The 15th Airlift Wing (15 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. It is the airlift arm of Pacific Air Forces and United States Pacific Command and reports directly to the vice commander, Pacific Air Forces.
| 15th Airlift Wing | |
|---|---|
 Emblem approved on 5 Oct 1942. | |
| Active | 1 December 1940 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Part of | Pacific Air Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii |
| Battle honours | Distinguished Unit Citation: Japan, 7 Apr 1945; Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 1 Jan 1965-1 Jun 1966; 1 Jan-31 Dec 1969; 4 Apr-3 Sep 1975; 25 Feb-25 Mar 1986; 1 Jul 1989-30 Jun 1991; 1 Jul 1991-30 Jun 1993; 1 Oct 1993-30 Sep 1995; 1 Oct 1995-1 Aug 1997; 2 Aug 1997-1 Aug 1999; 29 Nov 1999-30 Nov 2001. Campaign streamers: World War II: Central Pacific; Air Offensive, Japan. |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Colonel John J. Torres |
15 AW is responsible for the following installations: Hickam Air Force Base (2,850 acres (12 km²)) Bellows Air Force Station (499 acres (2 km²) recreation center), and Wake Island (since the spring of 2005).
Mission
The mission of the 15th Airlift Wing is to partner with the Hawaii Air National Guard to provide strategic and tactical airlift capability to PACAF and Air Mobility Command to support local and worldwide missions of combat support and humanitarian or disaster relief.
The second mission of the 15th Airlift Wing is to enhance PACAF's power and reach by ensuring world-class en route support, maintaining operational ready forces, and providing superior customer service.
The third mission of the wing is to provide airlift support to the commander, Pacific Air Forces and the commander, Pacific Command.
A major responsibility of the wing is providing maintenance and refueling for aircraft transiting Hickam between the Continental United States and the Western Pacific, as well as housing and feeding transient personnel. Aircraft assigned are one specially configured C-40 and one C-37 aircraft flown by the wing's 65th Airlift Squadron which provide command airlift.
Units
The 15th Airlift wing is composed of four groups each with specific functions. The Operations Group controls all flying and airfield operations. The Maintenance Group performs Aircraft and Aircraft support equipment maintenance. The Mission Support Group has a wide range of responsibilities but a few of its functions are Security, Civil Engineering, Communications, Personnel Management, Logistics, Services and Contracting support. While the Medical Group provides medical and dental care.
Hickam is also host to numerous tenant organizations. The wing supports 140 tenant and associate units.
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Air Force installations under the wing's jurisdiction include:
Hickam Air Force Base - Home of Headquarters Pacific Air Forces and the 15th Airlift Wing, this is the largest installation in the wing and consists of 2,850 acres (12 km²) of land and facilities valued at more than $405 million. Sharing its runways with adjacent Honolulu International Airport (HIA), Hickam and the HIA constitute a single airport complex operated under a joint-use agreement.
Bellows Air Force Station - Covering some 1,050 acres (4 km²) in the Waimanalo area on the east side of Oahu , this station is operated by Detachment 1, 15th Support Group. On Jan. 25, 2000 , the Air Force transferred all but 499 acres (2 km²) of Bellows to the Marines. The Marines use the portion transferred for training. The area also housed the Hawaii Army National Guard's Military Academy . The land retained by the Air Force serves as a recreation center for military personnel of all services, complete with a beach, cabins and the amenities of a small base.
Wake Island - Until spring of 2005, responsibility for the operation of Wake Island and its assets was assigned to the former 13th Air Force at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. However, as the Air Force continued to transform into an even more capable expeditionary service, those responsibilities were delegated to the 15th Airlift Wing. Wake Island supports US Pacific Command major regional taskings. The base provides facilities, vehicles, aerospace ground equipment, aviation fuel and bare base assets to sustain aircraft for combat operations. It also provides for the bed down of forces and emergency divert airfield operations.
Lineage
The unit was established as 15th Pursuit Group (Fighter) on 22 November 1940 and was activated on 1 December 1940 at Wheeler Field, Territory of Hawaii. Redesignated: 15th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 12 Feburay 1942; 15th Fighter Group on 15 May 1942. Inactivated on 15 October 1946.
Redesignated 15th Fighter Group (Air Defense) on 20 June 1955 and activated on 18 August 1955 at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, New York. Discontinued on 1 Jul 1960.
