Seattle Fighter Wing


The Seattle Fighter Wing was a unit of the United States Air Force, active during the Pacific War of 1942-45. Based in the Northwest, its original purpose was defense against possible Japanese air attack.

World War II

The Wing has a unique history dating back to the establishment of the Seattle Air Defense Wing in the summer of 1942. The wing was established as an air defense organization to provide protection primarily for the Boeing plants and the multitude of military facilities in the northwest; from Vancouver, British Columbia to Portland, Oregon. It was established in mid-1942 after the Second Air Force shifted its mission from air defense of the US northwest to a training organization for heavy bomber crews and groups. The Wing consisted of fighter groups assigned to McChord Field and other fighter airfields in the northwest engaged in training provided by the Fourth Air Force and for third stage training in the Washington-Oregon region which were attached to the wing, and would, if necessary, provide a defensive unit in case of, presumably, a Japanese attack.
By mid-1943 the fortunes of war had eliminated the threat of an air raid by the Japanese on the West Coast; the wing was reduced to an administrative unit under IV Fighter Command, later being reassigned to the Fourth Air Force. It was designated as a Defense Region, remaining an administrative organization until the end of the war.

Postwar era

The organization was placed in a provisional status in January 1945, being re-designated as the Seattle Provisional Control Group. It controlled little or no assets, being under the Fourth Air Force 321st Wing. Its mission remained the air defense of the Pacific Northwest and in July 1946, it moved from Fourth Air Force Headquarters in San Francisco, California to a location in the Seattle area. It was assigned to the new Air Defense Command upon its activation on 21 March 1946. It coordinated air defense in the Northwest, being re-designated the 412th Western Aircraft Control and Warning Group on 1 March 1947.

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