11th Wing - The Chief's Own
Mission
Deliver worldwide, premier ceremonial honors, mission support, and contingency operations from our Nation’s Capital
Vision
A premier flock, honoring our heritage and enhancing our legacy as the Chief’s Own through excellence, teamwork and respect.
Wing Priorities
We take PRIDE in what we do: Partnerships, Readiness, Innovation, Development, Engagement
History of the 11th Wing
First Aero Squadron
The distinguished heritage, honors, and lineage of the 11th Wing can be traced to Colonel Raynal Cawthorne Bolling. Col Bolling formed the First Aero Company of the New York National Guard on 12 November 1915. The First Aero Company, was the earliest forerunner of the modern Air National Guard. In early May 1917, Col Bolling joined the Federal service and was authorized to organize the First Aero Squadron, Signal Corps, U.S.A. The First Aero Squadron, the first to be organized for Federal Service, was then formed from the nucleus of Bolling New York National Guard Unit. The First Aero Squadron was then redesignated the 26th Aero Squadron on 1 October 1917 at Issoudun, France. During the First World War, the 26th Aero Squadron was stationed in France at Le Havre by September 1917, and Clisson, St. Sebastien, and St. Nazaire. With the war’s end, the 26th Aero Squadron was demobilized on 7 June 1919.
The unit activated on 6 December 1939 as the 26
th Bombardment Squadron [Medium] and then re-designated on 1 December 1940 as the 26th Bombardment Squadron [Heavy]. They served as one of the three heavy bombardment squadrons of the newly formed 11th Bombardment Group.
11th Bombardment Group
After existing only on paper as the 11th Observation Group in October of 1933, the 11th Bombardment Group (Medium) was redesigated on 1 January 1938, the true formation of the group in terms of tangible people and aircraft took place on Hickam Field Hawaii on 1 February 1940. There, under the command of the 18th Bombardment Wing, the Group first flew the Douglas B-18 twin-engine bomber. The flying squadrons assigned to the Group while at Hickam included the 50th Recon Squadron as well as the 14th, 26th, 42nd and 431st Bombardment Squadrons. During the early months of 1941, the men assigned to the group eagerly learned to fly and maintain a new arrival, the B-17 Flying Fortress.
Along with new aircraft, the personnel assigned to Hickam also moved from tents to the newly constructed 3,000-man Hale Makai Barracks. Many assigned to the 11th Group were resting in these barracks, attending religious services, or eating at the new chow hall on a clear Sunday morning of December 7, 1941. The ensuing Japanese attack incurred 245 victims upon the 11th Group alone. With 350 total assigned this meant a 70 percent casualty rate. These losses included 16 killed and 50 critically injured. Additionally, the group lost 12 of its B-17Ds and 32 B-18s.
The group moved to New Hebrides Island on 22 July 1942 as part of Thirteenth Air Force to bomb airfields, supply dumps, ships, docks, troop positions, and other objectives in the South Pacific until November 1942. The unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation for those operations. The group continued their missions against the Solomon Islands until late March 1943. The group returned to Hawaii on 8 April 1943 where they trained on the new B-24. On 9 November 1943, the 11th flew to Ellice Island and participated in the Allied offensive through the Gilbert, Marshall, and Marianas Islands, while operating from Funafuti, Tarawa, Kwajalein, and finally from Guam on 25 October 1944, attacking shipping and airfields in the Volcano and Bonin Islands. On 2 July 1945 the 11th moved to Okinawa to participate in the final phases of the air offensive against Japan, bombing targets on Kyushu and striking Japanese airfields in China. After the war, the group flew reconnaissance and surveillance missions to China and ferried liberated prisoners of war from Okinawa to Luzon, Philippines. All B-29 training ceased in October 1946, and then on 15 November 1946 the group and its squadrons became a paper unit again with one officer and one enlisted man assigned to each squadron until inactivation on 20 October 1948.