Consolidated (31 January 1984) with the 15th Tactical Fighter Wing, which was established, and activated, on 17 April 1962 at MacDill AFB, Florida. Designated 15th Tactical Fighter Wing. Inactivated on 1 October 1970.
Redesignated 15th Air Base Wing on 20 October 1971 and activated on 1 November 1971 at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Redesignated 15th Airlift Wing on 28 Apr 2003.
Bases Assigned
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Aircraft
Group/Wing Commanders and dates assigned
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History
World War II
The 15th Airlift Wing was originally constituted as the 15th Pursuit Group (Fighter) and was activated at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, on 1 December 1940. The original pursuit squadrons of the group were:
- 45th Pursuit Squadron
- 46th Pursuit Squadron
- 47th Pursuit Squadron
A little more than a year later, on 7 December 1941, it engaged in combat action during the Japanese attack on military installations in Hawaii.
Bombing and strafing attacks that morning by carrier-based planes of the Japanese strike force destroyed many assigned aircraft and caused heavy casualties; however, 12 of the group's pilots succeeded in launching their Curtiss P-36 Hawk and Curtiss P-40 aircraft from Wheeler and Haleiwa Fields, flew a total of 16 sorties, and destroyed 10 enemy planes. Second Lieutenants George S. Welch and Kenneth M. Taylor, P-40 pilots assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron, shot down four and two, respectively, and were later cited for extraordinary heroism during the attack. Both received the Distinguished Service Cross.
With the outbreak of war, the group's primary mission remained the aerial defense of the Hawaiian Islands; but training pilots for combat became its secondary task. Aircraft flown included the Curtiss A-12 Shrike, Grumman OA-9 amphibious observation plane, Martin B-12 amphibious bomber, Boeing P-26 Peashooter, Curtiss P-36 Hawk, Bell P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and the Republic P-47D Thunderbolt.
On 12 February 1942, the unit was redesignated the 15th Pursuit Group (Interceptor). Several months later, the archaic "pursuit group" term was dropped and the unit was redesignated the 15th Fighter Group on 15 May 1942. That summer, the group's mission changed. Although defense of the islands continued to be an important responsibility, providing combat training for pilots became the primary mission for the next two years.
In 1943, three additional squadrons were added to the group, those being:
- 6th Fighter Squadron
- 18th Fighter Squadron
- 78th Fighter Squadron
The group deployed squadrons to the Central and South Pacific for operations against Japanese forces. Then, in April 1944, all elements of the 15th Fighter Group returned to Hawaii and began training for very-long-range (VLR) bomber escort missions, obtaining North American P-51 Mustangs later in the year.
In January 1945, ordered into combat, the group left Hawaii for Saipan in the Marianas Islands, remaining there until a landing strip could be secured by the Marines on Iwo Jima. The first fighter aircraft to arrive at lwo Jima were P-51s of the 15th's 47th Fighter Squadron the morning of March 6, with the 45th and 78th Squadrons following the next day. They supported Marine ground units by bombing and strafing cave entrances, trenches, troop concentrations, and storage areas. By the middle of March, the group also began strikes against enemy airfields, shipping, and military installations in the Bonin Islands.
On 7 April 1945, the 15th flew its first VLR mission to Japan, providing fighter escort for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers that attacked the Nakajima aircraft plant near Tokyo, and was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation. In late April and early May that year, the 15th struck Japanese airfields on Kyūshū to curtail the enemy's suicide attacks against the invasion force on Okinawa and also hit enemy troop trains, small factories, gun positions, and hangars in the Bonins and Japan.
During the summer of 1945, the 15th Fighter Group was assigned to the Twentieth Air Force and continued its fighter sweeps against Japanese airfields and other targets, in addition to flying long-range B-29 escort missions to Japanese cities, until the end of the war. After the war, the group remained on lwo Jima until 25 November 1945, when it transferred (without personnel and equipment) to Bellows Field, Hawaii. There it absorbed the personnel and equipment of the 508th Fighter Group.
On 8 February 1946, the unit moved to Wheeler Field, where it remained until inactivated on 15 October 1946.
Air Defense Command
The 15th was activated on 18 August 1955 as 15 Fighter Group (Air Defense) at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, NY, and was equipped with the North American F-86 Sabres and later, Convair F-102 Delta Dagger aircraft as part of Air Defense Command. The wing performed air defense operations for the Syracuse Air Defense Sector until July 1960, when it was discontinued.
