114th Fighter Squadron


The 114th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Oregon Air National Guard 173d Fighter Wing located at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Klamath Falls, Oregon. The 114th is equipped with the F-15C Eagle.

History

World War II

The squadron was first activated in mid-1942 as the 439th Bombardment Squadron, a B-26 Marauder medium bombardment unit. It trained under Third Air Force in Louisiana. The unit was reassigned to the European Theater of Operations, being assigned initially to VIII Air Support Command in England in September 1942. The 439th flew several missions over France and Belgium from its base in England during October, then was reassigned to the new Twelfth Air Force in Algeria.
During the North African Campaign, the squadron engaged in tactical bomb strikes of enemy targets, primarily in eastern Algeria and Tunisia, including railroads, airfields, harbor installations, and enemy shipping along the Mediterranean Coast.
The squadron returned to French Morocco in March 1943, then returned to combat in June 1943, attacking enemy targets on Italian islands in the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, and Pantelleria. From bases in Algeria and Tunisia, the unit supported the Allied invasion of Italy, bombing bridges and marshalling yards during the late summer and early autumn of 1943.
In November, it moved to Sardinia, to strike Axis targets in central Italy. Early in 1944, the squadron supported Allied ground forces as they advanced in the Cassino and Anzio areas. Later in the year, the group attacked German supply lines in northern Italy, bombing bridges, marshalling yards, and roads. During the summer, it bombed bridges over the Po River in northern Italy to block the stream of German supplies and reinforcements going southward. The unit supported the invasion of southern France in August 1944 by attacking coastal batteries, radar stations, and bridges. From Corsica, it hit railroad bridges in Northern Italy and late in the year attacked railroad lines through the Brenner Pass that connected Germany and Austria with Italy.
In January 1945, the squadron returned to the United States, where it began to train with A-26 aircraft for operations in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Between May and July 1945, it moved by ship to Okinawa, and on 16 July the squadron flew its first mission against Japan. From then until the end of the fighting in early August, the squadron attacked enemy targets such as airfields and industrial centers on Kyūshū and the occupied Shanghai area of China, and shipping around the Ryukyu Islands and in the East China Sea. In November and December 1945 the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated.

New York Air National Guard

The squadron was initially allotted to the Oregon Air National Guard on 24 May 1946 and redesignated the 114th Bombardment Squadron, Light. It was transferred to the New York National Guard and received federal recognition on 26 June 1946 The 114th Bombardment Squadron was equipped with B-26 Invader light bombers and assigned to the 106th Bombardment Group at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn.
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the entire 106th Bombardment Group was federalized and brought to active duty. The group was moved to March Air Force Base, California and assigned to Fifteenth Air Force of Strategic Air Command. It was assigned B-29 Superfortress medium bombers, and the mission of the 106th Bomb Group was the training of reservists to backfill rotating B-29 combat crews serving on Okinawa. The Group served with SAC until returning to New York state control on 1 December 1952.
Upon return to Floyd Bennett Field, the 114th again was equipped with B-26s and resumed training with its light bombers and flew them until its conversion to an air defense fighter unit in 1956. Under Air Defense Command, the 106th Fighter-Interceptor Group initially received Lockheed F-94A Starfires and in 1957 the North American F-86D Sabre Interceptor.
The State of New York was notified by Headquarters, United States Air Force on 26 September 1957 that support for the 114th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron would be ended due to fiscal constraints. Despite protests from the Governor of New York State that this was in violation of the law with respect to State militia units, the Air Force eventually prevailed and the 114th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was inactivated on 30 September 1958.

Oregon Air National Guard

The 8123d Fighter-Interceptor Training Squadron was organized by the Oregon Air National Guard at Kingsley Field, Oregon in January 1983 as an F-4C Phantom II Formal Training Unit for the interceptor pilots of the 123d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Portland International Airport. On 1 October 1983 the unit was organized and federally recognized by the National Guard Bureau as the 114th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, with the 114th designation being transferred back to the Oregon Air National Guard.
With the phaseout of the F-4C from the inventory in the late 1980s, the 114th was re-equipped with the F-16A/B block 15 Air Defense Fighter and continued its mission as a Formal Training Unit. On 1 April 1996, the 173d Fighter Wing was formed at Kingsley AGB as a host organization and parent unit for the 114th Fighter Squadron when the unit was authorized to expand, with the 114th being transferred from the 142d Fighter Wing at Portland to the new Wing at Kingsley ANGB. Along with the 114th FS, the 173d consists of the 173d Operations Group; 173d Maintenance Group, 173d Mission Support Group and 173d Medical Group.
With the 123d Fighter Squadron flying F-15 Eagles, the F-16As were retired in the late 1990s as their service life was ending. The squadron began receiving F-15A/B Eagles in 1998. Was upgraded to the F-15C/D Eagle in 2004, continuing its mission as an ANG interceptor training unit.

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