11th Bombardment Group (H) Carswell and Altus AFB
The 11th Bombardment Group, Heavy (H), was activated on 1 December 1948, at Carswell AFB, Texas and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Wing (H) under Strategic Air Command. The Group flew B-36s until 15 February 1950 when the 7th Wing grounded the B-36s due to two crashes within a year caused by mechanical failures. After modifications on the aircraft exhaust systems, the group resumed flying and on 21 August 1950, 18 of them departed Carswell AFB for Limestone AFB, Maine to participate in simulated radar bombing missions of St. Louis, Missouri. The safety record of the B-36 continued to suffer across the Air Force and a tornado on 1 September 1952 took out 76 B-36s at Carswell AFB with 43 of them belonging to the 11 Bomb Wing. By 1954 the wing and its aircraft made a comeback to win the BombNav Competition at Eglin AFB. During the late 1950s the wing deployed to Goose Bay, Canada; Alaska; United Kingdom; and Nouasseur AB, French Morocco in North Africa.
11th Strategic Aerospace Wing & The 11th Air Refueling Wing
In 1962, the 11th Bombardment Group (H) was redesignated the 11th Strategic Aerospace Wing at Altus AFB. The wing transitioned into the Boeing B-52 and the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. The also gained an Atlas missile squadron which it retained until 1965. In June of 1968, the wing was redesignated the 11th Air Refueling Wing, lost the B-52’s, and transferred to Cam Ram Bay, Vietnam conducting the air refueling mission until the 11th‘s inactivation on 25 March 1969.
11th Strategic Group
The 11th Strategic group was activated in 1978 at RAF Fairford, UK once again conducting an air refueling mission with KC-135’s. The primary mission of the 11th was to provide aerial refueling for the USAF and other NATO aircraft in active operations across the European theater. The unit was deactivated on 7 August 1990.
11th Support Wing
The 11th existed once again on paper as the 11th Support Wing on 2 June 1994 and fully activated six weeks later on 15 July 1994 at Bolling AFB, D.C. During this time the 11th assumed a mission as a Direct Reporting Unit and support organization for Headquarters, USAF from July 1994 until assigned to the newly activated Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) on 7 July 2005. During this time the wing adopted the nickname “The Chief’s Own” as it remained responsible for the United States Air Force Band and the United States Air Force Honor Guard. The 11th remained under the AFDW when it took on a larger responsibility as it moved its mission to Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility Washington on 1 October 2010. One of the more significant changes from this move consisted of having aircraft assigned to it for the first time in 20 years in the form of the UH-1s of the 1st Helicopter Squadron.
LINEAGE
Established: 11th Observation Group 1 October 1933
Redesignated: 11th Bombardment Group (Medium) 1 January 1938
Activated: 1 February 1940
Redesignated: 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy) 1 December 1940
Redesignated: 11th Bombardment Group, Heavy 3 August 1944
Redesignated: 11th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, 30 April 1946
Inactivated: 20 October 1948
Redesignated: 11th Bombardment Group, Heavy, 1 December 1948
Activated: 1 December 1948
Inactivated: 16 June 1952
Redesignated: 11th Strategic Group, 25 October 1978
Activated: 15 November 1978
Consolidated: 31 March 1982, with the organization established as 11th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, on 1 Nov1948; further activated on 16 February 1951; redesignated 11th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 1 April 1962, 11th Air Refueling Wing on 2 July 1968; and inactivated on 25 March 1969.
ASSIGNMENTS
Unknown 1 October 1933 – 31 January 1940
18th Wing (later 18th Bombardment) 1 February 1940 – 18 January 1942
VII Bomber Command 19 January 1942 – 4 January 1943
XIII Bomber Command 5 January 1943 – 7 April 1943
VII Bomber Command 8 April 1943 – 22 November 1945
Far East Air Forces 23 November 1945 – 14 May 1946
