15th Wing
15th Wing
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C-17 Globemaster IIIs of the 15th Wing at Hickam AFB
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| Active | 1940–1946, 1955–1960, 1962–1970, 1971–present |
| Country |
 United States
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| Branch |
 United States Air Force
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| Type | Composite |
| Role | Fighter, Airlift and Air Refueling |
| Part of | Pacific Air Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii |
| Motto(s) | Prosequor Alis (I Pursue with Wings) (1942-1992) |
| Engagements | Pacific Ocean theater of World War II |
| Decorations |
Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Colonel Kevin J. Gordon |
| Insignia | |
| 15th Wing emblem (approved 15 March 1963 based on emblem approved 5 October 1942) |  |
| Tail Code | HH |
The 15th Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The wing reports directly to the commander, Pacific Air Forces.
Its history goes back to just before World War II, when the 15th Pursuit Group was organized at Wheeler Field, Hawaii from elements of the 18th Pursuit Group. The group's combat effectiveness was largely destroyed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Remanned and re-equipped as the 15th Fighter Group, it remained in the Hawaiian islands to provide for the air defense of the islands, although it deployed squadrons and detachments to the Central and Western Pacific areas. It later became a Twentieth Air Force very long range fighter group on Iwo Jima, escorting Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers that attacked the Japanese home Islands. In April 1945 the group earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for combat action over Japan. Following the end of the war, the group returned to Hawaii, where it was inactivated in 1946.
The group was again activated in 1955 to replace the 518th Air Defense Group as part of Air Defense Command's Project Arrow, which replaced units formed during the Cold War with those that had a distinguished history in the two world wars. It performed the air defense mission at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, New York until it was discontinued in 1960 and its mission assumed by the New York Air National Guard.
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Wikipedia