1503d Air Transport Group
Encyclopedia
The 1503d Air Transport Group is an inactive United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 unit. Its last was assigned to the 1502d Air Transport Wing
1502d Air Transport Wing
The 1502d Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit, being inactivated on 8 January 1966.The 1502d ATW was a heavy cargo transport wing of the Military Air Transport Service , formed on 1 June 1948...

, Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

, stationed at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated on 8 January 1966

With the disestablishment of MATS, the assets of the unit at Tachikawa were reassigned to the 6100th Support Wing, Pacific Air Forces.

History

The unit was initially formed at Tachikawa AAB, Japan in 1946 with a mission to provide transportation for priority passengers and cargo in and around the Tokyo Area; to support the Occupation Government in Japan, and provide strategic transport to the United States.

Tachikawa was initially occupied by Army forces on 5 September 1945. At the time the runway was unusable due to heavy bombardment during 1944 and 1945 by the USAAF XXI Bomber Command
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in Guam for strategic bombing during World War II.- Lineage:* Constituted as XXI Bomber Command on 1 Mar 1944, and activated the same day.-Assignments:...

 B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

 bombers which heavily damaged the Tachikawa Aircraft
Tachikawa Aircraft Company Ltd
was an aircraft manufacturer in the Empire of Japan, specializing primarily in aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. It was based at Tachikawa, in Tokyo Prefecture.-Tachikawa Aircraft:...

 manufacturing facilities, of which the airfield was a part of prior to the occupation.

By 1 January 1946 the base was cleaned up enough to permit Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...

 C-47 Skytrain
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...

 and C-46 Commando
C-46 Commando
The Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando was a transport aircraft originally derived from a commercial high-altitude airliner design. It was instead used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces as well as the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps under the designation R5C...

 aircraft to operate from the base, ATC established the 1503d AAF Base Unit to manage the cargo and personnel operations at the airfield. Larger C-54 Skymaster
C-54 Skymaster
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces and British forces in World War II and the Korean War. Besides transport of cargo, it also carried presidents, British heads of government, and military staff...

s began using the base by April 1946, and a day/night lighting system was installed and in operation by November 1946.

In 1947, Air Transport Command began to support the Seventh Air Force
Seventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....

 Service Command Japan Air Material Area (JAMA) at Tachikawa, which eventually became the major tenant unit at the base, and by 1948 was providing depot-level maintenance for aircraft in Far East Air Force and logistical support from Air Materiel Command. In July 1949, JAMA was redesignated Far East Air Material Command (FEAMCOM)

With the inactvation of Air Transport Command in 1948, Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

 redesignated the 1503d AAFBU the 540th Air Transport Wing, later 1503d Air Transport Wing. The wing became the host organization at Tachikawa Air Force Base upon activation.

The 1503d ATW became the main MATS organization in the Western Pacific, supporting numerous tenant organizations such as the Air Rescue Service
Air Rescue Service
The Air Rescue Service is a disestablished organization in the United States Air Force. Previously a subcommand of the Military Air Transport Service , a USAF major command , ARS was redesignated as the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service on 1 Jan 1966 when MATS was redesignated as the Military...

; Air Weather Service, and Far East Air Force theater Troop Carrier Groups (later Wings) which transshipped supplies and personnel from the MATS Aerial Port at Tachikawa throughout the 1950s.

The first major mission by the 1503d was the evacuation of large numbers of Americans out of China in 1948 after the Communists defeated the Chinese Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War.

The Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 saw operations increase, with Troop Carrier units carrying out the evacuation of American civilians and then transporting the torrent of Allied military men and material flowing into the war zone. Around the clock planes arrived and departed. A typical flight might carry 35,000 pounds of hand grenades to South Korea, with 80 wounded personnel arriving to be transported to the USAF Hospital on the base. For thousands of servicemen whose tours took them into, through or out of Tachikawa, the USAF hospital became the best barometer of American military activities in the Far East.