Twentieth Air Force 15 May 1946 – 20 October 1948
Eighth Air Force 1 December 1948 – 15 February 1951
(Attached to 7th Bombardment Wing)
11th Bombardment Wing, Heavy 16 February 1951 – 16 June 1952
7th Air Division 15 November 1978 – Present
AWARDS
Distinguished Unit Citation: South Pacific, 31 July-30 November 1942
Presidential Unit Citation (Navy): South Pacific, 7 August-9 December 1942
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 6 August 1954-15 July 1957 (Wing)
27 October 1958-16 September 1960 (Wing)
Service Streamers: None
Campaigns:
Central Pacific Air
Offensive, Japan
Guadalcanal
Northern Solomons
Eastern Mandates
Western Pacific
Ryukyus
China Offensive
STATION LIST
14 January 1944 - 4 April 1944
(Air echelon operated out of Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, 1-5 April 1944)
Kwajalein, Marshall Islands 5 April 1944 - 24 October 1944
Guam, Marianas Islands 25 October 1944 - 1 July 1945
Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands 2 July 1945 - 10 December 1945
(Ground echelon, 2 July 1945 to 12 July 1945; air echelon, 12 July 1945 - 10 December 1945)
Fort McKinley, Luzon, 11 December 1945 - 14 May 1946
Philippine Islands
Northwest Army Air Base 15 May 1946 - 20 October 1948
(later, Harmon Field),
Guam, Marianas Islands
Carswell AFB, Texas 1 December 1948 12 December 1957
(Deployed to Nouasseur AB, French Morocco, 4 May - 2 July 1955)
Altus AFB, Oklahoma 13 December 1957 25 March 1969
(Deployed to Clinton-Sherman AFB, Oklahoma, 13 August - 25 November 1958)
RAF Fairford, United Kingdom 15 November 1978 -1990
Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. 1994-2010
Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility, Maryland, 2010-Present
COMMANDERS
Lt Col Walter F. Kraus February 1940 14– June 1940
Lt Col St Clair Streett 15 June 1940 – 31 March 1941
Lt Col Albert F. Hegenberger 1 April 1941 – 1 March 1942
Maj (later, Lt Col) LaVerne G. Saunders 2 March 1942 – 1 December 1942
Col Frank F. Everest 2 December 1942 – 25 April 19 3
Lt Col (later, Col) William J. Holzapfel, Jr. 26 April 1943 – 6 July 1944
Coi Russell L. Waldron 7 July 1944 – 28 February 1945
Col John J. Morrow 1 March 1945 – 11 December 1945
None (not manned) 11 December 1945 – 14 May 1946
Col Vincent M. Miles, Jr. 15 May 1946 – 14 November 1946
Capt Thomas A. Ragland, Jr. 15 November 1946 – 26 December 1947 (Additional duty)
Capt Thomas B. Hoxie 27 December 1947 – 20 October 1948 (Additional duty)
Maj Russell F. Ireland 1 December 1948 – 10 January 1949
Lt Col Harry E. Goldsworthy 11 January 1949 – 10 May 1949
Col Richard H. Carmichael 11 May 1949 – 3 March 1950
Col Bertram C. Harrison 4 March 1950 – 2 April 1950
Col Thomas P. Gerrity 3 April 1950 – 15 February 1951
Col Louis W. Rohr 16 February 1951 – 30 September 1951 (Additional duty)
Lt. Col Charles T. Moreland, Jr. 1 October 1951 – 16 June 1952 (Additional duty)
Col (later, BG) Thomas P Gerrity (Wing). 16 February 1951 – 14 November 1952
Col Louis W. Rohr (Wing) 15 November 1952 – 1 March 1953
Col William T. Seawell (Wing) 2 March 1953 – 6 August 1954
Col Howard W. Moore (Wing) 7 August 1954 – 15 July 1957
Col John S. Samuel (Wing) 16 July 1957 – 4 September 1958
Col Fredrick R. Ramputi (Wing) 5 September 1958 – 14 July 1961
Col Bernard J. Finan, Jr.(Wing) 15 July 1961 – 31 July 1961
Col Kenneth S. Steele (Wing) 1 August 1961 – 3 March 1963
Col (later BG) William B. Kyes (Wing) 4 March 1963 – 31 December 1964
Col Merrill N. Moore (Wing) 1 January 1965 – 1 July 1965
Col Earl S. Kimbell (Wing) 2 July 1965 – 1 August 1965
Col Harold A. Radetsky (Wing) 2 August 1965 – 4 July 1966
Col Earl S. Kimbell (Wing) 5 July 1966 – 7 July 1966
Col Raymond J. Bryan (Wing) 8 July 1966 – 10 July 1966
Col Raymond R. Deitch (Wing) 11 July 1966 – 28 June 1967
Col Joseph J. Young (Wing) 29 June 1967 – 25 March 1969
None (not manned) 15 November 1978 – 23 February 1979
Col Clyde F. Dunn, Jr. 24 February 1979 – 20 March 1980
Col Charles A. May, Jr. 21 March 1980 –9 Jul 81
Col Robert M. Alexander 10 Jul 81-17 Mar 82
Col Michael F. Farren 18 Mar 82-6 Aug 84
Col Lynn T. Berringer 7 Aug 84-19 Feb 85
Col John D. Lunt 20 Feb 85-