1 Feb 1940, Happy Birthday 19th Maintenance Group!

For those not aware, the 19th Maintenance Group’s history predates the 2008 activation of the 19th Airlift Wing. On Feb. 1, 1940, the General Headquarters Air Force first constituted the “Base Headquarters and 19th Air Base Squadron” at Hamilton Field, California. Before and during World War II it was repeatedly redesignated, first as the 19th Air Base Group, then as the 19th Service Group, and then ultimately as the 19th Air Service Group. Initially, this type of unit combined a base headquarters with many of the functions of a modern-day Mission Support Group and a modern-day Maintenance Group, as shown in its main responsibilities on the left. The 19 Service Group was not attached to the 19th Operations Group stationed in the Pacific Theater. Instead, the 19th Service Group deployed to North Africa in November 1942, at which point it served primarily as an aircraft maintenance unit, focusing on back-shop maintenance (since flight line maintenance was embedded in the operations units). As a Service Group and an Air Service Group, the unit was highly mobile, especially in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, designed to follow the front lines and to help push air power forward. On this map, you can see its movement in North Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, leaving the continent for Sicily in 1943, Italy, Corsica, and reaching France in August 1944. The Group moved back into Italy two months later, where it stayed until the end of the war in Europe. Afterward, the 19 Air Service Group inactivated as part of the massive drawdown of combat forces in the European Theater of Operations. The unit remained inactive until October 2008, when it was redesignated the 19th Maintenance Group here at Little Rock Air Force Base, AR. Many happy returns!