Idaho Air National Guard

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Idaho Air National Guard
ActiveMay 24, 1946 – present
Country 
A-10 Thunderbolt II

The Idaho Air National Guard (ID ANG) is the aerial militia of the

Idaho National Guard
.

As state militia units, the units in the Idaho Air National Guard are not in the normal

Governor of Idaho though the office of the Idaho Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The Idaho Air National Guard is headquartered in Boise, and its commander is currently
Brigadier General Timothy J. Donnellan.

Overview

Under the "Total Force" concept, Idaho Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components (ARC) of the

Air Force Reserve
counterparts in their assigned cycle deployment window.

Along with their federal reserve obligations, as state militia units, the elements of the Idaho ANG are subject to being activated by order of the Governor to provide protection of life and property, and preserve peace, order and public safety. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of vital public services, and support to civil defense.

Components

The Idaho Air National Guard consists of the following major unit:

Established 13 October 1946 (as:
A-10 Thunderbolt II
Stationed at:
Gowen Field Air National Guard Base
, Boise
Gained by: Air Combat Command
The wing's mission is to maintain highly trained, well-equipped, and motivated military forces in order to provide combat-ready A/OA-10 aircraft and support elements in response to wartime and peacetime tasking under state or federal authority.

Support Unit Functions and Capabilities:

  • 124th Air Support Operations Squadron
Mission is to provide forward air controllers in support of front line Army maneuver units to coordinate and control close air support missions of the Air Force and joint forces in support of the ground battle.[1]
  • 266th Range Squadron
The mission of the 266th Range Squadron is to provide tactical aircrews from both the active duty Air Force - from the 366th Air Expeditionary Wing, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho - and the Idaho Air National Guard - from the 124th Wing, Gowen Field, with the most realistic electronic combat training threat environment available.[1]

History

On 24 May 1946, the United States Army Air Forces, in response to dramatic postwar military budget cuts imposed by President Harry S. Truman, allocated inactive unit designations to the National Guard Bureau for the formation of an Air Force National Guard. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units.[2]

F-51D Mustangs of the 190th Fighter Squadron at Gowen Field, Boise, 1947

The Idaho Air National Guard was formed in large part by Lieutenant Colonel

P-38 Lightning pilots credited with shooting down Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on 18 April 1943. He stood up the 190th Fighter Squadron receiving federal recognition on 13 October 1946. Most of Idaho's early airmen were also World War II veterans. The 190th was formed with 23 officers and 44 enlisted airmen at a small building in downtown Boise. They had nothing, no buildings, no money or equipment. Receiving F-51D Mustangs, the squadron moved to Gowen Field in 1947 and has been there ever since.[3]

18 September 1947, however, is considered the Idaho Air National Guard's official birth concurrent with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the United States military under the National Security Act.[2] The initial mission of the Idaho ANG was the air defense of the state. On 1 July 1955 the 190th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 124th Fighter Group (Air Defense) was allotted by the National Guard Bureau, extended federal recognition and activated.

Today, the Idaho ANG performs a worldwide ground-air support mission, along with a forward air controller training mission and support for active-duty USAF training missions.

After the

Operation Iraqi Freedom
in Iraq, as well as other locations as directed.

Invasion of Iraq friendly fire incident

Further information: 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident

As part of the invasion of Iraq and supporting the British portion of that operation called

Matty Hull was killed and five of his colleagues were injured, four seriously.[4][5]

See also

References

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

  1. ^ a b 124th Fighter Wing units factsheet
  2. ^ a b Rosenfeld, Susan and Gross, Charles J (2007), Air National Guard at 60: A History. Air National Guard history program AFD-080527-040 Archived 2016-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ History of the Idaho Air National Guard
  4. ^ "News - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London.[dead link]
  5. ^ Payne, Stewart (31 January 2007). "Soldier tells how he tried to rescue colleague". The Daily Telegraph. London.

External links

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