The
wing was organized as the
4711th Defense Wing at the beginning of February 1952 at
Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine as part of a major reorganization of ADC responding to ADC's difficulty under the existing wing base organizational structure in deploying
fighter squadrons to best advantage. The wing assumed operational control and the
air defense mission of fighter
squadrons formerly assigned to the inactivating
23d Fighter-Interceptor Wing. The
74th and
75th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons, flying
North American F-86 Sabre aircraft were at Presque Isle, while the
101st Fighter-Interceptor Wing's
132d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, flying
Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars was at
Dow Air Force Base, Maine, and the
134th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, flying
World War II era
North American F-51 Mustangs The two dispersed squadrons were federalized
Air National Guard (ANG) squadrons that had been attached to the 23rd Wing. was transferred to the wing from direct assignment to
Eastern Air Defense Force. The support elements of the 23rd Wing's 23rd Air Base Group and 23rd Maintenance & Supply Group were replaced at Presque Isle by an air base squadron and air base squadrons were activated at Presque Isle and Burlington to support the fighter squadrons at those
bases. The wing's mission was to train and maintain tactical units in a state of
readiness to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft attempting to penetrate the air defense system in the Northeastern United States. In June, the 74th converted to
Northrop F-89 Scorpion interceptor aircraft, but by fall its F-89Cs had been grounded and the squadron was forced to convert to
Lockheed F-94 Starfires. In February 1953, another major reorganization of ADC activated air defense groups at ADC bases with dispersed fighter squadrons. Two
groups were assigned to the wing and assumed direct control of the fighter squadrons, as well as support squadrons to carry out their role as the USAF host organizations at their bases. As a result of this reorganization, the
528th Air Defense Group activated at Presque Isle and assumed control of the fighter squadrons there, while the
517th Air Defense Group activated to command the squadron at Ethan Allen AFB. The reorganization also resulted in the wing adding the
radar detection, control and warning mission, and it was assigned six aircraft control & warning squadrons (AC&W Sq) to perform this mission. The 49th FIS traded in its F-80s for F-86s in the same month. Meanwhile, the 75th FIS moved to
Suffolk County Air Force Base in October and was reassigned to another wing. As a result of Project Arrow, the
23d Fighter Group (Air Defense), replaced the 528th Air Defense Group at Presque Isle, while the
14th Fighter Group replaced the 517th Air Defense Group at Ethan Allen. In October, a second F-89 squadron, the
465th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, activated at Griffiss. In preparation for the implementation of the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment air defense system, the 4711th Wing lost its operational units in March 1956 and moved to
Selfridge Air Force Base, where it was discontinued shortly thereafter. ==Lineage==