospace Sustainment Directorate of Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center when Materiel Command returned to its traditional organizational structure.[22]

• I Fighter Command, 18 August 1942 – 1943 (attached to Philadelphia Air Defense Wing, 27 August 1942 – 22 September 1942)[1]
• Philadelphia Air Defense Wing, 1943[27]
• I Fighter Command, 1943 – 10 April 1944[1]
• 4706th Air Defense Wing, 18 August 1955[19]
• 37th Air Division, 8 July 1956[19]
• 30th Air Division, 1 April 1959[19]
• Chicago Air Defense Sector, 1 June 1959[19]
• 20th Air Division, 1 April 1966 – 25 June 1966[19]
• Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, 18 February 2005 – 30 June 2010[25][26]

• Mitchel Field, New York, 25 August 1942
• Philadelphia Airport, Pennsylvania, 27 August 1942
• Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia, ca. 22 September 1942 – 10 April 1944[28]
• Truax Field, Wisconsin, 18 August 1955 – 25 June 1966[19]
• Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 18 February 2005 – 30 June 2010[25][26]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air
• Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2012. Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1956
• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158.

Goss, William A (1955). "The Organization & its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48-3657.

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• McMullen, Richard F. (1964) The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962–1964, ADC Historical Study No. 27 (Confidential, declassified 22 March 2000)
• NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996)