List of MAJCOM wings of the United States Air Force

This is a list of Major Air Command (MAJCOM) Wings of the United States Air Force (USAF), a designation system in use from the summer of 1948 to the mid-1990s. From 1948 to 1991 MAJCOMs had the authority to form wings using manpower authorizations under their control. Each MAJCOM or other organization reporting directly to USAF was assigned a block of four digit numbers to use for units it organized. The system terminated in 1991 when USAF assumed control of all units except for provisional ones.

While the majority of the wings on the list were support units, combat commands could (and did) create combat units on their own as shown below.

In 1944, The Army Air Forces (AAF) faced a problem with its units in the United States. At the time, most AAF units were involved with training and preparing individuals and units for deployment to combat theaters or with meeting the logistics requirements of overseas units. Standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving to be poorly adapted to this mission. Accordingly, the AAF adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. Under this system, each command reporting to the AAF was given a bulk allotment of manpower and then received the flexibility to form units to carry out its mission by "customizing" the units on each station. AAF commands then organized their manpower into numbered "AAF Base Units." To prevent duplication, commands were allotted blocks of numbers to use when organizing their units, ranging from 100-199 for First Air Force to 4000-4999 for Air Technical Service Command. When the United States Air Force (USAF) became a separate service, the AAF Base Units became AF Base Units.

In August 1947, the AAF began a service test of the wing base organization model. This test was limited to combat wings, and unified the combat group and all support elements on a base under a single wing, which carried the same number as the combat group. The test proved the wing base plan to the satisfaction of the new USAF and was implemented in all combat commands in the summer of 1948. The success of the plan also led to its implementation in support commands and the support units of combat commands as well. Beginning in the late spring of 1948 AF Base Units were replaced by wings, groups, and squadrons. By July 1948 Headquarters, USAF began to allot blocks of numbers to its major subordinate formations, the Major Commands (MAJCOMs), in the same way that it had allotted blocks for AF Base Units. Because the new units controlled by MAJCOMs would be wings, groups, and squadrons, just like those controlled by Headquarters, USAF, the allotted blocks began at 1100, and numbers below 1000 were reserved for USAF use. Numbers originally ranged from 1100-1199 for Bolling Field Command to 4900-4999 for Special Weapons Command. Eventually, the numbers were expanded as high as 9999 for Continental Air Command Air Force Reserve units.

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