128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron
 | |
|---|---|
 128th E-8C Joint STARS[a] | |
| Active | 1918–1919; 1941–1945; 1946–1952; 1952–2002; 2002–2011; 2011–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Allegiance |  Georgia (U.S. state) |
| Branch |  Air National Guard |
| Type | Squadron |
| Role | Airborne Command and Control |
| Part of | Georgia Air National Guard |
| Garrison/HQ | Robins Air Force Base, Georgia |
| Tail Code | "GA" |
| Engagements | World War II Korean War Vietnam War Operation Desert Storm Kosovo Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Insignia | |
| 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron emblem |  |
| 128th Bomb Squadron emblem |  |
| 128th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron emblem |  |
| 818th Bombardment Squadron emblem[b][1] | _emblem.png) |
The 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a unit of the Georgia Air National Guard 116th Air Control Wing located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The 128th is equipped with the E-8C Joint STARS.
The squadron's first predecessor is the World War I 840th Aero Squadron, which was organized on 1 February 1918 and, after training in Texas, served in France as a depot unit. It returned to the United States in the March 1919 and was demobilized .
The 128th Observation Squadron was allotted to the Georgia National Guard and was organized in May 1941. Four months later it was mobilized, and trained in aerial reconnaissance. In June 1942, the squadron began antisubmarine patrol missions over the Gulf of Mexico, being redesignated as the 21st Antisubmarine Squadron in the spring of 1943. After the Navy assumed control of the squadron's mission, it began training as a heavy bomber unit as the 818th, then the 840th Bombardment Squadron. It deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in 1944, and engaged in strategic bombing until the end of World War II, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before being inactivated in September 1945 at Pisa Airport, Italy. During the war, it was consolidated with the World War I aero squadron.
In May 1946, the squadron was allotted to the National Guard as the 128th Fighter Squadron. It was mobilized again for the Korean War, but deployed to France to reinforce United States Air Forces Europe's fighter force. When its activation was ended in July 1942, it was inactivated and transferred its personnel and planes to the 494th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, activating the same day in the Georgia Air National Guard as the 128th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The squadron trained as a fighter unit until 1961, when it assumed the airlift mission as the 128th Air Transport Squadron. In 1973, the squadron returned to the fighter mission as the 128th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It became the 128th Bomb Squadron in 1996, and assumed its current role in 2003.
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- ^ Maurer, combat Squadrons, pp. 777–778