2026 USAF & USSF ALMANAC: Active Duty Wings

There are 147 Active-duty wings in the U.S. Air Force. There are 37 wings in the Air Reserve and 90 wings in the Air National Guard. All of them trace their history to the 1st Pursuit Wing, formed in France by the American Expeditionary Forces of the U.S. Army in July 1918. The term “wing” has remained in use ever since.

Air wings in World War II were administrative and operational organizations that typically controlled multiple combat groups and service organizations. Today’s wings are smaller, dating their history to 1948, when the newly independent Air Force established permanent combat wings consisting of a combat group, an air base group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group.

In most cases, wings’ numerical designator evolved from the combat group that preceded it. For example, today’s 14th Flying Training Wing traces its history to the 14th Fighter Wing and, before that, the 14th Fighter Group. Each group within the wing takes on the wing’s numerical designator.

Every wing has a distinct mission and scope, whether that is operational, managing an air base, or performing specialized missions such as intelligence or training. Operational wings typically consist of an operations group and provide their own maintenance, supply, munitions, and often base support. Those that are tenant organizations rely on host commands to provide base and related support services.