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  • The Oregon Air National Guard’s First Outstanding Unit Award

    The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (AFOUA), renamed in 2020 as the Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA), is the Air Force’s highest peacetime unit award.  It was established in the aftermath of the Korean War and was the first independent Air Force decoration created. Sixty years ago this

  • The Oregon Air Guard’s First Thanksgiving

    Happy Thanksgiving!  The first Thanksgiving Day celebrated by Oregon’s first military aviation unit, the 123rd Observation Squadron (today’s 123rd Fighter Squadron) was on Thursday, November 27, 1942. It was a first not only for the 123rd Observation Squadron, but in a sense for the nation as well. 

  • The Storm Before the Calm – October, 1962 Part 2: The ANG RIO School

    As the USAF developed air defense interceptor aircraft with night and all-weather capabilities, some of the aircraft such as the Northrop F-89 Scorpion had a radar intercept officer (RIO) position in addition to the pilot.  For the F-89, the USAF operated a RIO school at James Connally Air Force

  • The Storm Before the Calm – October, 1962 Part 1: The Columbus Day Storm

    This series takes a look back at 142nd Wing history highlights from 60 years ago, in October, 1962. Many will remember it as the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis (Part 3 of the series), arguably the closest the world has been to a nuclear war. This was at the height of the Cold War, when even

  • An Oregon “Guest” of the Luftwaffe

    History can be a complex subject, finding the evidence of days gone by in documents, artifacts, images, interviews and such.  Even when one is familiar with the details of a given aspect of history, it’s common for new details to emerge.  History is not a static thing, and a surprising amount of

  • Remembering Across Time: Memorial Day 2022 in the 142nd Wing

    Who to remember on Memorial Day?  In our busy lives some people either forget or never learned the differences between Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day.  Simply put, Memorial Day is to remember those members of the Armed Forces who died in service to the country.

  • The 371st Fighter Group and the Aftermath of the Holocaust

    During this April 24 through May 1, 2022 Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, with the Russo-Ukrainian War raging in Europe and perhaps some of the ghosts of World War II being stirred, we remember the terrible things that can happen when one group of human beings are demonized,

  • The Oregonians of the Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 18, 1942

    Today, Monday, April 18, 2022 is the 80th anniversary of the epic Doolittle Raid, when US Army Air Force B-25B Mitchell medium bombers flew from the pitching deck of the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) in the first American air raid on Tokyo and the Imperial Japanese Home islands.