347th Rescue Group emblem (approved 7 December 2006)[1]
Military unit
Aircraft of Moody AFB. Shown are the HC-130P (top), T-6 Texan II (left), T-38C (right), and HH-60G (bottom). The HC-130 and HH-60G are used by the 347th Rescue Group, the T-6 and T-38 by the 479th Flying Training Group
The 347th Rescue Group directs flying and maintenance of the one of two USAF active-duty groups dedicated to combat search and rescue. Responsible for training/readiness of 1,100 personnel, including a pararescue squadron, two flying squadrons (Lockheed HC-130J/HH-60W Jolly Green II), and an operations support squadron. Deploys worldwide in support of National Command Authority taskings.
Units
38th Rescue Squadron The 38th Rescue Squadron trains, equips, and employs combat-ready pararescue and supporting personnel worldwide in support of U.S. national security interests and NASA. This squadron provides survivor contact, treatment, and extraction during combat rescue operations, and uses various fixed/rotary wing insertion/extraction assets and employs by any means available to provide combat and humanitarian search, rescue, and medical assistance in all environments.
41st Rescue Squadron The 41st Rescue Squadron maintains combat-ready status as an HH-60W Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) and Personnel Recovery (PR) squadron. This squadron specializes in combat rescue of downed aircrews using night vision goggles (NVG), low-level formation, forward looking infrared cameras, aerial refueling, and survivor recovery. Members assigned to this squadron rapidly mobilize, deploy, and employ to provide combat and peacetime search and rescue in support of US national security interests and the NASASpace Shuttle. The 41st Rescue Squadron has all-weather, all-environment capabilities.[3]
71st Rescue Squadron The 71st Rescue Squadron maintains combat-ready status with 11 aircraft as one of two active duty HC-130J, combat search and rescue (CSAR) squadrons. This squadron rapidly mobilizes, deploys, and executes CSAR operations worldwide in support of national security interests. This mission requires the squadron to conduct low-level operations and air refueling using night vision goggles (NVGs) and airdrop pararescue personnel in support of combat personnel recovery.
347th Operations Support Squadron The 347th Operations Support Squadron supports all warfighting operations associated with the Host Rescue Wing and ongoing deployments in support of U.S. National interests, while developing, mentoring, and training leaders and productive members to ensure spectacular Air Force success.
Constituted as the 347th Fighter Group on 29 September 1942. Activated in New Caledonia on 3 October 1942. Detachments of the group, which was assigned to Thirteenth Air Force in January 1943, were sent to Guadalcanal, where they used Bell P-39 and P-400 Airacobra aircraft to fly protective patrols, support ground forces, and attack Japanese shipping.
Operational squadrons of the 347th FG were the 67th, 68th, 70th and 339th Fighter Squadrons.
It was P-38Gs of the 339th Fighter Squadron which, on 18 April 1943, flew the mission which resulted in the death of JapaneseAdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto. Only their aircraft possessed the range to intercept and engage. Pilots were informed that they were intercepting an "important high officer," although they were not aware of who their actual target was.
On the morning of 18 April, despite urgings by local commanders to cancel the trip for fear of ambush, Yamamoto's planes left Rabaul as scheduled. Shortly after, eighteen specially fitted P-38s took off from Guadalcanal. They wave-hopped most of the 430 miles to the rendezvous point, maintaining radio silence throughout. At 09:34 Tokyo time, the two flights met and a dogfight ensued between the P-38s and the six Zeroes escorting Yamamoto.
1st Lt. Rex T. Barber engaged the first of the two Japanese bombers, which turned out to be Yamamoto's plane. He sprayed the plane with gunfire until it began to spew smoke from its left engine. Barber turned away to attack the other bomber as Yamamoto's plane crashed into the jungle. Afterwards, another pilot, Capt Thomas George Lanphier, Jr., claimed he had shot down the lead bomber, which led to a decades-old controversy until a team inspected the crash site to determine direction of the bullet impacts. Most historians now credit Barber with the claim.
Headquarters moved up from New Caledonia at the end of 1943; and the following month the group moved from Guadalcanal to Stirling Island to support ground forces on Bougainville, assist in neutralizing enemy bases at Rabaul, and fly patrol and search missions in the northern Solomons.
