193d Special Operations Wing - History

History

Activated on 1 October 1942 at RAF Duxford, England as the 347th Fighter Squadron. Initially assigned to VIII Fighter Command, reassigned to Twelfth Air Force and engaged in combat in the North African Campaign and later based in Italy as part of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). Engaged in combat during Sicilian and Italian Campaigns, also flew combat missions from Sardinia and in the Rhone Valley of France, 1944.

Inactivated November 1945 and allocated to Pennsylvania Air National Guard, 1946, being re-designated 148th Fighter Squadron, and assigned to Reading Army Airfield as a geographically separated unit of the 112th Fighter Group at Pittsburgh Airport.

The squadron was activated at Reading AAF on 22 April 1947 with P (later F-47) Thunderbolts. On 10 February 1951 the squadron was federalized due to the Korean War and brought to active duty at Dover AFB, Delaware.

It was released from active duty on 1 November 1952 and was equipped with the F-51 Mustang for interceptor duty. In 1956, as propeller driven F-51 Mustang fighters faded into history, the unit was redesignated the 140th Aeromedical Transport Squadron, flying the C-46 Commando and later the C-119 Flying Boxcar.

In 1964, the unit relocated to its current location at Olmsted Air Force Base (present day Harrisburg International Airport) to flying the C-121 Lockheed Constellation. Olmsted runways and facilities were better suited to the larger C-121s. In 1964, it was again redesignated, this time as the 168th Military Air Transport Group.

In 1967, it was transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC) and redesignated the 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Group. Four of its C-121s were converted to EC-121S Coronet Solos for its electronic warfare mission. The unit transitioned to the EC-130E Commando Solo in 1977 and was redesignated the 193d Special Operations Group, assigned to TAC.

In the mid-1980s, along with all other USAF special operations units, it was assigned to the 23d Air Force of the Military Airlift Command (MAC). Following the creation of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in the 1990s, the unit was reassigned to AFSOC and redesignated the 193d Special Operations Wing. In 2001, the wing transitioned from the EC-130E to the EC-130J Commando Solo.

The wing has seen extensive overseas service, to include Operation Just Cause in Panama, Operations Support Democracy and Uphold Democracy and Operation Desert Storm, as well as more recent service in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.