Commemorating USAF’s 100-Year Units
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
2017 marks 70 years since the United States Air Force was established as an independent military service, but many of USAF’s entities trace their history back much further. In fact, 65 of today’s Active Duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve units have lineages dating back to World War I.
Most began their time as WW I-era Army aero squadrons, and many were stationed in France during the Great War. Over time, units have changed names, locations, equipment, and missions—sometimes repeatedly. They may have been inactivated and reactivated several times. The stories of these units and their airmen can fill volumes, and many official and unofficial histories are available online.
Today, a diverse collection of more than five dozen Air Force groups and squadrons trace their histories back a century or more, as in the case of the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron and 2nd Air Refueling Squadron. On the following pages are their patches—check them out.
Research by Mike Tsukamoto, photo editor, and Daniel L. Haulman, Air Force Historical Research Agency
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Related Content
In the wake of an intense storm, Alaska Air National Guard Airmen evacuated more than 500 residents by C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft this week as heavy storm surges flooded villages in the region.
The Space Force’s recent contract to Muon Space to repurpose their commercial weather satellites for military use will inform a broader “data-as-a-service” strategy for its space-based environmental monitoring mission.
Sikorsky is pitching a modified "U-Hawk" version of older UH-60 Black Hawk series helicopters as autonomous resupply aircraft with additional capabilities as missile or drone swarm launchers.
Three U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew off the coast of Venezuela Oct. 15 in a show of force, as the U.S. expands its military presence in the Caribbean.
This year’s Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting buzzed with talk of countering the rapidly evolving drone threat facing the entire U.S. military, including the Air Force. Leaders and defense industry officials discussed the need for new approaches to procurement and employment of a new class of these…
The Space Development Agency added 21 satellites to its nascent data transport network in an Oct. 15 launch, the second mission in a 10-month campaign to field 154 operational spacecraft.
The Air Force is offering space on five of its bases for companies to build artificial intelligence data centers, part of a broader push by the Trump administration to speed up development of the infrastructure needed to enable the rapid development and adoption of AI technology.
A year after announcing the creation of a provisional Integrated Capabilities Command, the Air Force is dropping the plan, and intends to move all modernization planning to the Air Force Futures organization. Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, director of concepts and strategy, will oversee the restructure of Air Force Futures to…
A U.S. Air Force plane carrying Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made an emergency landing Oct. 15 while the Pentagon chief was traveling in Europe, U.S. officials said.