943rd Rescue Group emblem (approved 13 August 1969)[1]
Military unit
The 943rd Rescue Group is a reserve component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Tenth Air Force under the Air Force Reserve Command and is based in Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. When mobilized, Air Combat Command directs group assets into theater to support wartime tasking and other operations, like humanitarian relief. United States Northern Command may gain group assets directly to support disaster relief, search and rescue tasking in the aftermath of catastrophic events like hurricane, tornado, wildfire, flooding and earthquake, when they occur in the US, or its territories.
The mission of the 943rd Rescue Group is to provide leadership, management, policy formulation, planning, and standardization for operations, training and support of Air Force Reserve Command rescue assets, consisting of 3 squadrons and 3 flights at Davis-Monthan AFB and 1 additional squadron at Portland Air Reserve Station, Oregon. The group is equipped with six (6) Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to support worldwide combat rescue operations.
As an Air Force Reserve Command unit, the 943rd is under the control of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida and is the only Air Force Reserve rescue unit in the Southwestern United States. Upon mobilization, the 943rd would come under the control of the Air Combat Command.
History
Need for reserve troop carrier groups
After May 1959, the reserve flying force consisted of 45 troop carrier squadrons assigned to 15 troop carrier wings.[note 2] The squadrons were not all located with their parent wings, but were spread over thirty-five Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept. The concept offered several advantages. Communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning.[2] However, under this concept, all support organizations were located with the wing headquarters.[3] Although this was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. To resolve this, at the start of 1962, Continental Air Command, (ConAC) determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed.[4]
Activation of the 943rd Troop Carrier Group
As a result, the 943rd Troop Carrier Group was established at March Air Force Base, California on 17 January 1963 as the headquarters for the 729th Troop Carrier Squadron, which had been stationed there since October 1960.[5] Along with group headquarters, a Combat Support Squadron, Materiel Squadron and a Tactical Infirmary were organized to support the 729th. The group was equipped with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars for Tactical Air Command airlift operations.
The group flew routine tactical airlift missions in the western states, inactivating its Flying Boxcars in 1969. It then was moved east to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, where it was updated to the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter heavy intercontinental transport. the group's crews augmented Military Airlift Command units for strategic airlift missions worldwide, including contingency and humanitarian operations and took part in strategic mobility exercises for training. Inactivated in 1973 as part of an Air Force Reserve reorganization.
^Two helicopters were loaded and deployed to Patrick Space Force Base, Florida to augment launch and recovery coverage of Space Shuttle Discovery. In total, twenty reservists from the 943rd Rescue Group were deployed on the shuttle support mission.
^There were an additional four rescue squadrons not assigned to the wings. Cantwell, p. 156
United States
United States Air Force
