Active 1951–1956 Role Special Operations | Country United States Part of Pacific Air Forces | |
 | ||
Branch United States Air Force Motto(s) Latin: Libertas per Veritatem (Liberty Through Truth) | ||
The 581st Air Resupply Group is an inactive United States Air Force group. Its last duty assignment was at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where it was inactivated in 1956.
Contents
History
for additional related history see 471st Special Operations Wing
In 1951, the USAF created the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing (ARCW), whose operational component was the 581st Air Resupply and Communications Group at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The group consisted of four squadrons. The 581st Air Resupply and Communications Squadron (later Air Resupply Squadron) (ARS), the 581st Airborne Materials Assembly Squadron, the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron, and the 581st Reproduction Squadron. The mission of the 581st ARS was the infiltration, resupply, and exfiltration of guerrilla-type personnel, and the aerial delivery of psychological warfare (PSYWAR) materiel (leaflets and other similar materials). Of the four squadrons assigned to the group, the 581st Air Resupply Squadron (ARS) was the lone squadron devoted to flying operations.
In the summer of 1952 the wing and group relocated to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, where it was assigned to Thirteenth Air Force.
Korean War
Shortly before deployment to Clark, the group was reduced to paper status and its squadrons were attached directly to wing headquarters. This arrangement continued until the wing was inactivated in September 1953 and the 581st Holding and Briefing Squadron and the 581st Reproduction Squadron were inactivated. The group was redesignated the 581st Air Resupply Group and gained a maintenance squadron. For all practical purposes, the wing headquarters became the group headquarters. For a more detailed description of the group's operations during this period, see 581st Air Resupply and Communications Wing.
First Indochina War
At the direction of the 315th Air Division commander, the 581st C-119s provided limited airlift support to Far East Command’s Korean operations throughout 1952. Beginning in 1953, however, the C-119s were employed in Southeast Asia in support of French operations in Indochina. Supplies, including ammunition, vehicles, and barbed wire, were delivered to Haiphong Airfield in ever increasing quantities. When US presence in Indochina could not be publicly escalated, plans were developed to utilize 581st personnel in a discrete support role. Refurbished C-119s, under French markings, were flown into Indochina by 581st crews, and French C-119s were flown out for depot repair at Clark AB. Instructors from the 581st were also tasked to train CIA-employed Civil Air Transport civilian aircrews in the C-119. American support for the French only prolonged the inevitable fall of the former colonial power. In May 1954, the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, thus ending 100 years of French colonial rule in Indochina.
Inactivation
In September 1953, after the Korean Armistice was signed that ended active conflict on the Korean peninsula the wing was inactivated and the group was reassigned directly to Thirteenth Air Force. The group was approximately one-half the size of the former wing and consisted of two squadrons—one flying squadron and one support squadron—as compared to six squadrons before the reorganization
In October 1954, the 581st relocated from Clark AB, Philippines, to Kadena AB, Okinawa, where it continued reduced operations out of that location for the next two years. In September 1956 the group was inactivated, thus closing a chapter in special operations history in the Pacific.