MATS flights arriving on C-118, C-121, C-124, and later C-135 jet transports from Hickam Field, Hawaii or being staged through Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. From Tachikawa, outbound MATS flights headed to Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a former United States Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles west of Angeles City, about 40 miles northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991...

 heading to Saigon, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, and on to Karachi Airport, Pakistan or to Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, Wake
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...

 or Midway Island in the Central Pacific Region.

As United States military forces began to increase in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

, more and more equipment moved into first Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...

 in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

, then to Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base
Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base
Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base is located approximately 25 miles north of Downtown Bangkok.It is the main operating and command base for the Royal Thai Air Force...

, near Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, and in early 1965 to the huge new Cam Ranh Air Base
Cam Ranh Air Base
Cam Ranh Air Base is located on Cam Ranh Bay in the province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. It was one of several South Vietnamese Air Force air bases built and used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War...

 with the jet C-141 Starlifter
C-141 Starlifter
The Lockheed C-141 Starlifter was a military strategic airlifter in service with the Air Mobility Command of the United States Air Force...

 transports.

In 1964, operations from Tachikawa began to phase down as its location in the urban area of Tokyo made heavy transport operations undesirable, with more and more heavy transport operations going to Yokota Air Base
Yokota Air Base
, is a United States Air Force base in the city of Fussa, one of 26 cities in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo.The base houses 14,000 personnel. The base occupies a total area of and has a runway...

. The 1503d was reduced to Group Level, and focused more on Aeromedical Transport operations from the Philippines, and supporting MATS units at deployed locations in the Pacific.

With the inactivation of the Military Air Transport Service in 1966, the aerial port facilities were turned over to the Pacific Air Forces 6100th Support Wing, which had taken over base support duties from the 1503d ATW in 1953. Military Airlift Command
Military Airlift Command
The Military Airlift Command is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command of the USAF which was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It was constituted on 1 January 1966 and active until the end of the Cold War, when the Air Force table of organization was revised...

 operations were reassigned to Yokota Air Base

Lineage

  • Established as: 1503d Army Air Force Base Unit, 1 Jan 1946
Redesignated as: 540th Air Transport Wing, 1 June 1948
Redesignated as: 1503d Air Transport Wing, 1 Jul 1948
Redesignated as: 1503d Air Transport Wing (Medium), 1 Jan 1956
Redesignated as: 1503d Air Transport Wing (Heavy), 1 Jul 1957
Redesignated as: 1503d Air Transport Group, 22 Jun 1964
Inactiated on 8 Jan 1966

Assignments

  • Western Pacific Wing, Air Transport Command
    Air Transport Command
    Air Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...

    , 1 Jan 1946
  • Pacific Division, Military Air Transport Service
    Military Air Transport Service
    The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

    , 1 Jun 1948
  • Western Transport Air Force, Military Air Transport Service, 1 July 1958
  • 1502d Air Transport Wing
    1502d Air Transport Wing
    The 1502d Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit, being inactivated on 8 January 1966.The 1502d ATW was a heavy cargo transport wing of the Military Air Transport Service , formed on 1 June 1948...

    , 22 Jun 1964 – 8 Jan 1966

Stations

  • Tachikawa Army Air Base (later Air Force Base, later Air Base), Japan, 1 Jan 1946 – 8 Jan 1966
Detachments at
Midway Naval Air Station
Henderson Field (Midway Atoll)
Henderson Field is a public airport located on Sand Island in Midway Atoll, an unincorporated territory of the United States. The airport was once used as an emergency diversion point for ETOPS operations. It is subsidized by Boeing...

, Midway Island
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...

, (1511th Support Squadron)
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a former United States Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles west of Angeles City, about 40 miles northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991...

, Philippines, (Det 2, 1453 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron)
Mactan Island Airfield
Mactan Air Base
Mactan Air Base was a facility of the United States Air Force located on Mactan Island in Cebu, Philippines.-Location:Mactan Air Base is located on Mactan Island, off Cebu City in the province Cebu in the south central Philippines...

, Philippines, (1509th Support Squadron)
Cam Ranh Air Base
Cam Ranh Air Base
Cam Ranh Air Base is located on Cam Ranh Bay in the province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. It was one of several South Vietnamese Air Force air bases built and used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War...

, South Vietnam, (1512th Support Squadron)
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