The 102nd Rescue Squadron is the oldest unit of the Air National Guard, with over a century of service to the state of New York and the United States.[2]
History
Origins
On 30 April 1908,[3] 1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm reported to New York City along with 1st Lt. Thomas Selfridge and civilian balloonist Leo Stevens to familiarize 25 members of the First Company, Signal Corps, a unit of the 71st New York Infantry, in the use of hydrogen-filled observation balloon. The company was organized to provide the New York National Guard with an "aeronautical corps" for balloon observation, commanded by Major Oscar Erlandean.[4] By 1910 it had acquired a home-made aircraft using private funds and transported it to summer maneuvers, but it was not flown. The aircraft was destroyed in a crash but an airplane owned by Glenn Curtiss was flown during the 1912 summer maneuvers in Connecticut by Private Beckworth "Becky" Havens, a salesman for Curtiss Aeroplane Company. This group sometimes referred to itself as the "1st Aero Company" but was never authorized or officially recognized by either the State of New York nor the U.S. Army.[5]
1st Aero Company
A 1st Aero Company Gallaudet C-2 in 1915
The 102nd traces its official lineage back to the 1st Aero Company, authorized by the governor of New York in October 1915 and organized in November by 1st Lieutenant Raynal Bolling as a detachment of the 1st Battalion Signal Corps, New York National Guard, for aviation training at Mineola on Long Island.[6] The 1st Aero Company was provisionally recognized by the federal government in June 1916 and called to active duty between 13 July 1916, and 15 November 1916, to continue training with the purpose of joining the 1st Aero Squadron, a Regular Army unit deployed to Mexico with the Punitive Expedition. The 1st Aero Company, however, never left Long Island and was disbanded on 23 May 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when the Army decided not to use National Guard aviation units in the war effort. Its history and lineage were bestowed on the 102nd Observation Squadron.[5]
102nd Aero Squadron
102nd Aero Squadron, Second Air Instructional Center, Tours Aerodrome, France in November 1917.[note 2]
The Air Service 102nd Aero Squadron was organized at Kelly Field, Texas, on 23 August 1917. The men engaged in construction activities, drilling, digging ditches, making roads, and putting up tents for new recruits arriving at the field. When athletics were started at the camp, the 102nd organized a baseball team which was runners-up for the championship at the field. Once basic indoctrination training was completed, the 102nd was ordered for overseas duty, being ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island. It arrived at Mineola Field on 3 November 1917 where it was prepared and equipped for overseas duty. On 23 November, the squadron, along with the 103d, 104th, and 105th Aero Squadrons were ordered to report to the port of embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey, for boarding on the former White Star LinerRMS Baltic for transport. After an uneventful Atlantic crossing, it arrived at Liverpool, England, on 8 December 1917.[7]
After a few days at a Rest Camp near Winchester, England, the squadron moved to Le Havre, France, and then traveled by train to the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, St. Maixent Replacement Barracks, France, arriving on 18 January 1918. At St. Maixent, the 102nd was used as a station squadron, as well as being trained in hiking, fatigue duty and guard duty. On 1 March, the squadron was ordered to report to the Second Aviation Instructional Center at Tours Aerodrome, in central France. The men were assigned to nearly every department at the field, in the machine shops working on aircraft to the transportation department where the men drove trucks and all manner of vehicles. The squadron remained at Tours until after the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, then returned to the United States in April 1919. It arrived at Mitchel Field, New York, where the squadron members were demobilized and returned to civilian life.[7][8]
Constituted in 1920 as the 102nd Squadron (Observation), the squadron was assigned to the 27th Division, allotted to the state of New York, as its divisional aviation. The unit was organized in November 1921 from personnel of the Observation Squadron, New York National Guard, which had been organized on 22 March 1921 at Hempstead, New York, with personnel from K Company, 14th Infantry, New York National Guard. It was organized and federally recognized in November 1922 at Miller Field on Staten Island and redesignated as the 102nd Observation Squadron in January 1923.[9]
