359th Fighter Group

123d Airlift Wing
Deployed U.S. Air Force members of the 123rd Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard, pose with their Lockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft (s/n 91–1232, 91–1233) on a flightline in Afghanistan, 22 April 2009.
Active	1943–present
Country	United States
Allegiance	Kentucky
Branch	Air National Guard
Type	Wing
Role	Airlift
Part of	Kentucky Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Louisville Air National Guard Base, Kentucky
Motto(s)	Fortune Assists The Brave
Tail Code	Kentucky
Engagements	World War II
Insignia
123d Airlift Wing emblem

The 123d Airlift Wing (123 AW) is a unit of the Kentucky Air National Guard, stationed at Louisville Air National Guard Base, Kentucky. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command.

The Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing mission is to provide worldwide theater airlift for U.S. military and humanitarian operations. The wing is equipped with eight C-130H Hercules aircraft. Multiple groups, squadrons and flights carry out the unit's mission by providing administrative and logistical support, including airlift operations, combat control, pararescue, maintenance, supply, transportation, contracting, communications, civil engineering, personnel, base services, security forces and medical functions.

The 123d Airlift Wing consists of the following units:

Established in January 1943, the 359th Fighter Group flew 346 combat missions over continental Europe and claimed 373 enemy aircraft in aerial duels and strafing attacks; probable destruction of 23; and damage to 185. It flew its last mission on 20 April 1945. On the ground-support team were the 448th Air Service Group, the 824th Air Engineering Squadron, the 648th Air Material Squadron, and the Third Gunnery and Tow-Target Flight.

The group was organized and trained at the fields of Grenier, Bedford, Farmingdale, and Mitchel in the East, and embarked on its overseas assignment from Westover Field, MA on 2 October 1943, with the main body of troops and flying personnel leaving Westover by train and arriving at Camp Kilmer, NJ that afternoon. On 7 October 1943, the group boarded transports in NY Harbor, arriving in England on 19 October, being assigned to VIII Fighter Command.

The 359th FG entered combat in mid-December 1943 after five 359th FG pilots flew combat missions with the 78th Fighter Group. Began operations with P-47s, later converting to P-51s in April 1944. The role of the station in the general air war strategy was to operate and maintain its fighter aircraft against the enemy for a three-fold purpose: to provide escort and support to the U.S. bombers, to destroy the German Air Forces, both in aerial engagements and by low-level attacks on enemy airdromes, and to furnish close support to advancing Allied troops by strafing and dive-bombing enemy rail and motor transport, equipment and personnel and by flying offensive patrols over the battle lines. At first, the group engaged primarily in escort activities to cover B-17/B-24 bombers that attacked airfields in France, and later expanded their area of operations to provide escort for bombers that struck rail centers in Germany and oil targets in Poland.