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USAF 4TH WEATHER WING FLAG, 1966.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 400.00 USD
USAF 4TH WEATHER WING FLAG, 1966.
3' x 4' regulation double applique embroidered Air Force insignia above the central device which holds the unit crest of the 4510th. Contractor label dated February 24, 1966. The 4th Weather Wing started its service in 1959 remaining deactivated in 1972. The weather and flying aircraft, even modern planes, is intrinsically tied together. Accordingly, as far back as World War One, the U.S. Army Signal Corps had a Meteorological Service to help with weather forecasting for its planes. By 1937, the command also used the U.S. Weather Bureau to supplement forecasting. In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces Weather Service was created and then moved out of the Washington DC area to different areas and its control passed to the Flight Control Command. This new formation organized the Weather Wing, Flight Control Command which is the lineal ancestor for all US Air Force weather organizations. By 1943, the headquarters was established in Asheville, North Carolina. It only had the authority to handle weather operations in the United States and not in the European or Pacific Theaters of World War Two. Before the end of the war, this command was merged with the USAAF Weather Service to become the AAF Weather Service and they moved to Langley Filed in Virginia in 1946. A couple months later, its name was changed to the Air Weather Service and placed under the control of the Air Transport Command. In 1947, the U.S. Air Force was formed as a separate military arm and the role of the weather service expanded to a global mission. In 1948, the Air Weather Service was moved to Andrews AFB in Maryland and came under the control of the Military Air Transport Service, later named the Military Airlift Command. With this change, the Air Weather Service was moved to Scott AFB in Illinois. The Air Weather Service was often the cutting edge of weather forecasting and related technology including computers, satellites and networking with civilian weather agencies all of which contributed to modern weather forecasting that we have today. Their role expanded into space with solar science becoming part of their mission. The Air Weather Service issued the first tornado warning in American history in 1948. The service is fully integrated within all weather-related agencies today and its capabilities are global. Now known as the Air Force Weather Agency (as of 1997), in 1993 it was designated as a filed operating agency and made part of the U.S. Air Force headquarters. The service was then moved to Offutt AFB in Nebraska. In March 2015, the service was redesignated as the 557th Weather Wing and was part of the U.S. Air Force Combat Command of the 12th Air Force. Under its auspices during its various incarnations are a number of subordinate weather wings, some still in existence with others now deactivated. One of these was the 4th Weather Wing which seems to have started its service in August 1959 remaining active until June 1972. It was reactivated in October 1983 and remained in service until September 1991. This flag has a date of February 24, 1966 which places it within the first terms of service of the wing. It is blue with the Air Force logo above the central device which is the crest of the command. The thirteen white stars represent the original thirteen colonies and states. Condition: very good. (02-19982-36/JS). $200-400.