943d Rescue Group

943d Rescue Group
Maintenance personnel from the 943rd Maintenance Squadron and aircrew from the 446th Airlift Wing use a winch on a C-17 to load an HH-60G Pave Hawk.
Active	1963–1969; 1969–1973; 1985–1993; 2005–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Group
Role	Rescue
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ	Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm
Insignia
943d Rescue Group emblem (approved 13 August 1969)

The 943d Rescue Group is a reserve component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Tenth Air Force under the Air Force Reserve Command and is based in Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. When mobilized, Air Combat Command directs group assets into theater to support wartime tasking and other operations, like humanitarian relief. United States Northern Command may gain group assets directly to support disaster relief, search and rescue tasking in the aftermath of catastrophic events like hurricane, tornado, wildfire, flooding and earthquake, when they occur in the US, or its territories.

The group and its subordinate squadrons are assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing based at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.

The mission of the 943d Rescue Group is to provide leadership, management, policy formulation, planning, and standardization for operations, training and support of Air Force Reserve Command rescue assets, consisting of 3 squadrons and 3 flights at Davis-Monthan AFB and 1 additional squadron at Portland Air Reserve Station, Oregon. The group is equipped with six (6) Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to support worldwide combat rescue operations.

As an Air Force Reserve Command unit, the 943d is under the control of the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida and is the only Air Force Reserve rescue unit in the Southwestern United States. Upon mobilization, the 943d would come under the control of the Air Combat Command.

After May 1959, the reserve flying force consisted of 45 troop carrier squadrons assigned to 15 troop carrier wings. The squadrons were not all located with their parent wings, but were spread over thirty-five Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept. The concept offered several advantages. Communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. However, under this concept, all support organizations were located with the wing headquarters. Although this was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. To resolve this, at the start of 1962, Continental Air Command, (ConAC) determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed.