Need for reserve troop carrier groups During the first half of 1955, the Air Force began detaching Air Force Reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages. Communities were more likely to accept the smaller
squadrons than the large
wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning.
Continental Air Command (ConAC)'s plan called for placing Air Force Reserve units at fifty-nine installations located throughout the United States. When these relocations were completed in 1959, reserve wing
headquarters and wing support elements would typically be on one base, along with one (or in some cases two) of the wing's flying squadrons, while the remaining flying squadrons were spread over thirty-five Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept. Although this dispersal was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the
Berlin Crisis of 1961 To resolve this, at the start of 1962, ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing
groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for the
Cuban Missile Crisis, with the units being released on 22 November 1962. The formation of troop carrier groups occurred in January 1963 for units that had not been mobilized, but was delayed until February for those that had been.
Activation of 920th Troop Carrier Group As a result, the
920th Troop Carrier Group was established at
Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee, on 11 February 1963 as the headquarters for the
702d Troop Carrier Squadron, which had been stationed there since November 1957. Along with group headquarters, a Combat Support Squadron, Materiel Squadron and a Tactical Infirmary were organized to support the 702d. The group's mission was to organize, recruit and train Air Force Reserve personnel in the tactical airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by
airdrop, landing or cargo extraction systems. The group was equipped with
Fairchild C-123 Providers for
Tactical Air Command airlift operations. The 920th was one of three groups assigned to the
445th Troop Carrier Wing in 1963, the others being the
918th Troop Carrier Group at
Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia, and the
919th Troop Carrier Group at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee. The group continued training with C-123s at Memphis until it was inactivated in 1965.
Tactical airlift and weather reconnaissance In 1973, the group was again activated at
Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, as the
920th Tactical Airlift Group and equipped with
Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft as part of the
459th Tactical Airlift Wing. In 1973, it was redesignated as the
920th Weather Reconnaissance Group flying
weather reconnaissance missions with
WC-130H Hercules aircraft, including flying into
hurricanes as "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft from 1976 to 1983 as part of the
403d Rescue and Weather Reconnaissance Wing at Keesler AFB. The 920th Weather Reconnaissance Group inactivated in 1983 and its mission was assumed by the
815th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron within the 403d Rescue and Weather Reconnaissance Wing. In one day in March 1993, the 301 RQS saved 93 elderly residents from rising flood waters at their Tampa area retirement community. In coordination with the
U.S. Coast Guard and the
Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), the squadron's HC-130P and HH-60G aircraft routinely searched the Caribbean for downed aircraft and retrieved critically ill sailors from ships hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic. With aid from the U.S. Coast Guard, the unit also made a daring rescue of 28 British seamen from their sinking merchant vessel 270 miles off the east coast of Florida. In April 1997, the rescue mission at Patrick AFB expanded as the former 920th Weather Reconnaissance Group was reactivated as the
920th Rescue Group (920 RQG), forming a headquarters for the 301 RQS and the newly-formed
39th Rescue Squadron (39 RQS) as the helicopter and fixed-wing elements of the 301 RQS were formed into separate units. On 1 April 2003, the 920 RQG was redesignated as the
920th Rescue Wing (920 RQW) and became the parent unit for all combat search and rescue (CSAR) organizations in
Air Force Reserve Command as it added the
943d Rescue Group (943 RQG) at
Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The same year, elements of the 39 RQW and 301 RQS mobilized to active duty under Presidential Selected Reserve Callup (PSRC) authority and forward deployed to
Talil Air Base, Iraq in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. Several unit aircraft came under enemy antiaircraft fire, both antiaircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles during this deployment. In 2004, the 920 RQW's Regular Air Force gaining command was briefly reassigned from
Air Combat Command (ACC) to
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). This was done as part of a USAF and DoD
Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) initiative to merge all USAF combat search and rescue assets and USAF special operations fixed-wing and rotary-wing airborne infiltration/exfiltration (INFIL/XFIL), helicopter air refueling (HAR), and combat search and rescue (CSAR) assets into a single command. However, command and control issues unique to the special operations community made it apparent that this was not a preferred arrangement and, in 2006, all Regular Air Force and ARC combat search and rescue assets in AFSOC were aligned back under ACC as the gaining command in the Continental United States, under
Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) for Regular Air Force CSAR units at
Kadena Air Base, Okinawa and ARC units in the
Alaska Air National Guard, and under
U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) for Regular Air Force CSAR units then based in the United Kingdom. In 2005, the wing's
HC-130 and
HH-60 flight crews recorded more than 1,000 lives saved during disaster operations along the
Louisiana,
Mississippi, and
Alabama Gulf Coast in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. the wing provided extensive rescue and humanitarian support along the U.S. Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, this less than 48 hours following the return of a significant portion of the wing's assets from an AEF deployment to Djibouti. In 2008, three of the 920 RQW's subordinate rescue squadrons, the 39 RQS, 301 RQS and 308 RQS, led military units engaged in civilian rescue and relief efforts for hurricane-related disasters in southeast Texas, Louisiana, and parts of Mississippi to include Keesler AFB, Mississippi. Both Hurricanes Hannah and Ike wreaked havoc upon these states, with the 301 RQS providing support with HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, the 39 RQS with HC-130P Hercules aircraft and the 308 RQS providing pararescue support. The 920 RQW's flight crews fly in weather conditions which often test man and machine or at night using night-vision goggle (NVG) technology. The 920 RQW has repeatedly completed arduous, over-water rescues which frequently require the wing's
HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters to be mid-air refueled, previously by their
HC-130P Hercules COMBAT KING aircraft, and now by their
HC-130J Hercules COMBAT KING II aircraft – a capability not shared by the
U.S. Coast Guard's service-unique
MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters and
HC-130H and
HC-130J Hercules aircraft. The 920 RQW is also fully integrated into the Air Force's Air and Space Expeditionary Force and has deployed personnel and equipment to the former
Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland on a routine basis in support of
NATO operations, and to various locations in Southwest Asia (to include combat zones in Iraq and Djibouti) from 1991 to 2021 in support of
Operation Desert Storm,
Operation Southern Watch,
Operation Enduring Freedom,
Operation Iraqi Freedom, and
Operation Freedom's Sentinel. The wing also continues to routinely deploy to Djibouti in support of
Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa and elsewhere in Southwest Asia in support of
Operation Inherent Resolve. s of the
39th Rescue Squadron, 920th Rescue Wing, on the ramp at their home station of then-
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, circa 2008 On 7 August 2017 the 920 RQW retired its last "legacy" HC-130P/N COMBAT KING when it was flown to the
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG) at
Davis-Monthan AFB. The "legacy" HC-130P/N aircraft having been based on modified C-130E airframes, the 920 RQW temporarily transitioned to newer HC-130P aircraft based on modified C-130H2 airframes transferred from the
176th Wing (176 WG) of the
Alaska Air National Guard pending the 920 RQW's transition to and receipt of new manufacture HC-130J COMBAT KING II aircraft. In January 2018, members of the 920 RQW were honored in the
International Maritime Museum Hamburg in
Hamburg, Germany after saving two German citizens whose vessel caught fire in July 2017 approximately 500 nautical miles off of
Cape Canaveral, Florida. The medal is the organization's highest recognition awarded to individuals, crews or organizations who either took part in the rescue of Germans, or to German crews who took part in a rescue under extremely difficult or challenging circumstances. The
German Maritime Search and Rescue Service presented the 920th Rescue Wing with the Medal of Honor for Rescue in Distress in a special ceremony. In December 2019, the 920 RQW retired its last HC-130P that had been transferred from the Alaska ANG as an interim aircraft. Flight crews of the 39 RQS and HC-130 flight crew on the 920 RQW staff began rotating through the
58th Special Operations Wing's
415th Special Operations Squadron at
Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico on extended temporary duty for transition training on the HC-130J while 920th Maintenance Group personnel rotated through the
82nd Training Wing at
Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas for HC-130J maintenance training. On 2 April 2020, the 920 RQW accepted delivery of its first
HC-130J Hercules COMBAT KING II aircraft from the
Lockheed Martin factory at
Air Force Plant 6 in
Marietta, Georgia. ==Lineage==