The Combat Aviation Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division is a subordinate command of the 42nd Infantry Division. Once contained solely within

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, force reductions and reorganizations have resulted in units from several different states making up the brigade.

Structure

*Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC),

Latham, NY Latham is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet (and census-designated place) in Albany County, New York, Albany County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 9 in New York, U.S. Route 9 in the Administrative divisions o ...

* 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment,

Ronkonkoma, NY Ronkonkoma ( ) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of Islip, New York, United States. Its population was 19,082 at the 2010 United States census, 2 ...

**Company A, Latham, NY **Company B, Ronkonkoma, NY **Company D, Latham, NY **Company E,

Farmingdale, NY Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of ...

***Detachment 2, Company A, 1st Security & Support Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment (S&S) ***Detachment 3, Company E, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment *642nd Aviation Support Battalion (642nd ASB),

Rochester, NY Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in Wes ...

**HHC, Rochester, NY ***Detachment 2, HHC 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment (3-126th Aviation Battalion) (TOC) at Rochester ***Detachment 1, Company B, 3-126th Aviation Battalion (heavy lift) at Rochester ***Detachment 2, Company D, 3-126th Aviation Battalion (maintenance) at Rochester ***Detachment 2, Company E, 3-126th Aviation Battalion (support) at Rochester **Company A, Dunkirk, NY *** Detachment 1 at

Olean, NY Olean ( ) is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern ...

**Company B, Ronkonkoma, NY **Company C,

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

**C Company 1st General Support Aviation Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment (C-1-171st GSAB) at Rochester ***Detachment 2, Headquarters and Headquarters Company (2-HHC), 1-171st GSAB at Rochester ***Company C, 1-171st GSAB at Rochester ***Detachment 2, Company D, 1-171st GSAB at Rochester ***Detachment 1, Company E, 1-171st GSAB

Activation and history

Gallaudet Tractor biplane New York ANG 1915

The

New York National Guard The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (NYS DMNA) is responsible for the state's New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard, New York Guard and the New York Naval Militia. It is headed by Adjutant General of New ...

played an active role in

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

aviation from the early 1900s through the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Combat Aviation Brigade, 42d Infantry Division traces its history from 1947 when the post-

reorganization of the United States military created 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 Signal ...

as an entity separate from the Army. This reorganization also led to the creation of two divisions within the National Guard, the

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

, and the

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

. In 1947 the

New York Army National Guard The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the United States Army's available combat forces and approximat ...

fielded a fixed-wing aviation detachment of L-19 "Bird Dogs" assigned to

Miller Field Miller Field may refer to: Places In the United States * Jessee/Miller Field, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut * Zell B. Miller Field, Young Harris, Georgia * Les Miller Field, a baseball venue in Chicago, Illinois * Miller Field (basebal ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. This detachment and aircraft from the

II Corps 2nd Corps, Second Corps, or II Corps may refer to: France * 2nd Army Corps (France) * II Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * II Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French ...

and 101st Armored Cavalry Regiment were organized as the 42d Aviation Company at Huntington Station, Long Island in 1959. In 1963, the 42d Division's aviation units were reorganized as the 42d Aviation Battalion, based at Freeport and Zahn's Airport, Long Island. The battalion was equipped with O-1A Bird Dog and U-6 Beaver fixed-wing aircraft. The 42d Aviation Battalion expanded as the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

began fielding helicopters, including the creation of "lettered" subordinate

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

(Company A, 42d Aviation Battalion, and so on) and companies from other states. In 1968 the battalion received OH-13s and OH-23s. In 1971, Company A (Niagara Falls) and Company B (Long Island NY) received

Bell H-13 The Bell H-13 Sioux is an American single-engine light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter and manufactured by Westland Aircraft under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2. Development In 1947, the United States Army ...

UH-1 The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helico ...

and OH-6 helicopters. These companies consisted mainly of "lift" capacity and fielded the Delta and Hotel model UH-1, but each company had "Attack" platoons that flew "Charlie" and "Mike" model gunships. By 1985 the 42d Aviation Battalion was fielding the AH-1 Cobras and

OH-6 Cayuse The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter that was designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. Its formal name is derived from the Cayuse people while its "Loach" nickname comes from the acronym f ...

, as well as the

UH-1 Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helico ...

. In October 1986 another reorganization resulted in the 42d Aviation Battalion being re-designated as the Aviation Brigade, 42d Infantry Division. This reorganization included the stand-up of 1st Battalion, 142d Aviation Regiment (Attack) headquartered in Latham (1989), and 2d Battalion, 142d Aviation Regiment (Assault) in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

(1991).Richard Goldenberg, New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs, Office of Public Affairs
42nd Combat Aviation Brigade History
2011 In 1995 the Army’s "Aviation Restructuring Initiative" again reorganized the Aviation Brigade. 2-142d Aviation was inactivated, moved to

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

as the redesignated as 1-142d, and received the AH-1 ‘F’ model helicopter. 1-142d in Latham was re-flagged as the 3d Battalion, 142d Aviation Regiment (Assault), and received the UH-60 ‘Blackhawk’ helicopter.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

The Aviation Brigade headquarters deployed to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

as part of the 42d Division (Task Force Liberty) in May, 2004 and returned in November, 2005. Units subordinate to the Aviation Brigade in Iraq included: *Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Aviation Brigade, 42d Infantry Division *642d Aviation Support Battalion *1st Battalion, 150th Aviation Regiment (General Support), NJ ARNG *1st Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment (General Support), CA ARNG *8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment (Attack), USAR *1st Squadron,

17th Cavalry Regiment The 17th Cavalry Regiment is a historical organization within the United States Army that began as a regiment of cavalry after the Pancho Villa Expedition. The unit was constituted on 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as the 17th Cavalry at Fort ...

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

Post Iraqi Freedom

The 2005 modular reorganization of Army combat divisions included the redesignation from "Aviation Brigade" to "Combat Aviation Brigade" (CAB). In 2006, the headquarters of the Combat Aviation Brigade, 42d Infantry Division was relocated to Latham, New York.New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs
Media Advisory, New Aviation Leadership Transfer of Command Between State Aviation Office and 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade
11 September 2008 As part of planned force reductions following military operations in Iraq and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, the 42nd Infantry Division has reconfigured and redistributed subordinate units. As of 2013, the Combat Aviation Brigade has units in eleven states. Units based in New York include:

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Jamestown; Olean;

; Latham;

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

;

Patchogue Patchogue (, ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially known ...

; and Ronkonkoma. New York Army National Guard Aviation units and individual volunteers have also continued to serve overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. In 2013, the Combat Aviation Brigade was deployed in support of

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 at ...

. Note: While commonly referred to as the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade, the U.S. Army Center of Military History confirms that its correct designation is Combat Aviation Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division.

References

{{reflist Military units and formations in New York (state) Military units and formations established in 1947 Aviation Brigades of the United States Army Combat 042