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The 171st Air Refueling Wing (171 ARW) is a unit of the
Pennsylvania Air National Guard The Pennsylvania Air National Guard (PA ANG) is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard. As commonwe ...
, located at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...
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 elemen ...
.


Overview

The 171st Air Refueling Wing is an aerial refueling organization which provides in-flight refueling of fighters, bombers and other aircraft using the KC-135T Stratotanker. The 171 ARW presently has 16 aircraft assigned.171st Air Refueling Wing Official Webpage http://www.papitt.ang.af.mil/


Units

The 171st Air Refueling Wing consists of the following units: * 171st Operations Group : 146th Air Refueling Squadron (KC-135T Stratotanker) : 147th Air Refueling Squadron (KC-135T Stratotanker) : 258th Air Traffic Control Squadron :: Geographically separated unit of the 171st ARW, located at the John P. Murtha Cambria County Airport in Johnstown Pennsylvania. * 171st Maintenance Group * 171st Mission Support Group * 171st Medical Group


History


Aeromedical Airlift

On 1 February 1961, the
Pennsylvania Air National Guard The Pennsylvania Air National Guard (PA ANG) is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard. As commonwe ...
147th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 171st Air Transport Group was established 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 c ...
. The 147th being transferred from the 112th Fighter-Interceptor Group and re-designated as the 147th Aeromedical Transport Squadron. The 147th ATS became the 171st ATG's flying squadron. The 147th ATS was converted to twin engine C-119J Flying Boxcar aircraft and began training for its new mission. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 171st Headquarters, 171st Material Squadron (Maintenance), 171st Combat Support Squadron, and the 171st USAF Dispensary. After two years with the C-119J, the 147th converted to the C-121G Super Constellation. With the Super Constellation the primary mission of the 147th was to perform military airlift, with a secondary mission of aeromedical evacuation. In 1968, the unit was re-designated as the 171st Aeromedical Airlift Group, the first of its kind in the Air National Guard (ANG). Later that year, the 171st was called to active duty to augment the airlift capability of the 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing, Scott AFB, Illinois. Equipped with C-131 Samaritan aircraft its mission was to move patients from rough combat airfield casualty staging bases and military installations in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
to destination treatment hospitals. The Group flew 35% of these missions, flying 510 sorties and airlifting 11,947 patients. The unit was finally released from active duty in December 1968 and returned to Pennsylvania Commonwealth control.


Air refueling

Conforming to the new policy of the Department of Defense, the Air National Guard began to play an even greater role in fulfilling total U.S. force requirements. An extensive reorganization of the National Guard system was accomplished. As a result of these actions, the 171st Aeromedical Airlift Group was re-designated as the 171st Air Refueling Wing (ARW) in October 1972, transitioning from the C-121G to the
KC-97L Stratotanker The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter is a four-engined, piston-powered United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It replaced the KB-29 and was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Design and develo ...
. On 1 July 1976, the Wing received notice of reassignment to the
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 ...
(SAC). A year later, the Wing transitioned to the
KC-135A Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport ...
, a four-engine jet aircraft. This was a significant upgrade, increasing the Wing’s air refueling capacity and expanding its global mission capability. In 1982, the ANG increased its mission capability through an interim program by retrofitting commercial Boeing 707 engines to their tankers re-designating the aircraft to the KC-135E. Members of the 171 ARW volunteered for duty in Saudi Arabia in order to participate in air refueling missions for Operation Desert Shield. These operations were upgraded to a full federal activation in December 1990 through May 1991. During this period over 300 members of the unit were deployed throughout the world in numerous functions supporting both Desert Shield and combat operations during
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
. During this period the 171st ARW refueled nearly 3,000 allied aircraft while stationed near the Iraqi border in support of air combat missions against Iraqi forces. Maintaining a remarkable 100% mission effectiveness rate, the 171st flew 556 combat missions and offloaded 4.6 million gallons of fuel during the
1991 Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases ...
.


Post Cold War era

Strategic Air Command was inactivated in June 1992 and the 112th ARG became a part of the
Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...
(ACC). 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. With the consolidation, The 171st ARW consisted of 16 aircraft assigned to two squadrons, making it one of only three Super Tanker Wings within the Air National Guard. In May 1999, the 171st activated over 500 members and fourteen aircraft to
Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...
and Frankfurt, Germany, in support of Operation Allied Force deterring ethnic aggression in
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
. The 147th became part of the 171st Expeditionary Operations Group that flew 411 sorties and refueled 2,157 receivers. All members returned home by the beginning of July 1999. In November 2000, the 171st deployed 228 personnel to
Istres AB Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location ...
, France in support of
Operation Joint Forge The Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian war. Although SFOR was led by NATO, several non-NATO countries contributed troops. It ...
, a NATO-led stabilization mission in
Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...
. During this deployment, the crews flew 51 sorties in seven of our KC-135s, and offloaded 1.4 million pounds of fuel.


