On 24 May 1946, the
United States Army Air Forces, in response to dramatic postwar military budget cuts imposed by President
Harry S. Truman, allocated inactive unit designations to the
National Guard Bureau for the formation of an Air Force National Guard. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units. The Vermont Air National Guard origins date to the formation of the
134th Fighter Squadron at Burlington International Airport, receiving federal recognition on 14 August 1946. It was equipped with F-47D Thunderbolts and its mission was the air defense of the state. It was assigned initially directly to the Vermont Air National Guard until the Massachusetts ANG 67th Fighter Wing, was federally recognized on 15 October 1946. The 67th Fighter Wing was the first ANG command and control organization in New England. On 4 April 1947, it was transferred to the Maine ANG 101st Fighter Group. During the Korean War, the 134th was federalized on 10 February 1951 and assigned to the federalized Maine ANG
101st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, although it initially remained stationed at Burlington Airport. Its mission was expanded to include the air defense of
New England. The squadron was then attached to the
Air Defense Command 23d Fighter-Interceptor Wing at
Presque Isle AFB, Maine on 1 April 1951 with no change of mission. It was reassigned to the
4711th Defense Wing on 6 February 1952 at Presque Isle AFB. It was released from active duty and returned to control of State of Vermont on 1 November 1952. On 1 May 1956 the 134th was authorized to expand to a group level, and the
158th Fighter Group (Air Defense) was established by the National Guard Bureau; the 134th FIS becoming the group's flying squadron. In line with an Air Force-wide redesignation, the wing became simply the
158th Fighter Wing in 1992. Today the Vermont Air National Guard provides air defense as part of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)/North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in time of war or national emergency for the defense of the North American continent. From 1989 to 1997 the wing had aircraft on 5-minute alert, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. After the
September 11 attacks, elements of every Air National Guard unit in Vermont has been activated in support of the global
war on terrorism. Flight crews, aircraft maintenance personnel, communications technicians, air controllers and air security personnel were engaged in
Operation Noble Eagle air defense overflights of major United States cities. Also, Vermont ANG units have been deployed overseas as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and
Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq as well as other locations as directed. F-35A Lightning II at
Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany In December 2013 the
USAF announced the first
US Air Force Air National Guard unit to fly the new
F-35 Lightning II will be the
158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard based at the Burlington Air Guard Station. The last of the Vermont Air National Guard F-16s left in April 2019 to make way for the arrival of the F-35 later that year. On September 19, 2019, the first two F-35s arrived at Burlington International Airport with another eighteen being delivered at later dates. ==See also==