Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

3079th Aviation Depot Wing

In 1956 Vincent George Huston was assigned as commander, 3079th Aviation Depot Wing, with additional duty as assistant for special weapons, Headquarters Air Materiel Command. In 1955 John W. Harrell was appointed deputy commander, 3079th Aviation Depot Wing, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He later commanded that wing which supervised the activities of five Air Force stations and three squadrons of C-124 aircraft. During this period, he also was designated as the deputy assistant and then assistant for special weapons to the commander Air Materiel Command. From August 1960 to July 1962 John William White served as assistant for special weapons and as commander of the 3079th Aviation Depot Wing in the Air Force Logistics Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Sandia Base initiated construction of the Operational Storage Site (OSS), the physically smaller alert facilities of key strategic importance, in 1950. The first five of these installations were set up by Sandia immediately neighboring selected SAC bases. Sandia transferred operation of the five alert sites bordering the SAC bases to Air Materiel Command after a shakedown period during which Sandia personnel worked at the sites with the Air Force and AEC. Air Materiel Command designated the sites depots, with associated Air Force personnel referenced as Aviation Depot Groups, and subsequently, Aviation Depot Squadrons. Ordered as they had been built, chronologically, the five squadrons were the 3080th through the 3084th, and reported to the 3079th Aviation Depot Wing at Air Materiel Command headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The 3079th maintained a liaison office at Kirtland Air Force Base near Sandia.