301st Fighter Wing

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=301st Fighter Wing


caption=Emblem of the 301st Fighter Wing
dates= 1944 - 1949
1972 - Present
country=United States
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branch=United States Air Force Reserve
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* World War II: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign (1944-1945)
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The 301st Fighter Wing is a United States Air Force Reserve figher wing, based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Carswell Field, Texas. It is equipped with the F-16C+ Fighting Falcon. It is the only Air Force Reserve fighter unit in the state of Texas.

Mission

The mission of the unit is to maintain a state of readiness to deploy people and their assigned fighter aircraft (the F-16) wherever needed when notified of recall to active duty. Wing people assigned to the 301st Fighter Wing repeatedly demonstrate their flying expertise and professionalism in Air Combat Command, Air Force Reserve Command and NATO exercises designed to emphasize that to retain the country’s combat ready posture it must train as it plans to fight.

The wing comes under 10th Air Force, one of AFRES’ three numbered Air Forces. If mobilized, the wing would come under Air Combat Command’s 12th Air Force.

Day to day activities of the wing are managed by full time air reserve technicians and department of the Air Force civilians. Ready reservist assigned to the wing are required to attend unit training assemblies which are scheduled for one weekend each month, plus serve 15 days active duty each year to fulfill their reserve commitment. Since reserve pilots are required to maintain the same degree of readiness as their active duty counterparts, flying activities are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday of each week throughout the year.

Units

*301st Operations Group:457th Fighter Squadron (F-16C, Tail Code: TX)
Note: Used Tail Code "TH" when assigned to Carswell AFB (1972-1994):301st Operations Support Flight

*301st Maintenance Group :301st Maintenance Squadron :301st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron:301st Maintenance Operations Flight
*301st Mission Support Group:301st Security Forces Squadron:301st Mission Support, Squadron:301st Civil Engineer Squadron:301st Logistics Readiness Squadron:301st Communications Flight:301st Services Flight:73rd Aerial Port Squadron Wing attached units:301st Aerospace Medicine Squadron :701st Medical Squadron

History

The unit's origins begin with its predecessor, the World War II 301st Fighter Group (301st FG) which was part of Twentieth Air Force. The 301st Fighter Wing's P-47N aircraft flew very long range (VLR) escort missions of B-29 Superfortress bombardment groups against Japan.

Lineage

* Constituted as 301st Fighter Group on 5 October 1944 and activated on 15 October.: Inactivated on Okinawa on 20 January 1949
* Redesignated 301st Tactical Fighter Wing on 19 May 1972: Activated in the Reserve on 1 Jul 1972: Redesignated 301st Fighter Wing on 1 Feb 1992.

Commands

* First Air Force :: Attached to I Fighter Command, 15 Oct 1944 - 21 May 1945
* Twentieth Air Force:: Attached to Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area, 21 May - 1 Jun 1945:: Attached to Seventh Air Force, 1 Jun - 14 Aug 1945
* Eighth Air Force, 15 Aug 1945 - 1 Jun 1946
* Far East Air Forces :: 1st Air Division, 7 Jun 1946 - 1 Dec 1948:: Thirteenth Air Force, 1 Dec 1948 - 20 Jan 1949
* Air Force Reserve Command:: Central Air Force Reserve Region, 1 Jul 1972:: Tenth Air Force, 8 Oct 1976 - Pres

Stations

* Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina, 15 Oct - 1 Nov 1944
* Mitchel Field, New York, 1 Nov 1944-30 May 1945
* Ie Shima, 31 Jul - 29 Nov 1945
* Kadena AB, Okinawa, 29 Nov 1945 - 14 Aug 1947
* Naha, Okinawa, 14 Aug 1947 - 20 Jan 1949
* Carswell AFB (later, ARS), Texas, 1 Jul 1972 - Present

Units assigned

* Groups: 15th Fighter Group:: Reassigned from Seventh Air Force, Feb 1945: 21st Fighter Group:: Reassigned from Seventh Air Force, Feb 1945: 51st Fighter Group: 15 Oct 1946-18 Aug 1948: 318th Fighter Group::: Attached 21 May - Nov 1945: 413th Fighter Group: 28 Oct 1944-15 Oct 1946: 414th Fighter Group: 28 Oct 1944-17 Apr 1945: 506th Fighter Group: 8 Jul 1972-25 Mar 1973: 507th Fighter Group: :: 26 Jun 1945-27 May 1946:: 25 Jul 1972-25 Mar 1973:: 17 Oct 1975-1 Oct 1982

* Groups: 924th Fighter Group: 1 Oct 1982-1 Oct 1994: 926th Fighter Group: 1 Aug 1992-1 Oct 1994: 945th Military Airlift: 1 Jul 1972-1 Jan 1973

: 301st Operations, 1 Aug 1992 - Pres

: 508th Fighter Group: :: 1 Jan - 25 Mar 1973:: 17 Oct 1975-1 Oct 1982:: 457th Fighter Squadron: 25 Mar 1973-1 Aug 1992:: 465th Fighter Squadron: 25 Mar 1973-17 Oct 1975:: 466th Fighter Squadron: 25 Mar 1973-17 Oct 1975

* Squadrons: 418th Night Fighter: 20 Mar 1946-20 Feb 1947: 548th Night Fighter: attached 8 Jun-14 Jul 1945

Operational history

World War II

The 301st Fighter Wing was organized in the United States initally at Seymour-Johnson Field, North Carolina in October 1944, then being assigned to Mitchel Field on Long Island in November. On Long Island, the wing coordinated the delivery of the very long range Republic P-47N Thunderbolt from its manufacturing plant at Farmingdale, with aircraft being flown to North Carolina where two of the newly-assigned groups of the 301st (413th and 414th) were training.

