History
The wing's lineage and honors can be traced not just through its own history, but through the history of three earlier organizations:
- The 501st Bombardment Group (501st BG) (1944–1946)
- The 701st Tactical Missile Wing (701st TMW) (1956–1958)
- The 501st Tactical Missile Wing (501st TMW) (1982–1991)
The 501st BG was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization serving primarily in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. The 501st BG was part of Twentieth Air Force and engaged in very heavy bombardment B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan. Its aircraft were identified by a "Y" inside a diamond painted on the tail.
The 701st TMW served in West Germany during the Cold War in the 1950s. The 501st TMW operated Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM) at RAF Greenham Common, England during the Cold War in the 1980s.
Read more about this topic: 501st Combat Support Wing
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.”
—Pierre Bayle (16471706)
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (18151902)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (17111776)