112th Fighter Squadron

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112th Fighter Squadron
Toledo Air National Guard Base, Ohio
Nickname(s)	Stingers
Tail Code	Green "Toledo" Tail Stripe
Insignia
112th Fighter Squadron emblem

The 112th Fighter Squadron (112 FS) is a unit of the

.

The squadron is a descendant organization of the

.

History

World War I

The 112th Fighter Squadron dates its origins to the organization of the 112th Aero Squadron on 18 August 1917 at Kelly Field, Texas. The squadron served as a supply squadron at Kelly Field, being re-designated as the 633d Aero Supply Squadron (Supply) on 1 February 1918. It remained at Kelly Field, being demobilized on 19 August 1919.[1]

Ohio National Guard

Although authorized in 1921, the 112th Observation Squadron was not organized and federally recognized until 20 June 1927 at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.^[2]

The squadron, or elements thereof, called up to perform the following state duties: support to civil authorities during a mine worker’s strike at Cadiz, OH, 16 April–17 August 1932; Electric Auto Lite strike at Toledo, OH, in 1934; flood relief efforts along the Ohio River in southern Ohio during January–February 1937; riot control during a labor strike at the Mahoning Valley steel plants 22 June–15 July 1937. Conducted summer training at Camp Perry, OH

The unit flew a wide range of aircraft throughout the late 1920s and 1930s including the PT-1, BT-1, the O-2 and the O-11.^[2]

World War II

On 25 November 1940 the 112th was federalized and ordered to active service as part of the buildup of the

, the 112th was moved to Dover Field, Delaware and equipped with O-49s and O-57s, performing coastal patrols over the Atlantic for German U-boats over Delaware Bay and the approaches to Philadelphia. In the spring of 1942, was returned to South Carolina where it continued patrolling the mid-Atlantic coastline shipping routes.

Addison Baker

In October 1942, the unit was moved to Birmingham Airport, Alabama where it was inactivated. Its personnel were reassigned to other Army Air Force Units. One of its members, Lt. Col. Addison Earl Baker attended 4-engine transition school and was eventually assigned to the 93d Bombardment Group as a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot.

Eventually being assigned to VIII Bomber Command at RAF Hardwick (USAAF Station 104), England, on 1 August 1943, Col. Baker piloted his aircraft on the low-altitude Allied bombing mission of oil refineries at Ploieşti, Romania,

.

En route the aircraft carrying the mission navigator crashed at sea. As a result, when the force reached the target area, the lead group turned at the wrong point and flew towards Bucharest. Baker attempted to warn the mission commander of this error, but when that failed, led the remainder of the force to the correct turning point.

Although Hell's Wench was in flames and had been seriously damaged by German

guns, Baker maintained formation and bombed his target. Subsequently, Baker broke formation to avoid a mid-air collision with bombers from the lead group, now arriving in the target area from the opposite direction. He attempted to gain altitude so that his crew could escape by parachute, but despite his efforts, Hell's Wench crashed and exploded, killing Baker and the other nine airmen aboard.

On 11 March 1944, Colonel Baker was posthumously awarded the

112th Liaison Squadron

In April 1943, the unit was reactivated as the 112th Liaison Squadron at

Drew Field

, Florida.

Ohio Air National Guard

The wartime 112th Liaison Squadron was re-designated as the 112th Bombardment Squadron (Light), and was allotted to the Ohio Air National Guard, on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Cleveland Municipal Airport, Ohio and was extended federal recognition on 2 December 1946 the National Guard Bureau. The 112th Bombardment Squadron was bestowed the lineage, history, honors, and colors of the 112th Liaison Squadron and all predecessor units. The squadron was equipped 20 R-26B/C Invader reconnaissance aircraft, a C-47, and two T-6s for training.

The Invaders practiced night reconnaissance operations. Parts were no problem and many of the maintenance personnel were World War II veterans so readiness was quite high and the planes were often much better maintained than their USAF counterparts. In some ways, the postwar Air National Guard was almost like a flying country club and a pilot could often show up at the field, check out an aircraft and go flying. However, the unit also had regular military exercises that kept up proficiency and in gunnery and bombing contests they would often score at least as well or better than active-duty USAF units, given the fact that most ANG pilots were World War II combat veterans.

Korean War activation

The 112th Bombardment Squadron was federalized due to the

, Georgia, the 117th TRG consisted of the Alabama ANG 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron; South Carolina ANG 157th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and the Ohio 112th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

The 160th and 157th TRS were equipped with

. However Toul Air Base was still under construction, and delays in France for several reasons forced the 117th to remain at Lawson AFB for over a year until finally receiving deployment orders in January 1952.

