123d Fighter-Interceptor Wing

The 123rd Airlift Wing (123 AW) is a unit of the Kentucky Air National Guard, stationed at Louisville International Airport (Louisville Air National Guard Base), Kentucky. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command.

Overview

The Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing mission is to provide worldwide theater airlift for U.S. military and humanitarian operations. The wing is equipped with eight C-130H Hercules aircraft. Multiple groups, squadrons and flights carry out the unit's mission by providing administrative and logistical support, including airlift operations, combat control, pararescue, maintenance, supply, transportation, contracting, communications, civil engineering, personnel, base services, security forces and medical functions.

In November 2021, the 123rd was re-equipped with C-130J Super Hercules

Units

The 123rd Airlift Wing consists of the following units:
* 123rd Operations Group
** 165th Airlift Squadron
** 123rd Special Tactics Squadron
* 123rd Maintenance Group
* 123rd Mission Support Group
* 123rd Medical Group
* 123rd Contingency Response Group

History

Korean War Federalization

With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, the 123rd Fighter Group and its component squadrons were mobilized into federal active duty at Godman Air Force Base at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Shortly after being federalized, the group and its support units of the 223rd Air Service Group were reorganized under the wing base organization and the 123rd Fighter-Bomber Wing was activated to control the operational and support elements that had been mobilized.

After over a year of training at Godman, the 123rd deployed to RAF Manston, Kent, England to replace the Strategic Air Command (SAC) 12th Fighter-Escort Wing which returned to Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas. In England, the mission of the 123rd was to provide fighter escort for SAC Boeing B-50 Superfortress and Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers while flying over Western European airspace on their deterrence alert missions. The 123rd left their F-51Ds at Godman AFB and the personnel
boarded C-47s to Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts and later to transport ships to England. They arrived in early December, 1951 at Manston where they began conversion training on Republic F-84E Thunderjets.

The training program began with the inexperienced F-51D pilots experiencing training difficulties with the jet aircraft, with several aircraft being lost in accidents. However, by March 1952 the unit was judged to be 80% combat ready on the Thunderjets. However, the period of federalization for the 123rd was expiring and in July 1952, the unit personnel were returned to the United States, the aircraft at Manston being passed on to the active duty 406th Fighter-Bomber Wing took over its personnel and equipment.

Tactical Fighter mission

After returning from England, the unit re-formed at Louisville. Because most jet aircraft were still in USAF use, the squadron received P-51D Mustangs and initially returned to its pre-federalization air defense mission, being designated as a fighter interceptor unit. However, with the P-51s, the Kentucky Air National Guard was limited to daylight training only.

On 1 January 1953, the wing was transferred to Tactical Air Command jurisdiction and re-equipped with refurbished North American F-86A Sabre air superiority fighter. With the switchover to TAC, the unit designation was changed to "Fighter-Bomber".

Tactical Reconnaissance mission

The wing only flew the Sabre for two years, when it was re-equipped with Martin RB-57A Canberra reconnaissance aircraft and became the 123rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.. The 123rd became a Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, in which it would remain for the next thirty years.

The wing would perform day and night, high and low, and visual and photographic reconnaissance. Unlike the Sabre fighters, the RB-57A was totally unarmed. The crew was two—one pilot and one photo-navigator One of their major activities of the 123rd in the United States was to carry out photographic surveys of areas hit by natural disasters such as hurricanes or tornadoes. In 1965, the 123rd was awarded its second Spaatz Trophy for superior combat readiness and flight training.

In 1965, the unit transferred its RB-57s to active duty to be deployed to South Vietnam. In return the 123rd was re-equipped, receiving the RF-101G Voodoo. The RF-101G was a derivative aircraft from twenty-nine ex-USAF F-101A Tactical Fighters that were withdrawn from fighter duty and were modified by Lockheed Aircraft Service Company of Ontario, California to serve as unarmed tactical reconnaissance aircraft for use by the Air National Guard. These aircraft were redesignated as RF-101G. As compared to the RF-101A dedicated photo-reconnaissance version of the F-101A, the RF-101G had a shorter and broader nose. These aircraft went to the Kentucky Air National Guard in July 1965, replacing the RB-57B.

On 26 January 1968, the Pueblo Crisis precipitated the 123rd's recall to federal service. The unit flew just under 20,000 tactical flying hours with the RF-101G and delivered nearly 320,000 reconnaissance prints to requesting agencies. Assigned personnel served on active duty for 16 months.

The 123rd experienced a rocky tour of active duty. The wing had not been rated combat-ready when mobilized on 26 January 1968 primarily due to equipment shortages. It was not part of Secretary McNamara's Selected Reserve Force

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