A Brief History of the U.S. Air National Guard
By Bearington Curtis
The roots of the Air National Guard lay in the US Army and the American militia tradition. Experience from the American colonial era and the American War for Independence created a dual system of American defense: the professional regular soldier and the nonprofessional, armed citizen. The US Constitution codified this dual system, as Article I, Section 8, Clause 12 allows for the creation and maintenance of armies. Further in the section, Clause 15 allows Congress to call the militia to “execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”[1] Clause 16 continues that the states maintain authority over the appointment of their officers. This foundational legal framework represented how Americans perceived and conducted warfare through the nineteenth century, with a small army augmented by armed citizen soldiers.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, faced with the problems of modern industrial warfare, the Army and American politicians recognized a need to reorganize the militia. The Army’s issues with mobilization and logistics in the Spanish-American War prompted President McKinley to change the War Department.[2] Elihu Root was selected as the Secretary of War and spearheaded a series of reforms that came to bear his name, the Root Reforms. The Militia Act of 1903, also known as the Dick Act, replaced the Militia Act of 1792. With its 1908 Amendment, the Act incorporated the National Guard into the US military system, made the Guard available for overseas service, and imposed requirements and standardization on the states.[3] The National Guard changed from a loose collection of armed citizens to a force mirroring the Regular Army. The 1903 Act laid the foundation of the National Guard as we know it today.
Start of Aviation in Warfare
Although the army previously experimented with reconnaissance balloons, it was not until the advent of the airplane that the US Army established an active experiment with the military applications of aviation. In 1909, the Army accepted a Wright brothers’ aircraft for military use as part of the Signal Corps.[4] The National Guard’s interest in aviation paralleled the Regular Army’s. The first of the Guard’s aviation units was the New York First Aero Company, Signal Corps, established in 1908 as a balloonist company. The First Aero Company built its first plane in 1910, although it crashed on takeoff.[5] In 1911, The First Aero Company reestablished a presence in the air with the aid of the Curtiss Aeroplane Company. Curtiss provided Beckwith Havens as a pilot instructor. He enlisted in the unit and is credited as the Guard’s first military aviator.[6] The unit provided another first for the Guard as it was the first aviation unit to be called to active duty during the 1916 Mexican Border Crisis.[7]
Before World War I, aviation in the National Guard remained limited. The creation of aviation units was largely the product of local aviation enthusiasm.[8] In 1911, California created its own aviation unit, the Seventh Coast Artillery Company. The same year, Missouri created a Signal Corps air unit.[9] The War Department decided not to send the Guard aviation to France for World War I, but its men were encouraged to volunteer for aviation duty.[10] At least four Guardsmen became aces during the war, with Second Lieutenant Erwin R. Bleddey posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor for his heroics in the air.[11]
Altogether, the experiences of World War I left the National Guard's citizen-soldiers feeling short-shirted by the Army. General of the Armies John J. Pershing, the leader of the American Expeditionary Force, acknowledged that “The National Guard never received the wholehearted support of the Regular Army during the World War. There was always more or less a prejudice against them…”[12] When the Army demobilized, the Guardsmen were discharged as individuals rather than units returned to state control. The National Guard was disbanded in all but name.
In response to how the Army performed in World War I, Congress passed the 1920 Defense Act. The Act was the culmination of earlier reform efforts of the Army, beginning with Root. The Act created the tri-part army, recognized today as the Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve (known now as the Army Reserve). As the Air Force gained its independence from the army, it continued this tri-component operation. The Act emphasized cooperation between the Regular Army and the National Guard. The Regular Army was tasked with training the National Guard. Displaying a notion of incorporation as never before, the War Department issued standard divisional flags, regimental colors, and company guidons to Guard units.[13]
“The National Guard never received the wholehearted support of the Regular Army during the World War. There was always more or less a prejudice against them.”
