117th Air Refueling Squadron

117th Air Refueling Squadron
Forbes Field Air National Guard Base, Topeka, Kansas.
Nickname(s)	"Kansas Coyotes"
Insignia
117th Air Refueling Squadron emblem

The 117th Air Refueling Squadron (117 ARS) is a unit of the

.

History

World War II

Established in mid-1942 as the 440th Bombardment Squadron; equipped with

that connected Germany and Austria with Italy.

In January 1945, the squadron returned to the United States, where it began to train with

. In November and December 1945, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated.

Pennsylvania Air National Guard

The wartime 440th Bombardment Squadron was re-designated as the 117th Bombardment Squadron (Light) and allocated to the

111th Bombardment Group

, upon its activation on 20 December 1948.

Korean War activation

On 1 April 1951 the 117th Bombardment Squadron was federalized and brought to active-duty due to the

for combat operations with B-26s over North and South Korea. On 1 November 1952 the squadron was inactivated and returned to Pennsylvania Commonwealth Control on 1 January 1953.

Cold War

Returning to Philadelphia, the squadron was re-designated a Fighter-Bomber squadron, receiving F-84F Thunderstreaks and assuming a tactical mission over Philadelphia. The PaANG took on an air defense role and a transition to F-94A/B/C aircraft and as a result the 117th Fighter-Bomber squadron was inactivated effective 1 July 1956, reducing the 111th Fighter-Bomber Group to a single squadron, the senior 103d FIS. Its personnel were reassigned to other units in its parent Group.

Kansas Air National Guard

In early 1957, the

.

RB-57 Canberra era

The Martin

could be brought into service. The RB-57A was a reconnaissance version of the B-57A bomber. Beginning in early 1958 with the introduction of the RB-66 to the active-duty inventory, the 117th began to receive RB-57A and twin-seat RB-57B Canberra photographic reconnaissance aircraft and assumed a Tactical Reconnaissance mission.

The RB-57s were totally unarmed. It was painted with a high gloss black paint which was intended to minimize detection by searchlights. The crew was two; one pilot and one photo-navigator. It was intended that only a minimum of effort would be required to convert the RB-57A to a bomber mission, which was never actually done in practice.

On 15 October 1962, the 117th was authorized to expand to a group level, and the

. The 117th TRS becoming the group's flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 190th Headquarters, 190th Material Squadron (Maintenance), 190th Combat Support Squadron, and the 190th USAF Dispensary.

The unit continued to operate its Canberras at Hutchinson ANGB until 1967, when the 190th TRG and its personnel, aircraft and equipment permanently relocated to

, Arizona.

In return the 190th began to receive the Martin B-57G variant that were modified as night intruders for use in the Vietnam War under a project known as Tropic Moon. B-57Bs were modified with a low light level television camera plus a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) set and a laser guidance system. The laser guidance system now made it possible to carry four 500-lb "smart bombs" on the underwing pylons. With the receipt of the B-57Gs from their combat service in Thailand, the unit was re-designated as the 190th Tactical Bombardment Group on 12 June 1972. The service of the B-57Gs was short, as operation of these B-57Gs proved to be expensive, and the aircraft were hard to maintain in the field. They served until 1974, when they were consigned to storage at Davis Monthan AFB.

Forbes AFB was ordered closed by the Department of Defense as part of a post-Vietnam reduction in force on 17 April 1973. Most of the facility was turned over for civilian use, however the 190th TBG retained a small portion of the base, being renamed Forbes Field Air National Guard Base.

In April 1974, the unit converted to EB-57B Canberra electronic countermeasures aircraft and became the 190th Defense Systems Evaluation Group. The 190th deployed aircraft to bases throughout the US, Canada, and Europe providing Electronic Counter-Measure (ECM) training and evaluation services to the various Aircraft Control and Warning (Radar) Squadrons. The 117th also used the EB-57 as faker target aircraft against

.

Air Refueling

In 1978, the 190th was transferred to

Operation Desert Storm

; remaining in the middle east until returning to Forbes AGB in March 1991.

The 190th gaining command shifted to the Air Mobility Command (AMC) with the disestablishment of SAC in 1992, and in 1995 the Group's status was expanded to a Wing. During 1999, the 190th deployed twice to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in support of Operation Northern Watch, refueling Allied aircraft over the northern No-Fly Zone in Iraq.

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign McConnell Air National Guard (ANG) Base by relocating the

(ANG) nine KC-135R aircraft to the 190th Air Refueling Wing at Forbes Field AGS, which would retire its eight assigned KC-135E aircraft. The 184th Air Refueling Wing 's operations and maintenance manpower would transfer with the aircraft to Forbes. Realigning ANG KC-135R aircraft from McConnell to Forbes would replace the 190th's aging, higher maintenance KC-135E aircraft with newer models while retaining the experienced personnel from one of the highest-ranking reserve component tanker bases.

In June 2007, the 190 ARW gained custody of all KC-135R aircraft from the 184th ARW. This action consolidated all of the Kansas ANG's KC-135R assets into a single wing located at Forbes Field. The 184 ARW was subsequently re=designated as the 184th Intelligence Wing (184 IW), a non-flying unit at

.

Lineage

• Constituted 440th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 19 June 1942

Activated on 26 June 1942

Re-designated 440th Bombardment Squadron (Light) on 3 February 1945

Inactivated on 4 January 1946

• Re-designated 117th Bombardment Squadron (Light), and allotted to Pennsylvania ANG, on 24 May 1946

Extended federal recognition on 17 January 1947

Ordered to active service on 1 April 1951

Inactivated 1 November 1952

Relieved from active duty and returned to Pennsylvania commonwealth control. 1 January 1953

Re-designated: 117th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, and re-activated on 1 January 1953

Inactivated on 1 July 1956

Allocation to Pennsylvania ANG withdrawn, 1 February 1957

• Allotted to Kansas ANG, 1 February 1957

Re-designated 117th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 1 February 1957

Extended federal recognition and activated on 23 February 1957

Re-designated: 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron on 10 April 1958

Re-designated: 117th Tactical Bombardment Squadron on 12 June 1972

Re-designated: 117th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron on 6 April 1974

Re-designated: 117th Air Refueling Squadron on 1 April 1978

Assignments

• 319th Bombardment Group
  , 26 June 1942
• VII Bomber Command, 18 Dec 1945 – 4 Jan 1946.
• 53d Fighter Wing
  , 17 January 1947
• 111th Bombardment Group
  , 20 December 1948
• 4400th Combat Crew Training Group, 1 April 1951 – 1 November 1952
• 111th Fighter-Bomber Group
  , 1 January 1953 – 1 July 1956
• 131st Fighter-Bomber Wing
  , 23 February 1957
• 131st Tactical Fighter Wing
  , 1 January 1960
• 190th Tactical Reconnaissance Group
  , 15 October 1962
• 190th Bombardment Group
  (Tactical), 12 June 1972
• 190th Defense Systems Evaluation Group
  , 6 April 1974
• 190th Air Refueling Group
  , 1 April 1978
• 190th Air Refueling Wing, 8 July 1978
• 190th Operations Group, 11 October 1995 – present

Stations

Aircraft

Aircraft flying in this unit

KC-135
56-3631(E) (Feb'94); 57-1482(E) (Feb'94)

References

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

External links

• Official site of the 190th Air Refueling Wing