page_title: 111th Reconnaissance Squadron
section_title: Air Defense Command
hierarchical_section_title: 111th Reconnaissance Squadron / History / Texas Air National Guard / Air Defense Command
caption_attribution_description: English: 11th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-65-CO Delta Dagger 56-1188. Aircraft was retired to MASDC as FJ0314 Aug 28, 1974. Later Converted to QF-102A and expended as a target drone.
context_page_description: The 111th Attack Squadron is a unit of the Texas Air National Guard 147th Reconnaissance Wing located at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Houston, Texas. The 111th is equipped with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.
  The squadron is a descendant organization of the World War I 111th Aero Squadron, established on 14 August 1917. It was reformed on 29 June 1923, as the 111th Observation Squadron, and is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.
  The 111th Reconnaissance Squadron is the oldest unit of the Texas Air National Guard, with over 95 years of service to the State of Texas and the United States.
context_section_description: With the 111th's return from the Korean War, the 111th was re-equipped with the Very Long Range (VLR) F-51H Mustang, which had been developed to escort B-29 Superfortress bombers in the Pacific Theater from the Mariana Islands to the Japanese Home Islands. The F-51H would allow the squadron to intercept any unidentified aircraft over any part of Texas. The squadron became part of Air Defense Command (ADC) and resumed its postwar mission of Texas air defense.
  It wasn't until 1955 that the squadron received jets from ADC, receiving F-80B and F-80C Shooting Stars and being re-designated as a Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. The 111th received F-80C-11 (modified F-80A to F-80C standards) Shooting Stars on 1 July 1955, and on 1 July 1956 the 111th FIS commenced to participate in the active ADC runway alert program at Ellington AFB.
  With the squadron's conversion from the obsolescent F-80-day fighters to the all-weather/day/night F-86D Sabre Interceptor in 1957, plans were made to reorganize the 600-man Augmented Squadron to an Air Defense Command group structure. On 1 July 1957, the 111th was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 147th Fighter-Interceptor Group was established by the National Guard Bureau. The 111th FIS becoming the group's flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 147th Headquarters, 147th Material Squadron (Maintenance), 147th Combat Support Squadron, and the 147th USAF Dispensary. In June 1959 the squadron traded their F-86Ds for the upgraded F-86L Sabre Interceptor with uprated afterburning engines and new electronics.
  In August 1960 the unit became one of the first to transition to the F-102A Delta Dagger Mach-2 all-weather interceptor and began a 24-hour alert to guard the Texas Gulf coast. On 1 January 1970, the squadron was re-designated as the 111th Combat Crew Training Squadron and served as the Air National Guard's RTU (Replacement Training Unit) for the TF/F-102A. In 1971, when the active-duty force ceased F-102A training and closed Perrin AFB, Texas on 30 June 1971, the Houston-based 111th FIS became the Replacement Training Unit (RTU) for all Air Defense Command F-102 pilots, and the squadron received several TF-102A dual-seat trainers which were transferred from Perrin AFB while also retaining the T-33A instrument training function.
  One pilot who flew TF/F-102As with the 111th was 1st Lt. George W. Bush, a future Governor of Texas and future President of the United States. George W. Bush's military service began in 1968 when he enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating with a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University. After being accepted into the ANG, Airman Basic Bush was selected to attend pilot training even though his test scores were the lowest acceptable for that position. His six weeks of basic training was completed at Lackland AFB in Texas during July and August 1968. Upon its completion, Bush was promoted to the officer's rank of second lieutenant required for pilot candidates. He spent the next year in flight school at Moody AFB in Georgia from November 1968 to November 1969.  Bush then returned to Ellington AFB in Texas to complete seven months of combat crew training on the F-102 from December 1969 to June 1970. This period included five weeks of training on the T-33 Shooting Star and 16 weeks aboard the TF-102A Delta Dagger two-seat trainer and finally the single-seat F-102A. Bush graduated from the training program in June 1970. Lt. Bush remained in the Texas ANG as a certified F-102 pilot who participated in frequent drills and alerts through April 1972.  Lt. Bush was honorably discharged from the Air National Guard in October 1973 at the rank of First Lieutenant. An ANG physical dated 15 May 1971 indicates that he had logged 625 flight hours by that time, and he ultimately completed 326 hours as pilot and 10 as co-pilot while serving with the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.
  In May 1971, the 111th added F-101B/F Voodoos and became the RTU tar the twin seat F-101F type, while continuing as the F-102 Delta Dagger RTU. In J
caption: 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-65-CO Delta Dagger 56-1188
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