917th Wing

917th Wing
917th Wing B-52H in 2003
Active	1963-2011
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Fighter & Bomber
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Insignia
917th Wing emblem (Approved 16 November 1989)

The 917th Wing is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve unit. It was last assigned to the Tenth Air Force, stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was inactivated on 8 January 2011.

History

Following the mobilizations in 1961 and 1962 for the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Continental Air Command (ConAC) realized that it was unwieldy to mobilize an entire wing unless absolutely necessary. Their original Table of Organization for each Wing was a wing headquarters, a troop carrier group, an Air Base Group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group. In 1957, the troop carrier group and maintenance and supply groups were inactivated, with their squadrons reassigned directly to the wing headquarters - despite the fact that many wings had squadrons spread out over several bases due to the Detached Squadron Concept dispersing Reserve units over centers of population.

To resolve this, in late 1962 and early 1963, ConAC reorganized the structure of its reserve Troop Carrier Wings by establishing fully deployable Troop Carrier Groups and inserting them into the chain of command between the Wing and its squadrons at every base that held a ConAC troop carrier squadron. At each base, the group was composed of a material squadron, a troop carrier squadron, a tactical hospital or dispensary, and a combat support squadron. Each troop carrier wing consisted of 3 or 4 of these groups. By doing so, ConAC could facilitate the mobilization of either aircraft and aircrews alone, aircraft and minimum support personnel (one troop carrier group), or the entire troop carrier wing. This also gave ConAC the flexibility to expand each Wing by attaching additional squadrons, if necessary from other Reserve wings to the deployable groups for deployments.

As a result, the 917th Troop Carrier Group was established with a mission to organize, recruit and train Air Force Reserve personnel in the tactical airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by airdrop, landing or cargo extraction systems. The group was equipped with C-119 Flying Boxcars for Tactical Air Command airlift operations.

The 917th TCG was one of three C-119 groups assigned to the 435th TCW in 1963, the others being the 915th Troop Carrier Group at Homestead AFB, Florida and the 916th Troop Carrier Group at Donaldson AFB, South Carolina.

Transferred from TAC to Military Air Transport Service (later Military Airlift Command) control, being upgraded to a C-124 Globemaster II long range intercontinental transport group in 1965.

Became Special Operations group in 1972, flying Cessna A-37 Dragonfly; Tactical Fighter Group in 1973, receiving A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft in 1987.

Composite Wing

The units of this Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) wing was composed of the 45th and 47th Fighter Squadrons with their A-10s, and the 93d Bomb Squadron in the B-52H Formal Training Unit (FTU) mission and the 343d Bomb Squadron flying combat missions as an associate unit to the 2d Bomb Wing in the B-52H. The 917th's mission was to train pilots and crews to fly the A-10 and B-52H and perform strategic heavy bombardment and maritime operations with the B-52s. The Wing had approximately 1,600 Air Force Reserve personnel.

On 8 January 2011, Air Force Reserve Command inactivated the 917th Wing, transferring its B-52 units to the newly activated 307th Bomb Wing. The 917th Operations Group was re-designated as the 917th Fighter Group. The Group realigned under the 442d Fighter Wing, Whiteman AFB, Missouri. The assigned aircraft is the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Lineage

• Established as 917th Troop Carrier Group, Heavy and activated on 28 December 1962 (not organized)

Organized in the Reserve on 17 Jan 1963

Redesignated 917th Air Transport Group, Heavy on 1 December 1965

Redesignated 917th Military Airlift Group on 1 January 1966

Redesignated 917th Special Operations Group on 1 April 1972

Redesignated 917th Tactical Fighter Group on 1 October 1973

Redesignated 917th Tactical Fighter Wing on 1 July 1987

Redesignated 917th Fighter Wing on 1 February 1992

Redesignated 917th Wing on 1 October 1993

Inactivated on 8 January 2011

Assignments

• Continental Air Command, 28 Dec 1962 (not organized)
• 435th Troop Carrier Wing, 17 Jan 1963
• 442d Troop Carrier Wing, 1 Jul 1963
• 512th Troop Carrier (later, 512th Air Transport; 512th Military Airlift) Wing, 5 Feb 1965
• 446th Tactical Airlift Wing, 21 Apr 1971
• 434th Special Operations (later, 434th Tactical Fighter) Wing, 25 Feb 1972
• Tenth Air Force, 1 Jul 1987-8 January 2011

Components

• 917th Operations Group: 1 Aug 1992-8 January 2011
• 926th Tactical Fighter (later, 926th Fighter) Group: 1 Jul 1987-1 Aug 1992
• 46th Tactical Fighter Training (later, 46th Fighter Training) Squadron: 30 Sep 1983-1 Aug 1992
• 47th Tactical Fighter Squadron: 1 Oct 1973-1 Aug 1992
• 78th Troop Carrier (later Air Transport; Military Airlift; Special Operations) Squadron: 17 Jan 1963-1 Oct 1973.

Stations

• Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 17 Jan 1963-8 Jan 2011

Aircraft

• C-124 Globemaster II, 1963-1966
• C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1966-1972
• A-37 Dragonfly, 1972-1973
• A-10 Thunderbolt II
• B-52 Stratofortress

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Official website
• AFHRA 917th Wing website