—General John J. Pershing
Establishment of the Air Corps
While the Army shrunk following the war, aviation proved its worth to the Army during the World War and continued as the Air Service. Although the Air Service was a foreseeable fixture in the US military, its future role was hotly debated. Men such as Billy Mitchell were early proponents of an independent Air Force. Under the direction of President Coolidge, the Morrow Board was formed to study the future of America’s aviation policy. The board advanced the idea of an Air Corps to Congress. In 1926, The Air Corps was established within the Army as a branch similar to the Signal Corps or any other Branch.[14] The establishment of the Air Corps gave the flying branch a level of freedom to theorize the future use of air power and its doctrine. During the interwar years between World War I and World War II, America embraced a doctrine of bombers that ideally could carry the fight to the enemy, destroying industrial and administrative centers.[15] With such doctrine, the Air Corps sought greater independence to fight a future war as they imagined it, while many in the Army remained reluctant, seeing the Air Corps as a means to support ground forces.
The story of the interwar air wing of the National Guard provides a parallel to the designs of the Regular Army’s Air Corps. Early with the re-establishment of the National Guard, Regular Army officers, including Billy Mitchell, pushed for air units within the Guard.[16] Each of the Infantry Divisions within the National Guard included Air Observation Squadrons in their organization. The notion of part-time air service was attractive, with men like Charles Lindbergh serving in Missouri’s 110th Observation Squadron.[17] Eventually, the number of observation squadrons reached twenty-nine, with at least eleven squadrons with greater autonomy outside the divisional support structure. While the active-duty officers were seeking an independent Air Force capable of redefining war, the air wing of the National Guard was limited to a support role from which these officers were trying to escape.
As the National Guard mobilized for World War II, there was long-standing friction between the National Guard and the Regular Army. Many ground formations of the Guard fought to maintain their unique identities and cultures in the face of becoming part of the army machine. It was the National Guard aviators who lost their local affiliations, with the majority of personnel scattered across the ever-growing Army Air Corps.[18] Due to the limited role of National Guard aviation its aviators represented a minuscule part of the Air Corps, with only 468 pilots.[19] By the time of Pearl Harbor, the aviation arm of the National Guard had 3,500 Officers and Enlisted personnel in active service.[20] In light of the success of the German Luftwaffe, the Air Corps and its leader, Hap Arnold, continued to fight for greater autonomy. In June 1941, the War Department reorganized army aviation with the creation of the US Army Air Forces (AAF), with Arnold at its head. The new Army Air Forces were equal to Ground Forces and Service of Supply within the Army. The newly minted Air Forces brought devastation to the lands of their opponents like never before with its bombing raids. It was the airplane that harassed the enemy until ground forces made landfall either across the English Channel or numerous landings in the Pacific. It was the Air Forces that dropped the atomic bombs from B-29s that signaled a new paradigm in warfare—from this paradigm shift emerged a truly independent Air Force with its own Air National Guard (ANG).
From Air Corps to the Air Force
The creation of the Air Force as an independent branch was backdropped by the challenges of the Cold War, interservice rivalries, and the old friction between active duty and the citizen-soldier components. As World War II turned definitively towards the Allies' favor internally, debates began over the continuation of the National Guard. The representatives of the National Guard, through the National Guard Bureau and National Guard Association of the United States (NAGUS), sought once again to maintain the National Guard's continued existence following the conflict. The AAF, with its focus on technology, bombers, and nuclear war, was dubious of the necessity of a Guard air component but relented to General George C. Marshall’s pressure as a political move in order to achieve independence from the Army.[21] Despite strong opposition from the Navy, on September 18, 1947, the Air Force achieved independence when President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947.
