Reserve-Guard Tanker Association Ends at Tinker

The association between the Air Force Reserve’s 507th Air Refueling Wing and the Air National Guard’s 137th ARW has ended after eight years of operations at Tinker AFB, Okla., according to a July 21 release. An Oklahoma ANG crew flew the final training flight on an AFRC KC-135 in late June, marking the end of the “formal association. However, Col. Brian Davis, commander of the 507th, said the ongoing relationship between the two organizations will continue. Borne of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, the 507th ARW was selected to be one of the first AFRC units to serve as a host wing for an associated ANG wing, with aircrew and maintainers from the 137th ARW moving from Will Rogers Air National Guard Base and flying and maintaining KC-135s from Tinker beginning in 2007. Over the past eight years, the wings have accumulated more than 13,500 combined flying hours, and served as a test model for integrating ANG and AFRC units. The 507th ARW will continue to fly and maintain KC-135s, while the 137th ARW will transition to Air Force Special Operations Command to take on the MC-12 Liberty, once again operating from Will Rogers. In January 2014, a similar arrangement between the AFRC and ANG at Niagara Falls ARS, N.Y., came to an end, as the Air Guard transitioned from flying C-130s to a remotely piloted aircraft mission.