452d Air Mobility Wing C-141 Pilots and Crew! Enjoy this Lockheed Martin C-141 Starlifter, 1452d Air Mobility Wing Model. You'll love the craftsmanship done by hand and the authenticity. L: 18 inch W: ~17 Inch Made from Mahogany US Naval Aviator Owned Business Officially Licensed by Lockheed Martin The product is not intended to be used by children 12 years and younger. LOCKHEED MARTIN, associated emblems and logos, and body designs of vehicles are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Lockheed Martin Corporation in the USA and/or other jurisdictions, used under license by Squadron Nostalgia LLC. Initial activation and mobilization The wing was first activated as a reserve organization at Long Beach Army Air Field California in June 1949 as the 452d Bombardment Wing,when Continental Air Command (ConAC) converted its reserve flying organizations under the wing base organization, which combined them with their support organizations under a single wing. It trained under the supervision of the 2347th Air Force Reserve Training Center. President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget also required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force, and the wing drew its cadre from the 304th Air Division, which was simultaneously inactivated, and the 459th Bombardment Group, which moved on paper to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.[4] The wing trained for light bomber with the Douglas B-26 Invader, but also operated trainer aircraft.[2] The wing was manned at 25% of normal strength but its combat group was authorized four squadrons rather than the three of active duty units.[5] The wing, along with all reserve combat and corollary units, was mobilized for the Korean war. It was called up in August 1950, and was one of the first two reserve wings to be mobilized[6] The wing was brought up to strength by absorbing more than half the personnel of the 448th Bombardment Wing, also located at Long Beach.[7] Upon mobilization, the wing moved to George Air Force Base, California,[2] and began accelerated aircrew training. Korean War On 15 October 1950, the first of five echelons of the 452d left George for Itazuke Air Base, Kyushu, Japan. Its 731st Bombardment Squadron, trained in night operations, was detached to the 3d Bombardment Wing at Iwakuni Air Base, Honshu, Japan. The first B-26 of the 452d arrived at Itazuke on 25 October, and two days later the wing flew its initial B-26 interdiction mission to Korea, exactly seventy-seven days after recall. On the last day of the month, the aircrews of the 452d learned they were in a real shooting war, as three Yakovlev fighters jumped one of their B-26s and a Mosquito controller near Yangsi. The B-26 crew shot down one of the Soviet-designed fighters, and North American F-51 Mustangs arrived to destroy the other two. Upon arrival in the theater, the 452d Bombardment Wing was the only B-26 unit conducting daylight operations. Until June 1951, it gave close support to ground units in Korea and engaged in interdiction of communist-held airfields, supply lines, and bridges, reaching peak operations in February 1951. The wing moved to Miho Air Base on Honshu, Japan, on 10 December, and within a few days it suffered its first combat losses. Four B-26s and all their crews were lost, only one to hostile fire. One aircraft hit a cable on a power line during a low-level attack, a second flew into a mountain on takeoff in a snow squall, and a third dove out of the overcast into water. The fourth was knocked down by ground fire near Sunchon, North Korea.The 3 men in that crew parachuted free, but shortly after were captured and executed by unknown North Korean guerillas. On 25 April 1951, the enemy began a spring offensive, and Fifth Air Force required an extensive effort of the 452d. For the next eight days the wing dispatched thirty to thirty-six sorties a day, getting maximum use from the approximately eighteen aircraft available each day. This required a refuel and rearm turnaround miss
