 The unit's aircrews rapidly attained a high level of combat readiness, and just two years later, the unit earned its first Spaatz Trophy—an award given each year to the premier Air National Guard flying unit.In 1948, Captain Thomas Francis Mantell Jr., a pilot in the 165th Fighter Squadron, was killed while in pursuit of an Unidentified Flying Object in the Mantell UFO incident.With the surprise invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1960, and the regular military's complete lack of readiness, the ANG was mobilized into federal active duty.