World War II The group's origins can be traced to 3 January 1942, when
Air Corps Ferrying Command, in the aftermath of the
attack on Pearl Harbor, divided its Domestic Division into six sectors. The Northeast Sector was established at
Logan Field in
Dundalk, Maryland and was responsible for ferrying aircraft produced by
Glenn L. Martin Company in
Baltimore, Maryland; as well as
Fairchild Aircraft in
Hagerstown, Maryland;
Piper Aircraft in
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania; and
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation and
Republic Aviation plants located in
Bethpage and
Farmingdale on Long Island, New York. On 21 February, this office was formally organized as a unit, the
Northeast Sector, Ferrying Command and Ferrying Command's Domestic Division became the
Domestic Wing, Air Corps Ferrying Command. The
4th and
12th Air Corps Ferry Squadrons were organized in early April and assigned to the group. Ferrying Command requested the
Army Air Forces (AAF) to reorganize its sectors as groups, including with assigned squadrons. Accordingly, the sector became the
2nd Ferrying Group on 26 May 1942. Shortly after this, the group moved to
New Castle Army Air Field, Delaware, which was more centrally located to the plants the group served. In addition to support units, the group added the
27th Air Corps Ferry Squadron in July, the 63d Ferrying Squadron in November, and the 89th Ferrying Squadron in April 1943. The group was the first unit selected to use
Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) pilots to ferry aircraft. The 2nd Group commander limited them to flying liaison and primary training aircraft. The first leader of the WAFS detachment at New Castle was
Nancy Love, who had established the program. However, she soon departed for the
5th Ferrying Group, where she was able to operate advanced trainers like the
North American AT-6 Texan. these women pilots eventually flew essentially every plane in the AAF inventory. By 1944, the AAF was finding that standard military units like the 2nd Group, whose manning was based on relatively inflexible
tables of organization were not well adapted to support missions. Accordingly, the AAF adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. As part of this reorganization the group's headquarters was disbanded on 31 March 1944 along with its subordinate units and its resources were absorbed by the 552nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (2nd Ferrying Group), which was designated and organized on the same day. The base unit was redescribed as the 552nd AAF Base Unit (Ferry Group), then discontinued after the end of
World War II on 31 December 1945.
Aircraft Delivery Group Background Shortly after the Air Force became an independent service,
Air Materiel Command (AMC) established the 3075th Ferrying Squadron at
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron was assigned directly to AMC. In 1949, it ferried the
Enola Gay to the
Smithsonian Institution. During the
Korean War, the growth of the
United States Air Force called once more for the expansion of units dedicated to the delivery of aircraft to combat units. On 24 September 1950,
Military Air Transport Service (MATS) formed the 1737th Ferrying Squadron at
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas and assigned it to the
Continental Division, MATS. On 16 June 1951, MATS expanded this operation by forming the 1708th Ferrying Group at Kelly and adding the 1738th Ferrying Squadron at
Long Beach Municipal Airport, California. The 1739th moved to
Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas in September. The group also began delivering aircraft under
Project Drop Kick, which initially focused on delivering
Republic F-84 Thunderjets to
NATO allies under the
Mutual Defense Assistance Program. On 20 October 1955, the 1708th expanded to become the 1708th Ferrying Wing. On 1 July 1956, the 1738th was discontinued at Long Beach and organized the next day at Kelly. The group had no squadrons assigned, but performed its mission through detachments located at key points. In December 1964, the 4440th Group added Special Air Missions to its aircraft delivery mission, with the assignment of the 4432nd (
Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois), 4433rd (
Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia), 4434th (
Randolph Air Force Base, Texas), and 4435th (
Hamilton Air Force Base, California) Air Transport Squadrons. These squadrons operated aircraft transporting senior military officials throughout the United States, particularly for the
United States Army.
Reactivation of the Group However, the 4440th was a
MAJCON unit, whose existence was controlled by TAC, not the Air Force. Under the USAF organization and lineage system of the time, MAJCON units' lineages (histories, awards, and battle honors) ended with their discontinuance and could never be revived. Headquarteres, TAC decided to replace the group with an Air Force Controlled (AFCON) unit whose lineage could be revived if it were inactivated. On 15 October 1969, the group, now named the
2nd Aircraft Delivery Group was again activated At the same time, the
10th (Chanute),
13th (Dobbins),
21st (Randolph), and
26th Air Transport Squadrons (Hamilton) were activated to The group continued to manage aircraft movements, including arranging for
air refueling and
air-sea rescue, and en route maintenance support ==Lineage==