The 347th was reassigned to New Guinea in August 1944, and equipped completely with P-38G's. Escorted bombers to oil refineries on Borneo; bombed and strafed airfields and installations on Ceram, Amboina, Boeroe, Celebes, and Halmahera. Received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a series of long-range bombing and strafing raids, conducted through intense flak and fighter defense, on the airfield and shipping at Makassar, Celebes, in November 1944.
Moved to the Philippines in February 1945. Supported landings on Mindanao in March 1945: bombed and strafed enemy installations and supported Australian forces on Borneo, attacked Japanese positions in northern Luzon, and flew escort missions to the Asiatic mainland.
The 347th Fighter Group was reassigned back to the United States in December 1945, and inactivated on 1 January 1946.
Korean War
North American F-82G Twin Mustang Serial 46-394 of the 68th Fighter (All Weather) Squadron flying a night interceptor mission over the wartime skies of Korea, 1951.
As the war in Korea began, on 24 June 1950 the 347th Fighter Wing was inactivated and the 347th Fighter Group's Twin Mustang squadrons were transferred to South Korea. They were the only fighter aircraft available with the range to cover the entire Korean peninsula.
The 339th Squadron was attached to the 8th Fighter Wing at Kimpo Airfield, near SeoulSouth Korea to stem the North Korean advance. The 68th Fighter (AW) Squadron was based at Itazuke, Japan. The 4th (AW) Squadron was reassigned to the provisional 6302d Air Base Group and provided air defense of Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.
The 347th Fighter Group provided fighter cover for the C-54 and C-47 transports flying in and out of Kimpo Airfield. On 27 June 1950, an F-82G (46–383) of the 68th Fighter (AW) Squadron flown by Lieut. William (Skeeter) Hudson (pilot) and Lieut. Carl Fraser (radar operator) shot down a North Korean Yak-7U (possibly a misidentified Yak-11). This was the first air-to-air kill of the Korean War, and, incidentally, the first aerial victory by the newly formed United States Air Force.
It is believed that Lt. Hudson was flying an F-82G named "Bucket of Bolts" (46–601) instead of his usual aircraft on that historic day. Later that same day, an F-82G (46–392) flown by Major James Little of the 339th Fighter (AW) Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group shot down a North Korean Yak-9. Records are unreliable, and some experts maintain that Major Little actually was the first to kill.
The 339th and 68th Fighter (AW) Squadrons served in South Korea until December 1950, being attached to the 8th FBW, 35th FIW, and 51st FIW. As more jets, especially the all-weather Lockheed F-94 Starfire, became available the F-82s were deligated to ground attack missions before eventually being withdrawn from the Korean Theater, modified, and reassigned to bomber escort duties at Ladd AFB, Alaska. With their F-82's reassigned to Alaska, the 347th Fighter Group was inactivated and stood down.
The Thirteenth Expeditionary Air Force is a provisional numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It has never been stationed in the continental United States.
The North American F-82 Twin Mustang is the last American piston-engined fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the North American P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in World War II. The war ended well before the first production units were operational.
George Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located within the city limits, 8 miles northwest, of central Victorville, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California.
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The 136th Airlift Wing is a unit of the Texas Air National Guard, stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas. If activated to federal service, the wing is gained by the United States Air Force's Air Mobility Command (AMC).
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The 68th Fighter Squadron was one of the longest-serving fighter squadrons in U.S. Air Force history, remaining active almost continually for 60 years. Known as the "Lightning Lancers", on the morning of 27 June 1950 pilots of the 68th Fighter-All Weather Squadron flying the North American F-82 Twin Mustang made history by achieving the first aerial kill of the Korean War.
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Moody Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation near Valdosta, Georgia.
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Some of this text in of this article was taken from pages on the Moody AFB website, which as a work of the U.S. government is presumed to be a public domain resource.
Davis, Larry (1996). F-82 Twin Mustang (Squadron/Signal Mini in Action Series Number 8). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN0-89747-367-1.
Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-89201-092-4.
Martin, Patrick (1994). Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings. Schiffer Military Aviation History. ISBN0-88740-513-4.
Mueller, Robert (1989). Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-912799-53-6
Pape, Garry R., Campbell, John M. and Donna (1991), Northrop P-61 Black Widow: The Complete History and Combat Record. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks International. ISBN0-87938-509-X.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-912799-12-9.
Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN1-85780-197-0.
Thompson, Warren (1995), Fighter Combat Over Korea, Part 1: First Kills, Wings of Fame, Aerospace Publishing ISBN1-85532-115-7.
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