9th Reconnaissance Wing
The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command and Sixteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California. The wing is also the host unit at Beale.
Its mission is to organize, train and equip the Air Force's fleet of U-2R Dragon Lady, RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft for peacetime intelligence gathering, contingency operations, conventional war fighting and Emergency War Order support. It is also assigned Northrop T-38 Talons for U-2 pilots to maintain flight hours.
Its 9th Operations Group is a descendant organization of the 9th Group , one of the 13 original combat air groups formed by the Army before World War II.
During World War II, the 9th Bombardment Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces. Active for over 60 years, the 9th RW was a component wing of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force throughout the Cold War, performing strategic reconnaissance on a worldwide basis.
History
Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base
On 1 May 1949 the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was activated at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, California, renamed Travis Air Force Base in 1951. The Air Force also activated the re-designated 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Group and the 1st, 5th, and 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons.The 9th SRW's mission was to obtain complete data through visual, photographic, electronic, and weather reconnaissance operations. To carry out this mission, the wing flew RB-29 Superfortresses and a few RB-36 Peacemakers. The 9th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron also joined the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing on 1 May 1949. It also performed its mission with components of 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, from November 1949 – February 1951. The reconnaissance mission continued for only eleven months.
On 1 April 1950, the Air Force redesignated the 9th SRW as the 9th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, with similar redesignations of the 9th Group and the 1st, 5th, and 99th Squadrons. Seven months later, on 2 November, the wing and subordinate units were again re-designated to Bombardment, Medium with the transfer of the RB-36s, leaving the wing at B-29 Superfortress unit. In early February 1951, the Air Force realigned its flying operation and placed the flying squadrons directly under control of the wings. The Air Force, therefore, placed the 9th Bombardment Group in Records Unit status, then inactivated the group on 16 June 1952. On 4 January 1955, the Air Force bestowed upon the 9th Wing the honors of the inactive 9th Group, the operational headquarters unit before and during World War II.
Mountain Home Air Force Base
The 9th Bombardment Wing remained at Fairfield-Suisun AFB flying B-29s until 1 May 1953. On 1 May, the Strategic Air Command assumed jurisdiction of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, from the Military Air Transport Service and transferred the 9th Bomb Wing to the base. Developed for bomber training during the war, Mountain Home AFB had recently been an Air Resupply And Communications Service special operations base for MATS, and had phased down its operations. MATS wanted to use Fairfield-Suisun as a West Coast aerial port. SAC could expand Mountain Home for a large bomber base and its relative isolation was also desirable away from the inherent problems of stationing jet bombers in the urban areas halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco, California.Although some personnel began arriving at Mountain Home early in April, the Wing and its B-29s moved in May. Simultaneously, the 2d Air Refueling Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, became the 9th Air Refueling Squadron and transferred to the 9th Bombardment Wing at Mountain Home AFB.
With the arrival of the 9th Bomb Wing at Mountain Home, the base planned a vast construction program not only to accommodate the wing's personnel and offices, but also in anticipation of the acquisition of B-47s to replace the World War II-era obsolete B‑29s. On 15 September 1954, Colonel William C. Kingsbury, commander of the 9th Bomb Wing, landed at Mountain Home in the wing's first B-47 "Stratojet", The remainder of the planes arrived over the next few months. By June 1955, the 9th BW was ready for a mobility test. Early that month, bombers and crews spanned the continent and the Atlantic Ocean for a 60-day temporary duty assignment to a base in England to test the wing's mobility training concept.
File:Boeing B-47B rocket-assisted take off on April 15, 1954 061024-F-1234S-011.jpg|thumb|B-47B using JATO bottles to reduce takeoff distance in 1954
In November 1955, the 9th Bomb Wing's B-47Es flew from MHAFB to New Zealand, a distance of, nonstop with the aid of aerial refueling. This was the longest point-to-point flight for any Strategic Air Command aircraft or unit up to that time.
In the decade after World War II, the development of faster aircraft and missiles steadily reduced reaction time. With the arrival of the missile age, SAC had to be ready to launch its armada of nuclear bombers within 15 minutes for a retaliatory strike. After almost two years of planning, SAC developed a new organization. Nicknamed FRESH APPROACH and designed to ensure a 15-minute response time, the new organization required extensive testing for practicality, mobility, and economy before command leaders were willing to discard the proven structure. On 1 July 1957, the 9th Bomb Wing was one of three SAC units to begin "service-testing" the new deputy commander system of management.
From July through December 1957, the 9th Wing implemented FRESH APPROACH and worked out the "kinks" of the new organization. The test came during a large SAC mobility and overseas deployment exercise. The 9th BW was the only participating unit with the deputy-commander organizational structure. Between October 1957 and January 1958, elements of the 9th Bombardment Wing and 9th Air Refueling Squadron scattered from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska to Andersen AFB, Guam. Although some problems occurred during the overseas mobility test, the 9th Wing Commander firmly supported the new concept. When the wing redeployed to Mountain Home AFB in mid-January 1958, it remained in the FRESH APPROACH organizational structure.
File:Titan 1 ICBM.jpg|thumb|150px|Launch of a Titan I ICBM from Cape Canaveral|leftOn 1 October 1958, the Air Force officially adopted the deputy-commander concept and the 9th Bomb Wing became the first unit to officially convert to the new organizational structure. The change made it possible for the Air Force to launch an immediate retaliatory strike in response to nuclear attack on the United States. Massive retaliation became a cornerstone of national policy and an effective deterrent to perceived threats. For its meritorious service in testing and refining the reorganization, the 9th Bombardment Wing received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.
To reflect its expanding role as a bomber-missile unit, the 9th Bombardment Wing became the 9th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 1 April 1962. On 13 April, the wing received its first HGM-25A Titan I multistage intercontinental ballistic missile. The Wing continued to fulfill its nuclear deterrence role until 1966.
Between 1962 and 1965, the 9th Bomb Wing operated several EB-47E Stratojets, a classified program which were electronics countermeasure conversions of the standard B-47E. These was equipped with what was known as the Phase IV ECM package, consisting of 16 AN/ALT-6B electronic jammers mounted on a cradle inside the bomb bay. Some of the EB-47ss carried a pressurized capsule inside the bomb bay that carried two electronics warfare officers that operated a suite of up to 13 different jammers that could focus on specific threats.
On 8 November 1965, SAC and Tactical Air Command completed a transfer agreement assigning Mountain Home to TAC effective 1 January 1966. The 9th Air Refueling Squadron, inactivated on 15 December 1965. On 1 January, the 9th Strategic Aerospace Wing became a tenant unit and was declared non-operational; it began final phase‑out at MHAFB, with the last B-47E departing on 10 February 1966; personnel followed soon after.
Beale Air Force Base
In July 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the development of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft. This new and advanced aircraft would give SAC a reconnaissance capability that far exceeded any then available in terms of speed, altitude, and increased area coverage. In December 1964, the Department of Defense announced that the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing would activate at Beale Air Force Base, California on 1 January 1965 as the parent unit of the SR‑71. To prepare Beale AFB for its new mission, contractors lengthened the runway, remodeled the former Air Defense Command Semi-Automatic Ground Environment building, and constructed several new facilities, including 337 additional housing units. The wing was assigned to the 14th Strategic Aerospace Division and consisted of the 4201st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, three maintenance squadrons and the 4203d Reconnaissance Technical Squadron.In January 1966, the first SR-71 touched down on the Beale runway. The first T-38 Talon, a Northrop-built aircraft to be used as a trainer and chase plane for the SR-71, had arrived six months earlier. In October 1965, Fifteenth Air Force suggested the 9th Bombardment Wing be redesignated as the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing to continue the history of the 9th. The Air Force accepted the suggestion and on 25 June 1966, the 4200th wing and its components were discontinued and the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing transferred to Beale to take its place. The Air Force also activated the 9th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron to replace the 4203d Reconnaissance Technical Squadron. Both the 1st and 99th squadrons moved with the 9th, while the 5th inactivated.For the remainder of 1966, the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing developed the organization and infrastructure necessary for SR-71 operations. The wing included a Director of Intelligence and a Director of Tests, who monitored the exhaustive testing program in the primary stages. The wing also needed its own supply squadron to handle the specialized supplies and equipment this unique aircraft would need. When the 9th SRW passed the Maintenance Standardization and Evaluation Team inspection in March 1967, with the highest rating ever given a SAC wing, wing leaders knew their unit was ready.