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HISTORY
OF
The Alaska Air National Guard
1952 - 2000
48 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG
The Alaska Air National Guard was established in 1952 to defend the Territory of Alaska and the United States of America. The original complement of 16 Alaskans, armed with one training aircraft, took the call to serve with serious dedication.
Alaska is a land that was created for the use of aircraft. The rugged terrain and vast distances determined the primary mode of transportation at the turn of the 20th century. From the very begining of National guard history in the Great Land, air power to a large extent would be an important ingredient in the formation of Alaska's military heritage.
In 1939, Governer Ernest Gruening began to form a National Guard in Alaska. The federal government allocated four companies of infantry, a medical detachment, a headquarters element and the 129th Observation Squadron to the newly created Alaska National Guard. The 129th Observation Squadron, which would have given the Territory of Alaska an Air National Guard right fron the start, never materialized and the Air National Guard had to wait until after World War II for a physical begining.
Colonel Larry ''Lars'' Johnson, Alaska's first Adjutant General after the National Guard was reestablished in the Territory following WWII, was the founding father of the Alaska Air National Guard. Johnson had been a miner and a fisherman in Alaska before WWII. He had picked up some credits in military science while he was a University student and he was called up following Pearl Harbor and commissioned. One of his first jobs was to take charge of rough construction workers charged with laying out air fields in the Aleutian Islands. He observed the shooting down of the first American warplane to be lost in the Aleutian campain.
The young Alaskan dreamed of being a combat pilot and would not take no for an answer when asking for a transfer time after time. He was finally accepted for flight training and was sent to the South Pacific as an A-20 fighter-bomber pilot. Later in the war, Johnson became one of the youngest squadron commanders in the Pacific because as he put it, ''Guys kept getting killed and I kept moving up.'' He was one of the best. His A-20 Intruder carried the nose art of an artic tundra wolf with his nose pointed toward a gold North Star and was named King of the Tundra. Later the art work would be formed into a patch that is still worn by aircrew members of the 144th Airlift Squadron.
Following the war, Lars Johnson returned to Alaska and in 1951 was appointed Adjutant General (AG) at the age of 33 - the youngest AG in the nation.He took over a tiny struggling Army National Guard organization which had never held an annual training camp. He began to transform it into an efficient fighting force. He needed an Air National Guard and fought to establish a unit in Anchorage. He was assisted by another officer in Juneau, Lee Lucas.
In early 1952, Johnson talked General Kepner of the Alaska Command into supporting an Air National Guard Unit. Johnson and Lucas made many trips to Guard Bureau to build support for a unit in the face of almost over-whelming odds, but they got the backing of the Bureau and now only needed men and money to make the dream a reality.
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Unofficial Links
by: Alaska1info.com
The Alaska Air National Guard
Historical and Memorial Aircraft Static Display Museum currently has six aircraft on display and is located at Kulis Air National Guard Base.
Aircraft static display photos by:
Robert M. Braley Jr.
T6G Texan - First ACFT of the Alaska Air National Guard.
North American BT14
Anchorage International Airport.
Kulis Air National Guard Base.
Lake Hood Float Plane Airport.
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