97th Air Mobility Wing


The 97th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Nineteenth Air Force of Air Education and Training Command. It is stationed at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The wing is also the host unit at Altus. It plans and executes McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III, Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker pilot and aircrew training, providing formal school initial and advanced specialty training programs for up to 3,000 students annually. The training is done in a three-phase approach: Academic Phase, Simulator Phase, and Flying Phase.
The 97th Air Mobility Wing is commanded by Colonel Jeffrey M. Marshall with Vice Commander as Colonel Adam H. Rosado, and the Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Justin R. Brundage. The wing's operational mission is, in conjunction with its training mission, to have its instructor force maintain operational currency so that they, as highly qualified combat-ready aircrew members, can deploy to augment worldwide contingencies. The 97th maintains approximately 500 mobility personnel ready to deploy all over the world in a moment's notice in support of national interests.

Units

Today the 97th Air Mobility Wing consists of the following major units:
  • 97th Operations Group Plans and executes C-17, KC-46, and KC-135 formal school specialty training programs for up to 3,000 students annually. Sustains C-17, KC,-46, and KC-135 airland, airdrop and air refueling mobility forces providing global reach for combat and contingency operations. Provides air traffic control and weather forecasting for flying operations.
  • * 97th Operations Support Squadron Activated as the 1709th Training Squadron under the 1707th Air Transport Group in September 1952 at Palm Beach Air Force Base, Florida. The squadron provides direct mission support to all operational units assigned to the 97th Air Mobility Wing. Provides air traffic services, weather, airfield management, intelligence, life support, tactics, flight records, scheduling, and current operations services. Manages and provides administrative support for active duty, reserves, and international students at the command's airlift and tanker training center.
  • * 97th Training Squadron Manages the 97th Air Mobility Wing's $1.01-billion contracted aircrew training program for more than 350-plus assigned instructors and as many as 2,100 C-17, KC-135, and KC-46 students.
  • * 54th Air Refueling Squadron – KC-135R Stratotanker
  • * 56th Air Refueling Squadron – KC-46A Pegasus
  • * 58th Airlift Squadron – C-17A Globemaster III
  • 97th Mission Support Group, Provides mission, infrastructure, and community quality-of-life support for personnel and all assigned organizations on Altus AFB. Supports worldwide USAF taskings with deployment-ready personnel and equipment.
  • * 97th Civil Engineer Squadron
  • * 97th Communications Squadron
  • * 97th Force Support Squadron
  • * 97th Logistics Readiness Squadron
  • * 97th Security Forces Squadron
  • * 97th Contracting Squadron
  • 97th Maintenance Group Provides maintenance and support to all KC-135R, KC-46, and C-17 aircraft and provide the same maintenance support to transient aircraft, engines and associated ground equipment. To provide backshop support to both aircraft, allowing the 97th Air Mobility Wing to perform its aircrew training mission.
  • * 97th Maintenance Squadron
  • 97th Comptroller Squadron

    History

Cold War

Established as the 97 Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, on 11 Sep 1947. Organized on 1 December 1947 at Mile 26 Field, Alaska. The wing was assigned to Fifteenth Air Force ogStrategic Air Command, although the Yukon Sector of the Alaskan Air Command controlled its operations. The 97th was organized in 1947 during the test of the Wing Base Organization, composed of the 97th Bombardment Group and support elements transferred from the 519th Air Service Group.
This organization gave the wing commander the authority to direct activities rather than merely request support from the base support group commander. Operational squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Wing were the 340th, 341st and 342d Bombardment Squadrons, which were assigned to the 97th Bombardment Group.
The 97th was originally a test organization, made up of the 97th Bombardment Group and three support groups organized from elements of the 519th Air Service Group, which had deployed to Mile 26 Field from Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas. The Air Force was conducting a service test of the wing base structure that elevated the wing headquarters to the highest echelon of command on the base. This gave the wing commander the authority to direct activities rather than merely request that his flying mission receive support.
The wing consisted of a combat group, an airdrome group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group. The unit's March 1948 history stated: "The mission of the 97th Bombardment Wing is to man, train, and maintain a self-sustaining strategic bombardment group capable of operations in any theater." While in Alaska), the 97th flew Boeing B-29 Superfortress training missions over the Arctic Ocean, testing the aircraft and maintenance crews in the harsh climate. At the end of the Alaskan deployment the wing returned to Smoky Hill Air Force Base, near Salina, Kansas, in March 1948.
Throughout its existence the 97th Bombardment Wing contributed to the deterrence of nuclear war with the former Soviet Union by being prepared to execute Emergency War Order assignments. It continually demonstrated its resolve in the same manner as other SAC bombardment wings, primarily by maintaining the Operation Chrome Dome aerial-alert capability and by keeping crews on ground alert, capable of launching bomber sorties within minutes. The wing's tankers participated in the Atlantic, Pacific, European, and Alaskan Tanker Task Forces, ensuring that the bombers would be able to reach their targets. Until the Soviet Union's demise in 1989 the crews of the 97th trained for war, unless other world events demanded their attention.

