JANUARY 19, 2023 – Change has been the one constant in aviation since the Wright Flyer made its maiden voyage 120 years ago this year. Just 20 years after that first flight, two U.S. Army Air Service airplanes made history with the first air-to-air refueling.
As air refueling celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Iowa Air National Guard commemorates 20 years in the air refueling business.
At the time of the 185th Fighter Wing’s conversion in 2003, unit members were less than enthusiastic about trading their F-16 fighters for giant air refueling aircraft. As the next two decades unfolded, however, 185th Air Refueling Wing members came to embrace the work and experiences that came with the refueling mission.
Airmen who were part of Iowa’s 185th FW in 2003 vividly recall that bitter Jan. 16 day when they bid farewell to their fighter mission. The winter weather matched the mood as unit members watched their Falcons taxi away and head for their new home in Syracuse, New York.
When the 185th transitioned to the KC-135, the refueling aircraft became the wing’s ninth airframe in its short 56-year history.
Following World War II, dozens of fighter squadrons were added to the air arm of National Guard units around the nation, including two allocated to the Iowa National Guard. One unit was based in Des Moines, where there had been an observation squadron, and a P-51 squadron was set up in Sioux City.
During the decades that followed, it was assumed that the Air National Guard mission in Iowa would be a facsimile of what it was from the beginning – flying fighter planes. The Air National Guard’s close relationship with their state Army National Guard counterparts kept many ANG units flying variations of single-seat fighter aircraft, providing close air support with aircraft like the F-100 Super Sabre and the A-7 Corsair.
Years later, events like the end of the Cold War and the U.S. Gulf War signaled the beginning of the end of the “Air National Guard Fighter Wing heydays” as early as 1991. Ironically, many Air Guard fighter units like the 185th FW were transitioning from the A-7 to F-16 fighter aircraft during that time.
The Air National Guard found itself heavy on fighter units during the 1990s. At the onset of the new millennium, the aging F-16 airframe and the exorbitant cost of next-generation fighters birthed the “convert or die” period for many ANG fighter units like Iowa’s 185th.
By the early 2000s, the Iowa Air Guard determined it could preserve a flying mission if it transitioned to the KC-135.
In January 2003, the day had come to bid farewell to the unit’s remaining F-16 fighters in Sioux City. As they taxied away, the iconic bat-tailed fighters were already painted over with the 174th FW “Cobra” from New York.
That cold day marked the unofficial beginning of the 185th becoming a tanker unit.
A giant new fuel cell hangar was already under construction in Sioux City. A massive addition to the main hangar was needed to bring the KC-135 aircraft indoors, including the 41-foot-high tail.
Lots of new concrete was poured to expand the ramp area. Over the next few years, the jet engine hush house was removed, a new fire station was built and there was an addition to the fuel farm.
Pilots who chose to stay with the unit in Iowa had already begun returning from KC-135 flight training. Some “punched out” and found fighter pilot jobs in other states. A few others retired.
During the months preceding the KC-135 conversion, the unit scrambled to find aircrew training and available tail numbers. By October 2003, less than 10 months after the F-16s departed, the first all-Iowa KC-135 crew had flown its solo flight departing from and arriving in Sioux City.
The first group of used “E-model” KC-135s came from Washington’s 141st ARW, Illinois’ 128th and Pennsylvania’s 171st, among others. Acquiring flyable assets at the time was only the beginning of the kind of KC-135 horse-trading common among tanker units.
By the early 2000s, the Pacer-CRAG (compass, radar and global positioning system) cockpit and navigation updates were completed across the KC-135 fleet. The addition of modern GPS systems eliminated the KC-135 navigator position and allowed Sioux City’s entrance into the refueling business to start fresh.
The new three-person flight crew included a pilot and co-pilot, and as a first for the 185th, an enlisted aircrew member as a boom operator.
The conversion process in Sioux City was less seamless than most would have liked. Pilots initially trained on newer R-model aircraft. After returning to Sioux City, they had to revert to older KC-135E models.
The KC-135 “R” model conversions within the Air Force fleet had also already begun in the early 2000s. The update called for more powerful, more fuel-efficient and quieter engines.
By the fourth year into the 185th’s tanker conversion, most on-base construction was wrapping up. By spring 2008, the last E-model, tail 58-0020, departed Sioux City for the boneyard. The Maine ANG “Maniacs” eventually brought the Air Force’s last E-model to Davis-Monthan in the fall of 2009.
The R-Model conversion significantly opened up the deployment schedule for KC-135 units like the 185th after 2007. With the new engines, the aircraft’s range increased, which allowed KC-135 basing in more remote areas. There were new missions in places like Kyrgyzstan and an expanded tanker presence in Southwest Asia.
Today, Iowa Air Guard members continue to deploy to Europe with the KC-135 to support Air Force and partner nation operations and the NATO mission in Geilenkirchen. Air refueling requirements continue at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to support the continuous bomber presence in the Pacific.
The past two decades, with the Air Force’s commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq, KC-135 units like the 185th regularly deployed to support the Central Command area of responsibility.
Aircrew and KC-135 maintainers from Iowa were firmly settled into their role and deployment schedules as the “block 45” conversions replaced more analog cockpit gauges. Sioux City received its first block 45 with the glass cockpit Aug. 25, 2017.
Since taking on the air refueling mission, the unit eclipsed its previous airframe holding record in 2020 with the KC-135. The previous record for the unit was held by the F-100 Super Sabre, flown in Sioux City for 16 years from 1961 to 1977.
As the newest KC-135s, from the mid-1960s, edge closer to retirement, Air National Guard units are again looking to the future. The 185th recently proposed a significant runway expansion and new building projects for potential basing of newer air refueling aircraft.
What the future holds for KC-135 tanker units and their aircraft depends largely on defense priorities.
As the 185th marks 20 years in the air refueling business, another major construction project on its operations building is wrapping up and future infrastructure and mission planning continues.
In the past 20 years, continued advances in aviation and defense needs have factored into the mission of the Air National Guard. For units like the 185th, the only constant is change.
By Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard