137th Airlift Squadron Hudson Haulers New York ANG C-17 Model, 1/116th Scale, Mahogany, Cargo

Fly with the 137th Airlift Squadron Hudson Haulers New York ANG in this handcrafted C-17 Globemaster Model. Each piece is carved from wood and hand painted to provide a piece you’ll love.

Length – 18 inches

The 137th Airlift Squadron (137 AS) is a unit of the New York Air National Guard 105th Airlift Wing located at Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh, New York. The 137th is equipped with the C-17A Globemaster III.

History
World War II
Formed at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, as a Third Air Force Operational Training Unit (OTU), equipped with A-24 Banshee dive bombers. Moved to California in September 1943 as part of Desert Training Center in Mojave Desert.

After the A-24 was taken out of combat service, trained with P-39 Airacobras and became combat ready, being reassigned to VIII Fighter Command in England, April 1944. Re-equipped with P-51 Mustangs, with a mission for escorting B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers during its first five weeks of operations, and afterwards flew many escort missions to cover the operations of medium and heavy bombers that struck strategic objectives, interdicted the enemy’s communications, or supported operations on the ground.

The group frequently strafed airfields and other targets of opportunity while on escort missions. Provided fighter cover over the English Channel and the coast of Normandy during the invasion of France in June 1944. Strafed and dive-bombed vehicles, locomotives, marshalling yards, anti-aircraft batteries, and troops while Allied forces fought to break out of the beachhead in France. Attacked transportation targets as Allied armies drove across France after the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July. Flew area patrols during the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September. Escorted bombers to, and flew patrols over the battle area during the German counterattack in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), December 1944 – January 1945. Provided area patrols during the assault across the Rhine in March 1945.

Returned to the US in October and inactivated on 18 October 1945 as an administrative unit.

New York Air National Guard
The wartime 504th Fighter Squadron was re-designated as the 137th Fighter Squadron, and was allotted to the New York Air National Guard, on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Westchester County Airport, White Plains, New York, and was extended federal recognition on 8 December 1948 by the National Guard Bureau. The 137th Fighter Squadron was bestowed the lineage, history, honors, and colors of the 504th Fighter Squadron and all predecessor units. The squadron was equipped with F-47D Thunderbolts and was assigned to the New York ANG 107th Fighter Group.

The mission of the 136th Fighter Squadron was the air defense of Southeast New York and New York City. Aircraft parts were no problem and many of the maintenance personnel were World War II veterans so readiness was quite high and the planes were often much better maintained than their USAF counterparts. In some ways, the postwar Air National Guard was almost like a flying country club and a pilot could often show up at the field, check out an aircraft and go flying. However, the unit also had regular military exercises that kept up proficiency and in gunnery and bombing contests they would often score at least as well or better than active-duty USAF units, given the fact that most ANG pilots were World War II combat veterans.

Air defense mission
With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the regular military’s complete lack of readiness, most of the Air National Guard was federalized placed on active duty. The 137th was retained by the State of New York to maintain the air defense mission primarily of New York City. In 1951, the Thunderbolts were replaced by Very Long Range F-51H Mustangs with were capable of extended