Happy 75th Brrrthday, 190th Fighter Squadron
Reformed with the lineage of the WWII 405th Fighter Squadron on 24 May 1946, the 190th Fighter Squadron of the Idaho Air National Guard was organized at Gowen Field, south of Boise. Flying F-51 series Mustangs into the Korean War era they moved into jets in mid-1953, first with the F-86A Sabre, then followed in rapid procession by the F-94A Starfire, F-89C Scorpion, F-86L Sabre Interceptor, F-102 Delta Dagger, RF-4C Phantom, and F-4G Wild Weasel as their mission changed greatly over the year processing from air defense to recon and SEAD.
Finally, in 1996, they switched to the glorious A-10 Thunderbolt, more popularly known as the Warthog, which they have flown for a quarter-century including several active combat turns in the sandbox.
In honor of the “old” 405th, a P-47 Thunderbolt unit of the 371st Fighter Group, 9th U.S. Air Force, the 190th is celebrating their 75th this month with a Heritage flight A-10 Thunderbolt in the forerunner’s Northwest Europe 1944 livery.
The 405th FS arrived in the European theater in April 1944 and started their war doing fighter sweep, dive-bombing, and escort missions over France just before D-Day, targeting railroads, marshaling yards, vehicles, gun emplacements, and strong points in a role familiar to today’s A-10. During Overlord itself, they patrolled the beachhead areas and continued the aerial barrage through to St Lo and across northern France and supported the troops on the ground at the Battle of the Bulge before pushing into southern Germany where they ended the war, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation.
“MUMBLIN JOE,” a Republic P-47D-20-RE Thunderbolt, serial number 42-76452, was assigned to the 371st Fighter Group’s 405th Fighter Squadron (squadron code 8N). The aircraft bore the name of pilot Lt. Arthur W. “Bud” Holderness Jr., with the individual aircraft letter of “H” aft of the national insignia on the fuselage. It is pictured here with 41 mission symbols, bombed up and headed out for another combat mission, probably from A-6 airfield in France in the summer of 1944, probably with Lt. Holderness as the pilot. Holderness, a 1943 USMA graduate, flew 142 combat missions with the 371st during the war, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, 19 Air Medals, the French Croix de Guerre, and was one of two pilots in his squadron to earn the Lead Crew Combat Pilot patch. He went on to have a long and successful postwar career in the USAF, retiring in 1971 as a brigadier general. (Via Capt Tom Silkowski, 190th Fighter Squadron, Idaho ANG)
“BLACK JACK” was another 405th Fighter Squadron P-47D (8N-O), shown here being serviced in an expeditionary setting between missions, probably at A-6, with the pilot whose name was on the ship and its assigned ground crew. They are, probably, from left to right, Corporal Anthony J. Tenore, Lieutenant John L. Jackson (who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross), SSgt Robert L. Teague, and SSgt Robert E. Vaughn. (Via Capt Tom Silkowski, 190th Fighter Squadron, Idaho ANG)
The Heritage A-10 includes the OD scheme with white cowling and tail stripes, WWII roundels, 8N squadron code, and D-Day invasion stripes.
Sadly, no Mumblin Joe nose art, though.
A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II from the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing is painted with a heritage WWII paint scheme at the Air National Guard paint facility in Sioux City, Iowa. The paint scheme is designed to replicate the look of the original P-47 Thunderbolt as it appeared during the 2nd World War. The 124th Fighter Wing conceived the idea to commemorate the unit’s 75th anniversary and lineage to their predecessor, the 405th Fighter Squadron. U.S. Air National Guard photo: Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
U.S. Air National Guard photo: Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
U.S. Air National Guard photo: Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
laststandonzombieisland 
The Warthog is so ugly it’s beautiful.
Keep the A-10s flying .
Pingback: Willys & Worthog | laststandonzombieisland