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  • First Campaign: The 371st Fighter Group in the Air Offensive, Europe

    Eighty years ago today, April 12, 1944 the 371st Fighter Group (371st FG) began combat operation in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).  Getting into combat in the Air Offensive, Europe campaign required some changes in the unit’s mission and tactics, and overcoming obstacles unique to the

  • The Women of Portland Army Air Base in World War II: Part I, 1941 to 1943

    The role of women in service at Portland Air National Guard Base dates back to the activation of the base in 1941.  In military aviation service, in uniform and as civilian employees and citizens, the women at Portland were part of a large-scale mobilization of woman-power to meet the nation’s

  • Remembering that 1957 “New Plane Smell”

    This was the scene on November 22, 1957, some 66 years ago, at Portland Air Force Base on the Oregon Air National Guard ramp. It was a year of transition for the primary aircraft assigned to the Oregon Air National Guard’s (OreANG) 142nd Fighter Group (Air Defense). Here group personnel receive a

  • We as Allies Remember Jack T. McWilliams

    Armistice Day – In 1918, on the 11th day of the 11th month, at 11 minutes past the 11th hour, the guns of the First World War became silent.  In the aftermath of that conflict, with the permission of our Allied partner France, American soldiers who died on the battlefields in France were buried

  • Wings Clipped: A Redhawk Captured in Korea

    Seventy years ago this summer, the guns went silent on the Korean Peninsula after three years of intense fighting as the Armistice took effect on July 27, 1953. Although combat had ceased, a number of actions resulted from this - one of which was the repatriation of prisoners of war. Of the 7,

  • Redhawk Squadron on Victory over Japan Day

    In this story's primary image from the Second World War, a quartet of 35th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron* (35th PRS) Lockheed F-5E Lightning photo reconnaissance aircraft stand on the highest ground around at a rain-sodden airfield, probably the squadron’s “G” Flight based forward at Nanning

  • Wing History: Coronet Nighthawk

    Coronet Nighthawk was the name of the Air Combat Command mission that transitioned from the active duty component to the Air National Guard in 1990. It was a counterdrug operation which employed fighter aircraft to patrol the skies of Panama to detect aircraft suspected of being involved in illegal

  • Happy 80th Birthday, 142nd Wing!

    July 15, 2023 marks the 80th birthday of Oregon’s 142nd Wing! Eight decades of outstanding service to community, state and nation began on a summer day at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia, in 1943. This article will highlight some of the accomplishments of the organization through the years, with