95th Air Base Wing

95th Air Base Wing
Active	28 January 1942 — present
Country	United States
Branch	Air Force
Type	Base Support
Part of	Air Force Material Command Air Force Flight Test Center
Garrison/HQ	Edwards Air Force Base
Decorations	DUC AFOUA
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel Bryan Gallagher
Notable commanders	John K. Gerhart

The 95th Air Base Wing (95 ABW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Mission

The 95th Air Base Wing is the host wing for Edwards Air Force Base. The wing oversees base day-to-day operations and provides support for over 10,000 military, federal civilian and contract personnel assigned to a 470 square mile installation. Approximately 1500 Air Base Wing Desert Warriors directly support the flight test and evaluation mission of the Air Force Flight Test Center and the 412th Test Wing.

The wing is responsible for operating the base, including the infrastructure, communication systems, security, fire protection, transportation, supply, finance, contracting, legal services, personnel and manpower support, housing, education, chapel and quality of life programs on a 301,000-acre base in the middle of the Mojave Desert, the second largest base in the U.S. Air Force.

The 95th ABW is host to over 100,000 visitors annually and supports over 25,000 dependents, retirees, and veterans. Major units within the wing include the 95th Mission Support and the 95th Medical Groups, as well the 95th Civil Engineer/Transportation Directorate, 95th Security Forces Squadron and the Services and Comptroller Divisions. Staff agencies include chaplain services, base comptroller, inspector general, manpower and organization, and military equal opportunity and public affairs.

History

The 95th was activated in June 1942 as the 95th Bombardment Group but not manned until October. It trained for bombardment missions far a year before heading overseas. The group entered combat for Eighth Air Force on 13 May 1943. During the next two months, the group repeatedly attacked V-weapon sites and airfields in France. It began bombing strategic objectives in Germany in July 1943 and engaged primarily in such operations until V-E Day. Targets included harbors, industries, marshalling yards, and cities. The 95th received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for maintaining a tight defensive formation in spite of severe assault by enemy fighters and bombing the aircraft assembly plant at Regensburg, Germany, on 17 August 1943. Withstanding concentrated attacks by fighters during the approach to the target and intense antiaircraft fire directly over the objective, the group effectively bombarded marshalling yards at Münster on 10 October 1943, earning a second DUC.

The group participated in the intensive campaign of heavy bombers against the German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20-25 February 1944. The 95th received another DUC for action during an attack by Army Air Force bombers on Berlin on 4 March 1944; while many participating organizations, because of weather conditions, either abandoned the operation or struck other targets, the 95th proceeded to Berlin and successfully bombed a suburb of the German capital despite snowstorms, dense clouds, and severe enemy attack. The group interrupted its strategic operations to strike coastal defenses and communications during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. It hit enemy troop concentrations and thus assist the Allied breakthrough at St. Lo in July 1944, dropped ammunition, food, and medical supplies to Polish resistance in Warsaw on 18 September 1944, attacked enemy transportation during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945, and bombed airdromes in support of the Allied assault across the Rhine in March 1945. It flew its last combat mission, an attack on marshalling yards at Oranienburg, Germany, on 20 April 1945. The group dropped food to the Dutch during the first week in May. After V-E Day, it transported liberated prisoners and displaced persons from Austria to France and England.

The group trained as a heavy bombardment group in the Reserve from May 1947 to June 1949, before being deactivated.

The 95th was established on 4 June 1952, and activated on 16 June 1952 at Biggs AFB, TX as the 95th Bombardment Wing. However it was not manned from until July 1953, assigned to the Eighth Air Force's 810th Air Division, and then minimally manned until September 1953, when it began strategic bombardment training with B-36s. It operated in support of Strategic Air Command (SAC)'s global commitments from, April 1954- February 1966. The wing deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and operated under control of 3d Air Division from, July-November 1955. It added an air refueling mission beginning in August 1959 and carrying through January 1965. From 1959 to 1960, the wing received B-52s, and KC-135s and phased out the B-36.

• Reassigned to: Fifteenth Air Force, 819th Strategic Aerospace Division On 1 July 1962.
• Reassigned to: Fifteenth Air Force, 12th Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 July 1964.

The 95th Bomb Wing was inactivated on 25 June 1966.

Renamed the 95th Strategic Wing, from October 1966 to December 1975 the group supported SAC's KC-135 alert tanker forces in eastern Canada and the North Atlantic. It phased down for inactivation, closing most USAF operations at Goose Bay from, January-September 1976.

The wing has managed Edwards Air Force Base, California, for the Air Force Flight Test Center since its reactivation as the 95th Air Base Wing on 1 October 1994.

Assignments

Major Command

• Strategic Air Command (1966 – 1976)
• Air Force Material Command (1994 – Present)

Numbered Air Force

• 8th Air Force (1943 – 1945)
• Air Force Flight Test Center (1994 – Present)

Subordinate organizations

95th Communications Group (95 CG)

• 95th Communications Squadron (95 CS)
• 95th Specialized Systems Division (SCC)
• 95th Executive Systems Division (SCE)
• 95th Support Division (SCS)
• 95th Plans/Policy Division (SCX)

95th Mission Support Group (95 MSG)

• 95th Contracting Squadron (95 CONS)
• 95th Force Support Squadron (95 FSS)
• 95th Security Forces Squadron (95 SFS)
• 95th Logistics Readiness Division (LGR)

95th Medical Group (95 MDG)

• 95th Aerospace Medicine Squadron (95 AMDS)
• 95th Medical Operations Squadron (95 MDOS)
• 95th Medical Support Squadron (95 MDSS)

Bases stationed

• Barksdale Field, Louisiana (1942)
• Pendleton, Oregon (1942)
• Geiger Field, Washington (1942)
• Wphrata, Washington (1942)
• Rapid City, South Dakota (1942 – 1943)
• Framlingham, England (1943)
• Horham, England (1943 – 1945)
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1945 – 1947)
• Memphis, Tennessee (1947 – 1949)
• Biggs Air Force Base, Texas (1952 – 1966)
• Goose Air Base, Canada (1966 – 1976)
• Edwards Air Force Base, California (1994 – Present)

Aircraft operated

• B-17 Flying Fortress (1942 – 1945)
• B-36 Peacemaker (1953 – 1959)
• B-52 Stratofortress (1959 – 1966)
• KC-135 Stratotanker (1959 – 1975)

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Cold War history:

1. Mixer, Ronald E., Genealogy of the STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND , Battermix Publishing Company, 1999
2. Mixer, Ronald E., STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND, An Organizational History, Battermix Publishing Company, 2006.

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