Like the ground forces, the National Guard sought to expand the role of Guard aviation from more than observation squadrons and mirror the active component formations. In 1947, it put an organizational plan of twelve wings subdivided into twenty fighter groups, two light bombardment groups, and five composite groups (a mix of twelve fighter squadrons and six bombardment squadrons).[22] Solidified with a future, the first National Guard aviation unit to receive formal federal recognition was Colorado’s 120th Fighter Squadron. As was the case with the historic militia and National Guard, the Air National Guard did not receive a priority in equipment. Through the 1950s, the Air National Guard had one foot in the future with jet aircraft and one foot in the past. Prop fighters such as the P-4747 Thunderbolts were phased out in 1954 and the last of the P-51 Mustangs phased out in 1957.[23]
The 1950s provided the Air National Guard’s first real test with the Korean War. The readiness of the Air National Guard mirrored that of the rest of the military as the US was unprepared for the conflict. The ANG suffered shortfalls of seventeen percent of its authorized total manpower and twenty-five percent of its total pilots.[24] Furthermore, the ANG was intended not for immediate combat but for a three-to-six-month training ramp before it commenced combat operations.[25] Despite these limitations, the ANG proved more than adequate, as eighty percent of the citizen airmen were called to active duty.[26] Many of the ANG pilots were World War II veterans, making them older than the average active Air Force flyer but no less lethal. Five guardsmen attained ace status. Upon federalization, the ANG also saw itself supporting the missions of the Air Force outside of Korea. Many of its units were sent to another Cold War trouble spot, where they served as deterrents in Europe. Like previous iterations of the National Guard, there were material deficiencies and a need to make guardsmen combat-ready. Unlike previous iterations, the active Air Force sought to overhaul its relationship to its reserve components and increase their efficiency. Furthermore, the USAF gave consideration to the partial mobilization of its reserve force with volunteer packages that would easily integrate into the active component instead of mobilizing entire units.[27] The Air Force heavily relied upon this volunteer system for the nation's many future conflicts.
Testing its Potential — The Cold War
The Air National Guard's readiness for a potential superpower clash against the Soviet Union was tested multiple times during the early Cold War. The Berlin Crisis of 1961 was the first of these tests since the open hostilities of the Korean War. While the ANG did not see combat, the effectiveness of the mobilization proved that the changes made after the Korean War were correct in solving the Guard’s preparedness issue. Of the 21000 air guardsmen mobilized, only one percent were lost to hardship deferments, while it was as high as ten percent in Korea.[28] The Guard was activated twice in 1965 for Operation Ready Go and US intervention in the Dominican Republic. Operation Ready Go demonstrated the Guard's ability to arrive mission-ready in Europe for a hypothetical World War III. Guardsmen from twenty-three states flew to Europe nonstop with air-refueling support. This was the first of its kind for the ANG to show its capabilities to arrive prepared for combat operations without needing the previous training ramp. The multiple tests that stemmed from the Cold War showed that the post-Korean War changes were effective and that the ANG stood ready when called upon.
Another major test of the Cold War was the war in Vietnam. A common misconception is that the National Guard did not participate in the war. A few units were activated for the war, and guardsmen volunteered for the war, but their role as the ready reserve was heavily diminished. The Johnson administration infamously made the decision to forgo the Guard in favor of relying on draftees. The volunteer guardsmen instituted during the Korean War by the ANG were used in Vietnam. Using volunteers kept the activation of major units out of the headlines. As early as 1965, ANG guardsmen participated in the conflict with Operation Rolling Thunder. Likewise, men from Pennsylvanian’s 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron flew missions based out of Thailand.[29] While the Tet Offensive in 1968 was a tactical victory for US forces, it came as a shock to many Americans. As a result of the increased military activity, five ANG squadrons were federalized for service in the conflict, two of which were stationed in South Korea. A total of 10,600 Air Guardsmen were federalized in 1968.[30] Although the ANG served as directed in the conflict, it, like the National Guard as a whole, received a reputation as a draft haven for affluent white men. The Air National Guard could not escape the reputational damage that the US military received from the Vietnam War.