Consolidation

While at Smoky Hill, the wing was attached to the 301st Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, for further training and to assist the 301st prepare for its upcoming move to Germany. The 301st never moved, hence the 97th moved to Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, on 22 May 1948, only two short months later. Meanwhile, the Eighth Air Force assumed control of the wing on 16 May 1948. Eighth Air Force discontinued the 97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, on 12 July 1948 and subsequently redesignated it the 97th Bombardment Wing, Medium, and activated it on the same date. This made the 97th a permanent combat wing. The combat wing service test was over, leaving the 97th with a combat group, an air base group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group. The wing was redesignated 97 Bombardment Wing, Heavy, on 1 Oct 1959

Biggs AFB, Texas

The 97th Bombardment Wing, under SAC, took over operation of Biggs from the departing 47th Bombardment Wing, a Tactical Air Command unit. Biggs would remain the wing's home for over ten years. As the 1940s ended, changes were on the horizon for the 97th's flying mission.
Early in 1950 the 97th received its first Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an improved version of the B-29 capable of delivering atomic weapons. As crews trained and became qualified in the B-50, the wing transferred some of its B-29s to other units. Aerial refueling increased the new bomber's range and brought a new flying mission to the wing.
Image:97th Air Refueling Squadron.jpg|left|thumb|120px|Emblem of the 97th Air Refueling Squadron
The 97th Air Refueling Squadron, activated in March 1949, saw its manning increase as it received its first KB-29P tanker in January 1950. Its mission, as stated in the wing's history, was: "to extend the range of the strategic bombers." The 97th was the first unit to operate the new boom-type or "American-type" equipment. As such it had the burden of testing the equipment and standardizing the operating procedures. The unit received Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters in 1954 to replace its KB-29s.
The 97th Bombardment Wing experienced two mission changes in 1955. First, the 340th Bombardment Squadron, a subordinate unit, started flying RB-50Gs on electronic reconnaissance missions. The 340th went to RAF Upper Heyford, England and Japan on intelligence gathering missions and operated in this capacity for over a year.
Meanwhile, the other bombardment squadrons in the 97th started replacing the propeller-driven B-50s with new Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union in 1954. The last B-50 assigned to the strategic bomber forces left the 97th wing on 20 October 1955.
The bomb wing conducted training missions and participated in various SAC exercises and deployments with the Stratojet and aerial refueling until December 1958 when SAC rendered it inoperable. Some of the 97th's crews went to other B-47 units, while others began training for duty in the Air Force's latest bomber, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

Re-assigned to Arkansas

The 97th Bombardment Wing moved to Blytheville Air Force Base,, in northeast Arkansas, after SAC reassigned the wing to the 4th Air Division on 1 July 1959. Later that year SAC redesignated it the 97th Bombardment Wing, Heavy; its new mission was "to provide command and staff supervision over assigned combat tactical units that execute bombardment missions designed to destroy enemy forces and facilities."
The wing's first B-52G, City of Blytheville, Arkansas, arrived in January 1960. That summer, SAC declared the 97th combat-ready and slightly changed the scope of the mission statement. Now operational, the 97th "was to conduct strategic bombardment operations on a global scale, either independently or in cooperation with land and sea forces." The wing's bomber crews, who were assigned to the 340th Bomb Squadron, would fly their share of Operation Chrome Dome missions, which kept a number of SAC's B-52s on airborne alert.
In the early 1960s the 97th received missiles that would improve its B-52's survivability during penetration into enemy territory. On 27 September 1960 the 97th deployed its first GAM-77/AGM-28 Hound Dog, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead from its launch point, to defeat heavy air defenses. Four months later, on 31 January 1961, the GAM-77/ADM-20 Quail entered the 97th's arsenal. The Quail was a decoy that could generate radar and heat signatures resembling those of a B-52, thereby saturating the enemy's defenses.
The aerial-refueling capability of the KC-135 Stratotankers extended the range of the wing's B-52s. On 12 January 1962, the 97th received its first KC-135, christened the Arkansas Traveler before its first mission three days later. Along with refueling the B-52s on training missions, the tankers participated in an ongoing command-wide rotation to bases in Southern Europe to support Operation Chrome Dome bombers.