4729th Air Defense Group

4729th Air Defense Group
324th FIS F-86D Sabres at Westover AFB
Active	1957–1958
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Fighter Interceptor
Role	Air Defense
Part of	Air Defense Command

The 4729th Air Defense Group is a discontinued Boston Air Defense Sector at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, where it was discontinued in 1958.

The group was formed to provide a single command and support organization for the two fighter interceptor squadrons of Air Defense Command, that were tenants at Westover, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base. It was also assigned a maintenance squadron to perform aircraft maintenance. It was discontinued after the 324th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved in 1958, leaving only a single fighter squadron at Westover.

History

The 4729th Air Defense Group was established to provide a

Aerospace Defense Command (ADC) Bases CONUS Amarillo Beale Charleston Davis-Monthan Dobbins Dover Dow Duluth Eglin Edwards Ellington Ellsworth England Ent Ethan Allen Fairfax Fallon Fort Heath Fort Lee Geiger George Glasgow Grand Forks Grenier Griffiss Gunter Hamilton Hancock Homestead Hurlburt Hunter Imeson Key West Kincheloe Kingsley Kirtland Lackland Laredo Larson Luke MacDill March Malmstrom McCoy McChord McClellan McGhee Tyson McGuire Minneapolis-St. Paul Minot Mitchel New Castle Niagara Falls Norton O'Hare Otis Oxnard Paine Perrin Peterson Pittsburgh Portland Presque Isle R.I. Bong Richards-Gebaur Robins K.I. Sawyer Selfridge Seymour Johnson Sioux City Stead Stewart Suffolk County Tinker Travis Truax Tyndall Vandenburg Vincent Walker Webb Westover Wright-Patterson Wurtsmith Youngstown Overseas Ernest Harmon Frobisher Bay Goose Bay Keflavik McAndrew Pepperrell Thule Stations CONUS Adair Aiken Almaden Alpena Antigo Arlington Heights Baker Bedford Bellefontaine Belleville Benton Blaine Brookfield Brunswick Bucks Harbor Burns Calumet Cambria Cape Charles Cape Cod Carmi Caswell Chandler Charleston Cheyenne Mountain Claysburg Clear Colville Condon Continental Divide Cottonwood Cross City Crystal Springs Curlew Custer Cut Bank Dallas Center Dauphin Island Dickinson Duncanville Eldorado Empire Finland Finley Flintstone Fordland Fort Fisher Fort Lee Fortuna Gettysburg Grand Marais Grand Rapids Guthrie Hanna City Havre Highlands Houma Hutchinson Joelton Keno Killeen Kingman Kirksville Klamath Lake Charles Lake City Las Cruces Las Vegas Lewistown Lockport Lufkin Lyndonville Madera Makah Mica Peak Miles City Mill Valley Minot Montauk Moriarty Mount Hebo Mount Laguna Mount Lemmon Naselle North Bend North Charleston North Truro Oklahoma City Olathe Omaha Opheim Osceola Othello Owingsville Ozona Palermo Point Arena Port Austin Port Isabel Pyote Red Bluff Rochester Rockport Rockville (Indiana) Roslyn Rye Saint Albans San Clemente Island Santa Rosa Island Saratoga Springs Sault Ste Marie Shemya Snelling Snow Mountain Sweetwater Texarkana Tierra Amarilla Thomasville Tonopah Topsham Two Creeks Wadena Walnut Ridge Watertown Waverly West Mesa Willow Run Winnemucca Winslow Winston-Salem Woomera Yaak Zapata Overseas Armstrong Baldy Hughes Beausejour Cape Makkovik Cartwright Cut Throat Island Elliston Ridge Fox Harbour Hofn Hopedale Kamloops La Scie Langanes Latrar Melville Puntzi Mountain Ramore Red Cliff Rockville Saglek St. Anthony Saskatoon Mountain Sioux Lookout Spotted Island Stephenville Air Defense units Forces Central Air Defense Eastern Air Defense Iceland Western Air Defense First Fourth Tenth Fourteenth Air Divisions 8th 9th 20th 21st 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32d 33d 34th 35th 36th 37th 58th 64th 73d 85th Sectors Albuquerque Bangor Boston Chicago Detroit Duluth Goose Grand Forks Great Falls Kansas City Los Angeles Minot Montgomery New York Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland Reno Sault Sainte Marie San Francisco Seattle Sioux City Spokane Stewart Syracuse Washington Wings Fighter 1st 4th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 56th 78th 81st 325th 328th 507th Detection and Control 71st 73d 551st 552d Air Defense 46th 4620th 4621st 4622d 4624th 4625th 4627th 4628th 4683d 4700th 4702d 4703d 4704th 4705th 4706th 4707th 4708th 4709th 4710th 4711th 4750th 4751st 4752d 4756th 4780th Groups Fighter 1st 4th 14th 15th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 53d 54th 56th 57th 78th 79th 81st 82d 84th 325th 326th 327th 328th 329th 337th 343d 355th 408th 412th 414th 473d 475th 476th 478th 507th Air Defense 10th 500th 501st 502d 503d 514th 515th 516th 517th 518th 519th 520th 521st 525th 527th 528th 529th 530th 533d 534th 564th 566th 567th 568th 575th 637th 665th 678th 692d 701st 751st 762d 765th 778th 780th 827th 858th 4606th 4620th 4676th 4700th 4721st 4722d 4727th 4728th 4729th 4730th 4731st 4732d 4733d 4734th 4735th 4750th 4756th Aircraft Control & Warning 503d 505th 540th 541st 542d 543d 544th 545th 546th 563d 564th 565th 566th Squadrons Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons Major weapon systems Electronic TB-29 EB-57 EC-121 Fighters Propellor: F-47 F-51 P-61 F-82 Subsonic Jet: P-80 F-84 F-86 F-89 F-94 Supersonic Jet: F-101 F-102 F-104 F-106 Missiles AIM-4 AIM-26 AIR-2 CIM-10 Ships Guardian Interceptor Interdictor Interpreter Investigator Locator Lookout Outpost Pickett Protector Scanner Searcher Skywatcher Tracer Watchman Vigil Texas Towers Texas Tower 2 Texas Tower 3 Texas Tower 4 Miscellaneous (on Wikimedia Commons) General Surveillance Radar Stations

• Leonard, Barry (2009). History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense. Vol II, 1955-1972. Fort McNair, DC: Center for Military History.  

Further Reading

• Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980. Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. 
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.  
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.  

Bibliography

Notes

References

• Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons
• List of F-86 Sabre units
• List of F-104 Starfighter operators

See also

• North American F-86D Sabre 1957
• North American F-86L Sabre 1957-1958
• Lockheed F-104A Starfighter 1958

Aircraft

• 324th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 8 July 1957 – 25 June 1958
• 337th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 8 July 1957 – 25 June 1958
• 603rd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 8 August 1957 - 8 February 1958^[7]

Components

• Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, 8 July 1957 – 25 June 1958

Stations

• Boston Air Defense Sector, 8 July 1957 – 25 June 1958^[1]

Assignments

Discontinued on 25 June 1958

• Designated and organized as: 4729th Air Defense Group on 8 July 1957

Lineage

The group was discontinued when the 324th FIS departed for Morocco, leaving only a single operational ADC squadron at Westover.^[1][5] The 603rd CAMS was also inactivated, while the 337th FIS was then assigned directly to the Boston Air Defense Sector.^[6][7]

The group was assigned the 324th FIS and 337th FIS, flying radar equipped and rocket armed North American F-86D Sabre aircraft^[3][4] as its operational components,^[5][6] to provide air defense of New England. These squadrons were already stationed at Westover and had been assigned to the Boston Air Defense Sector.^[5][6] In August, maintenance for the two fighter squadrons was combined in the 603rd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (CAMS), which was activated at Westover.^[7] The 324th FIS and 337th FIS upgraded to newer model Sabres with data link for interception control through the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system in the fall of 1957.^[3][4] In the spring of 1958, the 337th FIS converted to Lockheed F-104 Starfighter aircraft.^[3]

[2]