Global War on Terrorism

The 171st found itself among the first units called to duty almost immediately after the
9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
in New York City, Washington D.C. and in its own backyard in southwestern Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001 with the hijacking and crash of United Airlines Flight 93. At the time, almost all of the Wing's aircraft were in a stand-down mode, while nearly all of its assigned aircraft were being converted to with the new Pacer-Crag cockpit and navigation upgrade. Within minutes of the first aircraft crashes, the 171st Air Refueling Wing was airborne with its only flyable KC-135E. Its mission was to provide aerial refueling to the fuel-thirsty jet fighter aircraft that were providing Combat Air Patrols (CAPs) over the skies of the eastern United States as part of
Operation Noble Eagle 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 11 September 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks.. ...
(ONE). On the ground back in Pittsburgh, the maintainers and aircrews made more aircraft airworthy and then keeping them flying. Almost seamlessly, the 171st went into a wartime footing. Within 24 hours after the first attacks, the 171st was flying round-the-clock CAPs support sorties with eight Fully Mission Capable KC-135s. Before the continuous CAP missions were ended in early 2002, more than 13,000 combat missions were flown over U.S. soil. During the first decade of the 2000s, the 171st was engaged in combat operations in supporting
Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 a ...
,
Operation Noble Eagle 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 11 September 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks.. ...
,
Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, deployed to Guam, participated in the
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
Relief Effort, supported numerous Raven assignments, supported our AEF cycles and other missions. In an effort to support the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 Resolution 1973 was adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 17 March 2011 in response to the First Libyan Civil War. The resolution formed the legal basis for military intervention in the Libyan Civil War, demanding "an immediate ceas ...
of a no-fly zone over Libya, the 313th Air Expeditionary Wing, with the 171st as the lead unit, was stood up in March 2011 by a blend of active duty, guard and reserve airmen. A total of 1500 sorties, 11000 flying hours, and 70 million pounds of fuel transferred aircraft from more than ten countries was accomplished by this citizen-airmen volunteer militia force. Initially, the operation for the no-fly zone was called
Operation Odyssey Dawn Operation Odyssey Dawn was the U.S. code name for the American role in the international military operation in Libya to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 during the initial period of 19–31 March 2011, which continued af ...
. As it transitioned to a full-fledged, NATO-led effort, it became Operation Unified Protector. OUP officially ended 31 Oct. 2011. The wing had a consistent, non-stop presence of aircraft maintenance personnel deployed to the middle east in order to support the on going operations there. In 2018, personnel from the 171st Maintenance group deployed to Kandahar Air base, Afghanistan. This was a significant shift in the operational stance of the wing, as this was the first time tankers had been stationed inside the combat zone since the Vietnam War.


Lineage

* Designated 171st Air Transport Group, and allotted to Pennsylvania ANG, 1961 : Extended federal recognition and activated, 1 February 1961 : Re-designated: 171st Military Airlift Group, 8 January 1966 : Re-designated: 171st Aeromedical Airlift Group, 1 July 1968 : Status changed from Group to Wing, 1 November 1972 : Re-designated: 171st Air Refueling Wing, 1 November 1972 : Status changed to Non-Operational, 15 December 1990 – 31 May 1991


Assignments

*
Pennsylvania Air National Guard The Pennsylvania Air National Guard (PA ANG) is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard. As commonwe ...
, 1 February 1961 : Gained by:
Eastern Transport Air Force Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...
, (EASTAF),
Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NA ...
: Gained by: Twenty-First Air Force,
Military Airlift Command The Military Airlift Command (MAC) is an inactive United States Air Force major command (MAJCOM) that was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Established on 1 January 1966, MAC was the primary strategic airlift organization of th ...
, 8 January 1966 : 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 Forc ...
,
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 ...
, 1 July 1976 :: Component 147th Air Refueling Squadron attached to United States Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF), 15 December 1990 – 31 May 1991 : Gained by:
Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...
, 1 June 1992 : 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 elemen ...
, 1 June 1993 – Present


Components

* 171st Operations Group, 1 October 1993 – Present * 146th Air Refueling Squadron, 1 October 1993 – Present * 147th Aeromedical Transport (later Air Refueling) Squadron, 1 February 1961 – Present


Stations

* Greater Pittsburgh (later Greater Pittsburgh International and then Pittsburgh International) Airport, 1 February 1961 : Operated from: Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, 13 May – 12 December 1968 : Elements operated from: King Abdul Aziz Air Base, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 15 December 1990 – 31 May 1991 : Designated:
Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station Pittsburgh IAP Air Reserve Station is a United States Air Force base, located at Pittsburgh International Airport, Pennsylvania. It is located west-northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Overview Pittsburgh IAP ARS is the home station of t ...
, 1991-Present


Aircraft

* C-119J Flying Boxcar, 1961–1963 * C-121G Super Constellation, 1963–1972 * C-131 Samaritan, 1968 *
KC-97L Stratotanker The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter is a four-engined, piston-powered United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It replaced the KB-29 and was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Design and develo ...
, 1972–1977 *
KC-135A Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport ...
, 1977–1982 * KC-135E Stratotanker, 1982–2004 * KC-135T Stratotanker, 2004–Present


Aircraft flying in this unit


References


External links


Official Homepage
*https://web.archive.org/web/20110722175506/http://www.171arw.ang.af.mil/resources/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=12955 - Heritage {{Pennsylvania Wings of the United States Air National Guard Military units and formations in Pennsylvania 0171 Military units and formations established in 1964 Pennsylvania Air National Guard