Wing (military unit)
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
In
Size Group[1] |
British and USN |
USAF and USMC |
USSF | Canadian[2] | French AAE | German Air Force | Italian Air Force | general or
commanding officer | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
÷ | Air division (no longer used) |
÷ | Air division Division aérienne |
÷ | Luftwaffendivision (no longer used) |
Divisione aerea | OF-7
| ||||
|
Group
|
Wing
|
Delta (OF-5) | Group[4] Groupe aérienne (no longer used) |
Brigade Aérienne | ÷ | Brigata aerea | OF-6
| ||||
|
Wing | Group | Wing Escadre |
Escadre | Geschwader[5] (OF-5) | Stormo | OF-6
| |||||
|
Squadron | Squadron | Squadron (OF-4) | Squadron Escadron |
Escadron | Gruppe (OF-4) | Gruppo | OF-4
| ||||
|
Flight | Flight | ÷ | Flight Escadrille |
Escadrille | Staffel[6] (OF-3) | Squadriglia | OF-3
| ||||
|
Flight | Element/Section | Section | Section | Schwarm[7] / Kette | sezione | OF-2
|
Commonwealth usage
Origins
On its establishment in 1912, the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was intended to be an inter-service, combined force of the British Army and Royal Navy. Given the rivalry that existed between the army and navy, new terminology was used, in order to avoid marking the corps out as having an army or navy ethos. While the term "wing" had been used in the cavalry, its more general use predominated. Accordingly, the word "wing", with its allusion of flight, was chosen as the term of subdivision and the corps was split into a "Military Wing" (i.e. an army wing) and a "Naval Wing". Each wing consisted of a number of squadrons (the term "squadron" already being used by both the Army and the Navy).
By 1914, the naval wing had become the Royal Naval Air Service, and gained its independence from the Royal Flying Corps. In 1915, the Royal Flying Corps had significantly expanded and it was felt necessary to create organizational units which would control two or more squadrons; the term "wing" was re-used for these new organizational units.
The Royal Flying Corps was amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service in 1918, creating the Royal Air Force. The RFC usage of wing was maintained in the new service.[8]
Current use
Unit type | Commanding officer | NATO standard rank scale |
---|---|---|
Operational flying wings | Group Captain | OF-5 |
Ground-based wings | Wing Commander
|
OF-4 |
In most
Air forces of
Additionally countries influenced by the US in the building of their modern air forces also use the term wing. Several such examples are the Republic of Korea Air Force, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the Royal Thai Air Force, the Philippine Air Force, the Peruvian Air Force, the Venezuelan Air Force, the Ecuadorian Air Force and the Brazilian Air Force.
A wing may also be used for non-flying units, such as the
In 2006, expeditionary air wings were established at the RAF's main operating bases. These expeditionary air wings consist of the deployable elements of the main operating base and other supplementary forces. Expeditionary air wings may be subordinated to an expeditionary air group.
In the
Canadian usage
While the original pre-unification Royal Canadian Air Force followed the British pattern and used squadrons, which belonged to wings, which in turn belonged to groups, the modern Royal Canadian Air Force has eliminated groups. Squadrons still report to wings which now report to one of two air divisions. Wings vary greatly in size and may comprise personnel numbering in the hundreds or thousands.
In the 1990s, the
United States
United States Air Force & Civil Air Patrol
By comparison, in the
In
"The
"Constituted combat wings are always numbered in a single series beginning with Arabic "1st". Examples: 1st Fighter Wing, 21st Space Wing, and the Strategic Air Command's 509th Bomb Wing. All constituted wings have one, two, or three digits in their numerical designations.
"In many cases, the numerical designation of the wing came from the combat group that preceded it and became an integral part of the post-World War II wing. In other words, when the 14th Fighter Wing (later, 14th Flying Training Wing) came into existence, it received the 14th numerical designation from the 14th Fighter Group which had already existed for a number of years and which became the wing's combat component. At the same time, the other component establishments, and units of these establishments, also received the 14th numerical designations, aligning each of them directly to the 14th Wing. The tactical squadrons of the combat group, however, retained their separate and distinct numerical designations.
"The Air Force has three basic types of wings: operational, air base, and specialized mission. According to Air Force Instruction 38-101 (1994):
- an operational wing is a wing that has an operations group and related operational mission activity assigned to it. When an operational wing performs the primary mission of the base, it usually maintains and operates the base. In addition, an operational wing is capable of self-support in functional areas like maintenance, munitions, as needed. When an operational wing is a tenant organization, the host command provides it with varying degrees of base and logistics support.
- An air base wing usually maintains and operates a base, and often provides functional support to a major command headquarters.
- A specialized mission wing may be either a host wing or a tenant wing and performs a specialized mission such as intelligence or training."
In the
The
In the
Unlike their USAF counterparts, all USN and USMC air wings are tenant activities ashore and have no command responsibility for the installation at which they are normally based when not afloat or forward deployed. Naval air stations and Marine Corps air stations (and facilities) have separate commanding officers that are independent of the operational wing structure. Many mission support functions on these installations, such as personnel support and medical/dental facilities, are also independent of both the air wing and air station command structures and are independent tenant commands with their own commanding officers or officers-in-charge.
United States Space Force
The United States Space Force has a single command echelon known as a delta which combines the wing and group echelons found in air forces.[11]
Equivalents in other languages
In other languages, equivalent air force units equivalent to a US wing include: -equivalents commanded by colonels in a direct parallel to the wings of other member states.
Unit type | Commanding officer |
---|---|
Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader (en: Tactical Air Force Wing) |
Geschwaderkommodore (OF-5) |
Fliegerabwehrraketengeschwader (en: Air Defence Missile Wing) |
Geschwaderkommodore (OF-5) |
Non-English equivalents of the British wing include the German Gruppe, Italian Gruppo, and French groupe.
German usage in World War II
The World War II German Luftwaffe Geschwader and Gruppe were similar to the wing and group of the United States Army Air Forces of the same era.
References
- ^ APP-6D NATO Joint Military Symbology. NATO Standardization Office. October 2017. pp. B-1–B-2.
- ^ APP-6D B-6
- ^ APP-6D B-1 - B-2
- ^ Royal Canadian Air Force. "Air Command Groups (1975-2011)". Royal Canadian Air Force Webpage. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ APP-6D B-8
- ^ APP-6D B-8
- ^ APP-6D B-8
- ^ "Command Development_P". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
- ^ AFI 38-101 Manpower and Organization (PDF), 29 August 2019, pp. 69-79. Archived 2022-12-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Types of USAF Organizations". Air Force Historical Research Agency, Research Division, Organizational History Branch. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009.
- ^ Erwin, Sandra, "Space Force to stand up three major commands, lower echelons to be called 'deltas'", Space News, June 30, 2020. Accessed 26 September 2022.