The US military was forced to reckon with its role in US strategy and the manner in which it conducted policy. Under Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, beginning in 1970, while the Vietnam War still had American boots on the ground, the US military policy shifted to a Total Force Policy. For the Air National Guard, the policy was incorporated into all decision-making considerations concerning policy-making, planning, programming, and budgets. While the Abrahams doctrine reflects the Army’s reorganization after the war, its intention to use the reserve components in any future conflict was shared by the Air Force. As a result of the Total Force Policy and an emphasis on military technology, the ANG of the 1980s saw increased modernization efforts. By 1989, the ANG was called upon again Operation Just Cause the US invasion of Panama. The ANG provided multiple missions to bolster the strength of the Air Force as it flew close-air support, airlift, and special operations missions.[31] Again the Air Force relied heavily upon volunteers from the guard rather than mobilizing entire units. While the post-Vietnam years may have diminished the Guard's reputation, they did not diminish its capabilities.
The specter of the Vietnam War that hung over the US military was finally vanquished with the Gulf War. With a call to arms the Air Force was inundated by volunteer air guardsmen for mobilization. As many as 1300 initially volunteered with an eventual total of 10300 air guardsmen mobilized for the Gulf War.[32] Once again, the citizen airmen served their country well, but there were issues with the mobilization process. The emphasis on volunteers stripped many units of personnel who were needed when their units were mobilized later. The reliance on volunteers, which served the Air Force well in the past, faced unacknowledged strains, with entire units activated in a manner not seen since the Korean War. The service by the ANG was still considered a success as it amplified the capabilities of the Air Force.
The end of the Cold War saw a restructuring and diminished size of the US military with the fall of the USSR. While the total size of the Air Force was reduced, there was no reduction in the scope of the USAF's global operations. The Air National Guard saw a reduction in its total number of fighters, with some units switching to airlift operations. In the mid-1990s, the operation tempo of the Air National Guard increased as it was relied upon more to bolster the needs of the USAF. Again, reliant on volunteer packages, Air Guardsmen enforced UN-mandated no-fly zones around Iraq, supported Kurdish refugees, and participated other global operations. This increase in operational tempo was unprecedented for the National Guard and felt by the Army National Guard until the Global War on Terror.
The Air National Guard in the Twentieth Century
The unexpected tragedy of the 9/11 attack necessitated that America rely on the National Guard for its military purposes stateside and abroad. During the attack then, Lieutenant Marc Sasseville and First Lieutenant Heather Penney were instructed to find Flight 93 and bring it down. Without ammunition for their F-16, they were instructed to ram the flight if need be. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the Air National Guard took primary responsibility for the nation's air defense and maintained periodic combat patrols over major metropolitan areas.[33] The attack was unprecedented in the history of the Air National Guard, but on the day of and in the weeks following, the ANG served as the first line of defense for the nation's airspace.
No matter the theater, the air guardsmen answered the call and stepped up. In March 2002, Tech. Sgt Keary Miller, a pararescueman with the Kentucky ANG, was awarded a Silver Star for his actions in Operation Anaconda, the first National Guard recipient since the Vietnam War.[34] For Operation Enduring Freedom, 13 of the ANG 25 airlift units provided strategic airlift. Other assortment includes refueling tankers and fighters, as well as 3,500 ground personnel.[35] Major Gregory L. Stone of the Idaho National Guard was the first Airman killed in the conflict. He was killed in a fragging incident by a deliberate attack by fellow US services member Sgt Hasan Akbar of the 101st Airborne Division.[36] The ANG provided significant resources, including half of the Air Force’s attack aircraft in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 40% of mobile control towers, and 27% of the Air Force Engineer assets.[37]
One of the most interesting contributions of the ANG during the Iraq campaign was its assistance in finding Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussain. In November 2003, seven female nurses from Pennsylvania’s 193rd Special Operations Wing worked to save the lives of two Iraqi citizens in critical condition. In gratitude for the care given by the nurses, the families of the civilians provided them with intelligence on the location of Saddam Hussain, leading to his capture.[38] Throughout the War on Terror campaign, the ANG faced an increase in operational tempo due to the demands of the war and the Air Force’s worldwide commitments.
