Established as
22nd Bombardment Wing, Medium, on 28 July 1948. Activated on 1 August 1948. The new wing was assigned to
March Air Force Base, California on 10 May 1949. The 22nd was not operational, meaning it shared a commander with the
1st Fighter Wing. The 22nd became operational on 1 July 1949. The 1st Fighter Wing remained attached to the 22nd, and both groups continued to share the same commander.
Korean War Detached from the wing, the
22d Bombardment Group deployed its B-29s in early July 1950 to
Kadena Air Base,
Okinawa, where it came under control of Far East Air Forces Bomber Command (Provisional). On 13 July, the group flew its first mission, against the marshaling yards and
oil refinery at
Wonsan,
North Korea. By 21 October, it had amassed fifty-seven missions against the enemy, attacking bridges, factories, industrial targets, troop concentrations, airfields, marshalling yards, communications centers, and port facilities. During four months of combat, the group flew 335
sorties with only fourteen aborts and dropped over 6,500 tons of bombs. It redeployed to the
United States in late
October and
November 1950.
Cold War (
51-2394) of the 22d BW, 1960. Following the return of the bombardment group the wing re-equipped the propeller-driven B-29s with new
Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing bomber medium bombers in 1953, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union. It trained for proficiency in global
strategic bombardment, adding air refueling to its mission in 1952. The wing deployed at
RAF Mildenhall, England, September–December 1951, and at
RAF Upper Heyford, England, December 1953 – March 1954. From April to July 1957, it deployed to
Andersen Air Force Base,
Guam. SAC began phasing the B-47 out of the inventory beginning in 1962, sending the last of the wing's aircraft to
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in 1963. The wing was not
tactically operational 11 March 1963 – 15 September 1963, while converting to
B-52D bombers and KC-135A Stratotankers. The wing supported Fifteenth Air Force's post-attack command and control system with EC-135s from, September 1964 – March 1970. The 22d was a "super" wing from 1966–1971, with two bombardment and two tanker squadrons. From 10 March – 1 October 1967 the wing was reduced to a small "rear-echelon" non-tactical organization with all tactical resources and most support resources loaned to SAC organizations involved in combat operations in
Southeast Asia. In 1971, the Air Force retired all of its B-52C aircraft. The last airplane of this series was flown from March to
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona for storage on 29 September 1971. The wing continued to support SAC operations in the
Far East and Southeast Asia through 1975, and from 10 April 1972 to 29 October 1973 again the wing had all its bomber resources loaned to other organizations for combat and contingency operations. The wing's KC-135 resources were also on loan from 10 April to September 1972; afterwards, a few tankers returned to wing control. The wing maintained a strategic bombardment alert posture from, 1973–1982, but in 1978 it added
conventional warfare missions, including
mine-laying and sea reconnaissance/surveillance. For many years, the wing provided the operations staff and support of the
Tanker Task Force (TTF) operations supporting
Red Flag exercise flight operations on the Nellis Ranges, north of Las Vegas, NV, using KC-135 personnel and equipment assets deploying from other bases for the duration of a Red Flag Exercise. The TTF staff at March also supported overseas deployments of
U.S. Navy,
Marine Corps and
USAF fighter aircraft going to the Pacific Region using both KC-135 and
KC-10 tankers. In 1982, the wing retired its B-52D aircraft and converted from a bombardment wing to an air refueling wing (ARW). It was the first USAF unit to operate the new
McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender along with Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker ("A" and "E" variants) aircraft. From 1982, the wing provided strategic air refueling and
air transport for
Department of Defense operations and training
exercises. In 1983, the wing moved personnel and cargo in support of Chadian resistance to Libyan incursions and conducted airlift and refueling missions during rescue of U.S. nationals in
Grenada. The wing also provided specialized refueling support to
SR-71 aircraft reconnaissance operations using Boeing KC-135Q and (after the
CFM-56 conversion) KC-135T aircraft with specialized fuel systems designed to handle the
JP-7 fuel, worldwide from 1985 to 1990. In 1989, the 22 ARW transferred its KC-135E and KC-135Q aircraft and became solely a KC-10 unit.
After the Cold War The 22 ARW supported
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk deployments to
Saudi Arabia and helped move personnel and equipment after the
Invasion of Kuwait and the
Gulf War in 1990–1991. On 1 June 1992, Strategic Air Command was inactivated and the 22d ARW was assigned to the newly established
Air Mobility Command (AMC). From the end of 1992 to 1994, the wing flew
humanitarian airlift missions to
Somalia and it also provided air refueling in support of deployments to
Haiti in 1994. On 1 January 1994, the wing was reassigned without personnel or equipment from March upon the transfer of March to the
Air Force Reserve Command) to
McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, replacing the inactivating
384th Bomb Wing and assuming control of the 384th's KC-135R aircraft. The 22 ARW's former KC-10A aircraft assets were subsequently transferred to the 60th Airlift Wing at
Travis Air Force Base, California, that unit being redesignated as the
60th Air Mobility Wing (60 AMW). Various air refueling squadrons were reassigned to the reconstituted 22 ARW from other units as follows: • 344 ARS from 68 ARW,
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina • 349 & 350 ARS from 100 ARW,
Beale Air Force Base, California • 384 ARS from inactivated 384 BW, McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas on 25 January 2019. After the realignment, the 22 ARW deployed crews and aircraft to support no-fly missions over northern and southern
Iraq and over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1999, wing aircraft and crews deployed to the
Mediterranean to refuel
NATO aircraft over Serbia. After the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, wing-supplied tanker crews and aircraft air-refueled combat aircraft on missions to the Afghanistan area. The wing provided deployed KC-135R support during
Operation Iraqi Freedom and continues to provide aerial refueling and air mobility support under
Operation Noble Eagle in the United States,
Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation New Dawn overseas, and other AMC,
United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), other combatant command, and associated national taskings as required. On 25 January 2019, the wing received the first two of a planned 36
KC-46 Pegasus aircraft that will eventually replace the KC-135 as the primary Air Force tanker aircraft. A further two were delivered to McConnell on 31 January.
Subordinate organizations 22d Operations Group (22 OG) •
344th Air Refueling Squadron (344 ARS) (Black tail stripe, now white) •
349th Air Refueling Squadron (349 ARS) (Blue tail stripe, now white) •
350th Air Refueling Squadron (350 ARS) (Yellow tail stripe, now white) • 22d Operations Support Squadron (22 OSS) 22d Maintenance Group (22 MXG) • 22d Maintenance Squadron (22 MXS) • 22d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (22 AMXS) • 22d Maintenance Operations Squadron (22 MOS) 22d Mission Support Group (22 MSG) • 22d Security Forces Squadron (22 SFS) • 22d Contracting Squadron (22 CONS) • 22d Force Support Squadron (22 FSS) • 22d Logistics Readiness Squadron (22 LRS) • 22d Communications Squadron (22 CS) • 22d Civil Engineering Squadron (22 CES) 22d Medical Group (22 MDG) • 22d Medical Operations Squadron (22 MDOS) • 22d Aeromedical Dental Squadron (22 AMDS) • 22d Medical Support Squadron (22 MDSS) Additionally, the 22d Comptroller Squadron (22 CPTS) reports directly to the wing. ==Lineage==