During the inter-war years, the 102nd Observation Squadron flew a variety of aircraft but continued to serve as the aerial eyes for the commander of the 27th Infantry Division. One of America’s leading aces of the First World War, George A. Vaughan (9.5 victories) became one of the squadron's first commanders. He eventually became the 27th Division's Air Officer.[10] In 1929, in a reorganization of the Army, the squadron was relieved from assignment to the 27th Division but remained attached to it for command and control purposes. In October 1933 it was assigned to an observation group for mobilization in case of war.[9]
Its operations were primarily air transportation and aircraft repair and maintenance. However, squadron elements were called up periodically by the state of New York to perform emergency duties that included reconnaissance for the United States Department of the Treasury of vessels conducting illegal liquor trade off the New York-New Jersey coast in the 1920s; support of flood relief efforts in Vermont 6–16 November 1927; aid to civil authorities during a prison break from the maximum security Auburn Prison, 11–12 December 1930; and flood relief efforts in upstate New York 11–13 July 1935.[9]
Members of the 102nd Observation Squadron stand in front of the unit's C-40 at Ontario Army Air Field, California[note 4]
The squadron conducted summer training annually at Pine Camp, New York, during the years 1921–40 where it generally supported the training of the 52nd Field Artillery Brigade, and performed other training at Miller Field and at Mitchel Field on Long Island.[9]
In 1936 it was consolidated with the demobilized 102nd Aero Squadron.[9]
World War II
In October 1940 the 102nd was inducted into active federal service at Miller Field as part of the United States Army Air Corps, relieved from assignment to its parent group, and assigned directly to the VII Corps. The Army relocated it to Fort McClellan, Alabama, shortly after its call up, then assigned it a year later to the 71st Observation Group. Initially it was assigned to antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron was moved to Southern California, flying antisubmarine patrols over the Los Angeles coast until November 1942.
It returned to Third Air Force control in late 1943, becoming a reconnaissance training unit for Army ground forces at Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Polk, Louisiana. Moved to the Desert Training Center in southern California in early 1944, continuing supplying reconnaissance training for Army units engaged in desert warfare training until April 1944 when the DTC was closed and the squadron was disbanded.
New York Air National Guard
As part of the formation of the Air National Guard after World War II, the unit was reconstituted on 21 June 1945. The wartime 102nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was redesignated the 102nd Bombardment Squadron, Light, and was allotted to the National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, and was extended federal recognition 21 March 1947 and activated by the National Guard Bureau. The squadron was equipped with Douglas B-26 Invader light bombers and was assigned to the 106th Bombardment Group and operationally gained by Tactical Air Command.
The mission of the squadron was proficiency in tactical bombing. 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
106th Bombardment Wing B-29 Superfortresses at March AFB, 1951
With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the regular military's lack of readiness, most of the Air National Guard was placed on active duty on 1 February 1951. The 102nd's B-26 light attack bombers were sent to Fifth Air Force in Japan for use in the Korean War, and the 106th Group was federalized and assigned to Strategic Air Command. On 28 March 1951, the Group moved less equipment to March Air Force Base, California. The 102nd was re-equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and given the mission to train reservist crewmen to back-fill rotating B-29 combat crews serving in Korea. While the air guardsmen were undergoing training they were paid on the lesser reserve pay scale. When its active duty tour came to an end, the squadron was inactivated in December 1952 and its personnel and equipment at March were transferred to the 441st Bombardment Squadron and the squadron returned to New York state control.
Cold War
With its return to New York state control in 1953, the 102nd was again equipped with B-26 Invaders, the aircraft being returned from combat duty in Korea. The 102nd trained in proficiency with the attack bomber until the removal of the B-26 from bombing duties in 1956 as neared the end of their service lives.
The 106th was transferred from Tactical Air Command to Air Defense Command (ADC) and assumed an air defense mission over Long Island and New York City, entering the Jet Age with the limited all-weather Lockheed F-94B Starfire interceptor. With the Starfire, the 102nd began standing end of runway air defense alert, ready to launch interceptors if ADC Ground Intercept Radar picked up an unidentified target. The squadron stood air defense alert from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset every day, 365 days a year. In 1957, ADC upgraded the 102nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron to the all-weather North American F-86D Sabre. With the receipt of the F-86D, the alert mission was extended to 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year.
102nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-102s in September 1974[note 5]
In 1956, Lt. Col. Norma Parsons made military and National Guard history when she became the first woman member of the National Guard, the first woman member of the Air National Guard, and the first woman to be commissioned in the Air National Guard.[11]
In 1958, the squadron was reassigned to Military Air Transport Service (MATS), trading in its Sabres for 4-engined Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter transports, being gained by the MATS' Eastern Transport Air Force. The 102nd worked closely with the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Transport Group at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, a regular Air Force unit.
Initially equipped with specialized MC-119J Flying Boxcars configured for transport of wounded and injured, the 102nd Aeromedical Transport Squadron airlifted critically injured and sick personnel until 1964. With air transportation recognized as a critical wartime need, the 102nd was redesignated the 102nd Air Transport Squadron, Heavy in January 1964 and equipped with C-97 Stratofreighter heavy transports. With the C-97s, the 102nd augmented MATS airlift capability worldwide in support of the Air Force's needs in Europe. It also flew scheduled MATS transport missions to Europe, Africa the Caribbean and South America.
With the acquisition of KC-97 Stratotankers from Strategic Air Command, the 104th was transferred back to Tactical Air Command in September 1969 and the 102nd became an air refueling squadron. Its mission was to provide air refueling to tactical fighters. With the KC-97 being a variant of the C-97 Stratofreighter the conversion of the unit from transports to refueling aircraft was easily accomplished, the squadron receiving the KC-97Ls with addition of jet engine pods mounted to the outboard wings. It rotated personnel and aircraft to West Germany as part of Operation Creek Party, a continuous rotational mission flying from Rhein Main Air Base, West Germany, providing air refueling to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) tactical aircraft. The success of this operation, which would continue until 1972, demonstrated the ability of the Air National Guard to perform significant day-to-day missions without being mobilized.
In 1969, the Air Force closed Suffolk County Air Force Base and the NYANG relocated there. The 102nd Air Refueling Squadron returned to ADC in 1972 and again became an air defense unit. The 102nd was re-equipped with the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger, which was being replaced in the active duty interceptor force by the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. The Mach 2 "Deuce", still a very potent interceptor, served with the 102nd until June 1975, when Aerospace Defense Command was reducing the USAF interceptor force as the threat of Soviet bombers attacking the United States was deemed remote.
Rescue mission
102nd Rescue Squadron HC-130 in the 2010 New York City blizzard
The 102nd converted to an Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in 1975, flying Sikorsky HH-3E rescue helicopters and Lockheed HC-130 Hercules tankers for in-flight refueling. The squadron's base on Long Island enables it to act as the only Air Force rescue organization in the northeastern United States. It upgraded its inventory to provide a capability for long range over-water missions using the air refueling capabilities of the HC-130s and Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters.
After the midair explosion of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" in 1986, the 106th Rescue Wing and its squadrons were designated to provide support for every shuttle launch thereafter.
In October 1991, an HH-60 and a tanker flew to an endangered sailboat about 250 miles south of its base. The Pave Hawk and HC-130 dropped survival gear to the vessel, which was riding out the storm, and began their return to base. Both aircraft encountered severe weather conditions and the helicopter was unable to take on fuel. The HH-60 was forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles south of the base in what would later become known as "the Perfect Storm", and all but one member of the crew were saved by the crew of the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Tamaroa. TSgt Alden Smith, a pararescueman (PJ), lost his life fulfilling the squadron's motto That Others May Live. The mission was recounted in both a best selling book and major motion picture.
