319th Air Base Wing

The 319th Air Base Wing (319 ABW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command's USAF Expeditionary Center. It is stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The wing is the host unit at Grand Forks.

The 319 ABW was one of only three "super tanker" wings in the United States Air Force. T

Its 319th Operations Group is the successor of the World War II 319th Bombardment Group. The 319 BG was the first Martin B-26 Marauder group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. The group received two Distinguished Unit Citation. Active for over 60 years, the 319th Bombardment Wing was a component of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War, as a strategic bombardment wing.

The 319th Air Base Wing is commanded by Colonel Donald L. Shaffer. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Scott A. Fuller.

Overview
The mission of the 319th Air Base Wing is to support "Global Engagement" mobility operations. The wing provides support functions for an Air Mobility Command (AMC) major weapons system and supports a wide range of conventional and nuclear plans. The wing also provides infrastructure support for an Air Force Space Command group equipped with Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The 319th Air Base Wing won the 2002 Solano Trophy on 26 April 2002 for the best active-duty unit in Fifteenth Air Force.

Global War on Terrorism
After the September 11 attacks, the wing was the first to fly an Air Mobility Command sortie supporting the Air Force's response to the terrorist attacks by refueling the F-16 that delivered the Federal Emergency Management Agency director to New York only three and a half hours after the attacks. All of the 319th Air Refueling Wing's mission-capable aircraft were prepped, fueled and cocked within 24 hours.

By the end of 2001, the wing had flown more than 120 Operation Noble Eagle sorties, off-loading more than 4.8 million pounds of fuel to 260 combat air patrol and support aircraft. KC-135 tankers from the 319th were the first on the ground, first in the air, first to fly over enemy territory, and first to provide aerial refueling while a base of operations in the Persian Gulf was being established for Operation Enduring Freedom. In total, they had flown more than 890 sorties, flying 6,700 hours and off-loading more than 50 million pounds of fuel to more than 3,000 receivers.

The wing also earned an "excellent" and "solid green" for the deployed 319th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron during the first-ever Expeditionary Operational Readiness Inspection while conducting operations at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Additionally, for the second year in a row, the 319th Aircraft Generation Squadron earned top Air Mobility Command aircraft maintenance effectiveness honors for the medium category.

The 319th Air Refueling Wing reached a significant milestone 3 July 2002 by flying its 1,000th hour in support of Operation Noble Eagle. The milestone-marking mission started the evening of 2 July and was commanded by Capt Kulka of the 905th Air Refueling Squadron. The crew’s mission was to provide fuel to F-16’s from Shaw Air Force Base, SC, while they patrolled the skies over the nation’s capitol.

Subordinate organizations
319th Operations Group (319 OG)
 * 319th Operations Support Squadron (319 OSS)

319th Maintenance Group (319 MXG)
 * 319th Maintenance Squadron (319 MXS)
 * 319th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (319 AMXS)
 * 319th Maintenance Operations Squadron (319 MOS)

319th Comptroller Squadron (319 CPTS)

319th Mission Support Group (319 MSG)
 * 319th Civil Engineer Squadron (319 CES)
 * 319th Communications Squadron (319 CS)
 * 319th Contracting Squadron (319 CONS)
 * 319th Force Support Squadron (319 FSS)
 * 319th Security Forces Squadron (319 SFS)
 * 319th Logistics Readiness Squadron (319 LRS)

319th Medical Group (319 MDG)
 * 319th Medical Operations Squadron (319 MDOS)
 * 319th Medical Support Squadron (319 MDSS)

History

 * See the 319th Operations Group for additional history and lineage prior to 1949

Reserve Operations
The 319th Bombardment Wing was established in the Air Force Reserve on 10 May 1949 and activated on 27 June at Reading Municipal Airport, Pennsylvania. The unit was not manned or equipped before it was inactivated on 2 September. The wing was reactivated on 10 October at Birmingham Municipal Airport, Alabama, where it replaced the 514th Troop Carrier Wing. It flew B-26 Invader light bombers. The 319th performed Reserve training until ordered to active service on 10 March 1951 due to the Korean War. Once activated, wing personnel and aircraft were deployed as replacement personnel for active-duty combat units. It was inactivated two weeks later on 28 March.

The wing was redesignated the 319th Fighter-Bomber Wing on 12 April 1955 and was activated in the reserve on 18 May at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee. It replaced the 8710th Pilot Training Wing and performed reserve training. From July 1956 through August 1957, it maintained two Republic F-84 Thunderjets on "runway alert," under the operational control of the 20th Air Division of Air Defense Command. The wing was inactivated on 16 November 1957 and replaced by the 445th Troop Carrier Wing, as the Air Force converted its reserve forces into an all airlift organization.

B-52 bomber era
On 1 September 1958, Strategic Air Command (SAC) established the 4133d Strategic Wing (SW) at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, an Air Defense Command (ADC) base whose host was the 478th Fighter Group and assigned it to Second Air Force as part of SAC's plan to disperse its B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. In January 1959 the 4133d was transferred to the 821st Air Division. The wing remained a headquarters only until 1 February 1960 when the 905th Air Refueling Squadron Flying Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, three maintenance squadrons and a squadron to provide security for special weapons were activated and assigned to the wing.

In March 1961, the 39th Munitions Maintenance Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons but it was not until 1 January 1962 that the 30th Bombardment Squadron (BS), consisting of 15 Boeing B-52Hs moved to Grand Forks from Homestead AFB, Florida where it had been one of the three squadrons of the 19th Bombardment Wing. Half of the wing's aircraft were maintained on fifteen minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat. The 4133d (and later the 319th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until September 1991. In July 1962, the 4133d was reassigned to the 810th Strategic Aerospace Division.

In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.

As a result the 4133d SW was replaced by the 319th Bombardment Wing (BW), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963. The 46th Bombardment Squadron, a squadron that had been assigned to the wing when it was a reserve organization, replaced the 30th BS. The 905th Air Refueling Squadron and the 59th Munitions Maintenance Squadron were reassigned to the 319th. Component support units were replaced by units with the numerical designation of the newly established wing. Each of the new units assumed the personnel, equipment, and mission of its predecessor.

Shortly after the wing was activated, Grand Forks was transferred from ADC to SAC in July 1963, and the personnel and equipment of ADC's 478th Air Base Group and 478th USAF Dispensary were transferred to form the wing's 319th Combat Support Group and 804th Medical Group. In 1964, however, the wing became a tenant of the 321st Strategic Missile Wing as its base support mission, manpower, and equipment was transferred to the 321st.

The wing placed aircraft on peacetime quick reaction alert duty, and conducted global bombardment training for Emergency War Order operations and air refueling operations to meet SAC commitments. During the Vietnam War, the 319th Bomb Wing's mission expanded to include sending bomber and tanker aircrews on temporary duty assignments to support B-52 and KC-135 operations from 1963 to 1974. Tanker crews participated in refueling operations for both bombers and fighters. The bomb crews flew B-52Ds from bases at Andersen AFB, Guam; Kadena AB, Okinawa, and U-Tapao RTNAF, Thailand. Bomber crews participated in Operation Arc Light in 1968 and Operations Linebacker I and Linebacker II in 1972.

In 1973, the 319th Bombardment Wing acquired the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM), replacing the older AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile aboard its B-52Hs. As the activities in Southeast Asia decreased, the 319th Bomb Wing focused its full efforts on training crews to fly strategic strike missions. It participated in a SAC program to test admission of females to the inflight refueling career field, January–December 1979.

B-1 bomber era
The wing converted from B-52 to B-1B Lancer bombers, 1986–1987 and flew training missions with conventional and nuclear configurations. Tanker crews assigned to the wing assisted in air refueling efforts during the invasion of Panama in December 1989. It deployed tankers to Oman, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to provide air refueling and cargo missions in Southwest Asia, August 1990 – April 1991.

In line with the changing international situation, President George H. W. Bush decided to reduce the US nuclear alert force. Thus, on 28 September 1991, the 319th Wing pulled its B-1B bombers and KC-135R tankers from quick reaction alert duty, ending nearly three decades of such activity at Grand Forks AFB.

With the inactivation of SAC on 1 June 1992, the Air Force redesignated the 319th Wing as the 319th Wing and assigned it to the newly established Air Combat Command (ACC). At the same time, the wing's 905th Air Refueling Squadron and its KC-135R tankers were assigned to the 305th Air Refueling Wing at Grissom Air Force Base, Indiana, despite the fact that they remained physically stationed at Grand Forks AFB. Because it had lost its air refueling components, the wing became the 319th Bomb Wing. Still remaining at Grand Forks, the 905th was reassigned to the 43d Air Refueling Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, on 1 July 1993.

On 1 February 1993 ACC dropped the 319th Bomb Wing's primary nuclear mission and gave the wing the primary mission of B-1B conventional bombardment operations. The wing began planning and training to support such a mission to counter worldwide regional threats.

Refueling era
On 1 October 1993 the Air Force redesignated the 319th Bomb Wing as the 319th Air Refueling Wing. The wing was reassigned from the Air Combat Command to the Air Mobility Command. It also reacquired the 905th Air Refueling Squadron and its KC-135R tankers while turning over its B-1B bombers to the newly activated 319th Bombardment Group, an Air Combat Command organization. On 1 February 1994 the Air Mobility Command transferred the 906th Air Refueling Squadron from Minot AFB, North Dakota, to the 319th Air Refueling Wing.

The 319th supported worldwide Tanker Task Forces, as well as, combat operations in Southwest Asia, Central Europe, and Counter Narco-Terror operations in Central America by providing air refueling for combat aircraft.

Switch to Base Support
In March 2011 the wing lost its operational mission and was redesignated the 319th Air Base Wing. In September, the 69th Reconnaissance Group of Air Combat Command, flying the RQ-4 Global Hawk was activated at Grand Forks. Although the 69th is assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California, it receives administrative and logistics support from the 319th.

Lineage

 * Constituted as 319th Bombardment Wing, Light on 10 May 1949 and allotted to the reserves
 * Activated on 27 June 1949
 * Inactivated on 2 September 1949


 * Activated on 10 October 1949
 * Ordered to active service on 10 March 1951
 * Inactivated on 28 March 1951


 * Redesignated 319th Fighter-Bomber Wing on 12 April 1955
 * Activated on 18 May 1955
 * Inactivated on 16 November 1957


 * Redesignated 319th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 15 November 1962 in the Regular Air Force
 * Activated on 15 November 1962 (not organized)
 * Organized on 1 February 1963
 * Redesignated 319th Wing on 1 September 1991
 * Redesignated 319th Bomb Wing on 1 June 1992
 * Redesignated 319th Air Refueling Wing on 1 October 1993
 * Redesignated 319th Air Base Wing on 1 March 2011.

Assignments

 * Ninth Air Force, 27 June 1949 - 2 September 1949
 * Fourteenth Air Force, 10 October 1949 - 28 March 1951
 * Fourteenth Air Force, 18 May 1955 - 16 November 1957
 * Strategic Air Command, 15 November 1962 (not organized)
 * 810th Strategic Aerospace Division, 1 February 1963
 * 4th Strategic Aerospace Division, 1 September 1964
 * 47th Air Division, 30 June 1971
 * 4th Strategic Missile Division (later, 4 Air Division), 15 January 1973


 * 57th Air Division, 22 January 1975
 * 4th Air Division, 1 May 1982
 * 57th Air Division, 23 January 1987
 * 42d Air Division, 16 June 1988
 * Eighth Air Force, 9 July 1991
 * Twenty-First Air Force, 1 October 1993
 * Fifteenth Air Force, 1 April 1997
 * Eighteenth Air Force, 1 October 2003
 * USAF Air Expeditionary Center, 7 July 2011 – present

Stations

 * Reading Regional Airport, Pennsylvania, 27 June 1949 - 2 September 1949
 * Birmingham, Alabama, 10 October 1949 - 28 March 1951
 * Memphis, Tennessee, 18 May 1955 - 16 November 1957
 * Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, 1 February 1963 – Present

Groups

 * 319th Air Base Group (later 319th Combat Support Group. 319th Support Group, 319th Mission Support Group): 27 June 1949-2 September 1949; 10 October 1949-22 March 1951; 18 May 1955-16 November 1957; 1 September 1991-present
 * 319th Bombardment Group (later, 319th Fighter-Bomber Group, 319th Operations Group): 27 June 1949-2 September 1949; 10 October 1949-22 March 1951; 18 May 1955-16 November 1957; since 1 September 1991
 * 319th Maintenance and Supply Group (later 319th Maintenance Group, 319th Logistics Group): 27 June 1949-2 September 1949; 10 October 1949-22 March 1951; 18 May 1955-16 November 1957; 1 September 1991-present
 * 319th Medical Group (later 319th Tactical Hospital, 319th Medical Group): 27 June 1949-2 September 1949; 10 October 1949-22 March 1951; 18 May 1955-16 November 1957; 1 September 1991-present
 * 804th Medical Group; 1 July 1963-1 November 1964

Squadrons
Operational Squadrons
 * 46th Bombardment Squadron: 1 February 1963 - 1 September 1991
 * 905th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 February 1963 - 1 September 1991

Support and Maintenance Squadrons
 * 319th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron: 1 February 1963 - 30 June 1974
 * 319th Armament and Electronics Maintenance Squadron (later 319th Avionics Maintenance Squadron): 1 February 1963 - 31 March 1991
 * 319th Comptroller Squadron: 1 September 1991 - 1 July 1994; 1 March 1996 - present
 * 319th Field Maintenance Squadron: 1 February 1963 - 1 September 1991
 * 319th Organizational Maintenance Squadron: 1 February 1963 - 1 September 1991

Aircraft operated

 * A-26 Invader (1949–1951)
 * AT-6 Texan (1949–1951)
 * AT-7 Navigator (1949–1951)
 * F-84 Thunderjet (1955–1957)
 * T-33 Shooting Star (1955–1957)


 * F-86 Sabre (1957)
 * B-52 Stratofortress (1963–1986)
 * KC-135 Stratotanker (since 1963)
 * B-1 Lancer (1987–1993)
 * C-12 Huron (1993–1995)