47th Flying Training Wing emblem (approved 2 January 1973)[1]
Patch with 47th Bombardment Wing emblem (approved 26 October 1951)[2]
Military unit
The 47th Flying Training Wing is a United States Air Force pilot training wing based at Laughlin Air Force Base, near Del Rio, Texas. It is one of five pilot training units in the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command which conducts joint specialized undergraduate pilot training for the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and allied nation air forces utilizing the T-38C, T-6A and T-1A aircraft.
See 47th Operations Group for additional history and lineage information prior to 1947
Cold War
Light bombardment operations in the United States
On 28 July 1947, the 47th Bombardment Wing was established as part of the Army Air Forces' implementation of the wing base reorganization, which combined tactical and support elements on its bases into a single wing. The wing became active on 15 August 1947 at Biggs Field, Texas, with the 47th Bombardment Group as its operational unit.[1] On 1 February 1948 Biggs was turned over to Strategic Air Command, forcing a relocation of the wing to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana in November. In the fall of 1948 North American B-45 Tornado bombers began to be delivered to the wing, which became the first in the Air Force to fly the aircraft.[3] However, the B-45As were not truly operational, because they lacked both fire control and bombing equipment.[4]
The Air Force planned to equip five groups with the B-45, but in programming the units that would comprise its forty-eight group structure authorized in 1948, the number of light bombardment groups flying the B-45 was reduced to one. With this reduction, the Air Force decided to inactivate the 47th wing and transfer its B-45s to the 3d Bombardment Wing in Japan. However, the first B-45As delivered to the wing lacked sufficient range to ferry across the Pacific and they were too large to send on board available ships.[4] The additional high cost of maintaining its B-45 aircraft led the Air Force to inactivate the 47th on 2 October 1949.[1][4] However, the 84th and 85th squadrons of the 47th Bombardment Group kept their B-45s and moved to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia where they were attached to the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.[5][6][7]
Flightline photo of B-45A-5-NA Tornadoes of the 47th Light Bomb Wing, Langley Air Force Base, Va., before trans-atlantic flight to Sculthorpe, England, in July 1952.[8]
On 12 March 1951, the 47th wing and group were reactivated at Langley, along with a number of support organizations to join the 84th and 85th Bombardment Squadrons.[9][10] The wing was assigned to Tactical Air Command (TAC).
European operations
KB-50J of the 420th Air Refueling Squadron refueling 2 Republic F-105D's from the 36th TFW, Bitburg AB West Germany.RB-45C 48-022, 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron
After becoming proficient in the handling and use of nuclear weapons, the wing moved to RAF Sculthorpe, United Kingdom where it began operations there on 1 June 1952. Operational squadrons of the wing included the 84th, 85th, and 86th Bombardment Squadrons.
In 1962 Project Clearwater halted large scale bomber deployments to Britain with Sculthorpe, along with RAF Fairford, RAF Chelveston, and RAF Greenham Common, being turned over to the British Air Ministry. This resulted in the 47th Bomb Wing being inactivated on 22 June 1962.
Pilot training
3646th Pilot Training Wing emblem
The 47th Flying Training Wing was reactivated and redesignated at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas on 1 September 1972, replacing and absorbing the resources of the 3646th Pilot Training Wing. Since its reactivation, the wing has conducted undergraduate pilot training for USAF, Air Force Reserve, and friendly foreign nation air forces. It supported Accelerated Co-Pilot Enrichment Program at numerous locations, 1976–1986. Began airlifter-tanker track pilot training in 1994.
Lineage
Designated as 47th Bombardment Wing, Light on 28 July 1947
Organized on 15 August 1947
Inactivated on 2 October 1949
Activated on 12 March 1951
Redesignated 47th Bombardment Wing, Tactical on 1 October 1955
Discontinued and inactivated on 22 June 1962
Redesignated 47th Flying Training Wing on 22 March 1972
85th Bombardment Squadron (later 85th Flying Training Squadron): attached 17 November 1952 – 7 February 1955, assigned 8 February 1955 – 22 June 1962; assigned 1 September 1972 – 15 December 1991
Endicott, Judy G., USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Office of Air Force History
Knaack, Marcelle Size (1988). Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems. Vol. 2, Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 72. ISBN0-912799-59-5.
United States
United States Air Force
