1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
388th Fighter Wing
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The 388th Fighter Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Twelfth Air Force. The unit is stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, 388th Operations Group 4th Fighter Squadron The squadron conducts flying operations and equipment maintenance to maintain combat readiness of an 18-aircraft F-16C LANTIRN squadron. It prepares to deploy worldwide to conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground operations for daylight, 421st Fighter Squadron The squadron conducts flying operations to maintain combat readiness of a 24-aircraft F-16CG squadron. It prepares to deploy worldwide to conduct Day/Night air superiority and precision strike sorties employing laser-guided and inertially aided munitions during contingencies, 34th Fighter Squadron This squadron is the first operational F-35A Lightning II fighter squadron in the world. It was declared combat-ready on 2 August 2016 after transitioning from the F-16 Fighting Falcon in September of the previous year, the OSS provides combat-related staff support for the entire wing. The OSS provides combat-related staff support for the entire wing and it comprises the following flights, Intelligence, Aircrew Flight Equipment, Current Operations, and Weapons & Tactics. 388th Combat Support Group 388th Maintenance Group The group comprises different support facets as squadrons, the Munition Maintenance Squadron has many flights, but is primarily responsible for munitions storage, maintenance and delivery. The Munitions Loading Squadron takes responsibility for attaching the delivered munitions to the various aircraft, on 23 November 1953, the 388th Fighter-Bomber Wing was activated as part of Tactical Air Command. The 388th Fighter-Interceptor Wing activated as the 388th Fighter-Bomber Group and became the primary combat element. The groups squadrons were equipped with North American F-86F Sabres, once training levels for pilots and aircrews had reached operational levels, the 50th FBW began preparations for its move to France. On 12 December 1954, the 388th FBW arrived at its new home, upon arrival in France in December 1954, the 388th FBW flying elements consisted of the 561st, 562d, and 563d FB Squadrons, each equipped with 26 F-86F Sabres. Wing support aircraft consisted of 4 C-47s of various types, one L-20A, the mission of the 388th FBW was to train for and conduct tactical nuclear weapons delivery. Its secondary mission was to conduct tactical air operations. Upon arrival of 388th Wing Headquarters at Etain, the construction delays, the 562nd FBSquadron was forced to operate from Spangdahlem Air Base, the 563rd from Bitburg Air Base and the 561st from Hahn Air Base in West Germany for the winter of 1954-55. In April and May 1955, rotational deployments to Wheelus Air Base, Libya began for their first gunnery, in the fall, with enough facilities construction completed, the three flying squadrons were transferred from Germany and took up their home assignment at Étain. In August 1955, First Lt. Philip Ortego was assigned to the 561st Fighter Bomber Squadron as its Intelligence Officer, on 22 November 1955, Det #1, 388th Fighter-Bomber Group was activated at Hahn Air Base to stand nuclear alert with the Wings F-86s. Personnel and aircraft came from the 561st FBS. In February 1956 the detachment was transferred to more spacious facilities at Spangdahlem Air Base, rotational deployments of 8 F-86s and support personnel to Germany continued until the fall of 1957 when the 388th was inactivated
3.
Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base
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During the Vietnam War, from 1962 through 1975, Korat RTAFB was the largest front-line facility of the United States Air Force in Thailand. During the 1980s and early-1990s, the airfield was operated as a civil airport for Nakhon Ratchasima. This ended with the opening of Nakhon Ratchasima Airport in the early-1990s, Korat RTAFB is the home of the 1st RTAF Wing, consisting of three squadrons. The airfield has a single 9,800 + foot runway with a single,102 Squadron flies 15 F-16A-15ADF and one F-16B-15ADF Fighting Falcon air defense airplanes acquired from the USAF and delivered to the RTAF in 2003 and 2004. These airplanes were acquired under the code name Peace Naresuan IV, all F-16s are the block 15 version. A detachment of 1 UH-1H Iroquois helicopters from 203 Squadron, Wing 2 is also based at Korat, Korat RTAFB is a major facility for the Cope Tiger exercises, an annual, multinational exercise conducted in two phases in the Asia-Pacific region. Cope Tiger involves air forces from the United States, Thailand, US naval aircraft have also been involved in Cope Tiger. The flying training portion of the exercise promotes closer relations and enables air force units in the region to air combat skills. Pilots fly both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat training missions, Thai Forces fly F-16A/B Fighting Falcons, F-5E Tigers and ground attack L-39s, and Alpha jets of 231 Squadron. Singaporean forces fly F-5Es, F-16C/D Fighting Falcons, Lockheed KC-130B Hercules, Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, Boeing CH-47SD Chinooks, more than 1,100 people participate, including approximately 500 US service members and 600 service members from Thailand and Singapore. Over the last few years, Cope Tiger has widened to include CSAR assets and these included a C-130E Hercules from 36 Airlift Squadron,374 Airlift Wing in 2006, and a G-222 and a C-130H from the RTAF in 2007. Since the 1980s United States Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet fighters have used Korat as a base during Cobra Gold exercises, the origins of Korat Air Base dates back to the Japanese Occupation of Thailand during World War II. After the end of the war, the facilities were taken over by the Thai government as a military base, various Japanese facilities were used by the Royal Thai Air Force until the 1960s. In 1961, the Kennedy administration feared a communist invasion or insurgency inside Thailand would spread from the Laotian Civil War, the United States Army Corps of Engineers were deployed and established a headquarters at the RTAF airfield that later became Korat Air Base. The first facilities were built on the side of the runway. They included a hospital, some barracks and some warehouses for equipment that was flown in using the existing runway, under the agreement, United States forces using Thai air bases were commanded by Thai officers. Thai air police controlled access to the bases, along with USAF Security Police, who assisted them in base defense using sentry dogs, observation towers, and machine gun bunkers. The Geneva Accords of 1962 ended the threat, but both Camp Friendship and Korat Air Base were developed as part of the buildup of forces in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War
4.
