Connecticut ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized.

State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of vital public services, and support to civil defense.

After a brief stopover at Garden City, Long Island, New York, they sailed for Europe on 13 January 1918, arriving at St. Maixent, France on the 29th of that month.

[4] The war ended in November, but the 639th remained in France until May 1919 when it returned to the United States and was demobilized at Mitchell Field, New York, on 6 June 1919.

Since there were no airfields in Connecticut capable of handling military-type aircraft, the 118th was initially assigned to the Rhode Island National Guard for duty.

[6] However, after the opening of Brainard Field in Hartford in October 1922, efforts were immediately launched to secure the Air Service unit of the 43d Division for the State of Connecticut.

[7] The modern Connecticut ANG received federal recognition on 7 August 1946 as the 103d Fighter Group at Bradley Army Airfield, Windsor Locks.

During its period of federalization, the 118th FIS transferred many of its pilots and ground support personnel to Fifth Air Force, where they served in combat in Korea.

Until 2008, the organization was known as the 103rd Fighter Wing (103 FW), operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC) and equipped with A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft.

Following this change in mission, the unit was redesignated the 103rd Airlift Wing and placed under the operational claimancy of Air Mobility Command (AMC).