page_title: Texas Air National Guard
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Texas Air National Guard / History
caption_attribution_description: English: 111th Fighter Squadron - North American F-51D-25-NA Mustang 44-73656 Later sold and on civil registry as N5073K with Duncan Aeromotive, Galveston, TX. A mystery may be emerging here! According to an article in a 1990 edition of 'FlyPast' magazine, this aircraft became N5073K in February 1958 and was sold (probably illegally) to the EL Salvador AF in 1968 as FAS406. The article goes on to say that it returned to USA in 1974 under the false identity of 44-12473, was registered N32FF and later N2151D, being by 1990 painted as 44-14273 'Moonbeam McSwine'. However, both N5073K and N2151D appear to be current in the Landings database, N5073K being quoted as 44-73656 and N2151D being quoted as 'P-51D 44-12473', although 44-12473 is/was a P-51K! The current FAA database lists the airfrme as being 44-12473. Aircraft was repainted as 44-14273, but the numbers got transposed on the registration document as 44-12473.
context_page_description: The Texas Air National Guard is the aerial militia of the State of Texas, United States of America. It is, along with the Texas Army National Guard, an element of the Texas National Guard. No element of the Texas Air National Guard is under United States Air Force command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Texas through the office of the Texas Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The Texas Air National Guard is headquartered at Camp Mabry, Austin, and its commander is currently Major General John F. Nichols.
  Under the "Total Force" concept, Texas Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components of the United States Air Force. Texas ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized. In addition, the Texas Air National Guard forces are assigned to Air Expeditionary Forces and are subject to deployment tasking orders along with their active duty and Air Force Reserve counterparts in their assigned cycle deployment window.
context_section_description: The Texas Air National Guard origins date to 14 August 1917 with the establishment of the 111th Aero Squadron as part of the World War I United States Army Air Service. The 111th served at Kelly Field, San Antonio, then after the 1918 Armistice with Germany was demobilized in 1919.
  The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, liable for immediate state service. If federalized by presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units.
  The unit was reorganized with the establishment of a permanent air service in 1920, forming in the old Houston Light Guard Armory. The 111th Observation Squadron received Federal Recognition on 29 June 1923, as part of the 36th Division, Texas Air National Guard. It is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II. The 111th Observation Squadron was ordered into active service on 25 November 1940 as part of the buildup of the Army Air Corps prior to the United States entry into World War II.
  On 24 May 1946, the United States Army Air Forces, in response to dramatic postwar military budget cuts imposed by President Harry S. Truman, allocated inactive unit designations to the National Guard Bureau for the formation of an Air Force National Guard. These unit designations were allotted and transferred to various State National Guard bureaus to provide them unit designations to re-establish them as Air National Guard units.
  The modern Texas ANG received federal recognition on 27 January 1947 as the 136th Fighter Group at Love Field Airport, Dallas. It's 181st Fighter Squadron was equipped with F-51D Mustangs and its mission was the air defense of the state.  Other units assigned to the 136th in 1947 were the 111th Fighter Squadron at Ellington Field, Houston, and the 182d Fighter Squadron at Kelly Field, San Antonio. They were also equipped with F-51D Mustangs. 18 September 1947, however, is considered the Texas Air National Guard's official birth concurrent with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the United States military under the National Security Act.
  On 1 July 1957 the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in Houston was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 147th Fighter Group (Air Defense) was allotted by the National Guard Bureau, extended federal recognition and activated.  On 1 August 1961 the 182d FIS in San Antonio was expanded to become the 149th Fighter-Interceptor Group.
  Today, the 136th Airlift Wing (136 AW) provides global airlift for Air Mobility Command; the 147th Attack Wing (147 AW) flies the MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance/strike RPA and the 149th Fighter Wing (149 FW) flies the Block 30 F-16C/D Fighting Falcon tactical fighter-bomber.
  From 2001 through 2007, elements of every Air National Guard unit in Texas were activated in support of the Global War on Terror. Flight crews, aircraft maintenance personnel, communications technicians, air controllers and air security personnel deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Israel, and other locations throughout Southwest Asia. Additionally, in 2005 elements of all the units were activated to provide relief after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.
caption: A North American F-51D Mustang of the 111th Fighter Squadron at Ellington Field, Houston, 1948
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