Tactical Air Command
On 1 July 1962, the 15th Tactical Fighter Wing was activated at MacDill AFB, Florida and assigned to Ninth Air Force. Operational squadrons of the wing and squadron tail codes were:
- 45th Tactical Fighter squadron (FC)
- 46th Tactical Fighter squadron (FD)
- 47th Tactical Fighter squadron (FE)
- 43d Tactical Fighter Squadron (FB)
(Activated on 8 January 1964 as part of a wing transition from three squadrons of 25 aircraft each to four squadrons of 18 aircraft each.)
Initially equipped with the obsolete Republic F-84F Thunderjet which was obtained from Air National Guard units, in 1964 the wing upgraded to the tail-coded McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II. The 15th TFW was the second wing to be equipped with the F-4.
The mission of the 15th TFW was to conduct tactical fighter combat crew training. The wing participated in a variety of exercises, operations and readiness tests of Tactical Air Command. Trained pilots and provided logistical support for the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing. Reorganized as a mission-capable unit at the time of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, returning afterwards to a training mission.
With the departure of the 12th TFW in 1965, the 15th TFW became the host unit at MacDill with unit's mission becoming a training unit for F-4 aircrews prior to their deployment to Southeast Asia. The wing deployed 16 F-4s at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, during the Pueblo crisis in 1968.
In 1965, the wing deployed its 43rd, 45th, 46th and 47th Tactical Fighter Squadrons to Southeast Asia, where they participated in the air defense commitment for the Philippines from Clark AB and flew combat missions from Cam Rahn Bay Air Base in South Vietnam and Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. Members of the 45th TFS achieved the first U.S. Air Force aerial victories of the Vietnam conflict when they destroyed two MIGs on 10 July 1965.
Captains Thomas S. Roberts, Ronald C. Anderson, Kenneth E. Holcombe, and Arthur C. Clark received credit for these kills.
Beginning on 8 February 1969, the 13th Bombardment Squadron, Tactical began Martin B-57G (Tail Code: FK) light bomber aircrew training. The squadron was deactivated on 1 October 1970 and redesignated as the 4424th Combat Crew Training Squadron.
The 43d TFS was reassigned to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on 4 January 1970. The 15th was deactivated on 1 October 1970, being replaced by the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing at MacDill.
Pacific Air Forces
One year later, on 20 October 1971 , the wing was redesignated the 15th Air Base Wing and assigned to the Pacific Air Forces. It activated at Hickam AFB, Hawaii , on 1 November 1971 , assuming the mission and duties previously performed by the 6486th Air Base Wing, which was simultaneously inactivated. Activation of the 15th AW at Hickam AFB continued the lineage of a distinguished Air Force unit in its original geographic location.
The 15th ABW managed Hickam, Wheeler, Dillingham, and Johnston Island Air Force Bases, Bellows Air Force Station, and several smaller subsidiary bases. Responsibility for Johnston Island subsequently transferred to the Defense Nuclear Agency on 1 July 1973 ; but on that same date, the 15th ABW assumed operational responsibility for Wake Island . Dillingham later transferred to Army control on 27 February 1975 , as did Wheeler AFB on 1 November 1991. In 1999, the 15th ABW once again assumed responsibility for Johnston Island . Operational control of Wake Island transferred to the 36th Air Base Wing (13th Air Force), Andersen AFB, Guam , on 1 October 2000.
On 28 April 2003 , the wing was redesignated the 15th Airlift Wing and begun preparation to stand up a first-of-its-kind active duty/associate Air National Guard C-17 organization.
Almost three years later, on 8 February 2006 the wing welcomed in the first of eight C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets changing Hickam's identity and mission from strictly en route support to include performing local and worldwide airlift operations in support of combat and humanitarian missions.
See also
References
This article contains information from the 15th Airlift Wing history factsheet which is an official document of the United States Government and is presumed to be in the public domain.
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
- Mueller, Robert (1989). Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6
- Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.
- [1] Air Force Historical Research Agency, 15th Airlift Wing
- [2] www.armyairforces.com
- [3] 15th Airlift Wing at GlobalSecurity.org
External links
- Commanders lead Airmen in changing times, 15th Airlift Wing History Office
- 15th Airlift Wing Heritage Site