Америка Құрама Штаттары Әуе Күштерінің 113-ші жедел топтарының тарихы

The 113th Operations Group is a flying group of the United States Air Force. It provides air sovereignty forces to defend District of Columbia and also provides fighter, airlift and support forces capable of local, national and global employment. The group's primary mission is training of air combat and operational airlift crews for national defense. The group also provides a ready response force of fighters for the defense of the District of Columbia area. Members of the group also assist local and federal law enforcement agencies in combating drug trafficking in the District of Columbia on a case by case basis. Its predecessor, the 352nd Fighter Group, was one of the most highly decorated United States Army Air Forces Fighter Groups in World War II, producing many leading aces of the war. The 352d was composed of three squadrons: (the 328th, 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons). Once deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), the group was eventually headquartered in RAF Bodney, England before being forward deployed to Belgium. It performed a variety of missions for the Eighth Air Force, but predominantly served as bomber escort. The 121st Fighter Squadron of the 113th Operations Group, is a descendant organization of the 121st Observation Squadron, established on 10 July 1940. It is one of the National Guard observation squadrons formed before World War II

The 352d Fighter Group was activated at Mitchel Field, New York on 1 October 1942, and quickly moved to Bradley Field, Connecticut to begin organization.]] On 8 April 1944, the 352d exchanged its radial engined P 47s for sleek North American P 51 Mustang fighter planes. It was then that the Group adopted their unique blue nose marking and the nickname the "Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney." Notable pilots of the 352d include top scoring P 51 aces Major George Preddy and Col. John C. Meyer, Capt. John Thornell, Capt. William T. Whisner, Captain Donald S. Bryan, Capt. Raymond H. Littge, Lt. Robert "Punchy" Powell, Capt. John "Smokey" Stover and Capt. William C. Miller.

One of the 352d's greatest accomplishments was its huge victory over the Luftwaffe on 1 January 1945. In December 1944, the 352d received orders to deploy to Asch Airfield, a remote field approximately 3 miles south southeast of As, Belgium. After arriving on 22 December, it began operating on the 24th. Poor weather hampered flight operations and the Battle of Bulge was raging nearby. Unknown to the Allies, the Luftwaffe was preparing a New Year's Day attack, designated Operation Bodenplatte against sixteen forward deployed Allied airfields in the area. Similar to the preparations for the Battle of Bulge, the Luftwaffe had been quietly preparing and assembling virtually every available fighter on the Western Front and had an estimated 800 fighters and fighter bombers ready to execute an attack when the Allies might be off guard following celebration of New Year's Eve. The concept was simple – a mass attack on newly established continental bases to destroy as many Allied aircraft on the ground and ease the pressure on German ground forces engaged in the battle of the Bulge. However, many of the Luftwaffe pilots were poorly trained and did not have the experience necessary to battle seasoned Allied pilots. John C. Meyer had risen to be Deputy Commander of the 352d by December and was now a lieutenant colonel. He suspected that the Germans might use New Year's Day as an opportunity to attack and decided to have Y 29 in readiness when the sun rose. While haggling with higher authorities at Ninth Air Force throughout the night, he ordered a squadron assigned to do a morning sweep and ordered the pilots not to engage in any alcoholic celebration the night prior. Although he did not get permission until 0800, he joined the 487th Fighter Squadron in the frigid cold of the snowy weather at 0530 preflighting their Mustangs and was sitting in the cockpit of the lead aircraft. As the Mustangs were awaiting take off for the morning patrol, their airfield was overrun with Luftwaffe fighters from Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG.11). Nevertheless, when the group of 50+ Bodenplatte aircraft of JG.11 showed up over Y 29, the 12 blue nosed Mustangs of the 487th were queuing for take off with Meyer in the lead Mustang. While accelerating down the snow packed runway, Lt. Col. Meyer opened the day's count by shooting down a German fighter in a head on pass as it tried to strafe a parked Douglas C 47 Skytrain next to the runway. The German had not noticed the P 51 taking off. Meyer began firing before his wheels fully retracted and downed the marauding Focke Wulf Fw 190. Though surrounded by strafing fighters, every one of the 487th planes got off the ground to meet their attackers. In the battle that followed, 24 Luftwaffe fighters were destroyed by the 352d Group. However, one pilot, Lt. Dean Huston, was forced to belly land his P 51 after its cooling system was holed from the fire of zealous British antiaircraft gunners. Two pilots of the 487th claimed 4 German fighters shot down. The 487th received the Distinguished Unit Citation. Meyer, Capt. Stanford Moats, and Capt. William T. Whisner, who scored his fourth victory while his Mustang was starting to overheat from battle damage, were each awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and four other pilots were award the Silver Star. Despite the group losing a couple of aircraft to battle damage, not a single pilot was lost during the New Year's Day battle. But the tragedy of war was never far away. During the afternoon of the same day, fighters of the 328th Squadron were patrolling the skies above As when they spotted what they thought were four inbound enemy aircraft. Due to static on radio communications with the 328th, identification of the aircraft came too late, and one of the approaching aircraft was shot down, crashing near the village of Zutendaal. The aircraft turned out to be RAF Hawker Typhoons of 183 Squadron from Gilze Rijen on their way to their new base at Chievres. The pilot who was killed in the Typhoon that was shot down was F/Lt. Don Webber. The group remained in England after V E Day until November, when it returned to the United States and was inactivated at the New York Port of Embarkation.]] With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the regular military's lack of readiness, most of the Air National Guard was federalized placed on active duty. The 113th Fighter Group became part of Air Defense Command (ADC) on 1 February 1951 and was redesignated as a Fighter Interceptor Group. The 121st Squadron was the only one of its squadrons activated with the group, which moved to Newcastle Air Force Base, where they were joined by the 142d Fighter Interceptor Squadron if the Delaware Air National Guard, also equipped with the F 84Cs and the 148th Fighter Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, flying F 51D Mustangs. In April 1951, the 148th began to convert to the F 84 as well. Once it completed its conversion to Thunderjets, the 148th moved to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware Its squadrons were assigned to the 4710th Defense Wing.]] In late 1958, the gaining command for the 113th was changed from ADC to Tactical Air Command (TAC) and the mission was changed to tactical air support, although air defense remained as a secondary mission. The Sabres were phased out in 1960 with the receipt of relatively new North American F 100C Super Sabres. The Super Sabre brought the group into the supersonic age. In January 1968 the Pueblo Crisis by North Korean forces brought the callup of the 113th to active duty. The group moved to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina while the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing moved to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. At Myrtle Beach the group was a paper unit, with its squadron assigned directly to the 113th Wing under the dual deputy organization used by TAC. The group returned to Andrews in June 1969, and transitioned into the Republic F 105D Thunderchief, which was beginning to be withdrawn from the active inventory. The 113th was one of four Air National Guard units to receive the F 105, a very large and complex aircraft. The 113th was fortunate to have many Vietnam Veteran airmen in its ranks by 1970, many of whom had F 105 experience. In December 1974, the 113th Tactical Fighter Group was inactivated and its 121st Squadron was assigned directly to the 113th Tactical Fighter Wing. In the early 1990s the Air Force began implementing the Objective Wing organization, which again called for squadrons to be assigned to functional groups, rather than directly to the wing. As a result, the group was once again activated as the 113th Operations Group.