Alabama Air National Guard

The Alabama Air National Guard origins date to 27 August 1917 with the establishment of the 106th Aero Squadron as part of the World War I American Expeditionary Force. The 106th served in France on the Western Front, then after the 1918 Armistice with Germany was demobilized in 1919.

A Curtiss JN-6H of the 106th Observation Squadron, 1922

The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, liable for immediate state service. If federalized by presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units.[3]

The squadron was reformed on 21 January 1922 as the 125th Squadron, Alabama National Guard, received federal recognition as a Corps Aviation unit. (It was re-designated the 135th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923 and then it was re-designated the 114th Observation Squadron as an aviation unit the 39th Division on 1 May 1923. On 16 January 1924, it was re-designated the 106th Observation Squadron as an aviation unit in the 31st Division.) Maj. James A. Meissner, a World War I ace who had flown with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, led the effort to form the unit and served as its first commander. It is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.[4]

The 106th Observation Squadron was ordered into active service on 125 November 1940 as part of the buildup of the Army Air Corps prior to the United States entry into World War II.

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.[5]

The modern Alabama ANG received federal recognition on 25 November 1946 as the 106th Bombardment Squadron (Light) at Birmingham MAP (Sumpter Smith Field). It was equipped with B-26B/C Invaders and was assigned to Tactical Air Command. 18 September 1947, however, is considered the Alabama 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.[5]

On 1 October 1947 the 117th Fighter Group allotted by the National Guard Bureau, extended federal recognition and activated at Birmingham, with the 106th Bomb Squadron being assigned to the unit. The 160th Fighter Squadron at Montgomery was authorized by the National Guard Bureau and recognized also on 1 October 1947. The 160th was equipped with the F-51D Mustang and its mission was the air defense of the state. On 15 October 1962, the 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was established by the National Guard Bureau. The 160th TRS becoming the group's flying squadron.

"Red Tails" F-16 Fighting Falcons of the 100th Fighter Squadron in Montgomery

In 2007, the Alabama legislature requested the National Guard Bureau to allow the Alabama Air National Guard 160th Fighter Squadron to be re-designated as the 100th Fighter Squadron so the state could honor the legacy of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. This was obtained from the Air Force and on 12 September 2009, the 100th Flying Training Squadron was inactivated. The designation was transferred to the National Guard Bureau by the Air Force and it was allotted to the Alabama ANG. As a result, the 160th Fighter Squadron was inactivated, and the new 100th Fighter Squadron assumed its personnel, equipment and aircraft.

Today, the 117th Air Refueling Wing (117 ARW) provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft. The 187th Fighter Wing (187 FW) operated the F-16 Fighting Falcon and deploys around the world as part of Air Expeditionary Forces.

After the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, elements of every Air National Guard unit in Alabama has been activated in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Flight crews, aircraft maintenance personnel, communications technicians, air controllers and air security personnel were engaged in Operation Noble Eagle air defense overflights of major United States cities. Also, Alabama ANG units have been deployed overseas as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq as well as other locations as directed.

According to information from Seymour M. Hersh, author of The Dark Side of Camelot during early preparations to the Bay of Pigs Invasion, President Dwight D. Eisenhower personally asked then-Governor of Alabama John Malcolm Patterson (who served as a lieutenant in Eisenhower's staff during the World War II) to use the aircraft of Air National Guard of Alabama (Patterson, as governor, was commander-in-chief of the guard) by Cuban émigrés to attack and pilots to train them in deep secret in Nicaragua. Patterson agreed and then-commander, Major General George R. Doster was ordered to oversee all operation.