100th Air Refueling Wing

100th Air Refueling Wing
100th Air Refueling Wing Insignia
Active	1 June 1942 - Present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Air Refueling
Size	Wing
Part of	United States Air Forces Europe
Garrison/HQ	RAF Mildenhall

100 ARW KC-135s lined up on the taxiway at RAF Mildenhall

The 100th Air Refueling Wing is USAFE’s only KC-135 air refueling wing comprised of 15 permanently assigned aircraft, and is responsible for U.S. aerial refueling operations conducted throughout the European theater. The unit supports some 16,000 personnel, including Third Air Force, four geographically separated units, and 15 associated units.

The wing has been bestowed by the Air Force with the lineage, honors, and history of the 100th Bomb Group. One of these honors is that it is the only modern American operational wing allowed to bear the sign of a Second World War squadron.

History

Lineage

• Established as 100 Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942.
  • Activated on 1 Jun 1942.
  • Inactivated on 21 Dec 1945.
• Redesignated 100 Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 13 May 1947.
  • Activated in the Reserve on 29 May 1947.
  • Inactivated on 27 Jun 1949.
• Consolidated (31 Jan 1984) with the 100 Bombardment Wing, Medium, which was established on 23 Mar 1953.
• Activated on 1 Jan 1956.
  • Redesignated: 100 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing on 25 Jun 1966
  • Redesignated: 100 Air Refueling Wing, Heavy on 30 Sep 1976.
  • Inactivated on 15 Mar 1983.
• Redesignated: 100 Air Division on 15 Jun 1990.
  • Activated on 1 Jul 1990.
  • Inactivated on 26 Jul 1991.
• Redesignated 100 Air Refueling Wing, and activated, on 1 Feb 1992.

Aircraft/Missiles Assigned

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1945
• Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1956-1966
• Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker, 1956-1965
• Lockheed U-2, 1966-1976 (WU-2, 1966-1969)
• Lockheed DC-130, 1966-1976
• Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, 1976-1983, 1992-Present
• Minuteman II, 1990-1991

Stations Assigned

United States Army Air Forces

• Orlando AB, FL 1 Jun 1942
• Barksdale Field, LA c. 18 Jun 1942
• Pendleton Field, OR c. 26 Jun 1942
• Gowen Field, ID 28 Aug 1942
• Walla Walla, WA c. 1 Nov 1942
• Wendover Field, UT c. 30 Nov 1942
• Sioux City AAB, IA c. 28 Dec 1942
• Kearney AAFld, NE c. 30 Jan-May 1943
• RAF Thorpe Abbotts, England 9 Jun 1943-Dec 1945 (Station 139)
• Camp Kilmer, NJ c. 20-21 Dec 1945

United States Air Force

• Miami AAFld, FL, 29 May 1947-27 Jun 1949.
• Portsmouth (later, Pease) AFB, NH, 1 Jan 1956 - 25 Jun 1966
• Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 25 Jun 1966 - 30 Sep 1976
• Beale AFB, CA, 30 Sep 1976 - 15 Mar 1983
• Whiteman AFB, MO, 1 Jul 1990 - 26 Jul 1991
• RAF Mildenhall, England, 1 Feb 1992-Present

Operational History

World War II

On June 1, 1942, the Army Air Forces activated the 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) (100th BG) as an unmanned paper unit assigned to III Bomber Command. The group remained unmanned until October 27, 1942, when a small number of men transferred from the 29th Bombardment Group to Gowen Field, Idaho, to serve as the group’s initial cadre. Within four days, on November 1, the small cadre forming the 100 BG moved the unit to Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington, where it received its first four aircrews and four B-17Fs from the Boeing factory in Seattle. Following receipt of crews and aircraft, the 100th BG relocated to Wendover Field, Utah, on November 30 where it added additional personnel, aircraft, crews, and began operational training (bombing, gunnery, and navigation).

With the first day of 1943, members of the fledgling group again transferred operations to two separate bases, with the aircraft and aircrews moving to Sioux City AAB, Iowa, while the ground echelon went to Kearney Field, Nebraska. In both instances, members of the 100th BG assisted in air and ground training for other groups bound for overseas. In mid-April, the aircrew element joined its ground echelon at Kearney Field, and received new B-17s. After additional training, the group’s aircrews departed Kearney on May 25, 1943, flying the North Atlantic route to England and into the war in Europe. Prior to the departure of aircraft and aircrews from Kearney, the 100 BG’s ground echelon departed for the East Coast on May 2. On May 27, 1943, the ground personnel set sail aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth bound for Podington, England from New York. At Podington the ground crews rendezvoused with the air echelon, and together moved to Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, where they remained throughout World War II, operating as a strategic bombardment organization.

On June 25 1943, the 100 BG flew its first combat mission for Eighth Air Force against the submarine yards at Bremen, Germany -- the beginning of the "Bloody Hundredth"’s legacy. The group inherited the "Bloody Hundredth" nickname from other bomb groups due to the amount of losses it took. The historian and biographer Edward Jablonski states in "Air War", his four-volume series on the air battles of the Second World War, that the Bloody 100th took such casualties because it was specifically targeted by the Luftwaffe. When a B-17 of the 100th was damaged over German territory, the pilot lowered his landing gear to signal surrender to attacking Me-109s. The fighters then took up escort positions on each side of the B-17, preparing to lead the stricken bomber to a German airfield. However, during the escort, the pilot of the B-17 changed his mind about the surrender, apparently managing to correct the fuel problem that originally prompted him to abandon the fight. Upon this correction, the bomber's landing gear were raised, and the waist gunners destroyed the unsuspecting fighter escort. Because of this incident, the Luftwaffe would thereafter search through Allied bombing formations to locate the 100th and attack it first.

Although the 100 BG’s losses were no more than any other units’ at the war’s end, the group experienced several instances where it lost a dozen or more aircraft on a single mission, whereas most units suffered losses in consistent small amounts. For the next six months, the group focused its bombing attacks against German airfields, industries, and naval facilities in France as well as Germany. Just two months after entering the war, the group received its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) after attacking the German aircraft factory at Regensburg on August 17, 1943, resulting in serious disruption to German fighter production.

During the period January to May 1944, the 100th BG regularly bombed airfields, industries, marshaling yards, and missile sites in Western Europe. The group participated in the Allied campaign against German aircraft factories , Operation Argument, during "Big Week" in the last week of February 1944. In March 1944, aircrews completed a succession of attacks on Berlin and received its second DUC of the war.

As the summer of 1944 approached, enemy oil installations became major targets. While supporting these missions, the group also found itself engaged in support and interdictory missions. In June, the 100 BG supported the Normandy invasion by hitting bridges and gun positions. The next month aircrews bombed enemy positions at St Lo, followed by similar campaigns at Brest in August and September. In October 1944, the 100th BG turned its attacks against enemy and ground defenses in the allied drive on the Siegfried Line. After completing its Siegfried Line support, the group took on the task of attacking marshaling yards, German occupied villages, and communication targets in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945. For its extraordinary efforts in attacking heavily defended German installations in Germany and dropping supplies to the French Forces of the Interior from June through December 1944, the 100 BG received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

The 100 BG flew its last combat mission of World War II on April 20, 1945. The following month the unit’s aircrews dropped food to the people in the west of the Netherlands, and in June transported French Allied former prisoners of war from Austria to France. In December 1945, the group returned to the U.S., where it inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on December 21, 1945.

Cold War

Tail of a 100ARW Boeing KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, Serial 58-0100, displaying the crest of RAF Mildenhall and the historic "SquareD" badge as used by the unit during the second world war

On 29 May 1947, Headquarters Army Air Force reactivated the 100 BG at Miami Army Air Field. From the time of its activation the group trained and operated as a reserve unit until it was again inactivated on 27 June 1949.

After approximately five and one-half years of inactivation, the Air Force activated the 100th Bombardment Wing (Medium) on 1 January 1956, at Portsmouth Air Force Base, New Hampshire, and assigned again to Eighth Air Force. For the next ten years the wing performed global strategic bombardment training, and global air refueling.

Following a brief nonoperational period (April-June 1966), the Air Force redesignated the wing as the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, and moved it without personnel or equipment to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, on 25 June 1966. After its move, the wing absorbed the resources of the 4080th Strategic Wing. From 1966 until 1976, it performed strategic reconnaissance with the U-2 and drone aircraft. In mid-1976 the wing changed missions again when it transferred its drone operations to Tactical Air Command, and its U-2s to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (9 SRW) at Beale AFB, California.

After completing the transfer of its aircraft in September 1976, while simultaneously phasing down operations at Davis-Monthan, the Air Force redesignated the wing as the 100th Air Refueling Wing, and relocated it to Beale AFB. While at Beale, the 100 ARW assumed responsibility for providing worldwide air refueling support to the 9 SRW with its KC-135Q's from 30 September 1976 until its inactivation on 15 March 1983.

After an inactive status for over seven years, the Air Force again reactivated the 100th, but this time as the 100th Air Division at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, on 1 July 1990. However, as has been the wing’s past fate, the Air Force inactivated it once again on 1 August 1991.

Post Cold War

Six months after its inactivation as an Air Division, and over 46 years after departing England at the end of World War II, the Air Force activated the 100 ARW, stationed at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, on 1 February 1992. From the time of its reactivation, the 100 ARW has served as the United States Air Forces Europe’s lone air refueling wing.

The 100th In Print

• Harry H. Crosby, a navigator in the 100th BG ("Bloody Hundredth") during WWII, wrote A Wing and a Prayer: The Bloody 100th Bomb Group of the US Eighth Air Force in Action over Europe in World War II [1] (Harpercollins 1993 / Hdcvr ISBN 0-06-016941-9 / Ppbk ISBN 0-595-16703-9). The account is an insightful look into the life of a typical air officer assigned to one of the 8th Air Force's most revered units.

See also

• Robert Rosenthal
• USAAF Eighth Air Force - World War II
• RAF Mildenhall

References

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.
• Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978.
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present