103rd Attack Squadron

The 103rd Attack Squadron (103 ATKS) is an active unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard previously known as the 103rd Fighter Squadron (103 FS). It is assigned to the 111th Attack Wing, stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The squadron was inactivated on 31 March 2011 and later reactivated as the 103rd Attack Squadron at the new Horsham Air Guard Station, on the grounds of the former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove. Along with these name changes came a change of mission. The 103rd Attack Squadron now flies the MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft.

The squadron was a descendant organization of the Pennsylvania National Guard 103rd Observation Squadron, formed on 27 June 1924. It was one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.

The Militia board authorized the Pennsylvania National Guard 103rd Observation Squadron in June 1924. The 103rd was founded and eventually commanded by Major Charles J. Biddle, who had flown in World War I as part of the famous American volunteer Lafayette Escadrille. This new National Guard squadron was based on the sod fields of Philadelphia Airport as a unit in the Army 28th Division.

The pilots of the 103rd flew a wide variety of observation aircraft for the next 18 years. The most well-known of these aircraft was the JN-4 Jenny. The Jenny was an open-cockpit bi-plane; but was replaced in the 1930s and early 1940s with metal-skinned, prop-driven observation monoplanes. The list is long but shows the steady improvement in aircraft: PT-1, BT-1, O-1, O-2H, O-11, O-38, O-46,-47A, O-47B, O-49, O-52, O-57 and P434-1. The squadron also flew liaison aircraft such as the L-4 and L-1B.

The squadron conducted summer training at Langley Field, Virginia, 1924–27 and Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania, 1928–40. They also flew reconnaissance operations in support of the 28th Division and 5nd^{[clarification needed]} Cavalry Brigade during summer training; flew tracking missions for the 213th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA); and flew spotter missions for the 107th, 108th, 109th, and 176th Field Artillery Regiments at Tobyhanna Firing Range. The entire squadron was called up to support flood relief efforts in central and eastern Pennsylvania in March–April 1936.

Inducted into active Federal service 17 February 1941 at Philadelphia, and transferred to the Harrisburg Municipal Airport, arriving there 27 February 1941.

In February 1941, as the war in Europe raged, the unit was ordered to active service, performing antisubmarine patrols off the coast of New England. In 1943, the 103rd finally moved into the latest combat aircraft. First, the pilots and maintenance personnel were given steady upgrades in equipment beginning with the P-39 Airacobra, P-40 Warhawks, and then the B-25 Mitchell. Eventually this culminated in training on the photo-reconnaissance variant of the P-38 Lightning called the F-5C. The twin-engine F-5C had all of the P-38's guns replaced by cameras.

After a year's worth of training, the 103rd deployed to the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of war in 1944 where it operated out of various fields in India and Burma. It was heavily involved in photo reconnaissance activities over Burma, supporting the US Army forces fighting the Japanese in the jungles there. The 103rd personnel stayed in that theater until the end of the war.