Wing (military unit)

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In

(around 10 squadrons). Each squadron will contain around 20 planes.

Organizational structure of flying units in selected NATO countries, by relative size

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

), whereas ground-based wings have continued to be commanded by wing commanders.

Air forces of

(krídlo).

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

are administratively divided into wings.

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

wing commander.

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

in British Columbia, on the other side of the country from Shearwater).

United States

United States Air Force & Civil Air Patrol

By comparison, in the

, exist for various other purposes, and their scope may extend to one base, one theater or worldwide.

In

"The

Table of Organization and Equipment

(constituted) combat wings having a combat group, an air base group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group.

"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

, have only one group due to the small geographical and manpower size of the wing.

U.S. Naval Aviation (U.S. Navy and Marine Corps)

The

. Carrier air wings are commanded by either a Navy captain or a USMC colonel with the title of "CAG" (Commander, Air Group), a legacy title from the former carrier air groups.

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.

Modern German Air Force usage

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

Main article:

Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–45)

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

1. ^ APP-6D NATO Joint Military Symbology. NATO Standardization Office. October 2017. pp. B-1–B-2.
2. ^ APP-6D B-6
3. ^ APP-6D B-1 - B-2
4. ^ Royal Canadian Air Force. "Air Command Groups (1975-2011)". Royal Canadian Air Force Webpage. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
5. ^ APP-6D B-8
6. ^ APP-6D B-8
7. ^ APP-6D B-8
8. ^ "Command Development_P". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
9. ^ AFI 38-101 Manpower and Organization (PDF), 29 August 2019, pp. 69-79. Archived 2022-12-13 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ "Types of USAF Organizations". Air Force Historical Research Agency, Research Division, Organizational History Branch. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009.
11. ^ 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.