The 102nd Rescue Squadron is a unit of the New York Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing stationed at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York. The 102nd is equipped with the HC-130J Combat King II transport aircraft.
The squadron is a descendant organization of the World War I 102nd Aero Squadron, established on 23 August 1917. However, its origins began on 30 April 1908, as the 1st Aero Company, a pre-World War I independent unit of the New York National Guard. After the war, the unit was reformed on 7 November 1921 as the 102nd Observation Squadron and is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.
The 102nd Rescue Squadron is the oldest unit of the Air National Guard, with over a century of service to the state of New York and the United States.
History Origins On 30 April 1908, 1st Lt. Frank P. Lahm reported to New York City along with 1st Lt. Thomas Selfridge and civilian balloonist Leo Stevens to familiarize 25 members of the First Company, Signal Corps, a unit of the 71st New York Infantry, in the use of hydrogen-filled observation balloon. The company was organized to provide the New York National Guard with an "aeronautical corps" for balloon observation, commanded by Major Oscar Erlandean. By 1910 it had acquired a home-made aircraft using private funds and transported it to summer maneuvers, but it was not flown. The aircraft was destroyed in a crash but an airplane owned by Glenn Curtiss was flown during the 1912 summer maneuvers in Connecticut by Private Beckworth "Becky" Havens, a salesman for Curtiss Aeroplane Company. This group sometimes referred to itself as the "1st Aero Company" but was never authorized or officially recognized by either the State of New York or the U.S. Army.Gross
1st Aero Company
The 102nd traces its official lineage back to the 1st Aero Company, authorized by the governor of New York in October 1915 and organized in November by 1st Lieutenant Raynal Bolling as a detachment of the 1st Battalion Signal Corps, New York National Guard, for aviation training at Mineola on Long Island. The 1st Aero Company was provisionally recognized by the federal government in June 1916 and called to active duty between 13 July 1916, and 15 November 1916, to continue training with the purpose of joining the 1st Aero Squadron, a Regular Army unit deployed to Mexico with the Punitive Expedition. The 1st Aero Company, however, never left Long Island and was disbanded on 23 May 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, when the Army decided not to use National Guard aviation units in the war effort. It was later consolidated with the 102nd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron.
102nd Aero Squadron
The Air Service 102nd Aero Squadron was organized at Kelly Field, Texas, on 23 August 1917. The men engaged in construction activities, drilling, digging ditches, making roads, and putting up tents for recruits arriving at the field. When athletics were started at the camp, the 102nd organized a baseball team which was runners-up for the championship at the field. Once basic indoctrination training was completed, the 102nd was ordered for overseas duty, being ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island. It arrived at Mineola Field on 3 November 1917 where it was prepared and equipped for overseas duty. On 23 November, the squadron, along with the 103d, 104th, and 105th Aero Squadrons were ordered to report to the port of embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey, for boarding on the former White Star Liner RMS Baltic for transport. After an uneventful Atlantic crossing, it arrived at Liverpool, England, on 8 December 1917.Gorrell
After a few days at a Rest Camp near Winchester, England, the squadron moved to Le Havre, France, and then traveled by train to the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, St. Maixent Replacement Barracks, France, arriving on 18 January 1918. At St. Maixent, the 102nd was used as a station squadron, as well as being trained in hiking, fatigue duty, and guard duty. On 1 March, the squadron was ordered to report to the Second Aviation Instructional Center at Tours Aerodrome, in central France. The men were assigned to nearly every department in the field, from the machine shops working on aircraft to the transportation department where the men drove trucks and all manner of vehicles. The squadron remained at Tours until after the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, then returned to the United States in April 1919. It arrived at Mitchel Field, New York, where the squadron members were demobilized and returned to civilian life.Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the First World War
New York National Guard
Constituted in 1920 as the 102nd Squadron (Observation), the squadron was assigned to the 27th Division, allotted to the state of New York, as its divisional aviation. The unit was organized in November 1921 by personnel of the Observation Squadron, New York National Guard, which had been organized on 22 March 1921 at Hempstead, New York, with personnel from K Company, 14th Infantry, New York National Guard. It was organized and federally recognized in November 1922 at Miller Field on Staten Island and redesignated as the 102nd Observation Squadron in January 1923.Clay, p. 1440
During the inter-war years, the 102nd Observation Squadron flew a variety of aircraft but continued to serve as the aerial eyes for the commander of the 27th Infantry Division. One of America’s leading aces of the First World War, George A. Vaughan (9.5 victories) became one of the squadron's first commanders. He eventually became the 27th Division's Air Officer. In 1929, in a reorganization of the Army, the squadron was relieved from assignment to the 27th Division but remained attached to it for command and control purposes. In October 1933 it was assigned to an observation group for mobilization in case of war.
Its operations were primarily air transportation and aircraft repair and maintenance. However, squadron elements were called up periodically by the state of New York to perform emergency duties that included reconnaissance for the United States Department of the Treasury of vessels conducting illegal liquor trade off the New York-New Jersey coast in the 1920s; support of flood relief efforts in Vermont 6–16 November 1927; aid to civil authorities during a prison break from the maximum security Auburn Prison, 11–12 December 1930; and flood relief efforts in upstate New York 11–13 July 1935.
The squadron conducted summer training annually at Pine Camp, New York, during the years 1921–40 where it generally supported the training of the 52nd Field Artillery Brigade, and performed other training at Miller Field and at Mitchel Field on Long Island.
In 1936 it was consolidated with the demobilized 102nd Aero Squadron.
World War II In October 1940 the 102nd was inducted into active federal service at Miller Field as part of the United States Army Air Corps, relieved from assignment to its parent group, and assigned directly to the VII Corps. The Army relocated it to Fort McClellan, Alabama, shortly after its call up, then assigned it a year later to the 71st Observation Group. Initially, it was assigned to antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron was moved to Southern California, flying antisubmarine patrols over the Los Angeles coast until November 1942.
It returned to Third Air Force control in late 1943, becoming a reconnaissance training unit for Army ground forces at Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Polk, Louisiana. Moved to the Desert Training Center in southern California in early 1944, continuing supplying reconnaissance training for Army units engaged in desert warfare training until April 1944 when the DTC was closed and the squadron was disbanded.
New York Air National Guard As part of the formation of the Air National Guard after World War II, the unit was reconstituted on 21 June 1945. The wartime 102nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was redesignated the 102nd Bombardment Squadron, Light, and was allotted to the National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Floyd Bennett Field, New York, and was extended federal recognition on 21 March 1947, and activated by the National Guard Bureau. The squadron was equipped with Douglas B-26 Invader light bombers and was assigned to the 106th Bombardment Group and operationally gained by Tactical Air Command.
The mission of the squadron was proficiency in tactical bombing. Parts were no problem and many of the maintenance personnel were World War II veterans so readiness was quite high and the planes were often much better maintained than their USAF counterparts. In some ways, the postwar Air National Guard was almost like a flying country club and a pilot could often show up at the field, check out an aircraft and go flying. However, the unit also had regular military exercises that kept up proficiency and in gunnery and bombing contests they would often score at least as well or better than active-duty USAF units, given the fact that most ANG pilots were World War II combat veterans.
Korean War activation
With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the regular military's lack of readiness, most of the Air National Guard was placed on active duty on 1 February 1951. The 102nd's B-26 light attack bombers were sent to Fifth Air Force in Japan for use in the Korean War, and the 106th Group was federalized and assigned to Strategic Air Command. On 28 March 1951, the Group moved less equipment to March Air Force Base, California. The 102nd was re-equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and given the mission to train reservist crewmen to back-fill rotating B-29 combat crews serving in Korea. While the air guardsmen were undergoing training they were paid on the lesser reserve pay scale. When its active duty tour came to an end, the squadron was inactivated in December 1952 and its personnel and equipment at March were transferred to the 441st Bombardment Squadron and the squadron returned to New York state control.
Cold War With its return to New York state control in 1953, the 102nd was again equipped with B-26 Invaders, the aircraft being returned from combat duty in Korea. The 102nd trained in proficiency with the attack bomber until the removal of the B-26 from bombing duties in 1956 as neared the end of their service lives.
The 106th was transferred from Tactical Air Command to Air Defense Command (ADC) and assumed an air defense mission over Long Island and New York City, entering the Jet Age with the limited all-weather Lockheed F-94B Starfire interceptor. With the Starfire, the 102nd began standing end of runway air defense alert, ready to launch interceptors if ADC Ground Intercept Radar picked up an unidentified target. The squadron stood on air defense alert from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset every day, 365 days a year. In 1957, ADC upgraded the 102nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron to the all-weather North American F-86D Sabre. With the receipt of the F-86D, the alert mission was extended to 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year.
In 1956, Lt. Col. Norma Parsons made military and National Guard history when she became the first woman member of the National Guard, the first woman member of the Air National Guard, and the first woman to be commissioned in the Air National Guard.
In 1958, the squadron was reassigned to Military Air Transport Service (MATS), trading in its Sabres for 4-engined Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter transports, being gained by the MATS' Eastern Transport Air Force. The 102nd worked closely with the 1st Aeromedical Evacuation Transport Group at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, a regular Air Force unit.