141st Air Refueling Squadron

Callsign :

Nato Tiger Association status : honorary member

The 141st Aero Squadron was organized at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, on 8 October 1917 where they trained with Curtiss JN-4 “Jennies”.  It was given its formal designation as the 141st Aero Squadron (Pursuit) on 2 January 1918, when it was ordered to proceed to Garden City, New York, for overseas deployment.

On the 19th, it began the overseas journey arriving at Glasgow, Scotland on 30 January.  For the next several months, the squadron went through advanced training to prepare it for combat at the front in France.  On 9 March 1918 141 proceeded to the Swingate Down Airdrome, near Dover, Kent where it received final training by the Royal Flying Corps.  The squadron arrived in France on 16 August 1918.  Finally on 16 September it moved to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome where the 141st received Spad S.VII pursuit aircraft, later repalced by Spad S.XIII.  There it was assigned to the 4th Pursuit Group, Second United States Army Air Service, American Expeditionary Force (AEF), and moved to Croix de Metz Aerodrome for combat duty, arriving on 19 October.  The 141st flew its first patrol on 23 October 1918 and every day thereafter.  It shot down its first enemy aircraft on 28 October.  A second enemy aircraft was shot down on 6 November.  The 141st was involved in 13 combats, the only pursuit squadron of the Air Service, Second Army to do so.  After the 11 November 1918 Armistice with Germany, the squadron first remained in France.  On 19 April 1919, the squadron was assigned to the Third Army of Occupation Air Service, 5th Pursuit Group.  It was moved to Coblenz Airdrome, Germany, to serve as part of the occupation force of the Rhineland.  For the next several months the squadron performed test flights on surrendered German aircraft. 

On 18 June 1919, orders were received from Third Army to report to the 1st Air Depot to turn in all of its supplies and equipment and it was relieved from duty with the AEF.  The squadron's Spad aircraft were delivered to the American Air Service Acceptance Park No. 1 at Orly Aerodrome, to be returned to the French.  There practically all of the pilots and observers were detached from the squadron.  Upon return to the US, most squadron personnel were demobilized at Camp Mills, New York on 18 July 1919.

The 341st Fighter Squadron was activated at Mitchel Field, New York, on 30 September 1942.  It was equipped with the Republic P-47D "Thunderbolt".  The 341st was one of the first United States Army Air Force squadrons to be equipped with the P-47.  After an extended period of training in the northeast United States, the squadron deployed to Brisbane, Australia in June 1943 where it began long-range missions to strike at Japanese targets in New Guinea.  The unit operated from New Guinea and Dutch New Guinea until November 1944, flying patrol and reconnaissance missions and escorting bombers to targets in New Guinea and New Britain.  In 1944 the 341st began to attack airfields, installations, and shipping in western New Guinea and Indonesia to aid in neutralizing those areas preparatory to the US invasion of the Philippines.  When U.S.  troops landed on Luzon the squadron, in process of conversion from P-47's to P-51 Mustangs, began operatios there a few days later.  The unit engaged in ground support operations, bombing and strafing in close support of ground troops.  Remaining in the Philippines throughout the campaign they moved to Okinawa in mid July 1945 in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan.  From there they engaged in long-range operations over the Japanese Home Islands until ceasing combat on 14 August 1945.  In October 1945 they became part of the Army of Occupation in Japan as part of the 348th Fighter Group, Far East Air Forces.  The 341st was inactivated at Itami Airfield, Kyoto, Japan on 10 May 1946.

The squadron was almost immediately reconstituted on 26 May 1946 and re-designated as the 141st Fighter Squadron, Single Engin, assigned to the 108th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard (ANG).  May 1949 brought the reactivation of the 141st FS.  Initially it was equipped with the Republic F-47D "Thunderbolt" (post WWII-build P-47D's).   Since the 341st FS had no approved badge, the 141st took the badge and traditions of the 141st Aero Squadron, hereby saving the units history from oblivion.  The unit was called to active federal service on 1 March 1951.  Om 16 May 1951 both wing and squadron were renamed to Fighter-Bomber units.  The squadron was sent to Georgia where it continued its mission to provide fighter escorts to Strategic Air Command (SAC) Bombers on training missions.  During World War II the bomber forces usually encountered swarms of enemy fighters.  So the new SAC knew the importance of having fighter escorts and had therefore fighter wings placed under their own operational control.  In December 1951 the 141st moved to Kentucky where it replaced a unit deployed to England.   It was released from active duty and returned to New Jersey state control on 10 November 1952. 

With return to state control, the parent 108th Wing was transferred to the Air Defense Command (ADC) and was redesignated as a Fighter-Interceptor Wing (FIW).  The 141st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was re-equipped with the long-range North American F-51H "Mustang"  (post WWII-build F-51H's) fighter.  Not used in the Korean War due to it not being believed as "rugged" as its famous "D" model predecessor, the F-51H was used instead to equip Air National Guard units into the 1950s as an ADC interceptor.  In 1955, the Mustangs were retired and the squadron entered the jet age, with the arrival of the North American F-86E "Sabre".  The parent 108th FIW was transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC) in 1958, being re-designated as a Tactical Fighter Wing.  The 141st Tactical Fighter Squadron transferred its interceptors and received Republic F-84F "Thunderstreak" fighter-bombers.

Since the 1960's the unit has had a European commitment.  At the height of the Cold War in 1961, the squadron was again federalized as a result of tensions concerning the Berlin Wall and the 108th deployed 28 F-84F aircraft to Chaumont AB, France.  The deployed elements were assigned to the Provisional 7108th Tactical Wing, United States Air Forces Europe on 20 November due to the reduced strength of the 108th Wing in Europe.  The primary mission was to provide close air support to the Seventh Army in Europe under the direction of ground forward air controllers.  To accomplish this mission, up to 30 sorties were flown each day.  The deployment to France ended in October 1962 and the unit returned to New Jersey state control, leaving their F-84's in France.

Upon return from France the squadron was re-equipped with North American F-86H "Sabre" in 1962.  Early 1965, the Sabres were retired and the squadron began to receive the Republic F-105B "Thunderchief".  The 108th was the first Air National Guard unit to fly twice the speed of sound.  They kept this aircraft until May 1981, longer than any other unit that also flew this type, when it was traded in for the McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Phantom II".  In 1985 the 141st TFS traded up to the E-model of the Phantom II and kept these until 1991, again being one of the last USAF units to fly the mighty Phantom.

With the end of the Cold War, the parent 108th Tactical Fighter Wing underwent a radical role change and was re-aligned to a Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker air refueling wing.  The F-4Es were retired and the squadron was redesignated as the 141st Air Refueling Squadron.  Also, as part of the conversion of the wing the 108th Tactical Fighter Group became the 108th Operations Group, to which the 141st was assigned.  The 141st ARS received its first KC-135E on 27 September 1991.  In 2007, the 141st began retiring its KC-135E aircraft and transitioning to the KC-135R, completing the conversion by 2008.  On 20 September 2023, the squadron flew its last mission with the KC-135R, as it transitioned to becoming an associate squadron of the 305th Air Mobility Wing, flying Boeing KC-46A "Pegasus" tankers from 2024 onwards.

(all aircraft are to scale, not all drawings show an aircraft in 141 markings)

Aircraft

Curtiss JN-4 Jenny (1917)

Spad S.VII (1918)

Spad S.XIII (1918–1919)

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (1942–1945)

North American P-51 Mustang (1945-1946)

Republic F-47D Thunderbolt (1949–1952)

North American F-51H Mustang (1952–1955)

North American F-86E Sabre (1955–1958)

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (1958–1962)

North American F-86H Sabre (1962–1965)

Republic F-105B Thunderchief (1965–1981)

McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II (1981–1985)

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II (1985–1991)

Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker (1991–2007)

Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker (2007–20230

Boeing KC-46A Pegasus (2023–present)

141st Aero Squadron (Pursuit)

Second Army Air Service

American Expeditionary Force

Third Army of Occupation

1st Air Depot

348th Fighter Group

141st Fighter Squadron

Far East Air Forces

108th Fighter-Bomber Wing

141st Fighter-Bomber Squadron

New Jersey Air National Guard

Strategic Air Command

108th Wing

141th Squadron

 Air Defense Command

108th Fighter-Interceptor Wing

141th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

Tactical Air Command

108th Tactical Fighter Wing

141th Tactical Fighter Squadron

7108th Tactical Wing

United States Air Forces Europe

Seventh Army

108th Air Refueling Wing

141st Air Refueling Squadron

108th Operations Group

141st Air Refueling Squadron

141st Air Refueling Squadron, NJ ANG, KC-135

141st Air Refueling Squadron, NJ ANG, KC-46

305th Air Mobility Wing

Unit awards

Distinguished Unit Citation

Phillipine Unit Citation

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