4081st Strategic Wing

4081st Strategic Wing
Emblem of the 4081st Strategic Wing
Active	1957-1966
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Provisional MAJCOM organization
Part of	Eighth Air Force, 45th Air Division
Garrison/HQ	Ernest Harmon AFB

The 4081st Strategic Wing (4081st SW) is a discontinued United States Air Force unit, stationed at Ernest Harmon AFB, Newfoundland, where it was inactivated on 25 June 1966.

The 4081st SW was a non-flying ground service support element for the Strategic Air Command Eighth Air Force, 45th Air Division, based at Ernest Harmon AFB, Newfoundland, Canada. It was organized on 1 April 1957 and disontinued on 25 June 1966. When activated, the wing assumed the resources (Manpower, Equipment, Weapons, & Facilities) of the 6605th Air Base Wing, which had originally been established on 1 June 1954. Throughout its existence it was controlled by Strategic Air Command. Eighth Air Force provided intermediate command and control from its establishment until 1 January 1959; the 45th Air Division from then until its inactivation, being assigned to Harmon AFB.

USAF personnel had been assigned to facility since 1941, was operated as a refueling stop on the North Atlantic transport route, later as a fighter-interceptor base assigned to Northeast Air Command. SAC assumed control of base in 1957 and established the 4081st Strategic Wing when facility was upgraded to become a B-52 Stratofortress support and dispersal base to make it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire B-52 fleet with a surprise first strike. The base supported transient aircraft, with no permanent aircraft assigned. The wing was inactivated in 1966 with the close down of Harmon AFB and the subsequent return of the facility to the Royal Canadian Air Force.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.