History
98th Air Refueling Group (AF Reserve): 1987-xxxx, KC-10s
KC-10A refueling SR-71 "Blackbird"
The 98th Air Refueling Group (Heavy) was activated at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana on October 1,1987, and consisted of the 98th Air Refueling Squadron and the 98th Consolidated Maintenance Squadron. The wing and its KC-10 tankers were under the command of the 452nd Air Refueling Wing stationed at March AFB, Riverside, California.
The 98th provided critically needed aerial refueling support for numerous operations of national interest and importance. On May 12-14, 1989, the group was tasked to support C-5 and C-141 cargo aircraft that were airlifting troops into Panama as a prelude to Operation Just Cause- the removal of Noriega as the dictator of Panama. In early August 1990, tankers and crews of the group were called on to support Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm – the liberation of the country of Kuwait which had been overrun by troops from Iraq. Following that operation, the 98th ARG was involved with President Bush’s initiative code named SINBAD, a secret plan to monitor drug trafficking in South America. The group flew numerous mercy missions into Mogadishu, Somalia and delivered 491,610 pounds of supplies to the starving natives. During January of 1993 the group provided tanker support for Operation Southern Watch to enforce a NATO mandated “no fly zone” over Iraq.