Squadron 14th Weather Squadron (Federal Climate Complex, Asheville, North Carolina) 16th Weather Squadron History Origins The 557th Weather Wing can trace its heritage to the organization of the Meteorological Service of the United States Army Signal Corps, which was established during World War I. By 1937, the Army was supplementing the weather services of the United States Weather Bureau by operating thirty weather stations of its own in the United States and six more overseas. Because most of the Army stations were operated for the benefit of the Air Corps, on 1 July 1937, the Secretary of War transferred responsibility for Army weather services to the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps. Within the United States, the 1st, 2d and 3d Weather Squadrons were organized. Each handled a region that was congruent with the area of responsibility of one of the three wings assigned to General Headquarters Air Force. World War II By 1942, supervision of Army weather activities within the United States had been centralised in the Army Air Forces (AAF) Weather Service, headed by the Director of Weather on the Air Staff. However, in 1943 the AAF reorganized to move as many operations out of Washington, D.C., as possible, and responsibility for the AAF Weather Service was transferred to Flight Control Command, which organized and activated the Weather Wing, Flight Control Command to manage this responsibility. This wing is the direct organizational ancestor of the 557th Weather Wing. By 3 May 1943, Flight Control Command had moved the headquarters of the Weather Wing to Asheville, North Carolina. Although responsibility for the AAF Weather Service was returned to the Air Staff in July, the wing remained in North Carolina. Although the AAF Weather Wing commanded weather activities in the United States, it had no authority over those in overseas theaters of operations. It influenced those units, however, by establishing procedures and standards for them to follow and by defining weather equipment requirements for the Signal Corps and operationally testing the equipment. In July 1945, after the defeat of Germany, but while the war with Japan was still in progress, the AAF Weather Service and the AAF Weather Wing were combined and the wing was re-designated AAF Weather Service. This reorganization followed the successful examples of Air Transport Command and Army Airways Communications System, concentrating responsibility in a single service with operational control of units providing the service.