161st Air Refueling Wing

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 161st Air Refueling Wing


caption= 161st Air Refueling Wing emblem
dates= 1957-Present
country= United States
allegiance=
branch= United States Air Force
type=
role=
size=
command_structure= Air National Guard
current_commander=
garrison= Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona
ceremonial_chief=
nickname= "Copperheads"
patron=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles=
anniversaries=

The United States Air Force's 161st Air Refueling Wing is an Air National Guard aerial refueling unit located at Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona.

Mission

History

The 161st Air Refueling Wing traces its lineage to the 412th Fighter Squadron, a unit which was redesignated as the 197th Fighter Squadron. The Phoenix fighter squadron was later expanded to group status and redesigned the 161st Fighter Group.

As a result of the Berlin crisis, the unit was mobilized, and within a month, 750 personnel and 22 F-104 aircraft were in place in Germany as the unit took up flying daily patrol at the edge of the Iron Curtain. With world tension easing, the Phoenix Air Guard returned home in August 1962. Military requirements resulted in an immediate change in mission for the Arizona unit. An end to the jet fighter era came when the Copperheads were redesigned the 161st Air Transport Group. The Group began transition training to fly the giant four-engine Boeing C-97 “Stratofreighter” in a passenger/cargo mission for the Military Air Transport Command (MATS). Arizona planes and crews were soon flying aircraft missions to such places as Honolulu, Hawaii, Tachikawa, Japan and Frankfurt, West Germany.

As war spread over Southeast Asia, Phoenix Air Guardsmen, without being mobilized, flew 65 cargo and passenger airlift missions to combat bases in Vietnam and Thailand between March 1966 and September 1967.

In February 1967 the unit proved its value to the state and emphasized its dual state and federal mission. A national television audience watched crews and planes fly around the clock, airdropping 430 tons of food and supplies to stranded ranchers and their snowed in cattle, after one of the worst winter storms on record blanketed northern Arizona.

The Phoenix Air Guard was re-designated in August 1968 as the 161st Aero Medical Airlift Group. With continued use of the workhorse C-97, the mission for the new organization was medical air evacuation from overseas bases to U.S. hospitals.

In August 1972, the Phoenix group was reorganized as the 161st Air Refueling Group and placed in USAF Tactical Air Command.

Flying an air tanker version of the C-97, the 161st quickly assimilated normal refueling operations, providing daily service to USAF and other military craft over the western U.S. Four times per year the unit shifted operations for two-week periods to refuel U.S. and NATO aircraft out of Rhine-Main Air Base, Germany.

On July 1, 1976, 13 Air Guard refueling units were placed into the Strategic Air Command. This was the first time the massive bomber command integrated part-time units into its forces and mission. SAC also announced that Air Guard refueling units would begin to integrate a new craft into their inventories: a military version of the Boeing 707 airliner named the KC-135.

During operation Desert Shield, the 161st was amongst the first tanker units to be called up for duty in the Gulf, where it remained throughout the hostilities operating from bases in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates as well as Moron AB, Spain. In 1999 personnel from the 161st, along with six aircraft were activated for deployment in response to the developments in Kosovo.

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to distribute the 117th Air Refueling Wing’s KC-135R aircraft from Birmingham International Airport Air Guard Station (AGS), AL and the 161st Air Refueling Wing, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport AGS (two aircraft) and two other bases. Phoenix Sky Harbor (37) scored higher than Birmingham (63) in military value for the tanker mission. This recommendation would take advantage of available capacity at Phoenix by increasing the air refueling squadron size from eight to ten aircraft, increasing the wing's overall capability. It would also capitalize on the favorable recruiting environment of the greater Phoenix region that could sustain this increased squadron size.

Assignments

Major Command

*Air National Guard/Air Mobility Command (1992-Present)
*Air National Guard/Strategic Air Command (???-1992)
*Air National Guard/Military Airlift Command (1966-1972)
*Air National Guard/Air Defense Command (19??-1966)

Previous designationsRogers, B. (2006). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. ISBN 1-85780-197-0

*161st Air Refueling Wing (1995-Present)
*161st Air Refueling Group (1972-1995)
*161st Military Airlift Group (1966-1972)
*161st Fighter Interceptor Group (1946-1966)

quadrons assigned

*197th Air Refueling Squadron (1946-Present)

Bases stationed

*Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona (1946-Present)
*Luke AAF, Arizona (1946-1948)

Aircraft & Missiles OperatedWorld Airpower Journal. (1992). US Air Force Air Power Directory. Aerospace Publishing: London, UK. ISBN 1-880588-01-3

*KC-135E Stratotanker (1982-Present)
*KC-135A Stratotanker (1977-1982)
*KC-97L Stratotanker (1972-1977)
*C-97G Stratofreighter (1966-1972)
*F-104A/B Starfighter (1960-1966)
*F-86L Sabre (1957-1960)
*F-86A Sabre (1953-1957)
*F-51D Mustang (1952-1953)
*F-84B Thunderjet (1950-1952)
*F-51D Mustang (1946-1950)

References

External links

* [http://www.azphoe.ang.af.mil/ 161st Air Refueling Wing Official Website]