page_title: 115th Operations Group
section_title: Air defense
hierarchical_section_title: 115th Operations Group / History / Air defense
caption_attribution_description: English: Wisconsin Air National Guard 176th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279 taking off from Truax Field, Wisconsin, 1970.
context_page_description: The 115th Operations Group is a unit of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, stationed at Truax Field Air National Guard Base, Madison, Wisconsin. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group was first organized in 1956 as the 115th Fighter Group and served in the air defense role until 1974, when it converted to a forward air control mission. It was inactive from 1979 to 1994, when it assumed its present mission.
  As an Air National Guard unit, it is normally under the command of the Governor, but has a federal role as well. Currently the wing has personnel and/or aircraft assigned to Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Jump Start and regularly serves with the Air Expeditionary Force in Iraq and Afghanistan.
context_section_description: The group trained for its air defense mission with annual training performed at Volk Field from 1956 to 1962. Beginning in 1963, it moved to "year-around" training. In January 1960, Northrop F-89 Scorpion crews assumed an around-the-clock runway alert commitment of two armed aircraft. With this undertaking came the F-89J with an armament platform that included the AIR-2 Genie. The AIR-2A was the first US air-to-air missile with a nuclear warhead. The 176th FIS exchanged their F-89s for the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger in early 1966.
  In May 1966, the group replaced its F-89s with the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger. After a period of retraining in the new supersonic interceptors, the unit resumed its air defense "runway alert" mission in the spring of 1967. One year later in June 1969, the unit airlifted to Gulfport, Mississippi for summer training, ending six years of "year around" alerts at their home base.
  In September 1972, the group's 176th Squadron won the William Tell Competition in the F-102 category. The event, held at Tyndall Air Force Base, included top Air National Guard, Canadian Air Force and active Air Force units worldwide. The competition included 12 teams of 48 aircraft, each team scored on aerial marksmanship, weapons control, weapons loading and maintenance.
caption: 176th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102A-75-CO Delta Dagger 56-1279 taking off from Truax Field, Wisconsin, 1970
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