21st SW part of long Air Force lineage Published Sept. 16, 2008 By Corey Dahl 21st Space Wing Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- From France to Iwo Jima, from the Soviet threat to cyber warfare, the 21st Space Wing has enjoyed a long and storied Air Force career. Though the 21st SW has only been in existence since 1992, the lineage of the unit dates back to World War II, before a separate United States Air Force was even established. The 21st SW was first activated in February of 1942 as the 21st Bombardment Group. The unit, which originally was based in Kentucky but moved to South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida in just under one and a half years, was primarily an operational training unit. However, it also carried out anti-submarine patrols in the Gulf of Mexico for a time, searching for German u-boats during the first part of World War II. The 21st Bombardment Group deactivated in October of 1943, but its numerical designation was quickly reclaimed when the 21st Fighter Group activated in April of 1944. Located in Hawaii - which was then just a territory of the United States - the unit provided air defense over Hawaii until 1945, when it was deployed to Iwo Jima. There, the 21st FG flew patrols over the island base in support of ground operations, escorted bombers over Japan and engaged Japanese fighter aircraft. The unit was deactivated in October of 1946, not long after World War II ended. Just one year after the 21st FG deactivated, in 1947, the U.S. Air Force was established. Wings replaced groups as the organizational standard, and the Air Force began to make a point of preserving the lineage of distinguished World War II units by giving their numerical designations to new units just standing up. So, in 1953, the 21st FG designation was passed on to the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing, based out of California. For its first year of existence, the wing mostly conducted tactical exercises throughout the U.S. In 1954, however, it was relocated to Chambley, France, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began to take a defensive stance against the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact. While overseas, the 21st FBW received approval for the wing emblem still used by the 21st SW today. The wing also adopted the motto "Strength and Preparedness," which was originally in Latin - "Fortitudo et Preparatio." The 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing was deactivated in February of 1958, but the 21st FBW designation wasn't out of commission long. The 21st Tactical Fighter Wing activated in July of 1958 out of Misawa Air Base, Japan. The wing's mission was to defend the air space of northern Japan against Soviet intruders as well as prepare for any possible threats from North Korea. Aside from intercepting Soviet Badger and Bison bombers on a regular basis, the wing made history when, in August of 1959, two F-100s from its 531st Fighter Squadron became the first American jet aircraft to complete a transpolar flight, flying from Weathersfield, England to Eielson Air Base in Alaska. The 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing deactivated in 1960, when the 5th Air Force reorganized. The ongoing Cold War renewed the need for the 21st, though, and the 21st Composite Wing out of Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, was activated in 1966. Part of Alaskan Air Command, a component of the recently formed North American Air Defense Command, or NORAD, the unit served three primary purposes: air defense, especially against the Soviets; airlift; and search and rescue. The wing's 317th Fighter Interceptor was known as one of the premier squadrons of its day, winning the Hughes Achievement Trophy, given to the best fighter unit with an active air defense mission, three times. After the wing divested its helicopters and C-130s and added a new fighter unit in the 1970s, it was re-designated the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing in October of 1979. The unit continued to defend Alaska's skies, even as the Cold War thawed, until February of 1992, when the AAC consolidated under one wing. A few months later, on May 15, 1992, the 21st Space Wing activated at Peterson. The wing absorbed the assets and personnel of the deactivated 1st Space Wing and 3rd Space Support Wing as well as their mission of missile warning. The wing has grown over the years and added space control duties to its mission. It has become one of the largest, most geographically widespread wings in the Air Force and continues the 21st's tradition of protecting the skies. (Editor's Note: This article is one of several highlighting the Air Force Space Command Year of Leadership and its focus on heritage)