The war in the Pacific required fighter ranges even greater than did operations over Germany, and the mission of the 301st Fighter Wing was to provide bomber escort for Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortress bombers during their strategic bombing missions over Japan in 1945.

Soon after Saipan and Guam were taken with B-29 units being assigned there, the 318th Group formed on the Ryukyu Islands, consisting of six figher groups, the 15th and 21st (being transferred from Seventh Air Force) and the 413th, 414th, 506th and 507th, all being deployed from the United States. Being the first wing to be equipped with the P-47N, the groups operated as a long-range escort for B-29 Superfortress bombers attacking the Japanese mainland all the way from Saipan to Japan and on many other long, overwater flights.

In July 1945 the 301st was reassigned to the Eighth Air Force with the same mission for Eighth Air Force in the planned invasion of Japan. The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater.

The wing was reassigned to Far East Air Forces when Eighth Air Force was returned to the United States in 1946. Its four wartime fighter groups returned to the United States early in 1946, being replaced by the 51st Fighter Group as its operational unit. The wing performed air defense role over the Ryukyu Islands until inactivated on 20 January 1949.

Cold War

The 301st was reactivated in July 1972 as the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing at Carswell AFB, Texas in the United States Air Force Reserve. Upon reactivation the wing was assigned the Republic F-105 "Thunderchief", with the Carswell based 457th Fighter Squadron using specially modified version of the F-105D called the "Thunderstick II". The 301st Fighter Wing led the way for Air Force Reserve fighter units in deploying to overseas bases for NATO exercises when it deployed to Norvenich Air Base, Germany, in August 1977 and Gioia del Colle Air Base, Italy, in May 1979.

In 1981, the wing converted to the McDonnell-Douglas F-4D Phantom II. Subsequent overseas deployments by the 301st Fighter Wing included Cigli Air Base, Turkey, in October 1982. A deployment to Sivrihisar Air Base, Turkey, in May 1985 was an AFRES first when they operated under bare base conditions. The unit also deployed to Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. In 1987 the unit began swapping to the newer F-4E Phantom II. During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, many wing people were recalled to active duty and served at various locations throughout the United States, Germany, England, and Southwest Asia.

In April 1991, the wing converted to the F-16C/D, "Fighting Falcon".

Post Cold-War

In December 1993, the wing deployed six F-16s, (along with six from the 944th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB, Arizona), and approximately 350 wing people to Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of United Nations Operation Deny Flight mission. Due to the wing converting from the F-4 to the F-16 fighter aircraft during Desert Shield/Storm, this voluntary deployment to Aviano AB was the first non-exercise operational aviation deployment since flying fighters out of Carswell in 1972. Due to achieving the highest rating possible from the May 1994 Operational Readiness Inspection and supporting the Deny Flight mission, the 301st Fighter Wing was awarded as an Air Force outstanding unit for the period May 1992 to May 1994.

In May and June 1997, the wing deployed to Karup Air Station, Denmark. The wing joined forces with three US Air Force units and foreign militaries in two separate exercises while in Denmark. The first was a command and control exercise, called Central Enterprise. The second exercise was called BALTOPS, short for Baltic Operations.

In May 1998, the wing deployed with six Air Force Reserve aircraft in support United Nations Southern Watch mission in Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait.

21st Century

Elements of the 301st Fighter Wing deployed in October 2001 to the Middle East as part of a regularly scheduled aerospace expeditionary force rotation to enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. While there, the reservists also began flying combat missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF) over Afghanistan. Throughout the 90-day deployment, the reservists flew between nine and 15 hours a day.

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign Hill AFB. It would distribute nine of the 419th Fighter Wing F-16s to the 301st Fighter Wing. In 2007 the wing gained another eight aircraft from the 192nd Fighter Wing of the Virginia Air National Guard bringing its total to 32 airplanes.

References

* This article includes content from the [http://www.301fw.afrc.af.mil 301st Fighter Wing] official website
* Endicott, Judy G. (1999) Active Air Force wings as of 1 October 1995; USAF active flying, space, and missile squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. CD-ROM.
* Fletcher, Harry R. (1989) Air Force Bases Volume II, Active Air Force Bases outside the United States of America on 17 September 1982. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799536
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* Martin, Patrick (1994). Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings. Schiffer Military Aviation History. ISBN 0887405134.
* Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present]

External links