| Unit Name: | 399th Tactical Missile Wing |
| Dates: | 1943–1944; 1957–1958 |
| Role: | heavy bomber, then cruise missile training |
| Notable Commanders: | Lewis S. Norman |
The 399th Tactical Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The unit was formed in 1985 by the consolidation of two inactive units.
The 399th Bombardment Group was activated in March 1943 and served as an Operational Training Unit, then as a Replacement Training Unit until it was disbanded in March 1944 when the Army Air Forces reorganized its training and support units in the United States.
The 589th Tactical Missile Group was a TM-61 Matador training unit, which served in Florida from 1957 through 1958.
The wing's first predecessor was the 399th Bombardment Group, which was activated at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona on 1 March 1943, but made two moves the following month, arriving at Wendover Field, Utah on 27 April. The group was composed of the 604th, 605th, 606th, and 607th Bombardment Squadrons. At Wendover, it served as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) for Consolidated B-24 Liberator units until August.[1] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups".[2]
The group became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).[1] Like OTUs, RTUs were oversize units, however their mission was to train individual pilots and aircrews.[2] Following this mission change, the 399th was reassigned from Second Air Force to Fourth Air Force, then moved to March Field, California in December.[1]
However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units like the 399th, which were assigned personnel and equipment based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which was manned and equipped based on the station's requirements.[3] The 399th Group was disbanded, and along with its elements and supporting units at March was used to form the 420th AAF Base Unit (Bombardment Replacement Training Unit-Heavy).[1] [4]
The second predecessor of the wing was the 589th Tactical Missile Group, which was activated at Orlando Air Force Base, Florida on 8 March 1957 as a training unit for the TM-61 Matador cruise missile. The group formed part of the 4504th Tactical Missile Wing. In April 1958, the group's missile squadron, the 24th Tactical Missile Squadron was transferred to the 588th Tactical Missile Group, when the 588th's 17th Tactical Missile Squadron deployed to Taiwan independently and plans were developed to deploy the 588th to Osan Air Base, South Korea. Although the 24th engaged in crew training at Orlando, it never received any missiles. The squadron did, however, deploy to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it launched TM-61 Matador missiles under the guidance of the 6555th Guided Missile Squadron. The group was then inactivated on 8 June 58, when its training functions were assigned directly to the 4504th Wing's 4504th Missile Training Squadron.[5]
The 399th Bombardment Group was reconstituted in July 1985 and consolidated with the 589th Tactical Missile Group as the 399th Tactical Missile Wing, but has not been active since.[6]
Activated on 1 March 1943
Disbanded on 31 March 1944[1]
Activated on 8 March 1957
Inactivated on 8 June 1958
Book: Goss, William A. . Craven, Wesley F. . Cate, James L. . The Army Air Forces in World War II. VI, Men & Planes. The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF.