The 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a unit of the Georgia Air National Guard 116th Air Control Wing located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The 128th is equipped with the E-8C Joint STARS.
The squadron's first predecessor is the World War I 840th Aero Squadron, which was organized on 1 February 1918 and, after training in Texas, served in France as a depot unit. It returned to the United States in the March 1919 and was demobilized .
The 128th Observation Squadron was allotted to the Georgia National Guard and was organized in May 1941. Four months later it was mobilized, and trained in aerial reconnaissance. In June 1942, the squadron began antisubmarine patrol missions over the Gulf of Mexico, being redesignated as the 21st Antisubmarine Squadron in the spring of 1943. After the Navy assumed control of the squadron's mission, it began training as a heavy bomber unit as the 818th, then the 840th Bombardment Squadron. It deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in 1944, and engaged in strategic bombing until the end of World War II, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before being inactivated in September 1945 at Pisa Airport, Italy. During the war, it was consolidated with the World War I aero squadron.
In May 1946, the squadron was allotted to the National Guard as the 128th Fighter Squadron. It was mobilized again for the Korean War, but deployed to France to reinforce United States Air Forces Europe's fighter force. When its activation was ended in July 1942, it was inactivated and transferred its personnel and planes to the 494th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, activating the same day in the Georgia Air National Guard as the 128th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The squadron trained as a fighter unit until 1961, when it assumed the airlift mission as the 128th Air Transport Squadron. In 1973, the squadron returned to the fighter mission as the 128th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It became the 128th Bomb Squadron in 1996, and assumed its current role in 2003.
History World War I The 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron traces its origins to the 840th Aero Squadron, which was organized at Rich Field, Waco, Texas on 4 February 1918. However, the 840th's history itself dates to the middle of December 1917 when many of the squadron members first enlisted in the Army at Fort Slocum, New York and the Columbus Barracks, Ohio. Just before Christmas, 1917, the men were transported to Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas where they began indoctrination into the Army as an unorganized unit. Many men were transferred into and out of the unit in its first weeks at Kelly. On 8 January, the men was transferred to Rich Field, and placed in temporary squadrons. Time was taken up by drills, hikes, physical training and other exercises. Also the men attended various lectures about military courtesies and customs. Finally, on 4 February 150 men from the group were selected and formed into the 840th Aero Squadron.Gorrell
After several more weeks of Army indoctrination training, the squadron was ordered for overseas service, being transferred to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island. It arrived at Mineola Field on 4 March 1918 where it was prepared and equipped for overseas duty. On 15 April, the squadron was ordered to the port of embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey, where it boarded the former White Star Line liner . After an uneventful Atlantic crossing, the squadron arrived at Liverpool, England where it boarded a train headed south to Winchester, where it arrived at the Romney Rest Camp. There, the 840th was detached to the Royal Flying Corps for technical training, arriving at the No. 3 Western Aircraft Depot, RFC Yatesbury, Wiltshire, on 4 May. There squadron personnel were placed in different departments of the depot and were engaged in the production and repair of airplanes. The 840th was the second American squadron assigned to the depot, and there was quite a curiosity by the English about them. The men were warmly received in the villages around the depot and celebrated in Bristol. On 13 August, training ended and the squadron moved to Southampton for transport across the English Channel to France.
The 840th arrived at Le Havre, France on 18 August, where the squadron was greeted by a German air-raid on its "rest" camp. The squadron was hurriedly moved during the raid to a race track, where some ammunition was stored. However, after the "All Clear" was given, it returned to its barracks. After three days, the squadron was transported to Courban Aerodrome, in eastern France where it was assigned to the No. 3 Aircraft Depot, Independent Air Force, RAF. There, the squadron began work on Handley Page and de Havilland planes. The squadron had the distinction of turning out the first Handley Page aircraft to be assembled in France. It also saw its first United States-built Liberty Engine at the depot. The 840th was one of only three Air Service squadrons assigned to the British depot. The squadron remained at Courban until the end of the war. The squadron turned out two squadrons of Dayton-Wright DH-4 aircraft, prepared for the attack on Metz that was about to commence at the time of the Armistice.
The squadron was moved to Latrecey Aerodrome, on 20 November 1918 where it waited for orders to return home. It finally moved to the port of Brest on 1 February, where it sailed on a troop ship for the United States, moving to Langley Field, Virginia in early March 1919. There the squadron was demobilized and returned to civilian life.
World War II Antisubmarine operations The 128th Observation Squadron was allotted to the Georgia National Guard, activated in May 1941 at Atlanta Airport as an army observation squadron, and equipped with several types of observation aircraft. The squadron was called into federal service in September 1941 and assigned to II Air Support Command, which moved it to Lawson Field, Georgia as the United States mobilized prior to World War II. It continued to train as an observation unit after the Pearl Harbor Attack, standardizing on North American O-47s, until June 1942.
On 20 June 1942, the squadron moved to New Orleans Army Air Base, Louisiana, where it was attached to the Gulf Task Force and began antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. It was attached to Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command in the fall of 1942, and was assigned to the command in March 1943, when it was redesignated the 21st Antisubmarine Squadron. 1943 also saw the conversion of the squadron to the more capable North American B-25 Mitchell.
The squadron moved to Gulfport Army Air Field, Mississippi in May 1943 and ended antisubmarine operations. In July 1943, the Army Air Forces and the Navy reached an agreement to transfer the coastal antisubmarine mission to the Navy. This mission transfer also included an exchange of AAF long-range bombers equipped for antisubmarine warfare for Navy Consolidated B-24 Liberators without such equipment.Ferguson, pp. 82–83
Heavy bomber operations Like many antisubmarine units flying heavy bombers, the 21st became part of Second Air Force. It moved to Ephrata Army Air Base as the 818th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 September 1943, where it became the 818th Bombardment Squadron, helping form the cadre for the new 483d Bombardment Group. In November, the squadron moved to MacDill Field, Florida, where it trained with Flying Fortresses under Third Air Force. At MacDill, it exchanged designations with another squadron, becoming the 840th Bombardment Squadron, and was consolidated with the World War I 840th Aero Squadron.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 354–355
The 840th deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it became part of Fifteenth Air Force at Sterparone Airfield in Southern Italy. The squadron's air element flew its Flying Fortresses to Sterparone via Tortorella Airfield, while the ground element moved to Sterparone via troop ship. It began operations in April 1944 with an attack on a cement factory in Split, Yugoslavia.
The squadron engaged in long-range strategic bombardment of enemy military, industrial and transport targets, including factories, oil refineries, marshalling yards, airfields, and troop concentrations in Italy, France. Southern Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans. In June 1944, the squadron participated in a shuttle mission, departing Italy and landing in the Soviet Union, attacking targets en route and on the return flight. This enabled attacks on targets too far from the squadron's base to strike and return home. The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for combat action two months later. On 18 July 1944 the squadron, along with the other elements of the 483d Group, bombed the objective, an airfield and installations at Memmingen, engaging numerous enemy aircraft in the target area despite a lack of cover from its planned fighter escort. It received a second citation for braving fighter assaults and flak to bomb tank factories at Berlin on 24 March 1945.
The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic attack on Germany. It struck targets in southern France in preparation for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of August 1944. The group also supported ground forces in northern Italy during the Allied offensive in April 1945.
After V-E Day, the unit moved to Pisa Airfield, where it operated under the control of Air Transport Command's Green Project which was the movement of troops back to the United States. The squadron carried troops from Pisa to a staging area in Morocco. Its B-17s were disarmed with flooring and seats for 25 passengers installed. It carried passengers from Pisa to Port Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco for further movement them across the Atlantic. The squadron was inactivated in Italy in September 1945.
Georgia Air National Guard
The wartime 840th Bombardment Squadron was re-activated and re-designated as the 128th Fighter Squadron, and was allotted to the Georgia Air National Guard, on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Marietta Army Airfield, Georgia, and was extended federal recognition on 20 August 1946 by the National Guard Bureau. The 128th Fighter Squadron was entitled to the history, honors, and colors of the 840th Bombardment Squadron.
The squadron was equipped with Republic F-47 Thunderbolts and was temporarily assigned to the 54th Fighter Wing on 20 August, then permanently to the 116th Fighter Group on 9 September 1946. The 116th Fighter Group consisted of the 128th and the 158th Fighter Squadron at Chatham Army Air Field, near Savannah. As part of the Continental Air Command Fourteenth Air Force, the unit trained for tactical fighter missions and air-to-air combat.
Korean War federalization The 128th was federalized on 10 October 1950 due to the Korean War. It was assigned to the federalized Oklahoma Air National Guard 137th Fighter-Bomber Wing and equipped with Republic F-84G Thunderjets. Along with the Oklahoma 125th Fighter Squadron and Kansas Air National Guard 127th Fighter Squadron, the wing was scheduled for deployment to the new Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base, France, as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
By 27 November, the wing assembled at Alexandria Air Force Base, Louisiana for conversion training in the newer F-84Gs. Deployment of the wing was delayed, however, by the need to transfer pilots to Korea from training and delays in receiving engines for the F-84Gs, as well as the ongoing construction at Chaumont Air Base. Training and delays continued throughout 1951. Due to these delays, many of the activated National Guard airmen were released from active duty and never deployed to France.