| 131st Bomb Wing | |
|---|---|
131st Bomb Wing emblem |
|
| Active | 1923–present) |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force/Missouri Air National Guard |
| Type | Wing |
| Role | B-2 Spirit operations |
| Size | Shares B-2 with 509th Bomb Wing |
| Part of | Air National Guard/Global Strike Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Whiteman AFB |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Colonel Gregory S. Champagne |
The United States Air Force's 131st Bomb Wing is a B-2 unit of the Missouri Air National Guard. It is located at Whiteman AFB, in association with the 509th Bomb Wing of the active duty United States Air Force, and a small Guard base located at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. With its roots going back to the early 1920s, it has become one of the most historical and important wings in the United States Air Force. The F-15C Eagles formally operated by the wing were distributed to the 120th Fighter Wing and Hickam AFB In Hawaii.
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The 35th Division Aviation section of the Missouri National Guard was formally organized on 23 June 1923. Its headquarters were located in a filling station on Manchester Avenue. From there, they were moved to a small room over a grocery store on Olive Street Road In Saint Louis County. Meetings were held at the airport, then little more than a pasture, and there were no airplanes and no uniforms for the enlisted men. The first flying equipment was a Curtiss OX JN-4 "Jenny," which was purchased by the officers of the squadron and used for flight training until early 1924 when three wartime JN-4's were received. The planes were housed in a corrugated sheet metal hangar erected on the field during the National Air Races in 1923, and were later turned over to the squadron. Additional aircraft and equipment were received throughout 1924, and by year's end, a well-received training program was in effect. Only eighteen months had elapsed since the unit was formally organized. Major Bill Robertson was the first commanding officer.
During the next few years, the JN- 4's were replaced by the PT-1, TW-3, O-11, and O-2H aircraft and the unit assumed a mission of observation and reconnaissance. The Douglas O-38 aircraft was received in 1933, and was replaced in 1938 by the North American O-47 A, an all-metal mid-wing observation aircraft. The unit's first summer encampments were held in 1924 and 1925 at Camp Clark Nevada, Missouri. Subsequent encampments were at Fort Riley, Kansas; Lambert Field, St Louis; Eglin Field, Florida; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Saint Cloud, Minnesota. The unit entered into active service at the very start of World War II. In the early stages of the war, the unit was equipped with P-39 and P-40 fighter aircraft. The unit distinguished itself in sinking an enormous amount of Japanese shipping tonnage and received the Presidential Unit Citation. Later in the war, the 110th converted to P-51 " Mustangs". In the early summer of 1946, plans were formulated to organize the Air National Guard. Federal recognition was granted to the 57th Fighter Wing on 3 July 1946, to the 131st Fighter Group on 15 July 1946, and to the 110th Fighter Squadron on 23 September 1946.
The allotment of the 57th Fighter Wing to the National Guard was retroactively revoked and replaced by the 71st Fighter Wing in 1947. On 1 November 1950, the 71st Fighter Wing was inactivated and replaced by the 131st Composite Wing. In February 1951, the wing was redesignated the 131st Fighter Wing. On 1 March 1951, as a result of the Korean Emergency, the Wing was recalled to active federal service for a period of twenty-one months. It moved to Bergstrom AFB, TX, where it became the 131st Fighter-Bomber Wing on 9 April 1951. In August 1951 it moved to George AFB, CA, where it remained until 1 December, 1952, when it was replaced by the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing and returned to the Air National Guard. Upon the unit's return, it was redesignated the 131st Bombardment Wing, Light and re-equipped with the B-26 Light Bomber. In 1955, it became the 131st Bombardment Wing, Tactical. The 110th received its first jet aircraft in the spring of 1957 and on 1 July 1957 was redesignated the 131st Fighter-Interceptor Wing. The unit flew F-80 and T-33 aircraft until June 1957, then transitioned to the F-84F as the 131st Tactical Fighter Wing. A high degree of operational readiness was maintained with annual summer encampments at Volk Field, Wisconsin.
