The 127th Wing is a composite wing of the United States Air Force, Air National Guard and Michigan National Guard. It comprises approximately 1,400 citizen airmen and provides highly trained personnel, aircraft, and support resources to serve the Michigan community, the state and the United States. The Wing operates Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, providing global aerial refueling capability supporting Air Mobility Command and the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, flying the close-air support mission for Air Combat Command. The current commander of the 127th Wing is Brig. Gen. Matthew G. Brancato. The 127th Wing's is host unit of Selfridge Air National Guard Base, the largest facility managed by a reserve component (Air National Guard or U.S. Air Force Reserve) of the U.S. Air Force.
In the fall of 1950, the Air National Guard reorganized its tactical units according to the United States Air Force's Wing Base Organization, which combined tactical and support units under a single wing. On 1 November 1950, the 127th Fighter Wing was activated with the 127th Fighter, Air Base, Maintenance & Supply, and Medical Groups assigned.
In February 1951, the wing and groups were called to active duty. Unlike other Air National Guard wings called to active duty for the Korean War, the 127th became part of Air Training Command and moved to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, becoming the 127th Pilot Training Wing.[2] Seventeen members of the wing's 172nd Squadron had already volunteered for duty overseas as members of the regular Air Force the previous month.[3] The 197th Pilot Training Squadron of the Arizona Air National Guard, already at Luke, equipped with Republic F-84 Thunderjets, joined the wing.[3] The wing trained fighter pilots with North American F-51 Mustangs, Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars and Republic F-84 Thunderjets. On 1 November 1952, the wing was inactivated and returned to the Air National Guard as the 127th Fighter-Bomber Wing, transferring its equipment and most of its personnel at Luke to the newly formed 3600th Flying Training Wing.[2]
In April 1962, Volunteer pilots and ground support personnel from the wing's 172nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron began training at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, for Operation Blue Straw, nuclear tests conducted at Christmas Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Flying specially equipped Martin RB-57 Canberras, their pilots flew through nuclear dust clouds to gather samples for study.[3]
In July 1967, over 80 per cent of the Michigan Air Guard's personnel were ordered on active duty to help deal with massive rioting, looting, and arson in Detroit. They guarded utility installations, rode with police and firefighters, guarded prisoners, and secured a base at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was activated, and the unit's Air Police contingent was flown to the city. Its RB-57s flew over damaged parts of the city, producing over 9,000 photos. By July 30, all unit personnel but the Air Police had been demobilized.[3]
Prompted by a disastrous tornado in Lubbock, Texas, in 1970, the National Guard Bureau set up a pilot program for nationwide civil defense tornado aerial photographic assessment and assigned the mission to the wing's 110th Tactical Reconnaissance Group.[3]
In September 1994, Air National Guard Lockheed C-130 Hercules units, including the wing's 191st Airlift Group units, began supporting Operation Provide Comfort, providing humanitarian relief for Kurdish refugees displaced in Iraq from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey.[3]
The wing also supported the Air Force Special Operations Command with its 107th Weather Flight (inactivated by 30 September 2017).[4]
In 2022, the squadron made national headlines when it became the first Air Force squadron to demonstrate that military aircraft could use modern highways as temporary airstrips. It was the first time integrated combat turns had been executed on a public highway in the United States.[5]
From July 2023 to November 2023, the 127th Air Refueling Group was deployed in support of U.S. Central Command.
It was announced on January 11, 2024 that the Air Refueling Group will be moving over from the KC-135 Stratotanker to the KC-46A Pegasus, due to arrive in possibly 2028. These 12 will replace the current 8 that are assigned to the group.[6]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency