page_title: 343d Wing
section_title: Wing at Eielson
hierarchical_section_title: 343d Wing / History / Return to Alaska / Wing at Eielson
caption_attribution_description: A four-member UH-1N Huey crew from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., rescued a stranded hiker Dec. 4 after an avalanche killed two others hit in the Snoqualmie Pass area in Washington. The crew consisted of Capt. Amanda Somerville, the pilot; Capt. Evan Roth, the co-pilot, Tech. Sgt. Devin Fisher, the flight engineer; and Staff Sgt. Jason Weiss, the independent duty medical technician. The Airmen are assigned to the 36th Rescue Flight. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andy Dunaway)
context_page_description: The 343d Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, where it was inactivated on 20 August 1993. The unit was formed at Eielson as the 343d Composite Wing and activated in October 1981 to replace the 5010th Combat Support Group. It operated both fighter and forward air control aircraft. In 1991, it also became the administrator for periodic Exercise Cope Thunder operations, which moved to Alaska from the Philippines after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo resulted in the evacuation of units from Clark Air Base When the wing was inactivated, it was replaced at Eielson by the 354th Fighter Wing.
  The unit was first activated in September 1942 as the 343d Fighter Group, a headquarters for three fighter squadrons in Alaska that had been assigned to XI Fighter Command and flew a mix of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks and Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. It added a fourth squadron the following month and participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign through the fall of 1943. After combat ceased in Alaska, the group continued to fly patrols and participate in the air defense of Alaska until the end of the war.
context_section_description: The 343d became Eielson Air Force Base's host unit on 1 October 1981 as the 343d Composite Wing, when it replaced the 5010th Combat Support Group and absorbed the 5010th's personnel and equipment. The 25th Air Support Operations Squadron, flying the Cessna O-2 Skymaster, was transferred from the 5010th as the wing's initial operational squadron. In January 1982, the wing received its second operational squadron when the 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron moved from Elmendorf to Eielson with its Thunderbolt IIs and was again assigned to the 343d. That fall, the wing's maintenance organization was converted to the Production Oriented Maintenance Organization, and three new maintenance squadrons were activated to replace the existing single maintenance squadron. As Eielson's host organization, one of the wing's major collateral missions was to provide support to Strategic Air Command's 6th Strategic Wing, which conducted aerial refueling and reconnaissance missions from the base until becoming non-operational in June 1992.
  On 8 June 1984, the 343d Composite Wing was redesignated the 343d Tactical Fighter Wing. In July 1986, the 25th's O-2s were retired and replaced by North American Rockwell OV-10A Broncos. A little more than three years later, on 15 September 1989, the squadron inactivated.
  On 1 July 1991, the wing was redesignated as the 343d Wing and converted to the USAF Objective Wing organization. The 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron was assigned to the newly activated 343d Operations Group, while the maintenance squadrons that had been assigned directly to the wing became part of the 343d Logistics Group.  Also that year, the 343d gained a second flying unit, the 3d Fighter Training Squadron, which moved from Clark Air Base following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which forced the closure of Clark. Despite the "Fighter" in its name, the 3d flew Bell UH-1N Twin Hueys.  The squadron was responsible for range support and administration of Exercise Cope Thunder, which had also moved from Clark, its home since 1976, to Alaska.  The Alaskan Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation Range achieved Initial Operational Capability at the Stony Military Operating Area, which permitted the move.  During 1991, the 18th Squadron handed off its Thunderbolts to the 11th Tactical Air Support Squadron of the 11th Air Control Wing and transitioned to Block 40 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons.
  On 20 August 1993, the wing inactivated and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 354th Fighter Wing, which moved to Eielson without personnel or equipment from Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina.
caption: UH-1N as flown by the 3d Fighter Training Squadron
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