| 23d Fighter Group | |
|---|---|
23d Wing emblem |
|
| Active | 4 July 1942–present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | U.S. Air Force |
| Type | Fighter |
| Role | Close Air Support |
| Size | 900 personnel 48 A-10C aircraft |
| Garrison/HQ | Moody Air Force Base, Georgia |
| Nickname | Flying Tigers |
| Engagements | China Offensive Western Pacific China Defensive India-Burma Liberation and Defense of Kuwait Defense of Saudi Arabia Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Colonel Elwood P. "Buster" Hinman IV |
| Notable commanders |
Claire L. Chennault David "Tex" Hill |
The 23d Fighter Group (23 FG) is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Wing and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.
The 23d Fighter Group was established in World War II as the 23d Pursuit Group of the United States Army Air Forces. Redesignated the 23d Fighter Group before its activation, the group was formed in China on 4 July 1942, as a component of the China Air Task Force and received a small cadre of volunteer personnel from the simultaneously-disbanded 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) – the "Flying Tigers" – of the Chinese Air Force.
To carry on the traditions and commemorate the history of the AVG, aircraft of the USAF 23d Fighter Group carry the same "Shark Teeth" nose art of the AVG's Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, along with the "FT" (Flying Tiger) tail code. The 23d Fighter Group's aircraft are the only United States Air Force aircraft currently authorized to carry this distinctive and historical aircraft marking.
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Currently based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, the group is assigned as a second operations group of the 23d Wing at Moody. Both organizations serve as part of the Ninth Air Force and Air Combat Command. The 23d Fighter Group's primary missions are forward air control, close air support, air interdiction and combat search and rescue operations.
The group has two operational squadrons assigned: the 74th and the 75th Fighter Squadrons both flying A-10 light attack aircraft.
By 15 June 1942, under orders from Tenth Air Force, an advance cadre of pilots and aircraft had proceeded over the infamous "Hump" route to Kunming, China, for combat familiarization. Without ceremony, the 23d Fighter Group was activated 4 July 1942, marking the first such activation of a fighter group on a field of battle.
Claire L. Chennault, meanwhile, had been recalled to active duty with the rank of Brigadier General and placed at the head of the China Air Task Force (later to become Fourteenth Air Force). The 23d Fighter Group, a component of the CATF, was assigned three squadrons – the 74th, 75th and 76th Fighter Squadrons.
The group inherited the mission of the 1st American Volunteer Group "Flying Tigers". Five of Chennault’s staff officers, five pilots and 19 ground crewmen entered the U.S. Army Air Forces and became members of the 23d Fighter Group. Approximately 25 AVG pilots, still in civilian status, volunteered to extend their contracts for two weeks to train the new group following the disbanding of their organization. The original aircraft of the group were a mixture of P-40s from a batch of 50 sent to China for the AVG between January and June 1942, and a followup shipment of 68 P-40Es sent to India and then flown over the Hump by the squadrons to be assigned to the 23d.
Others from the ranks of the original Flying Tigers left China when their contracts expired, although some returned to duty later with the Army Air Forces in the China-Burma-India Theater. In addition to inheriting operational responsibilities from the AVG, the 23d Fighter Group also benefited from the knowledge and experience of the AVG pilots, and took on the nickname of the disbanded unit.
Col. Robert L. Scott Jr., already in India as a commander of the Hump operation, became the first commander of the 23d Fighter Group. He would later author the military classic, "God Is My Co-Pilot."
On the very first day of its activation, the 23d Fighter Group engaged three successive waves of enemy aircraft and promptly recorded the destruction of five enemy aircraft with no losses to itself.
The next three years saw the 23d Fighter Group involved in much of the action over southeast and southwest Asia. The unit helped pioneer a number of innovative fighter and fighter-bomber tactics. The Group used its so-called "B-40" (P-40's carrying 1,000-pound bombs) to destroy Japanese bridges and kill bridge repair crews, sometimes demolishing their target with a single bomb..[1] The unit gained another increase in capability with its conversion to the North American P-51 "Mustang" aircraft in November 1943.
Representative of the encounters undertaken by this small and often ill-equipped group was the defense against a major Japanese push down the Hsiang Valley in Hunan Province 17–25 June 1944. Ignoring inhibiting weather conditions and heavy ground fire, the 23d Fighter Group provided air support for Chinese land forces and repeatedly struck at enemy troops and transportation. Its efforts in this instance earned it the Distinguished Unit Citation for "outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy."
Before the 23d Fighter Group returned to the United States in December 1945, it was credited with destroying 621 enemy planes in air combat, plus 320 more on the ground; with sinking more than 131,000 tons of enemy shipping and damaging another 250,000 tons; and with causing an estimated enemy troop loss of more than 20,000. These statistics were compiled through a total of more than 24,000 combat sorties, requiring more than 53,000 flying hours, and at a cost of 110 aircraft lost in aerial combat, 90 shot down by surface defenses, and 28 bombed while on the ground.
The 23d Fighter Group was inactivated 5 January 1946, in Fort Lewis, Washington.
The 23d Fighter Group was reactivated 10 October 1946, in Guam and assigned to the Twentieth Air Force, equipped with the long-range Republic P-47N Thunderbolt. While stationed in Guam, the 23 FG became a part of the United States Air Force when it became a separate military service on 18 September 1947.
On 1 June 1992, the 23d Operations Group was activated at Pope AFB, North Carolina under the re-designated 23d Wing. The 23d OG was bequeathed the lineage and history of the 23d Fighter Group under the new USAF Objective Organization plan. It was given the mission of controlling the flying components of the parent 23d Wing.
In December 1992, C-130s from the 2d Airlift Squadron deployed to Mombasa, Kenya, to participate in Operation Provide Relief. The aircraft and crews delivered tons of food and other relief supplies to small airstrips throughout Somalia. 23d Wing C-130s have also been tasked to assist in other humanitarian relief efforts, to include Hurricane Andrew in Florida. They also airdropped relief supplies into Bosnia and Herzegovina and flew relief missions into Sarajevo for more than 28 months.
In September 1994, its C-130s participated in what was to be the largest combat personnel drop since World War II, Operation Uphold Democracy. They were to assist in dropping more than 3,000 paratroopers from the 82d Airborne Division onto Port au Prince Airport, Haiti. The invasion force was recalled at the last minute after word that the Haitian president had resigned upon hearing that the aircraft were on their way. The 75th Fighter Squadron's A-10s were deployed their aircraft to Shaw AFB, South Carolina, where they were scheduled to launch close air support operations for the invasion force before recovering in Puerto Rico.
The first operational deployment of a composite wing happened in October 1994, when Iraqi troops began massing near the Kuwaiti Border. Within 72 hours, 56 aircraft and 1,500 personnel deployed to the Persian Gulf region for Operation Vigilant Warrior. Eventually, the 75th Fighter Squadron redeployed to Al Jaber AB, Kuwait, becoming the first U.S. fixed-wing aircraft to be stationed in that country since the end of the Gulf War.
On 1 July 1996, the 74th Fighter Squadron's F-16C/D Fighting Falcons were transferred to the 27FW / 524th FS at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, and the squadron transitioned to A/OA-10 Thunderbolt IIs received from the 20FW / 55th FS at Shaw AFB, South Carolina. This gave the 23d Group a 2d A-10 squadron.
On 1 April 1997, the 23d Operations Group was inactivated and immediately re-activated as the 23d Fighter Group as a result of the parent 23d Wing's inactivation and being reduced to a group component. The 23d Fighter Group was assigned to the Air Combat Command 347th Wing at Moody AFB, Georgia but physically remaining at Pope as a Geographically Separated Unit (GSU). Its C-130s and Pope Air Force Base were realigned to Air Mobility Command under the designation 43d Airlift Wing.
On 27 June 2000, the 23d Fighter Group was reassigned to the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB North Carolina also as a GSU and continued to operate from Pope, after the 347th Wing was redesignated the 347th Rescue Wing. The group as it existed in 2006 consisted of the:
In April 1999, the 74 FS deployed five aircraft and 60 personnel to Operation Allied Force, the NATO air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, nominally intended to stop ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serbians. The US participation was known as Operation Noble Anvil and officially spanned 24 March 1999 – 10 June 1999. The 74th FS deployed initially to Spangdahlem Air Base and then forward deployed to Gioia Del Colle Air Base, Italy. Designated the 74th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, the unit co-located with the 81st EFS of the 51st Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, to form an expeditionary fighter wing.
The A-10A aircraft provided close air support during missions over the region, provided short-notice alert for combat search and rescue missions and also provided Airborne Forward Air Control for NATO fighters attacking Serbian targets found in the Kosovo area.
In March 2002, the 23d Fighter Group landed the first fighter aircraft inside Afghanistan. They deployed from Al Jaber AB, Kuwait, to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. 23d Fighter Group personnel operated simultaneously in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Southern Watch for nearly seven months.
In February 2003, the 23d Fighter Group deployed to Al Jaber Air Base in preparation of Operation Iraqi Freedom, there they launched aircraft to attack Baghdad until the major fighting ceased. They then deployed forward to Tallil Air Base, near An-Nasiriyah.
In 2002, an A-10 of the 75th Fighter Squadron passed the 9,000 flying-hour mark, becoming the most flown attack aircraft in Air Force history. This was exceeded in 2005 by another A-10 from the 75th FS that passed the 10,000 flying-hour mark.
On 29 September 2006, the 347th Rescue Wing at Moody AFB redesignated as the 347th Rescue Group, while the 23 FG was redesignated the 23d Wing. Along with the 347th Rescue Group, the original 23d Fighter Group was reactivated, this time at Moody Air Force Base, for only the second time in over fifty years. The 23d Fighter Group was then assigned as the 23d Wing's operations group, although retaining the designation of "Fighter Group".
Both the 23 WG and 23 FG are charged with carrying on the historic Flying Tiger's heritage. [2]
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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