19th Airlift Wing
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The 19th Air Refueling Group (19 ARG or "Black Knights") is one of the oldest organizations in the United States Air Force. It's mission is to provide worldwide in-flight refueling for combat, logistics, and combat support aircraft. The unit currently operates KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft.
History
Origins
The 19th Observation Group was constituted as part of the United States Army Air Corps on October 181927. The unit flew training missions along the California coast for coastal defense between 1932 and 1935, and began bombardment training in 1935. The unit made aviation history in May 1941 when they flew their B-17s en mass from California to Hawaii.
World War II
The unit was stationed at Clark Field when the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941, and suffered numerous casualties and lost many aircraft in the attack. A number of B-17s on maneuvers at Del Monte however and escaped unharmed.
During December 1941, the 19th began reconnaissance and bombardment operations against Japanese shipping and landing parties. By the end of the year, ground personnel joined infantry units defending the Philippines, while the air echelon moved to Australia to transport supplies from there to the Philippines and to evacuate personnel.
The group flew B-17s, B-24s, and LB-30s from Java against enemy airfields, shipping, and ground installations during the Japanese offensive in the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies during early 1942. It participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, in May 1942, and raided enemy transportation and communications targets as well as troop concentrations during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea. The group bombed enemy airdromes, ground installations, and shipping near Rabaul, New Britain in August 1942.
It served in the continental United States as a replacement training organization from January to November 1943. The group was largely unmanned from December 1943 to April 1944, but was restaffed at Great Bend AAB in Kansas, and began training for B-29 combat missions. From Guam, it conducted its first B-29 bombing raid on February 25, 1945, against Tokyo. The group flew 65 raids on the Japanese home islands, bombing strategic targets in Japan, participating in incendiary bomb attacks against Japanese cities, and attacked kamikaze airfields during the invasion of Okinawa in the spring of 1945.
Korean War
In the late 1940s, the 19th conducted sea-search, photographic mapping, and training missions in the western Pacific. When the Korean War broke out in late June 1950, the group attacked the invading forces of North Korea. In July 1950, it detached from the 19th Air Refueling Wing, moved to Okinawa, and continued bombardment operations against North Korean troops, supply dumps, and other infrastructure until its deactivation in 1953.
1990-Present
From September 1991, the group conducted worldwide aerial refueling for U.S. and allied aircraft and supported worldwide tanker task forces, contingency operations, and humanitarian operations. The group provided command control support for US Central Command and, until 1994, for Special Operations Command. In the fall of 1994 it added the mission of flying cargo-only missions.
In July 1996 the 19th Air Refueling Group took over the inactivated 19th Air Refueling Wing's in-flight refueling mission. One of only two special operations qualified tanker units, it provided critical support to the special operations task force that rescued a downed USAF F-117A pilot in Serbia during Operation ALLIED FORCE in 1999.
During the War on Terror the unit provided air refueling support for special operations against the Taliban in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, as well as Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
Lineage
- Authorized as 19th Observation Group on 18 Oct 1927.
- Redesignated 19th Bombardment Group on 8 May 1929. Activated on 24 Jun 1932.
- Redesignated 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 17 Oct 1939;
- Redesignated 19th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 28 Mar 1944. Inactivated on 1 Apr 1944. Activated on 1 Apr 1944.
- Redesignated 19th Bombardment Group, Medium on 10 Aug 1948. Inactivated on 1 Jun 1953.
- Redesignated 19th Air Refueling Group, Heavy on 31 Jul 1985;
- Redesignated 19th Operations Group on 29 Aug 1991. Activated on 1 Sep 1991.
- Redesignated 19th Air Refueling Group on 1 Jul 1996.
Component
- 7th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 Jun 1992-1 Jan 1993.
- 14th Bombardment Squadron: attached 2 Dec 1941-c. 14 Mar 1942.
- 23d Observation Squadron: 24 Jun 1932-12 Oct 1938 (detached entire period).
- 28th Bombardment Squadron: 16 Nov 1941-1 Apr 1944; 1 Apr 1944-1 Jun 1953.
- 30th Observation (later, Bombardment) Squadron: 24 Jun 1932-1 Apr 1944; 1 Apr 1944-1 Jun 1953.
- 32d Observation Squadron (later, Bombardment): 24 Jun 1932-16 Dec 1941 (detached 22 Oct-16 Dec 1941).
- 40th Reconnaissance Squadron (later, 435th Bombardment): 14 Mar 1942-1 Apr 1944 (detached c. 17 Jul-c. 24 Sep 1942); 1 Apr-10 May 1944.
- 93d Bombardment Squadron: 20 Oct 1939-1 Apr 1944; 1 Apr 1944-1 Jun 1953.
- 99th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 Sep 1991-.
- 384th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 Jun 1992-1 Jan 1994.
- 712th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 Apr 1994-1 Jul 1996.
- 912th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 Sep 1991-1 Apr 1994.