500th Air Defense Group

500th Air Defense Group
71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-86A Sabre
Active	1945-1947, 1953–1955
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Fighter Interceptor
Role	Air Defense
Part of	Air Defense Command
Equipment	F-86 Sabre

The 500th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force (USAF) organization. Its last assignment was with the 4708th Air Defense Wing at Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania. It was last active on 18 August 1955.

The group was originally activated as a support group at the end of World War II and provided logistics and administrative support for the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Germany and the United States until 1946, when the two groups were inactivated. The groups were activated again in 1947, but the 500th was soon discontinued when the USAF reorganized its combat and support units in the wing base reorganization in which a single wing was responsible for a base.

The group was activated once again in 1953, when ADC established it as the headquarters for a dispersed fighter-interceptor squadron and the medical, maintenance, and administrative squadrons supporting it. It was replaced in 1955 when ADC transferred its mission, equipment, and personnel to the 54th Fighter Group in a project that replaced air defense groups commanding fighter squadrons with fighter groups with distinguished records during World War II.

The group was activated as the 500th Air Service Group shortly after V-E Day in a reorganization of Army Air Forces (AAF) support groups in which the AAF replaced Service Groups that included personnel from other branches of the Army and supported two combat groups with Air Service Groups including only Air Corps units. It was designed to support a single combat group. Its 918th Air Engineering Squadron provided maintenance that was beyond the capability of the combat group, its 742nd Air Materiel Squadron handled all supply matters, and its Headquarters & Base Services Squadron provided other support. It supported 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Germany and then returned to the US, where both groups were inactivated.