115th Operations Group

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115th Operations Group
176th Fighter Squadron - 3 ship formation.jpg
F-16Cs from the 176th FS over the skies over Wisconsin in 2008
Active1956–present
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
AllegianceFlag of Wisconsin.svg  Wisconsin
Branch US-AirNationalGuard-2007Emblem.svg   Air National Guard
RoleFighter
Part of Wisconsin Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ Truax Field Air National Guard Base
Tail CodeRed tail stripe "Wisconsin" in white letters, "WI"
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
115th Operations Group emblem [1] 115th Fighter Wing.png
Patch with 115th Fighter-Interceptor Group heritage emblem 115th Fighter-Interceptor Group - Emblem.png

The 115th Operations Group is a unit of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, stationed at Truax Field Air National Guard Base, Madison, Wisconsin. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group was first organized in 1956 as the 115th Fighter Group and served in the air defense role until 1974, when it converted to a forward air control mission. It was inactive from 1979 to 1994, when it assumed its present mission.

Wisconsin Air National Guard

The Wisconsin Air National Guard is the air force militia of the State of Wisconsin, United States of America. It is, along with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, an element of the Wisconsin National Guard.

Truax Field Air National Guard Base

Truax Field Air National Guard Base, also known as Truax Field, is a military facility located at Dane County Regional Airport. It is located five miles (8 km) northeast of the center of Madison, a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States.

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

Contents

As an Air National Guard unit, it is normally under the command of the Governor, but has a federal role as well. Currently the wing has personnel and/or aircraft assigned to Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Jump Start and regularly serves with the Air Expeditionary Force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Operation Noble Eagle military operation in response to 9/11

Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) is the United States and Canadian military operation related to homeland security and support to federal, state, and local agencies. The operation began 14 September 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks.

Operation Jump Start

Operation Jump Start was a military operation to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection, announced by President George W. Bush in May 2006. The mission entailed the deployment of United States National Guard troops along the Mexico–United States border for purposes of enforcement of border security and construction of a border fence. The rules of deployment were defined in a memorandum of agreement between officials in the Department of Defense and the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas as well as Mexico.

Units

The 115th Operations Group consists of the following units:

176th Fighter Squadron

The 176th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Wisconsin Air National Guard 115th Fighter Wing located at Truax Field Air National Guard Base, Madison, Wisconsin. The 176th is equipped with the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

History

On 15 April 1956, the Wisconsin Air National Guard 176th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and supporting elements were reorganized as a group, and the 115th Fighter Group was established. The 176th became the group's flying squadron. The group was also assigned several support units, manned by personnel formerly assigned to the 128th Fighter-Interceptor Wing.

Air defense

176th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-89J 53-2686 in 1964 176th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-89J 53-2686.jpg
176th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-89J 53-2686 in 1964

The group trained for its air defense mission with annual training performed at Volk Field from 1956 to 1962. Beginning in 1963, it moved to "year-around" training. In January 1960, Northrop F-89 Scorpion crews assumed an around-the-clock runway alert commitment of two armed aircraft. With this undertaking came the F-89J with an armament platform that included the AIR-2 Genie. The AIR-2A was the first US air-to-air missile with a nuclear warhead. The 176th FIS exchanged their F-89s for the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger in early 1966.

Northrop F-89 Scorpion An American jet-powered all-weather interceptor aircraft

The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an American all-weather interceptor built during the 1950s, the first jet-powered aircraft designed for that role from the outset to enter service. Though its straight wings limited its performance, it was among the first United States Air Force (USAF) jet fighters equipped with guided missiles and notably the first combat aircraft armed with air-to-air nuclear weapons.

AIR-2 Genie An unguided air-to-air rocket with a nuclear warhead

The Douglas AIR-2 Genie was an unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead. It was deployed by the United States Air Force and Canada during the Cold War. Production ended in 1962 after over 3,000 were made, with some related training and test derivatives being produced later.

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor

The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft that was built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s. Entering service in 1956, its main purpose was to intercept invading Soviet strategic bomber fleets during the Cold War. Designed and manufactured by Convair, 1,000 F-102s were built.

