476th Fighter Group

The 476th Fighter Group was activated in China on 19 May 1943 and assigned to Fourteenth Air Force, but the group was never made operational and was disbanded two months later.[3]

The group was reconstituted and activated at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia on 1 December 1943 as a First Air Force replacement training unit.[3] It was assigned the 453d Fighter Squadron, which had been activated ten days earlier,[4] and the newly activated 541st,[5] 542d,[5] and 543d Fighter Squadrons.[6] Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.[7]

However, as the 476th was being organized at Richmond, the Army Air Forces was finding 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,[8] while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated.[9] As a result, the 476th and its squadrons apparently never became operational at Richmond.[1] Instead, the 476th was moved to Pocatello Army Air Field in late March 1944, where it was disbanded[3] and its personnel and equipment was used to form the 265th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit Fighter).

13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron McDonnell F-101B 57-0336 at Glasgow AFB

The group was reconstituted again as the 476th Fighter Group (Air Defense) and activated on 8 February 1957 as part of Air Defense Command.[3] The group was involved in activation of Glasgow AFB, Montana, but did not operate as a separate unit until 9 March 1959. On 2 July the 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved to Glasgow from Sioux City Municipal Airport and began to work up with McDonnell F-101 Voodoo interceptors. The group remained involved with training air defense crews until it was inactivated on 1 April 1960. On that day Strategic Air Command assumed control of Glasgow and the personnel and equipment of the 476th Group and its support units were transferred to SAC to organize the 4141st Combat Support Group and the 476th units were inactivated.[10] The 13th FIS was reassigned directly to the 29th Air Division.[11]

SAC had organized the 4141st Strategic Wing at Glasgow in the fall of 1958 as a tenant unit.[12] As it became apparent that the SAC mission would be the predominant one at Glasgow, the base was transferred to SAC and the ADC units there became tenants.

The group stood up as an AFRC associate unit equipped with A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and linked to the 23d Fighter Group in July 2009.

• Fourteenth Air Force, 19 May 1943 – 31 July 1943
• First Air Force, 1 December 1943
• 72d Fighter Wing, 26 March 1944 – 1 April 1944[13]
• Air Defense Command, 8 February 1957
• Central Air Defense Force, 2 July 1959
• 29th Air Division, 1 April 1960
• 442d Fighter Wing, 1 February 2009 – present[1]

• 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron: 2 July 1959 – 1 April 1960[11]
• 76th Fighter Squadron: 1 February 2009 – present[1]
• 453d Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1943 – 1 April 1944[4]
• 541st Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1943 – 1 April 1944[5]
• 542d Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1943 – 1 April 1944[5]
• 543d Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1943 – 1 April 1944[6]

• 476th USAF Dispensary,[14] 8 February 1957 – 1 April 1960
• 476th Air Base Squadron,[15] 8 February 1957 – 1 April 1960
• 476th Maintenance Squadron, 1 February 2009 – present
• 476th Materiel Squadron, 8 February 1957 – 1 April 1960[16]
• 476th Aerospace Medical Flight, 1 February 2009 – present

• Kunming Airport, China, 19 May 1943 – 31 July 1943
• Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia, 1 December 1943
• Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho, 26 March 1944 – 1 April 1944
• Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana, 8 February 1957 – 1 April 1960
• Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, 1 February 2009 – present[1]

• McDonnell F-101B Voodoo, 1959–1960
• Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, 2009–present

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

• 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 2 January 2014.
• 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 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.