The 117th arrived at Toul Air Base on 27 January 1952. However at the time of the Wing's arrival, Toul AB consisted of a sea of mud, and the new jet runway was breaking up and could not support safe flying. The commander of the 117th deemed it uninhabitable and its flying squadrons of the wing were ordered dispersed to West Germany. The 112th TRS was transferred to

Neubiberg AB

. The non-flying Headquarters and Support organizations were assigned to Toul.

The mission of the 117 TRW was to provide tactical, visual, photographic and electronic reconnaissance by both day and night, as was required by the military forces within the European command. The RF-80's were responsible for the daylight operations; the RB-26s for night photography. In June 1952, the 117th was involved in Exercise 'June Primer'. This exercise took place in an area bordered by a line drawn from Cherbourg to Geneva in the east and in the west by this Swiss, Austrian and Russian occupation zone borders.

By July 1952 the facilities at Wiesbaden AB were becoming very crowded, and it was felt that the B-26's could fly from the primitive conditions at Toul. The 112 TRS returned to Toul, however the jet-engined RF-80's remained in West Germany until a new runway was constructed.

On 9 July 1952 the activated Air National Guard 117 TRW was released from active duty and inactivated in place and its mission was taken over by the newly activated 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. All of the aircraft and support equipment remained at Toul and was transferred to the 10th TRW.

Cold War

With the return from France, the squadron was reformed at Akron-Canton Airport and re-designated as the 112th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. It was re-equipped with

, and were one of the last two Air National Guard squadrons to fly this version of the Mustang.

In October 1955, the 112th FBS were informed that they were to receive

and the squadron was designated as a Tactical Fighter Squadron.

On 15 October 1962, the 112th was authorized to expand to a group level, and the

was established by the National Guard Bureau. The 112th TFS becoming the group's flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 180th Headquarters, 180th Material Squadron (Maintenance), 180th Combat Support Squadron, and the 180th USAF Dispensary.

The squadron continued normal peacetime training throughout the 1960s. Individual squadron members volunteered for duty during the

, West Germany 9–25 October 1975 for Operation Cornet Razor.

In the summer of 1979, the F-100s were retired, being replaced with

Operation Just Cause

.

Air Combat Command

The 112th TFS did not deploy to Saudi Arabia in 1990 during

during the crisis and subsequent combat operations.

In March 1992, the 180th adopted the USAF Objective Wing organization and became simply the 180th Fighter Group; the 112th as a Fighter Squadron. On 1 June of that year, Tactical Air Command was inactivated as part of the Air Force restructuring after the end of the

.

The first F-16 to arrive with the 112th FS was a two-seat model, F-16D #83-1175, which was the first F-16D to come off the production line at Fort Worth. It came from the

at Shaw AFB, South Carolina were Desert Storm veterans.

The squadron didn't operate the block 25 for very long. Starting in very early 1994 the squadron gave up its block 25s, which it had only flown for a year, for the much more modern block 42s. The block 25s were sent to various units but mostly to Luke AFB, Arizona. A large amount of the block 42s came from Shaw AFB, South Carolina where that base was converting to the block 50.

On 1 October 1995, in accordance with the Air Force One Base-One Wing directive, the 180th Fighter Group was expanded and changed in status to the 180th Fighter Wing. Under the Objective Wing organization, the 112th Fighter Squadron was assigned to the 180th Operations Group. Support groups to the wing were the 180th Maintenance Group, 180th Mission Support Group and the 180th Medical Group.

In mid-1996, the Air Force, in response to budget cuts, and changing world situations, began experimenting with Air Expeditionary organizations. The Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) concept was developed that would mix Active-Duty, Reserve and Air National Guard elements into a combined force. Instead of entire permanent units deploying as "Provisional" as in the 1991 Gulf War, Expeditionary units are composed of "aviation packages" from several wings, including active-duty Air Force, the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard, would be married together to carry out the assigned deployment rotation.

In October 1996, the 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (112 EFS) was first formed from 162d FW personnel and eight aircraft and deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. The 112th EFS joined with the 124th EFS (Iowa ANG) and the 125th EFS (Oklahoma ANG) as part of a "rainbow" deployment to support Operation Provide Comfort. In January 1997, this changed to Operation Northern Watch just prior to the unit's return to Toledo to enforce the No-Fly-Zones over Iraq. More Operation Northern Watch deployments were made to Incirlik AB by the 112th EFS in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002 respectively. The 112th EFS deployed to Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, for Operation Southern Watch in 2001.

After the events of 11 September 2001 unit members have volunteered to support both

NORAD Air Defense

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign

132d Fighter Wing

at Des Moines would be redistributed to the 180th Fighter Wing (nine aircraft) Des Moines' F-16s would be distributed to Toledo to support the Homeland Defense Air Sovereignty Alert (ADS) mission and to consolidate the precision-guided weapon employment capability that exists in the Air National Guard.

In August 2008 the 112th FS took over the alert role for the region from the Detroit-based Michigan

A-10 Thunderbolt II

in the next year. The 112th FS officially took over on 2 October 2008.

Lineage

• Organized as 112th Aero Squadron** on 18 August 1917

Re-designated: 112th Aero Squadron (Supply) on 1 September 1917

Re-designated:

633d Aero Squadron

(Supply) on 1 February 1918

Demobilized on 19 August 1919

• Constituted in the Ohio National Guard in 1921 as the 112th Squadron (Observation)

Re-designated: 112th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923

Organized and Federally recognized on 20 June 1927

Consolidated and reconstituted on 20 October 1936 with the World War I 112th Aero Squadron

Ordered to active service on 25 November 1940

Re-designated: 112th Observation Squadron (Light) on 13 January 1942

Re-designated: 112th Observation Squadron on 4 July 1942

Inactivated on 18 October 1942

• Re-designated 112th Liaison Squadron on 2 April 1943

Activated on 30 April 1943

Inactivated on 7 November 1945

• Re-designated 112th Bombardment Squadron (Light), and allotted to Ohio Air National Guard on 24 May 1946.

Extended federal recognition on 2 December 1946

Federalized and ordered to active service on: 10 February 1951

Re-designated: 112th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10 February 1951

Released from active duty and returned to Ohio state control, 9 July 1952

Re-designated: 112th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 10 July 1952

Re-designated: 112th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 1 April 1955

Re-designated: 112th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 1 July 1958

Federalized and ordered to active service on: 1 October 1961

Released from active duty and returned to Indiana state control, 31 August 1962

Re-designated: 112th Fighter Squadron on 15 March 1992

Components designated as: 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron when deployed as part of an Air and Space Expeditionary unit after June 1996.

** This unit is not related to another 112th Aero Squadron (Service) that was activated in March 1918 at Rich Field, Waco, Texas.

Assignments

• Post Headquarters, Kelly Field, 18 August 1917 – 19 August 1919
• Ohio National Guard, 1921

37th Division, 1921

Relieved on 15 February 1929 from assignment to the 37th Division, Concurrently attached to the 37th Division for command and control purposes

45th Observation Group (V Corps), 1 October 1933

• Fourth Corps Area, 25 November 1940
• I Army Corps, Dec 1940
• 65th Observation Group
  , 1 September 1941 – 18 October 1942
• 10th Reconnaissance Group
  , 30 April 1943
• II Air Support Command (later II Tactical Air Division), 11 August 1943
• III (later I) Tactical Air Division, 1 January 1944
• United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, 4 June 1944
• Ninth Air Force, 7 June 1944

Attached principally to Headquarters Command,

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces

, 7 June 1944 – 14 July 1945

Elements attached to Headquarters Command, European Theater of Operations, US Army, or sections thereof, 7 June–1 November 1944, 15 November 1944 – 12 February 1945

• US Forces, European Theater, 10 August 1945
• Third Air Force, 5 Sep–7 Nov 1945
• 66th Fighter Wing
  , 2 December 1946
• 55th Fighter Wing
  , 7 December 1947
• 121st Fighter Wing
  , 1 November 1950
• 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Group
  , 1 April 1951
• 121st Fighter Group
  , 10 July 1952
• 121st Fighter-Interceptor Group
  , 10 July 1952
• 121st Fighter-Bomber Group
  , 1 November 1957
• 121st Tactical Fighter Group
  , 1 September 1961
• 122d Tactical Fighter Group
  (Special Delivery), 1 October 1961
• Elements attached to: 7122d Tactical Wing (Special Delivery), 1 October 1961 – 31 August 1962
• 180th Tactical Fighter Group
  , 15 October 1962
• 180th Fighter Group
  , 15 March 1992
• 180th Operations Group, Oct 1995 – present.

Stations

Ohio Air National Guard deployments

Aircraft

See also

• List of American aero squadrons
• List of observation squadrons of the United States Army National Guard

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency