History

27TH SPECIAL OPERATIONS WING
The story of the 27th Special Operations Wing spans four wars and more than 60 years of almost continuous service. On Feb. 1, 1940, the U.S. Army activated the 27th Bombardment Group (Light) at Barksdale Field, La., and equipped it with B-18 aircraft. In October of that year, the wing moved to Hunter Field, Ga., and began training in A-20 and A-24 aircraft.

In November 1941, the 27th left for the Far East. Arriving at Fort McKinley in the Philippines on Nov. 20, they readied for delivery of its A-24 dive-bombers. When the Japanese attacked the Philippines on Dec. 9, 1941, the planes had yet to arrive. To avoid capture or destruction, the ship carrying the planes had diverted to Australia. On Dec. 18, the 27 BG (L) commander and 20 crew members flew to Australia to retrieve their planes. But a swift Japanese advance prevented the group from returning to the Philippines.

The remainder of the wing, having evacuated to the Bataan Peninsula, formed the 2nd Battalion (27th Bombardment Group), Provisional Infantry Regiment (Air Corps). On Bataan, they fought as foot soldiers until ordered to surrender on April 9, 1942. Taken by the Japanese, they endured the infamous Bataan Death March.

The name of the 27th was not allowed to be lost. A re-formed 27th Fighter-Bomber Group flew its first combat missions on June 6, 1943. Flying A-36, P-40 and finally P-47 aircraft, the 27 FBG fought the rest of the war in Europe in such battles as the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, Southern France and Anzio, the taking of Monte Cassino and the drive on Rome, attacking the Siegfried Line and supporting the Allied drive into Germany. The air unit was among the most decorated in Europe, with five Distinguished Unit Citations and a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.

The 27 FBG inactivated on Nov. 7, 1945. By August 1946, the unit was back and flying P-47s out of Fritzler Air Base, Germany, until transferred to Andrews Field, Md., in June 1947. A month later, the group was assigned to the Strategic Air Command and moved to Kearney Airfield, Neb.

The 27th Fighter Wing was organized on Aug. 15, 1947, with the World War II 27th Fighter Group assigned as an operational unit. In November, the wing began flying the F-82 Twin Mustang for long-range bomber escort missions. A move to Bergstrom AFB, Texas, in March 1949, brought a new name and plane. The 27th Fighter-Escort Wing received its first F-84 Thunderjet.

Shortly after the transition to the F-84, the 27 FEW ferried 180 planes to reinforce units in Europe. The wing then flew to bases in Japan and Korea and, in December 1949, became the first F-84-equipped unit to begin air operations against communist forces in Korea. The wing took on armed reconnaissance and close-support missions and helped ground forces stop the Chinese Communist advance into South Korea. After flying more than 23,000 combat hours and 12,000 sorties, the wing returned to Bergstrom AFB in July 1951.

The 1950s proved a decade of constant change for the 27 FEW. During this time, wing aviators experienced no less than three variations on the same airframe while transitioning into yet another completely different airframe: F-84E, F-84G, F-84F and F-101A aircraft. The wing also underwent command and designation changes. Transferring from SAC to Tactical Air Command in July 1957, the unit again was redesignated, this time as the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing on June 1, 1958. But the most significant change was a locale. On Feb. 18, 1958, the 27 TFW, without men or equipment, moved to Cannon AFB. With the country mired in the Vietnam War, the 27 TFW, flying the F-100 Super Sabre, deployed individual flying squadrons to Southeast Asia for varying lengths of time. The 522nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, for example, deployed to Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, from Dec. 12, 1962, to Feb. 15, 1963, and again from March 16 to May 6, 1964. The unit also deployed to Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, from Aug. 8 to Nov. 15, 1964, and to the Philippines from Aug. 15 to Nov. 25, 1965.

The 524th Tactical Fighter Squadron went to Takhli RTAB from late 1963 to early 1964. From June through November 1965, the 481st TFS deployed to Tan Son Nhut AB, Vietnam. On Nov. 20, 1965, the 523rd Tactical Fighter Squadron transferred to Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines. For the next eight years, the outfit flew first with the 405th Tactical Fighter Wing at Clark, then with the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn Air Base, Thailand.

On Jan. 1, 1966, the wing's mission changed to training pilots and maintenance personnel for F-100 jets. That role expanded with the arrival of T/AT-33 aircraft. With these new planes, the wing trained forward air controllers and air liaison officers.

Further technological advances introduced a new aircraft to the Cannon inventory in July 1969—the 10 F-111A on loan from Nellis AFB, Nev. The F-111 Aardvarks facilitated training while the wing awaited its own planes. By October 1969, F-111Es began arriving, but their stay was short. In the summer of 1971, wing aircrews ferried the last of them to RAF Upper Heyford, United Kingdom. On Nov. 13, 1971, the 27 TFW received the first of its F-111Ds. In April 1990, the 428 Fighter Training Squadron was reactivated. The squadron received its first F-111G—an updated SAC FB-111—in June 1990.

During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 27 TFW aircrews and aircraft did not deploy to the region. But on Jan. 16, 1991, when the U.S.-led coalition force initiated an air assault against key Iraqi positions, the wing had 325 personnel serving in the Persian Gulf. Ten months later the 27 TFW was redesignated the 27th Fighter Wing as part of an Air Force-wide reorganization. In June 1992, 27 FW became part of a new major command—Air Combat Command, when SAC, TAC and Military Air Command merged to form the ACC and Air Mobility Command.

In July 1996, 27th FW officially transitioned to the F-16 and retired the F-111 Aardvark after 30 years of service.

After the May 13, 2005, Base Realignment and Closure commission announcement that Cannon was one of 10 Air Force installations slated for closure, Air Force and city officials lobbied tirelessly to find Cannon a new mission. Those efforts were rewarded when, on Aug. 25, 2005, the BRAC commission gave the Air Force until 2009 to provide a new mission or the base would close in 2010.

On June 20, 2006, Cannon became the new home of the 16th Special Operations Wing. And a new era began Oct. 1, 2007, as the new Special Operations Wing stood up at Cannon, not as the 16 SOW, but as the 27th Special Operations Wing, allowing the 27th's rich and storied heritage to continue. Today, the 27 SOW trains and deploys Airmen and aircraft to exercise and contingency locations throughout the world, and continues to live up to its "new" name as "The Western Home of America's Air Commandos."

CANNON AFB
Cannon's history began in the mid 1920s as Portair Field, a civilian passenger terminal for early commercial transcontinental flights. Passengers flew in the Ford Trimotor "Tin Goose" by day and then transferred to Pullman trains for night travel. In the 1930s, Portair was renamed Clovis Municipal Airport.

CLOVIS ARMY AIR BASE
In 1942, after the United States entered World War II, the Army Air Corps took control of the civilian airfield. The facility became Clovis Army Air Base and home to an Army glider detachment.

The 302nd Bombardment Group arrived in 1943, and the base was renamed Clovis Army Airfield. The 302 was a training unit for B-24, B-17 and then B-29 heavy bombers. Flying, bombing and gunnery classes continued through the end of World War II. By mid-1

946, however, the airfield was placed on a reduced operational status, and flying activities decreased. The installation was inactivated in May 1947. REACTIVATED AIR FORCE BASE
The base was reassigned to the Tactical Air Command in July 1951, and the first unit, the 140th Bomber Wing, arrived in October of that year. The 140 was composed of Air National Guard elements from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and flew P-51 Mustang fighters. The wing formally reactivated the airfield Nov. 15, 1951, as Clovis Air Force Base.

At the end of 1952, the 140 returned to Air National Guard control, and the 50th Fighter Bomber Wing, with F-86 Sabre jets, was activated at the base Jan. 1, 1953, until transferred overseas in August of that year.

Clovis AFB's second F-86 unit—the 388th Fighter-Bomber Wing—activated in July 1953, until sent overseas in November 1954, and replaced by the 312th Fighter-Bomber Wing. A second fighter-bomber group, the 474th, transferred from Taegu, Korea, in December 1954, making the base a major training installation for Sabre pilots. And the first F-100 Super Sabre arrived in late 1956.

TRANSITIONS
Several changes occurred at Clovis AFB in 1957. On June 8, the base was renamed Cannon Air Force Base in honor of the late Gen. John K. Cannon, a former commander of the Tactical Air Command. In October, the 474th Fighter-Bomber Group was redesignated a tactical fighter wing, and the 832nd Air Division was activated to oversee the 312th TFW and 474th TFW. The F-100 also became the principal base aircraft for the next 12 years. In 1958, F-100s and crews deployed to Turkey and then Taiwan during the Formosa Crisis.

The introduction of the F-111 airframe—five separate F-111 models as well as the EF-111 —began a 30-year marriage with Cannon. During the tenure of the EF/F-111s, the Cannon crews deployed to Aviano, Italy, and Incirlik, Turkey, among other locations.

Arriving in mid-year 1995, F-16 Fighting Falcons ruled the sky over Cannon AFB for nearly a decade. After the base survived the shutdown scare, the MC-130W Dragon Spear began to train over the Llano Estacado in October 2007, and later Air Force SOC's 27th Special Operations Wing arrived.

MELROSE AIR FORCE RANGE
Melrose supports daily air-to-ground and electronic-combat training for 3,400 F-16 sorties a year from Cannon AFB and another 1,400 by the New Mexico Air National Guard at Kirtland AFB and other U.S. and allied aircrews. The range is Cannon's primary air-to-ground training resource in night vision devices and advanced electronic countermeasures. And some flights involve supersonic speeds at or above 30,000 feet to minimize any potential environmental affects. Supersonic flights at night are prohibited.

Cannon's nearby training airspace extends up to 50,000 feet in some areas, with Melrose restricted to 26,000 feet, minus the use of chaff and flares over government lands. Several units also conduct NVG night operations at Melrose, but aircraft must remain lighted.

With Melrose a mere 25 miles or five-minute flight away, the Cannon-based aircrews can maximize training time over the range's 66,000 acres—59,000 belong to the Air Force, with 6,700 under the Bureau of Land Management and the rest as safety buffer zones.

As far as ground training, the range plays host to an "urban terrain site," which is a city built in the middle of nowhere where tactical teams train in block-by-block close-quarter combat with overhead gunship support. Other ground training includes sniper and small arms ranges.

The Military Construction Authorization Act of 1967 (Public Law 89-568) authorized the purchase of land for the Melrose Range. Pursuant to this authority, the Air Force requested the assistance of the BLM to remove 6,634 acres of state-owned lands and 80 acres of private lands through an exchange from within the range boundaries. The BLM accomplished these exchanges in 1970 and 1973. In 1975, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on behalf of the Air Force, filed an application for withdrawal and reservation of these lands with the BLM.

Actually, the Air Force leased the Melrose land, including the BLM-acquired parcels, from the state of New Mexico and private land owners in 1952. The Air Force has also managed the natural resources on these lands during this same period. The six parcels, which the BLM acquired from the Air Force, include 1,811 acres within the bomb impact zone; the remaining acres are within the range safety buffer.

Only one Federal Endangered Species Act candidate—the black-tailed prairie dog—has been documented on the acquired lands. The Department of Defense in association with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has developed a plan to manage and monitor this endangered animal.

The September 2001 Defensive Training Initiative permitted the use of chaff and flares in airspace contiguous to Melrose for combat-condition training in response to simulated ground-based and aircraft threats. But pilots can use defensive countermeasures to avoid these threats only in the restricted airspace over Melrose AFR.

The 27 FOW, as the proponent for this action and command over Melrose, conducts defensive training using chaff and flares in the following existing military airspace: Pecos MOA/ATCAA, Sumner ATCAA and Taiban MOA.  read more...

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