Hobson Plan

United States Army Air Forces

As part of the United States Army, the USAAF operated from facilities known as Army Air Fields. They consisted of a ground station, which consisted of streets, buildings, barracks and the support facilities and organizations. The airfield consisted of the runways, taxiways, hangars, and other facilities used to support flight operations at the airfield. The Station Commander, commanded the station organizations and was responsible for the facilities. There was a Quartermaster Group; Service Group; Headquarters Group, and a Combat Group. There was no uniformity in unit designations. In an administrative reorganization by HQ Army Air Force, on 1 May 1944 the station units were re-organized into "Army Air Force Base Units" (AAFBU), which gave organization to the units under the Station Commander.

The Combat Group Commander commanded the flying squadrons, his staff and any other squadron associated with the flying activities. During World War II, it was common to have several Combat Groups stationed at the same Army Airfield, especially at training bases in the United States, where Combat Groups would be trained by Training Groups assigned to the station under the Station Commander.

Creation of the United States Air Force

On September 16, 1947, the United States Air Force was established a separate and equal element of the United States armed forces.

Rapid demobilization after September 1945 meant that a new Air Force had to be built with the remnants of the wartime Army Air Forces. Initially, the Army Air Fields retained as permanent bases were assumed by the USAF were renamed as "Air Force Bases", and the Army's organizational structure was carried over into the new service with "Air Force Base Units" replacing the AAFBU. This resulted, however, into an awkward circumstance where the Combat Group commander was reporting to a Base Commander who may or may not have had flying experience. Once the United States Air Force became operational as a separate department, Carl Andrew Spaatz, the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force established a policy where, "No tactical commander should be subordinate to the station commander."

Spaatz's policy meant that a new solution would have to be found. Major General Charles Born proposed the creation of the Provisional Wing Plan, which basically reversed the USAAF organization and placed the wing commander over the base commander, although this idea was eventually discarded as it was viewed to be too complex.

The Wing-Base plan

Under the "Wing-Base" plan, the operational combat squadrons were assigned to a Combat Group. The support squadrons on the station were assigned to a Maintenance and Supply Group, an Airdrome Support Group, and a Medical Group. The four Groups were assigned to a Wing, a new level of Command which unified all of the components, flying and support. The Group Commanders were subordinate to the Wing Commander who was an experienced combat flying leader. The Wing would assume the historical numerical designation of the assigned Combat Group. A Base Commander was established to handle the administrative duties of the Wing Commander and to coordinate with the various Group commanders. In this plan, known as the Hobson Plan the support Groups and the operational flying Combat Group and the wing became one unit. The Wing-Base organization was formalized in Air Force Regulation (AFR) 20-15, Organization Principles and Policies for the US Air Force.

Organizations known as "Wings" had existed in the Air Force since 1918, and new wings were created in the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II numerous wings existed; some provided training in the United States, others controlled combat groups and support organizations overseas. However, the USAF Wings established in 1947 were new organizations and shared no lineage or honors with the Wings formed under the Army. In 1948 and afterward, some AAF wings were re-designated as Air Divisions, and placed immediately above the USAF Wings and below the Numbered Air Forces in the USAF organizational pyramid.

Another major change implemented by the Hobson Plan was the standardization of designations. For example, the 1st Fighter Wing, Established at March Air Force Base would consist of the 1st Fighter Group (it's Combat Group); the 1st Maintenance and Supply Group, the 1st Combat Support Group (to operate base facilities and services), and the 1st Medical Group. Subordinate to the groups were the 1st Field Maintenance Squadron, 1st Supply Squadron, 1st Engine Squadron, 1st Security Police Squadron, and so on. Operational flying Squadrons retained their historical designations and were assigned to the Combat Group. Units assigned to the base as tenant units, under the command of other Wings, would also retain their designations.

1947 Service Test

The service test of the Hobson Plan in 1947-1948 prompted an important change in the field structure and organization of the Air Force. The Army Air Force (and previous Army Air Corps) Wing organizations supervised a mixture of combat groups and support organizations. None of the subordinate organizations were permanently affiliated with the wings, or possessed similar numerical designations or standard functions.

The USAF Wings organized for the service test of the Hobson Plan featured standard functions. Each wing had its support squadrons organized into the four prescribed Groups, all with identical numerical designations.

Typical Service Test Organization

The temporary service test Combat Wings were:

Additional Combat Wings Organized Under the Permanent Plan

In the spring of 1948, the Hobson Plan was judged to be successful, and additional Combat Wings were re-organized and established and the Hobson Plan was made permanent.

Typical Permanent Organization

The wings organized under the permanent wing-base plan were:

Major subsequent changes

Over the years, the Hobson Plan has changed and evolved, but its basic concept has remained the same in terms of organization of USAF combat units.

