USAF Patch Airlift USAFE d 1631 MATRON Material Squadron MATS Prestwick Scotland

USAF Patch USAFE 1631 MATRON Material Squadron Prestwick Scotland MATS Trans Atlantic Terminal 1950s Embroidered on twill cut edge 77mm three and one sixteenth inches diameter.

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History

In 1941 Prestwick Airfield RAF Ayr Heathfield Scotland as an all weather Atlantic side airfield became a trans Atlantic terminal and the Atlantic Ferry Organization ATFERO was formed to manage aircraft being flown to Great Britain from Canada and Lend Lease aircraft from America ATFERO was taken over by RAF Ferry Command in July 1941. On the US entry into the war in 1942 USAAF established facilities at the airfield for the ferrying of USAAF aircraft to the UK. USAAF Air Transport Command also flew mail services flew casualties back to the USA. RAF Ferry Command was absorbed by RAF Transport Command in March 1943. On 1 April 1946 the airfield transferred to State ownership and civil operation.

Prestwick remained the preferred bad-weather diversion airfield for many civil and military flights and with the start of the Cold War and the buildup of US Forces in Europe under NATO obligations Military Air Transport Service MATS a consolidation of the USN Naval Air Transport Service and the USAF Air Transport Command set up on 1 June 1948 established a new transatlantic terminal facility at the former RAF Ayr site at Prestwick Airfield activating 1631 Air Base Group in 1951 to support MATS trans Atlantic US Europe flights providing refuelling servicing and emergency landing. The Group controlled 1631 Air Base Squadron 1631 Material Squadron and 1631 Dispensary.

The Group expanded to use facilities in the new Prestwick International Airport to the north of Heathfield in 1953. 1602 Air Transport Wing relocated to Prestwick from Furstenfeldbruck AB in 1956 and the base dealt with the airlift of 9500 Hungarian refugees from Germany to McGuire AFB. Also at Prestwick at this time were 67 Air Rescue Squadron 1454 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron 1602 Support Squadron 1614 Support Squadron 1603 Support Squadron 1615 Support Squadron and several detachments. Prestwick International Airport built a new runway extension buildings and loop road in the late 1950s which encroached on the northern limits of the Heathfield facility and the Heathfield section of the USAF base closed in 1957. The trans Atlantic terminal at Prestwick is considered to be the only piece of United Kingdom territory on which Elvis Presley ever set foot with him landing at Prestwick in 1959 on his way to military service in Germany and the USAF transport aircraft carrying him home from Germany stopped to refuel in 1960.

1631 MATRON was inactivated in September 1963 on the reorganisation of 1631 Air Base Group with personnel transferred to 1631 Air Base Squadron. 1631 Air Base Group and its remaining components were inactivated in 1966 when MATS was inactivated and the facility closed.

This patch dates from the 1950s.