World War II The
wing's first predecessor was organized during the
Louisiana Maneuvers at
Shreveport Municipal Airport, Louisiana as the
72nd Observation Group on 26 September 1941 as part of the
United States Army's buildup prior to the country's entry into
World War II. It drew its
cadre from its three original squadrons. These were the
108th and
124th Observation Squadrons, two National Guard units that had been
mobilized earlier that year, and the
1st Observation Squadron, a regular army unit. However, none of its assigned squadrons were located with group
headquarters. The two National Guard squadrons remained at their prewar state stations, while the 1st Squadron was at
Marshall Field, Kansas. A few days after activating, the
group headquarters moved to
Adams Field, Arkansas. The group's primary mission aircraft was the
North American O-47, although it also flew the
Stinson O-49 Vigilant. However the group acted only as an administrative headquarters for these units, as the 4th was located at
Losey Field, Puerto Rico and operated under the
Puerto Rican Department for nearly the entire time it was assigned. The group added
Piper L-4 Grasshoppers,
Douglas B-18 Bolos and
Bell P-39 Airacobras to its inventory in the Caribbean. Upon activation, it was assigned the newly constituted
60th Reconnaissance Squadron. The following month, it added the
73d Fighter Squadron. However, it does not appear that the group was fully manned or equipped with operational aircraft during this period. The 72nd was inactivated in June 1949 when ConAC reorganized its reserve units under the
wing base organization system. The group's personnel and equipment were transferred to elements of the
349th Troop Carrier Wing, which was simultaneously activated to replace reserve elements at Hamilton.
Strategic Air Command The second predecessor of the wing was the
72nd Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which was activated in June 1952 at
Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico as a long range reconnaissance unit. It was assigned the 60th and 73rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons, which had been elements of the 72nd Group while a reserve unit, and the new
301st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron as its operational units. The combat squadrons reported directly to the wing, eliminating the intermediate group structures under the "dual deputy" organization. However, until the end of September, the wing existed only on paper, and was commanded by the commander of the
55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing as an additional duty. In October 1952, the 55th Wing moved to
Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas without personnel or equipment, and the 72nd absorbed its remaining resources at Ramey. Although the 55th Wing had primarily operated
Boeing RB-50 Superfortresses at Ramey, the 72nd Wing began to equip with the
Convair RB-36 Peacemaker. In 1958, the wing prepared for transition to the
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Its Peacemakers were gone by the end of the year, with the 73rd Squadron becoming nonoperational on 1 September 1958, followed by the 301st Squadron on 11 September and the 60th Squadron on 18 November. The
915th Air Refueling Squadron, operating
Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers activated on 1 September 1958. The first B-52s arrived the following year. However, starting in 1957
Strategic Air Command (SAC) had developed plans to disperse its B-52 force to reduce its vulnerability to Soviet missile attack. SAC bases with large concentrations of bombers made attractive targets. SAC's response was to break up its wings and scatter their aircraft over a larger number of bases. Under this program, the wing's 73d Bombardment Squadron moved to
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina on 5 January as the strike unit for the
4241st Strategic Wing, while the 301st Bombardment Squadron moved to
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida on 17 June 1959 to perform a similar role with the
4135th Strategic Wing, leaving the 60th as the wing's only bomber unit. The two transferred squadrons remained nonoperational until they were reassigned, while the 60th became operational with the B-52 on 13 August 1959. Soon after detection of Soviet missiles in Cuba, on 20 October, the wing was directed to put two additional planes on alert. On 22 October 1/8 of SAC B-52s had been placed on
airborne alert. Additional KC-135s were placed on alert to replace KC-135s devoted to maintaining the B-52 bomber force on airborne alert. On 24 October SAC went to
DEFCON 2, placing all the wing's aircraft on alert. On 21 November SAC returned to normal airborne alert posture. The same day, SAC went to DEFCON 3 and on 27 November SAC returned to the wing normal alert posture. The wing continued to stand nuclear alert until shortly before inactivating in June 1971. While the 60th Bombardment Squadron's resources were also dispersed, the squadron moved on paper to
Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, where it would resume operating B-52s.
Air Force Commanders' Conferences In addition to its combat mission the wing hosted the annual United States Air Force Commander's Conferences, code named Corona South. While these began on an irregular basis in 1955, by the 1960s, they had been a regular annual event at Ramey. They continued until the wing was inactivated.
Military Airlift Command continued them until Ramey closed and they were transferred to
Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.
Air base support In January 1984, the 72nd Reconnaissance Group and the 72nd Bombardment Wing were consolidated into a single unit. The consolidated unit was redesignated the
72nd Air Base Wing and activated at
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma on 1 October 1994. The wing replaced the 654th Air Base Group, which had served as the host for Tinker since 1953 under various designations. ==Lineage==