Dual Deputy Organization

During the Air Force's first decade, budgetary shortfalls led to the search for more cost-efficient Wing operations. In 1952, many of the World War II Combat Groups began to be phased out and inactivated as more wings assumed direct control of the combat squadrons, particularly those assigned to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Air Defense Command (ADC). The organization finally implemented by SAC in May 1952 for some newly activating wings and in June for its remaining wings was referred to as the Dual Deputy organization. The Commander of the combat group became the wing Deputy Commander for Operations (DCO) and the commander of the Maintenance & Supply Group became the wing Deputy Commander for Maintenance (DCM). There were only two deputy commanders. In those cases in which an Air Base Group and Medical Group were maintained within the wing, the commanders remained group commanders (although a large number of the air base groups and medical groups were inactivated and replaced by groups assigned directly to air divisions). The Dual Deputy organization was implemented by the other combat commands between 1956 and 1958. Air Force Reserve units implemented it in 1959 and Air National Guard units in mid-1974 (except for the ANG Wings on active duty with SAC when they were federalized for Korean War duty in 1952).

This arrangement, however raised honors and lineage issues, as the Combat Groups, all veterans of World War II combat operations, held collectively many honors, while the postwar wings possessed few if any honors. Both SAC and ADC wanted the history and honors of the Combat Groups retained. In 1954, after review by Headquarters USAF, it was decided to bestow the history and the campaign credits and decorations that had been earned by the group during World War II. In "bestowing" group history and honors on wings, USAF directives did not specify any conditions or limitations except to advise, in letters authorizing such bestowals, that these bestowals were temporary.

After the Korean War, the operational squadron aircraft maintenance units were consolidated into an Organizational Maintenance Squadron (OMS) under the DCM. This was the first time that combat squadrons had no organic maintenance capability. Budget cuts in the 1950s and the resulting shortages of manpower and spare parts made consolidated maintenance very attractive. During the Vietnam War, Tactical Air Command transferred flightline maintenance personnel to the deploying squadrons to Southeast Asia. Squadrons transferred to Pacific Air Forces retained this arrangement, however in 1972 driven by budgetary considerations and the Vietnam drawdown, HQ USAF withdrew its approval for TAC’s structural deviation and forced TAC to revert to the consolidated maintenance concept.

Tri-Deputy organization

In the mid-1970s, the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) tested a tri-deputy wing organization that added a Deputy Commander for Resources (DCR—later, resource management or RM) to the Dual-Deputy structure. The DCR was responsible for Supply, Transportation, Contracting, and Accounting and Finance squadrons. The DCM was responsible for the Maintenance Staff, Organizational Maintenance Squadron (OMS), Avionics Maintenance Squadron (AMS), Field Maintenance Squadron (FMS), and Munitions Maintenance Squadron (MMS). Viewed as giving the Wing Commander more direct control over the mission as well as focusing more attention on resource management during a period of serious budget constraints, HQ USAF approved the Tri-Deputy system for all major commands in 1975.

While maintenance remained consolidated under the DCM in the official Tri-Deputy structure, Tactical Air Command (TAC) reorganized the DCM internally into the Production Oriented Maintenance Organization (POMO) in 1978. Under POMO, an Aircraft Generation Squadron (AGS) under the DCM was responsible for all flightline maintenance, with a specific Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) assigned to each fighter squadron. Each AMU trained and deployed with its fighter squadron but reported to the AGS commander. Intermediate level maintenance was divided between a Component Repair Squadron (CRS) and an Equipment Maintenance Squadron (EMS), both of which also reported to the DCM.

POMO was eventually renamed COMO (Combat Oriented Maintenance Organization). This was the basic structure of the tactical air forces (TAC, USAFE, and PACAF). SAC and Military Airlift Command (MAC) kept their aircraft maintenance in the previous structure with flightline maintenance consolidated in an Organizational Maintenance Squadron (OMS). This was an efficient structure for them since they operated primarily from home station or relied on en route maintenance teams at established overseas locations when their aircraft were overseas. Squadron deployments were not routine, so the additional cost of separate AMUs was not worthwhile.

Objective Organization

In the early 1990s with the declared end of the Cold War and the continued decline in military budgets, the Air Force restructured to meet changes in strategic requirements, decreasing personnel, and a smaller infrastructure. This major reorganization stressed elimination of unnecessary layers of authority, decentralization of decision-making, and consolidation of functions.

The USAF restored a wing organizational structure, called the "objective wing," similar to the original Hobson wing-base plan. The inactivated Combat Group was re-designated as the "Operations Group" (OG) and was re-activated. The support squadrons were realigned into a Maintenance Group (MXG), Mission Support Group (MSG), and Medical Group (MDG). With their reactivation, the history and lineage of the Wing Combat Group inactivated in the 1950s was transferred from the Wing to the Operations Group.

In addition to the realignment of support and operational squadrons, the "Tactical", "Strategic" and other descriptors of unit designations were discontinued. For example, the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing became the 354th Fighter Wing; the 24th Composite Wing became the 24th Wing; 356th Tactical Fighter Squadron became the 356th Fighter Squadron, and so on. This returned the unit designations back to their 1947 names.

In 2002, the Objective Organization was modified to address the changes in the Air Force with the development of Air Expeditionary Units. The Combat Wing Organization is very similar to the POMO/COMO maintenance organization that was in place between 1978 and 1991.