Grumman SA-16A Albatross 51-11, and the all-black B-17 behind it most probably were attached to the 581st ARCW of the Air Resupply and Communications Service, MATS.
Participating in the Korean War effort were elements of a newly-formed sub-command of MATS, the Air Resupply and Communications Service (ARCS). The ARCS was attached to MATS for less than three years, but its organization and subsequent Korean operations are noteworthy.
During the early stages of the Korean War, a scheme was hatched in the Pentagon to combine several overt and covert intelligence and propaganda missions into one organization that would counter the Communist threat on a worldwide basis both in hot and cold war scenarios. The Air Resupply and Communications Service was activated on 23rd February 1951, with its headquarters assigned to MATS Headquarters at Andrews AFB, although the ARCS headquarters were moved to Washington, DC, on 14th May.
From the outset, the mission of the ARCS was not clearly defined, especially its peacetime function. Planning for the organization was complicated by the fact that Tables of Organization for wing headquarters and subordinate units were drawn up in early February 1951, before Tables of Equipment had been produced. In other words, planners were attempting to procure personnel before it had been decided what types of equipment they would be required to use. As no Air Force regulation had yet been issued, MATS proposed a draft, in April 1951, for a vague Air Force Regulation defining the ARCS’ mission to ‘Provide worldwide air resupply and communications service for all Air Force and other US military activities requesting such service.’ Eventually, the missions of the ARCS were clarified as:
– the psychological warfare function, which called for the capability of preparing psychological warfare material in printed form, propaganda, and jamming enemy frequencies;
– aerial resupply, which called for the capability of introducing and evacuating ranger-type personnel behind enemy lines and supplying them and guerrilla units.
Pentagon planners envisioned seven ARCS Wings, to be activated at three-month intervals and deployed overseas after six months of training. While MATS acted as the parent command of the ARCS, its wing operations actually would be directed by Headquarters US Air Force from the Psychological Warfare Division, Directorate of Plans. And, once established overseas, ARCS squadrons would function as tenant organizations, and would be under the operational control of the theater commander.
The first ARCS wing, the 580thAir Resupply and Communications Wing, MATS, was activated at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, on 16th April 1951. It was planned that the 580th ARCW would be composed of five squadrons:
– an Aerial Resupply Squadron, which would transport and evacuate personnel and supplies behind enemy lines;
– an Airborne Materials Assembly Squadron, which would ‘provide storage, maintenance, and aerial-type packaging of operational supplies, and the packaging of overt propaganda leaflets as a service to the US Air Force units engaged in leaflet attacks from the base area concerned’;
– a Holding and Briefing Squadron, which provided for the administration, briefing and supply of personnel assigned by other agencies for introduction behind enemy lines;
– a Communications Squadron, to provide a base area agent communications circuit, operating an around-the-clock broadcasting service over four frequencies simultaneously;
– a Reproduction Squadron, having the capability of reproducing covert propaganda material and up to four million overt propaganda leaflets a day.
The second ARCS wing to activate, on 23rd July 1951, was the 581st ARCW. The rwo ARCS wings trained with a number of aircraft, including the B-29, C-119, SA-16, C-47 and C-54, but were expected to receive additional types once deployed overseas.
In March 1952, an additional responsibility was given to the Air Resupply and Communications Service when all formal escape and evasion training in MATS was transferred to it from the Air Rescue Service. However, Headquarters MATS was becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that there was ‘no firm policy of any kind in USAF on the future of ARCS, subsequent to completing (the) training cycle of ARCS Wings’, and MATS Headquarters made it clear that they wanted to be relieved of responsibility for the program.
As this debate festered between Air Staff planners and Headquarters MATS, in July 1952 the 581st ARCW became the first wing to deploy overseas when it moved to Clark AFB, Philippines (later Kadena AFB, Okinawa), attached to the Thirteenth Air Force. The 580th ARCW moved its operations in October 1952 to Wheelus AFB, Libya, becoming attached to United States Air Forces in Europe.
The 581st ARCW soon became involved in the Korean War, using its B-29s to drop propaganda leaflets, leaflets warning North Korean civilians of impending raids, and to insert agents behind enemy lines. Early in October 1952, a small detachment of six pilots and 13 enlisted men was sent to Korea to operate four new H-19As under the Fifth Air Force for the insertion and retrieval of agents along the coastal mud flats north of the DMZ. Flying off Cho-do Island, these 581st ARCW H-19As often supplemented 3rd ARS aircraft and its own SA-16As in the rescue of downed American and allied airmen, plus agents from within North Korea. [1] The full story of the 581st ARCW’s exploits during the Korean War has yet to be told, [2] but it is interesting to note that the last American prisoners of war to be released by the Chinese Communists, in August 1955, were the pilot and surviving crewmen of an ARCS B-29 that had been shot down during a leaflet-dropping mission near the Yalu River in January 1953. [3]
As the Korean War was drawing to a close, ARCS planners realized that with no peacetime mission developed, the command would be expendable in the upcoming post-war budget tightening process.
Brigadier General Monro MacCloskey, Commander of the ARCS since September 1952, made a valiant attempt to inspire his personnel to come up with new peacetime tasks for the ARCS to perform, but to little avail. The 582nd ARCW, the third ARCS wing, activated on 24th September 1952, was suddenly inactivated on 14th August 1953, before its training had been completed (its successor, the 582ndARG, was reorganized and deployed to RAF Station Molesworth, England, in 1954). On 1st January 1954, the Air Resupply and Communications Service was detached from MATS, although the organization continued to provide services to the Department of Defense on a much reduced scale.
[1] April 12, 1953: An H-19 helicopter assigned to the 581st ARCW hoisted Capt. Joseph C. McConnell, Jr., F-86 pilot with eight victory credits to date, from the Yellow Sea, after he had ejected from his battle-damaged aircraft. December 27-31, 1952: The 581st ARCW flight of four H-19 helicopters at Seoul flew several experimental agent insertion sorties into enemy territory for covert and clandestine intelligence activities.
[2] Apollo’s Warriors: US Air Force Special Operations During the Cold War
Presenting a fascinating insider’s view of U.S.A.F. special operations, this volume brings to life the critical contributions these forces have made to the exercise of air & space power. Focusing in particular on the period between the Korean War & the Indochina wars of 1950-1979, the accounts of numerous missions are profusely illustrated with photos & maps. Includes a discussion of AF operations in Europe during WWII, as well as profiles of Air Commandos who performed above & beyond the call of duty. Reflects on the need for financial & political support for restoration of the forces. Bibliography. Extensive photos & maps. Charts & tables.
[3] January 13, 1953: Some twelve enemy fighters shot down a B-29 on a psychological warfare, leaflet-drop mission over North Korea. The crew included Col. John K. Arnold, Jr., USAF, Commander, 581st ARCW.
