A Brief History of the 186^th Air Refueling Wing

The 186th is Mississippi's oldest Air Guard unit. Activated at Key Field on September 27, 1939 the 153rd Observation Squadron was initially equipped with Douglas 0-38E's.

Less than 13 months later, it was ordered to active service during World War II, initially at its home base. In December 1941, after exchanging its initial equipment for North American 0-47's, Stinson 0-49's and Curtiss 0-52's, it was assigned an antisubmarine role with missions being flown from Bluethenthal Field, North Carolina, Key Field, Miss., and Esler Field, La. As part of the 67th Observation Group, it transferred to England where it flew a mix of aircraft including A-20's, L-4's, P-51's and Spitfires in the tactical reconnaissance and liaison roles. Redesignated the 153rd Liaison Squadron on May 31, 1943 the unit was re-equipped with Stinson L-5's and moved to France on June 18, 1944 less than two weeks after the allied landing in Normandy.

Inactivated on December 15, 1945 the 153rd Liaison Squadron was reorganized in the Mississippi Guard. Equipped with Republic P-47N's, it was federally recognized on September 12, 1946 as the 153rd Fighter Squadron. It was called to active duty on March 1, 1951 as an escort squadron assigned to the Strategic Command. Transferred to the Tactical Command as the 153rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, it was then based at Turner Field, GA from December 1951 until turned to state control on November 1952.

At that time, the unit was assigned its reconnaissance role and became 153rd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron The squadron was equipped with North American RF-51D's, and then converted Lockheed RF-80A's in June 1955. From October 1956 to March 1958, the 153rd moved its maintenance and air operations to Gulfport, MS while runways and facilities at Key Field were repaired and enlarged. While there, the unit received RF-84F's directly from Republic's assembly lines. Equipped with these aircraft, the 153rd TRS served on active duty at its home station from October 1, 1961 until Aug 20, 1962.

On October 15, 1962 the unit was renamed the 186th Tactical Reconnaissance Group. The Group flew the RF-1C "VooDoo" from November 12, 1970 until January 1, 1979 when it received the RF4C "Phantom II".

On February 8, 1991 the unit received official notification that it would convert to the KC-135R "Stratotanker" effective 1 April 1992.

To be continued…..