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The 112th Air Refueling Group (112 ARG) is an inactive unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, stationed at Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania. It was inactivated on 1 October 1993.


History


World War II

: ''See
350th Fighter Group The 350th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Force formed in 1942 and inactivated in 1945. The fighter group consisted of 345th Fighter Squadron, 345th, 346th Fighter Squadron, 346th and 347th Fighter Squadron. The ...
for extended World War II history'' The group's air echelon was activated in England under
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
. It was equipped with export versions of the P-39 Airacobra originally ordered for the
French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
. By the summer of 1942 the number of American pilot volunteers in the Royal Air Force serving in England had grown to a few hundred in number. In urgent need of additional fighters to support the forthcoming North African invasion, American planners decided to combine these two assets already in England and at the end of September 1942 a number of American pilots in the RAF were invited to transfer to the USAAF. Deployed from England to Port Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco, during the period 3 Jan to 28 February 1943. The Ground Echelon, finally joined each other at Oujda Airfield,
French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prote ...
, a few days after their arrival in North Africa on 3 January 1943. The Ground Echelon had arrived off North Africa in the first week of November 1942 from the United States with the
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
invasion fleet. The group operated with Twelfth Air Force from January 1943 until the end of the war, flying patrol and interception missions, protecting convoys, escorting aircraft, flying reconnaissance missions, engaging in interdiction operations, and providing close support for ground forces. It operated against targets in Tunisia until the end of that campaign. The Group flew air defense and fighter- bomber missions with its P-39 Airacobras and primarily fighter bomber missions with its P-47 Thunderbolts. The 350th FG moved to the port of embarkation at Naples, Italy, on 14 July 1945. On 1 August 1945, the group sailed for combat operations in the Pacific Theater. The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan while the Group was en route and provisioning in Panama City on the Pacific Ocean side of the Canal Zone. V-J day was declared, signaling the end of hostilities in World War II. The ship carrying the Group was directed to return to the US and the 350th Fighter Group and its American Squadrons were inactivated on 7 November 1945, at Seymour Johnson Field, Goldsboro, NC, after 3 years and one month of operations. The inactivation was to last less than a year.


Pennsylvania Air National Guard

The wartime 350th Fighter Group was re-designated as the 112th Fighter Group and was allotted to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport and was extended federal recognition on 22 April 1949 by the
National Guard Bureau The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was cre ...
. The 112th Fighter Group was bestowed the history, honors, and colors of the 350th Fighter Group. The wartime 345th FS became the
146th Fighter Squadron The 146th Air Refueling Squadron (146 ARS) is a unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard 's 171st Air Refueling Wing located at Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania. The 146th is equipped with the KC-135T Stratotanker. History ...
, the 346th FS became the
147th Fighter Squadron The 147th Air Refueling Squadron is a unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard 171st Air Refueling Wing located at Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania. The 147th is equipped with the KC-135T Stratotanker. History World War II Th ...
and the 347th FS was re-designated the
148th Fighter Squadron The 148th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Arizona Air National Guard 162d Fighter Wing located at Tucson Air National Guard Base, Arizona. The 148th is equipped with the Block 20 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon. The squadron was first organized in E ...
, and assigned to
Spaatz Field Reading Regional Airport (also known as Carl A. Spaatz Field) is a public airport three miles (5 km) northwest of Reading, Pennsylvania, Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Reading Regional ...
at Reading. The 146th and 147th would have an air defense mission over Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania; the 148th would fly air defense over the Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh squadrons flew F-47N Thunderbolts and the 148th FS at Reading flew F-51D Mustangs. The group was assigned to the PA ANG 53d Fighter Wing In February 1951 the 148th FS at Reading was activated for the Korean War, along with the 111th Bombardment Group at Philadelphia, leaving the 112th and the 146th and 147th Fighter Squadrons at Pittsburgh with the air defense mission for the entire commonwealth. At the end of 1951, the activated units at Reading and Philadelphia returned to Pennsylvania control. The F-47s were retired and the squadrons re-equipped with
F-51H Mustang Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs NA ...
s, due to the lack of jets which were being used in Korea. After the Korean War ended, originally it was planned to convert the 146th FBS from its propeller-driven F-51Hs to
F-86A Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
jet interceptors, but after receiving four Sabres, the squadron began to receive new F-84F Thunderstreaks in October 1954. The 147th switched from its F-51Hs to F-84Fs in July 1955. In July 1955, the group was again re-designated, this time as the 112th Fighter-Interceptor Group, reflecting the Pennsylvania ANG's mission to counter the threat of Soviet bombers. In December 1957, the 146th replaced their F-84Fs with
F-86D Sabre Interceptor The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog",) was an American transonic jet fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was an interceptor ...
s, and the 147th followed in early 1958 receiving F-86L Sabre Interceptors. At Reading, by 1956 the 148th Fighter Squadron F-51Ds were reaching the end of their service life and the Air Force was phasing the Mustang out of the inventory. In an effort to upgrade to an all jet fighter force, the Air Force required Air National Guard Air Defense Command units to upgrade to jet-powered aircraft. Tests of operating F-84Fs at Spaatz Field had shown that the runways at the airport were too short to operate jet fighters safely from the runways, and the Reading Airport Commission and Air National Guard authorities found themselves in a conflict over the use of Reading Municipal Airport for tactical jet operations. Unable to resolve these differences the Air Force inactivated the 148th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 30 June 1956. It was subsequently re-designated the 140th Aeromedical Transport Squadron and reactivated at Spaatz Field as a new organization of the PA ANG, equipped with propeller-driven C-46 Commandos. The 148th's its lineage and history were bestowed on the new squadron. With the inactivation of the 148th, the 103d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Philadelphia took up the air defense mission of the eastern part of the commonwealth. Beginning in 1960, the 112th Fighter Interceptor Group upgraded to the supersonic F-102A Delta Dagger interceptor. These Air Guard pilots stood runway alert for 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport ready to scramble regardless of the weather conditions to intercept any unidentified aircraft approaching southward from the Canada–US border or toward the United States from the Atlantic Coast, their F-102A Delta Daggers fully armed with two heat seeking missiles and four radar-guided missiles as well as 2.75-inch rockets. With air defense becoming less critical in the early 1960s, the 103d FIS at Philadelphia moved to an Air Transport mission in 1962. In February 1961, the
171st Air Transport Group The 171st Air Refueling Wing (171 ARW) is a unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, located at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force ...
was formed at Greater Pittsburgh Airport flying the C-121 Constellation as a component of the
Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...
(MATS). Upon formation, the 147th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was reassigned from the 112th FIG and re-designated as the 147th Air Transport Squadron, becoming the operational squadron of the new 171st ATG. The 146th FIS remained with the 112th FIG at Pittsburgh thus became the last Air Defense squadron in the PA Air National Guard. In 1975 the 112th ended its air defense mission, receiving its first A-7D Corsair II aircraft and was reassigned to the
Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...
. In 1991 with the retirement of the A-7D, the 112th Tactical Fighter Group became the 112th Air Refueling Group (ARG) under
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
, receiving KC-135 Stratotankers that it operated jointly with the 171st, which had become an air refueling Wing at Pittsburgh in October 1972. Strategic Air Command was inactivated in June 1992 and the 112th ARG became a part of the Air Mobility Command (AMC). On 1 October 1993, with both the 112th Air Refueling Group and the 171st Air Refueling Wing at Pittsburgh, the two tanker units were consolidated with the 146th Air Refueling Squadron being reassigned to the 171st Operations Group and once again reuniting with the 147th under the same group. The 112th Air Refueling Group was inactivated.


Lineage

* Activated in England on 1 October 1942 by special authority granted to Eighth Air Force prior to constitution as 350th Fighter Group on 2 October 1942 : Inactivated on 7 November 1945 * Re-designated: 112th Fighter Group, and allotted to Pennsylvania ANG on 24 May 1946 : Extended federal recognition on 22 April 1949 : Re-designated: 112th Fighter-Bomber Group, 1 November 1952 : Re-designated: 112th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 1 July 1955 : Re-designated: 112th Tactical Fighter Group, 1 July 1975 : Re-designated: 112th Air Refueling Group, 16 October 1991 : Inactivated: 1 October 1993


Assignments

*
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
, 1 October 1942 * VIII Fighter Command, 2 October 1942 – 6 January 1943 * Twelfth Air Force, 6 January 1943 – 14 July 1945 *
III Fighter Command The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946. History Background GHQ Air Force (GHQ,AF) had been established with two major combat ...
, 25 August – 7 November 1945 * 53d Fighter Wing, 22 April 1949 *
111th Air Defense Wing 111th may refer to: *111th Delaware General Assembly, a meeting of the legislative branch of the state government * 111th Engineer Brigade (United States), a combat engineer brigade of the United States Army *111th Field Artillery Regiment (United ...
, 1 November 1950 * Pennsylvania Air National Guard, 1 July 1956 : Gained by: Eastern Air Defense Force,
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
: Gained by:
Syracuse Air Defense Sector The Syracuse Air Defense Sector (SADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division at Hancock Field, New York. SADS was established in October 1956 as the 46 ...
,
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
, 8 January 1957 : Gained by:
26th Air Division The 26th Air Division (26th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Tactical Air Command, assigned to First Air Force, being stationed at March Air Force Base, California. It was inacti ...
,
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
, 4 September 1963 : Gained by:
34th Air Division The 34th Air Division (34th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969. History Assigned to Air Def ...
,
Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...
, 1 April 1966 : Gained by:
34th Air Division The 34th Air Division (34th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969. History Assigned to Air Def ...
, Aerospace Defense Command, 15 January 1968 : Gained by:
20th Air Division The 20th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida where it was inactivated on 1 March 1983. During most of the division's history it ...
, Aerospace Defense Command, 1 January 1970 : Gained by:
Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...
, 1 July 1978 : Gained by:
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
,
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
, 16 October 1991 : Gained by:
Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...
, 1 June 1992 – 1 October 1993


Components

* 146th Fighter (later Fighter-Bomber, Fighter-Interceptor, Tactical Fighter, Air Refueling) Squadron, 22 April 1949 – 1 October 1993 * 147th Fighter (later Fighter-Bomber, Fighter-Interceptor) Squadron, 22 April 1949 – 1 February 1961 * 148th Fighter (later Fighter-Bomber, Fighter-Interceptor) Squadron, 22 April 1949 – 10 February 1951; 1 November 1952 – 30 June 1956 (GSU at Reading MAP) *
345th Fighter Squadron The 345th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 350th Fighter Group stationed at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina. It was inactivated on 7 November 1945. History Activated on 1 Oc ...
: 1 October 1942 – 7 November 1945 * 346th Fighter Squadron: 1 October 1942 – 7 November 1945 * 347th Fighter Squadron: 1 October 1942 – 7 November 1945 * Brazilian 1st Fighter Squadron, October 1944 – May 1945


Stations

* RAF Bushey Hall (AAF-341), England, 1 October 1942 * RAF Duxford (AAF-357), England, October 1942 * Oujda Airfield,
French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prote ...
, 6 January 1943 * Oran Es Sénia Airport, Oran, Algeria, 14 February 1943 * Maison Blanche Airport,
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, Algeria, May 1943 *
Rerhaia Airfield Rerhaia Airfield was a World War II military airfield in Algeria, located approximately 3 km northwest of Boudouaou, about 32 km east-southeast of Algiers. It was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 350th Fig ...
, Algeria, c. 17 July 1943 * Sardinia, 5 November 1943 *
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
, 6 February 1944 *
Tarquinia Airfield Tarquinia Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in the Lazio region of central Italy, about 6 km South-Southwest of Tarquinia. It was an all-weather temporary field built by the XII Engineer Command using a graded earth ...
, Italy, 8 September 1944 * Pisa Airfield, Italy, 2 December 1944 – 14 July 1945 * Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina, 25 August – 7 November 1945 * Greater Pittsburgh (later Greater Pittsburgh International) Airport, 22 April 1949 : Designated: Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station, 1991-President


Aircraft

* P-39 Airacobra, 1942–1944 * P-400 Airacobra, 1942–1944 * P-38 Lightning, 1943 * P-47 Thunderbolt, 1944–1945 * F-47N Thunderbolt, 1949–1951 * F-51D Mustang, 1949–1951; 1952–1956 *
F-51H Mustang Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs NA ...
, 1951–1954 *
F-84C Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thun ...
, 1951–1952 *
F-86A Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
, 1954 * F-84F Thunderstreak, 1954–1957 *
F-86D Sabre Interceptor The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog",) was an American transonic jet fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was an interceptor ...
, 1957–1960 * F-86L Sabre Interceptor, 1958–1960 *
F-102 Delta Dagger The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft designed and manufactured by Convair. Built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s, it entered service in 1956. Its main purpos ...
, 1960–1975 * A-7D Corsair II, 1975–1991 * KC-135E Stratotanker, 1991–1993


References

{{US Air Force navbox Groups of the United States Air National Guard Military units and formations in Pennsylvania Air refueling groups of the United States Air Force