176th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279 taking off from Truax Field, Wisconsin, 1970 176th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279 1970.jpg
176th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279 taking off from Truax Field, Wisconsin, 1970

In May 1966, the group replaced its F-89s with the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger. After a period of retraining in the new supersonic interceptors, the unit resumed its air defense "runway alert" mission in the spring of 1967. One year later in June 1969, the unit airlifted to Gulfport, Mississippi for summer training, ending six years of "year around" alerts at their home base.

Gulfport, Mississippi City in Mississippi, United States

Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the other county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city of Gulfport had a total population of 67,793. It is also home to the US Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees.

In September 1972, the group's 176th Squadron won the William Tell Competition in the F-102 category. The event, held at Tyndall Air Force Base, included top Air National Guard, Canadian Air Force and active Air Force units worldwide. The competition included 12 teams of 48 aircraft, each team scored on aerial marksmanship, weapons control, weapons loading and maintenance.

Forward air control

Air National Guard O-2 Skymaster Cessna Skymaster O-2 4.jpg
Air National Guard O-2 Skymaster

In 1974, the group, named the 115th Fighter-Interceptor Group since 1972, replaced its F-102s with the Cessna O-2A Skymaster forward air control aircraft and became the 115th Tactical Air Support Group. The O-2 was the military version of the Cessna 337 Skymaster, a high wing, twin-boom aircraft with a unique centerline pusher/tractor twin engine configuration. The O-2A was used in forward air control missions, often in conjunction with a ground forward air controller accompanied by a radio operator, maintenance, and driver (ROMAD) team. Its gaining command changed from Air Defense Command to Tactical Air Command. In January 1979 the group was inactivated and its components assigned directly to its parent 128th Tactical Air Support Wing.

Current mission

Group F-16C on the runway at Truax Field 176th Fighter Squadron 60th Anniversary F-16.jpg
Group F-16C on the runway at Truax Field

With the end of the Cold War, the early 1990s marked several changes. In 1995, the 128th Fighter Wing became the 115th Fighter Wing as the Air National Guard implemented the Air Force Objective Wing organization. The reorganization including reactivating the 115th as the 115th Operations Group.

The 115th Wing now flew the F-16C/D block 30 Fighting Falcon airframes with an enlarged air inlet. The first F-16s had arrived at Truax on 1 April 1993. The current role of the group is air interdiction and close air support. The group is capable of air-to-air, close air support and precision guided bombing missions. It operates munitions such as the JDAM series bombs and the AIM-9X air-to-air missile.[ citation needed ]

Operations participated in by the 115th Group include: Operation Coronet Chariot, Karup AS, Denmark 1994, Operation Northern Watch, Incirlik Air Base, Turkey 1997, Operation Southern Watch, Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait 1997-98, Operation Southern Watch, Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia 1999, Operation Coronet Nighthawk, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar 2004–05, Balad Air Base, Iraq, 2006, 08, & 09, Africa, 2013 and Operation Noble Eagle, from 11 September 2001 to the present.

Lineage

Activated and extended federal recognition on 15 April 1956
Inactivated on 1 January 1979

Assignments

Gaining commands [3]
Air Defense Command, 15 April 1956
Tactical Air Command, 9 November 1974 - 1 January 1979
Air Combat Command, 1 October 1994 - present

Components

Operational squadron
Support units

Stations

Aircraft

  • Northrop F-89C Scorpion, 1956-1957
  • Northrop F-89D Scorpion, 1957-1959
  • Northrop F-89H Scorpion, 1959-1960
  • Northrop F-89J Scorpion, 1960-1966
  • Convair F-102A Delta Dagger, 1966-1974
  • Cessna O-2 Skymaster, 1974-1979
  • General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, 1994–present

See also

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ The group uses the wing emblem with the group designation on the scroll. Air Force Instruction 84-105, Organizational Lineage, Honors and Heraldry, 19 March 2013, para 3.3.3.
  2. ↑ The aircraft is F-16C block 30 serial 87-0278 on 28 June 2008 during the Rhythm and Booms Fireworks display. Note the 60th Anniversary paint scheme on the tail.
  3. ↑ The major command to which the group would be assigned in the event of general mobilization.

Bibliography

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

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