1st Air Commando Wing
April 1961 to July 1968
United States of America
TYPE: USAF Unit
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: Hulburt Field, FL
OTHER NAMES: 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron (1961-1962), 4400th Combat Crew Training Group (1962-1963), 1st Air Commando Wing (1963-1968)
SUBSEQUENT NAME: 1st Special Operations Wing (from 1968)
Commandos operated by the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron, 4400th Combat Crew Training Group or 1st Air Commando Wing directly, or unit unknown:
In 1961, President Kennedy asked the Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay to prepare the armed forces to fight guerilla wars. LeMay complied by establishing the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Hulburt Field, FL, an auxiliary field of Eglin AFB on 14 April 1961. It was assigned vintage aircraft such as the C-47, T-28 and B-26, which had proved their ability to operate from remote, primitive bases and had useful capabilities in terms of firepower, range, and cargo capacity for counterinsurgency operations. The training unit, soon nicknamed "Jungle Jim", was fully operational by 8 September 1961. The squadron devised the techniques and tactics for building a counterinsurgency capability in developing countries from Latin America to Africa to Southeast Asia without a basic Air Force doctrine to guide them.
The first Jungle Jim operation, codenamed Sandy Beach One, involved training Mali paratroopers to operate from C-47 aircraft. The operation was a resounding success. In November of 1961, the Squadron deployed a detachment to Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam, on Operation Farmgate. Air Force special operations forces flew the first US combat missions in Vietnam. The Bien Hoa operation was soon to consume nearly all of USAF's commitment to supporting counterguerrilla operations.
USAF special operations continued to expand along with the growing commitment to Southeast Asia. The Squadron grew into the 4400th Combat Crew Training Group in March 1962, with a total strength of 1,800 personnel. On 27 April 1962, the Group was incorporated into the USAF Special Air Warfare Center, whose mission was to provide command and staff supervision over assigned units engaged in training aircrews and maintenance personnel in operations and employment of aircraft for fulfilling the Air Force mission in counterinsurgency situations and the development, in coordination with other services, of the doctrine, tactics, procedures, and equipment employed by air forces in counterinsurgency operations.
To augment already assigned aircraft, additional assets were added throughout the mid-1960s, including A-1, O-1, O-2, A-37, C-46, C-119, C-123 and later C-130 aircraft, along with numerous types of helicopters. The Special Air Warfare Center, commanded by a general officer, reported directly Tactical Air Command Headquarters at Langley AFB, VA, an arrangement which bypassed the 9th Air Force it was officially assigned to. By early 1964, the Special Air Warfare Center had grown from a small unit with limited resources to almost 3,000 personnel spread throughout the world, several hundreds of aircraft and priority funding for its projects.
The 4400th Combat Crew Training Group trained crews in all aspects of unconventional warfare and counterinsurgency air operations. It provided training in low-level parachute resupply, close air support, use of flares for night operations, assault takeoffs and landings, psychological operations with leaflets and loudspeakers and other counterguerrilla techniques. In addition to flying skills, air commandos were also given area orientation and basic language training for the area in which they were to be deployed. They learned a 600-800 word French or Spanish vocabulary before being certified for OCONUS deployment.
As the conflict in Vietnam grew in importance, the Group was elevated to 1st Air Commando Wing on 1 June 1963 and assumed all air commando operations and training responsibility. It also trained US and RVNAF aircrews in the USA and South Vietnam in unconventional warfare, counter-insurgency, psychological warfare and civic actions throughout the Vietnam War.
The unit was redesignated 1st Special Operations Wing on 8 July 1968 and continues its mission to this day.