With the Berlin Crisis, the 110th Tactical fighter Squadron was recalled to active service at Toul-Rosleres Airbase in France from October 1961 to August 1962. After returning to Saint Louis, the unit received F-100C "Super Sabers" in late 1962. Its standard of excellence and operational readiness was maintained for the next sixteen years with the F-100. In the autumn of 1978, the 110th received the McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II, then in 1985 the 110th converted to the F-4E, until September 1991, when it converted to the F-15 A/B Eagle. Note: the last F-4 Phantom II aircraft flown by the Missouri Air National Guard was the same fighter that shot down two MiG-21 aircraft over North Vietnam, and the same aircraft that flew the Phantom line's 10-millionth hour in January 1990. Today, it is gutted and mounted on a pedestal as a permanent exhibit behind the headquarters building at Missouri Air National Guard Base at Lambert International Airport in Saint Louis.
In early 2004, the unit transferred from the outdated F-15A to the more up-to-date F-15C. In late 2005, BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) put the 131st Fighter Wing on the list of closings. Despite heavy arguments from Missouri Law Makers, the decision was not overruled. In June 2009, the 131st Fighter Wing shut down operations at Lambert due to BRAC, and most of the wing was transferred to Whiteman Air Force Base, to be the first-ever wing associated with the B-2 Spirit. The 20 F-15C aircraft presently assigned to the unit were relocated to the 120th Fighter Wing in Montana and Hickam AFB in Hawaii.
An F-15A from the 131st currently sits at the entrance of the Missouri Air National Guard.
On Wednesday morning, 30 May 2007, A Missouri National Guard F-15 pilot ejected safely from his aircraft just before it crashed during a training mission in rural Knox county, Indiana. The plane went down just before 11 am EDT south of Vincennes, near the Illinois border, as it conducted standard training maneuvers, according to a release from the National Guard. Investigators said the plane was flying at about 20,000 feet prior to the crash. The pilot had been with the 131st Fighter Wing for 12 years and was highly experienced, officials said. The unit had most recently enforced no-fly zones in Iraq. This crash decreased the 131st's aircraft count from 20 to 19.
On 2 November 2007 another F-15C from the 131st crashed in Mark Twain National Forest, in Missouri. No property was damaged and no people on the ground were hurt, however the pilot broke an arm and a shoulder, despite ejecting from the plane. The pilot also was said to be in "shock" when landowners found him. The crash was due to a flaw in a part of the plane's fuselage; this led to all F-15 aircraft being grounded at one point between Nov. and Jan. Since after the accidents the 131st's flights have been reduced, also due to the wing slowly moving to flying B-2s. However the 131st and the F-15's are still on active duty.
The F-15's began to leave Lambert on 15 August 2008 and by January 2009, most of the 13 remaining aircraft were in the main hangar being stripped of markings or already had their markings removed. The final two F-15C's departed on 13 June 2009 after a closing ceremony titled "The End Of An Era", that was attended by over 2,000 people. Some pilots are taking B-2 Training courses while others are changing units, or decided to retire early. The 131st Fighter Wing was the most experienced F-15 Fighter Wing in the United States; out of the four pilots that flew over 4,000 F-15 flight hours, three of them were from the unit.[1]
In 2005, BRAC voted to take away the F-15C Eagle. In July 2009 the 131st will be the first-ever Air National Guard wing to employ the B-2 Spirit, and a total of 25 pilots will be chosen from the 131st to fly the aircraft. All other guard crewmembers will transfer to Whiteman Air Force Base to work on the B-2 aircraft. The new unit will be called the 131st Bomb Wing. Both the B-2 and the F-15 were operated for a time by the unit at separate bases. (F-15's at Lambert and B-2's at Whiteman AFB).
The Wing appeared in numerous air shows throughout Missouri, most notably, the St. Louis County Fair and Air show, where F-4's and eventually F-15's were used to open the show, although as years went by it was moved as an "after event". The last airshow the wing participated in was the 2008 Columbia, Missouri airshow.
Tenant Units - St. Louis 239th Combat Communications Squadron 231st Civil Engineer Flight 571st Air Force Band, Band of the Central States
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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