page_title: Rhode Island Air National Guard
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Rhode Island Air National Guard / History / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: English: 152d Fighter Squadron - North American F-51D-25-NA Mustang 44-72750
context_page_description: The Rhode Island Air National Guard is the aerial militia of the State of Rhode Island, United States of America. It is, along with the Rhode Island Army National Guard, an element of the Rhode Island National Guard.
  As state militia units, the units in the Rhode Island Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Rhode Island though the office of the Rhode Island Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The Rhode Island Air National Guard is headquartered in Cranston, and its commander is Brigadier General Donald Lagor.
context_section_description: In 1946 the unit was reassigned back to the State of Rhode Island and designated the 152nd Fighter Squadron based at T. F. Green Airport, Warwick, Rhode Island. In September 1948 the 152nd received Federal Recognition and was assigned to the Continental Air Command program which tasked Air National Guard units with the defense of U.S. airspace. Flying the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and later the North American P-51 Mustang the unit trained for this mission. The USAF, in an effort to upgrade to an all jet fighter force, required Air National Guard Aerospace Defense Command units to upgrade to jet-powered aircraft like the Republic F-84 Thunderjet. This requirement ultimately proved to be the downfall of the 152nd. The Rhode Island Airport Commission and National Guard authorities found themselves in a conflict over the use of T.F. Green Municipal Airport in Warwick for tactical jet operations. Unable to resolve these differences the Air Force removed the jets from the state; however, quick negotiations and the National Guard Bureau's desire to have a flying unit located in every state brought a new mission and the numeric designation which is carried to this day, the 143d.
  The 143rd Air Resupply Squadron received federal recognition in November 1955. The National Guard flying program was once again alive and well in the State of Rhode Island. The unit was assigned the Grumman SA-16A Albatross seaplane and for a short time retained the Douglas C-47 Skytrain. There were several minor mission designation changes, and the C-47 was eventually replaced by the Curtiss C-46 Commando.
  In 1963 the first major mission change for the 143rd since the days of the fighters occurred. Situations around the world produced a need for specialized units which could insert a small group of trained combat troops on land or sea anywhere at a moments notice. The 143rd was tasked as one of the representatives of the National Guard in the Air Force's Air Commando Group structure. The C-46 Commando was replaced with the Helio U-10A/D Courier. During a three-year period starting in 1965, the U-10s belonging to the 143rd and other Air National Guard units were transferred back to the USAF for use in Vietnam, during which the U-10 was replaced by U-6 Beaver.
  In 1968 the U-10s returned from their tour of duty in Vietnam, and at this time the unit was redesignated the 143rd Special Operations Group. The Grumman SA-16A/HU-16A Albatross, flown by 143rd pilots since 1955, was replaced in 1968 with an updated version of the Albatross, the HU-16B. With twice the cargo capability and range, the HU-16B opened up new avenues of opportunity as was demonstrated in 1970. Flight and Ground crews of the 143rd assisted scientists and engineers of the Naval Underwater Systems Center, conducting studies of undersea acoustics, at Lake Tanganyika in Africa during April and again in August at Hudson Bay, Canada.
  The unit would work in the Special Operations field for seven more years, during which the HU-16 aircraft were eventually retired in 1972 and replaced with the Fairchild C-119G/L Flying Boxcar, an aircraft which the 143rd would fly for only three years. In 1975 as part of a general program to upgrade the countries Air National Guard units the 143rd was redesignated as a Tactical Airlift Group and assigned Lockheed C-130A Hercules aircraft.
  Always pressed for room at TF Green Airport the "new" C-130s, twice the size of anything the unit had previously flown, created quite the concern for the 143rd TAG commanders, flight crews and especially the crew chiefs and maintenance folks of the 143rd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. Relief would arrive in 1977 as part of the United States Navy's 1974 closure of Naval Air Station Quonset Point as part of a post-Vietnam defense cutback and returning the land and facilities to the State of Rhode Island. For the first time since 1915, when Guard pilots flew the Curtiss F from the old National Guard Training Camp at Quonset, the Rhode Island Air National Guard flying unit was to have a home to call its own - coincidental
caption: An F-51D Mustang of the 152d Fighter Squadron, 1954
exif: {}