102nd HC-130 refueling a 101st Rescue Squadron HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter over Montauk Point, Long Island, New York.
The 102nd received international recognition when two aircrews and PJs of the squadron successfully completed the "longest over-water rescue with a helicopter in aviation history" in December 1994, a mission in which a pair of HH-60s flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then 750 miles out over the Atlantic Ocean to search for survivors of the Ukrainian cargo ship Salvador Allende. A search of the area located the last survivor, and a pararescue, TSgt James Dougherty, jumped into the ocean to effect the rescue. During the 15-hour mission, the two helicopter crews were refueled in flight 10 times by HC-130s.
The 106th Rescue Wing has assisted the state in battling the 1995 "Sunrise Wildfires" in the Hamptons, they were first on the scene after the crash of TWA Flight 800, and the recovery of the wreckage from the plane flown by John F. Kennedy Jr., which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 1999. The squadron located the transponder of the wreckage of the plane underwater. After June 1996, some components of the squadron have been designated the 102nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron when deployed overseas as part of Air and Space Expeditionary forces.
In 1998, the wing carried out the longest over-water rescue mission in an HH-60, saved one soul, made famous by the book: Pararescue, The Untold Story of a rescue and the heroes that pulled it off, written by Michael Hirsh. On 11 September 2001, the first ANG personnel on scene at World Trade Center were those of the 106th Rescue Wing.
106th Bombardment Group, 21 March 1947 (attached to 106th Bombardment Wing after 14 February 1951)
106th Bombardment Wing 16 June 1952 – 1 December 1952
106th Bombardment Group (later 106th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 106th Aeromedical Transport Group, 106th Air Transport Group, 106th Air Refueling Group, 106th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 106th Air Rescue Group, 106th Rescue Group), 1 December 1952
^Aircraft is Lockheed HC-130H Hercules, serial 88-2102. The crew was at Patrick for NASA's space shuttle mission, STS-125 on May 11, 2009. The launch of STS-125 marked the 106th Rescue Wing's 100th rescue mission support for NASA since beginning their participation in 1988.
^There appear to be Nieuport 28 trainers in the background.
^Taken in 1933. Note the squadron emblem on the side of the plane's fuselage.
^Taken in 1941. This plane was used to move unit supplies and ground support personnel from base to base when the squadron changed station. The squadron's mission aircraft were Douglas O-47 reconnaissance planes.
^Aircraft in foreground is Convair F-102A-70-CO Delta Dagger, serial 56-1241. This plane was retired to MASDC on 16 October 1974. It was later converted to a target drone. The squadron was unusual in that its interceptors carried tactical camouflage.
Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series E: Squadron Histories. Vol. 15 History of the 97th-102d Aero Squadron. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC215070705.
Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War(PDF). Vol. 3, Part 2 Zone of the Interior: Territorial Departments, Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918, Posts, Camps and Stations (Reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Center of Military History. 1988 [1949]. Archived from the original(PDF) on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
Further Reading
Brehm, Jack (2001). That Others May Live: The True Story of the PJs, the Real Life Heroes of the Perfect Storm. Three Rivers Press. ISBN978-0609806760.
Hill, Jim Dan (1964). The Minute Man in Peace & War: A History of the National Guard. Stackpole Co. ISBN978-1299927537.
Hirsh, Michael (2013). Pararescue: The Story of An Incredible Rescue and the Men that Pulled it Off. Antenna Books. ASINB00BWGCDWE.
Junger, Sebastian (1997). The Perfect Storm: A Story of Men Against the Sea.
Negroni, Christine (2000). Deadly Departure: Why the Experts Failed to Prevent the TWA Flight 800 Disaster and How it Could Happen Again. William Morrow. ISBN978-0060194772.
Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publications. ISBN1-85780-197-0.
Vaughn, George A. (1922). War Flying in France.
Wortman, Marc (2007). The Millionaires Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War. PublicAffairs. ISBN978-1586484446.