Otis Air National Guard Base
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It was previously known as Otis Air Force Base prior to its transfer from the active duty Air Force to the Air National Guard. In the local community, it is commonly known as Otis Air Base or simply Otis. It is also called by its old name, Otis Air Force Base. It was named in honor of pilot and Boston surgeon, Lt. Frank Jesse Otis, today major units include the Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod and the 102nd Intelligence Wing. Otis Air National Guard Base is named for pilot, flight surgeon and he was a member of the 101st Observation Squadron who was killed on 11 January 1937 when his Douglas O-46A crashed at Hennepin, Illinois, while on a cross-country training mission. In 1938, the field area at Camp Edwards was named Otis Field in his memory. Ten years later the base was renamed Otis Air Force Base in his honor, until 1973, it was the largest Aerospace Defense Command base in the world and is the only base named for a doctor. During World War II, the field was known as Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Otis and was a field for Naval Air Station Quonset Point. During the Cold War, the base was a key Aerospace Defense Command installation, the 551st flew the EC-121 Warning Star before moving to Hanscom Air Force Base in 1969. The 551st was also the first Air Force wing to fly the EC-121, the 33rd flew various fighter jets in conjunction with the 60th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. The expanding mission led to the runways being lengthened in 1960, the base was also home to the 26th Air Defense Missile Squadron, which operated BOMARC surface-to-air missiles. The regular air force began leaving Otis in the late 1960s as improvements in radar made the 551st more costly compared to newer technologies. The 551st and the 60th left Otis when the Air Force began to move the air defense mission over to the Air National Guard. Strategic Air Command maintained the 19th Air Refueling Squadron at Otis AFB flying the KC-97 Stratofreighter, after active duty units left, the Massachusetts Air National Guards 102d Fighter Wing became the main unit at the base, flying fighter and air defense missions. The Wings 101st Tactical Fighter Squadron shared missions with the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing during the Cold War, in 1987, the 102 FW transitioned to the F-15A Eagle, and, later, to the F-15C Eagle. The base was utilized as a stopover for a French Air Force Mirage IV on the way to French Polynesia for Operation Tamoure. Following the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, the 102 FW was directed to transfer its F-15 aircraft to its sister unit, all F-15 aircraft were transferred by January 2008 and the 102 FW was redesignated as the 102d Intelligence Wing, a non-flying unit. President John F. Kennedy used Otis on many occasions for the landing of Air Force One when he traveled to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis and he would then board an Army or Marine Corps helicopter which would then take him to the compound
5.
Ho Chi Minh trail
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The Hồ Chí Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. It was named by the Americans after North Vietnamese president Hồ Chí Minh, although the trail was mostly in Laos, the communists called it the Trường Sơn Strategic Supply Route, after the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range mountains in central Vietnam. According to the United States National Security Agencys official history of the war, parts of what became the trail had existed for centuries as primitive footpaths that facilitated trade. The area through which the system meandered was among the most challenging in Southeast Asia, during the First Indochina War the Việt Minh maintained north/south communication using this system of trails and paths. Originally, the North Vietnamese effort concentrated on infiltration across and immediately below the Demilitarized Zone that separated the two Vietnams, as early as May 1958 PAVN and Pathet Lao forces had seized the transportation hub at Tchepone, on Laotian Route 9. The 559th Group flipped its line of communications to the side of the Trường Sơn mountains. By 1959, the 559th had 6,000 personnel in two regiments alone, the 70th and 71st, not including combat troops in security roles or North Vietnamese, in the early days of the conflict the trail was used strictly for the infiltration of manpower. This was due to the fact that Hanoi could supply its southern allies much more efficiently by sea, after the initiation of U. S. naval interdiction efforts in coastal waters, known as Operation Market Time, the trail had to do double duty. There were five large Base Areas in the panhandle of Laos, BA604 was the main logistical center during the Vietnam War. From there, the coordination and distribution of men and supplies into South Vietnams Military Region I, BA611 facilitated transport from BA604 to BA609 and the supply convoys moving in either direction. It also fed fuel and ammunition to BA607 and on into South Vietnams A Shau Valley, BA612 was used for support of the B-3 Front in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. BA614, between Savannakhet, Laos and Kham Duc, South Vietnam was used primarily for transporting men and materiel into MR2, BA609 was important due to a fine road network that made it possible to transport supplies during the rainy season. Two types of units served under the 559th Group, Binh Trams, a Binh Tram was the equivalent of a regimental logistical headquarters and was responsible for securing a particular section of the network. While separate units were tasked with security, engineer, and signal functions, usually located one days march from one another, commo-liaison units were responsible for providing food, housing, medical care, and guides to the next way-station. The motto of the 559th became Build roads to advance, fight the enemy to travel, the system developed into an intricate maze of 5. 5-metre-wide dirt roads, foot and bicycle paths, and truck parks. By 1973, trucks could drive the length of the trail without emerging from the canopy except to ford streams or cross them on crude bridges built beneath the waters surface. The weather in southeastern Laos came to play a role both in the supply effort and in U. S. /South Vietnamese efforts to interdict it. The southwest monsoon from mid-May to mid-September, brought heavy precipitation, the sky was usually overcast with high temperatures
6.
Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base
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The Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base, formerly Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, is a Royal Thai Navy facility used for riverine patrols along the Mekong River. It is approximately 587 km northeast of Bangkok,14.5 km west of Nakhon Phanom city in Nakhon Phanom Province in the region of Thailand. The Mekong River is NKPs border with Laos, the airfield at NKP is jointly used as a civilian airport. Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base was established in the 1950s as a RTAF base, under Thailands gentlemans agreement with the United States, Royal Thai Air Force Bases used by the USAF were considered Royal Thai Air Force bases and were commanded by Thai officers. Thai air police controlled access to the bases, along with USAF Security Police, who assisted them in base defence using sentry dogs, observation towers, all United States Air Force personnel were not fully armed. There were insufficient arms due to the nature of the mission at NKP, often instructions were given prior to off-base activities to avoid answering questions posed by the press. The USAF forces at Nakhon Phanom were under the command of the United States Pacific Air Forces. In September 1959, North Vietnam formed Group 959 in Laos with the aim of building the Pathet Lao into a force in its guerrilla war aimed at overthrowing the Royal Lao Government. Group 959 openly supplied, trained and supported the Pathet Lao militarily, detachment 3 of the Pacific Air Rescue Center with three HH-43B helicopters became the first USAF unit assigned to the base in June 1964. Followed by the 507th Tactical Control Squadron who began arriving in August 1964, the 5th Tactical Control Group exercised command jurisdiction over the 507th until May 1965 when the 6235th Air Base Squadron was formed. Overall control of the USAF units was then turned over to the 35th Tactical Group at Don Muang Airport, on 8 April 1966 the 6235th Air Base Squadron was discontinued and the 634th Combat Support Group along with its subordinate squadrons was activated. With U. S. USAF forces at NKP were under the command of the United States Pacific Air Forces. NKP initially housed USAF search and rescue forces and maintained a communications capability in support of U. S. Air Force objectives in Southeast Asia, NKP was the location of TACAN station Channel 89 and was referenced by that identifier in voice communications during air missions. The 634th Combat Support Group was inactivated and the 56th Air Commando Wing was formed on 8 April 1967, the formed the operational backbone of the new wing, and the 56th Combat Support Group took over the major support functions. Nearly one year later the 56th ACW designation was changed to 56th Special Operations Wing,1 August 1968, only older propeller driven aircraft and specialized aircraft, some dating back to World War II, operated from the installation. Some of the aircraft operating out of NKP bore civilian markings or were unmarked, in addition, the 56h SOW also worked closely with the U. S. embassies in Laos and Thailand to provide training for special air warfare units. Unit received the Presidential Unit Citation and the Navy Unit Commendation, 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron operating HH-3E helicopters. 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron operating H-43 and HH-53E helicopters, 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron operating HC-130Ps
United States
United States Air Force
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.