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Faced with challenges around the world, the Air National Guard has provided a ready reserve for service. The ANG has spent much of its history as a means to bridge gaps in the Air Force's capabilities by providing the necessary qualified manpower. With the creation of the Space Force, there are talks of creating a Space National Guard from the ANG space-aligned missions. The operational demands are not diminishing. It seems that for the foreseeable future, the Air National Guard and the citizen airmen will be continually called upon to bolster the Air Force and protect US interests around the world.
About the Author
Bearington Curtis is a PhD candidate (U.S. History) in the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society at The University of Southern Mississippi. His research investigates the development of the National Guard and Army Reserve during the interwar period. He is working under the direction of Drs. Kevin Greene and Andrew Wiest.
Bear received his MA in History from Texas A&M University-Central Texas in 2020. His MA thesis, "A Sisyphean Task: Reevaluating Reconstruction in Texas," examined the U.S. Army's role in Texas during Reconstruction.
Bear is currently serving as the 2024-2025 Dale Center/Center for Military History Fellow in Washington, D.C.
[1] US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 8, cl. 15.
[2] Jerry Cooper, The Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865-1920 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 108
[3] Cooper, The Rise of the National Guard, 111.
[4] Alfred F. Hurley and William C. Heimdahl, “The Roots of US Military Aviation” in Winged Shield, Winged Sword: A History of the United States Air Force, ed. Bernard C. Nalty (Washington DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1997), 14.
[5] Charles Joseph Gross, “The Air National Guard,” Airpower Journal 10, no. 4 (1996): 59.
[6] Hurley and Heimdahl, “The Roots of US Military Aviation,” 21.
[7] Michael Doubler, Civilian in Peace, Soldier in War: The Army National Guard, 1636-2000 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2003), 160.
[8] Charles Joseph Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force: The Air National Guard 1943-1969 (Washington DC: Office of Air Force History, 1985), 1.
[9] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 1.
[10] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 61.
[11] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 61.
[12] Doubler, Civilian in Peace, Soldier in War, 187.
[13] Doubler, Civilian in Peace, Soldier in War, 189.
[14] John F. Shiner, “The Coming of the GHQ Airforce 1925-1935” in Winged Shield, Winged Sword A History of the United States Air Force, ed. Bernard C. Nalty (Washington DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1997), 103.
[15] Shiner, “The Coming of the GHQ Airforce,” 112.
[16] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 2.
[17] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 62.
[18] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 2.
[19] Nalty, 179.
[20] Francillion, Ren J, The United States Air National Guard, (Westport, CT: Airtime Publishing Inc., 1993), 29.
[21] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 21.
[22] Francillion, Air National Guard, 39.
[23] Francillion, Air National Guard, 41.
[24] Fancillion, Air National Guard , 42.
[25] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 55.
[26] Gross, Prelude to the Toral Force, 59.
[27] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 64.
[28] Gross Prelude to the Toral Force, 128.
[29] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 66.
[30] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 65.
[31] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 67.
[32] Gross, “The Air National Guard,” 68.
[33] Michael Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror: Operation Iraqi Freedom (Arlington VA: National Guard Bureau, Office of Public Affairs, Historical Services Division, 2008), 5.
[34] Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror, 5.
[35] Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror, 10.
[36] Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror, 20.
[37] Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror, 24.
[38] Doubler, The National Guard and the War on Terror, 44.
Header Image: Pa. Guard leadership travels to Fort Drum for Iron Keystone 2024 [Image 5 of 5], by TSgt Ted Nichols (Air Force) via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
Body Image: Loring AFB Open House 2024 [Image 9 of 9], by MSgt Andrew Sinclair (Air Force) via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service