508th Air Refueling Squadron

The United States Air Force's 508th Air Refueling Squadron was an air refueling unit that operated the Boeing KB-29 at Turner AFB, Georgia. It was last active on 1 July 1957

Established in 1953 to provide strategic air refueling for the 508th Strategic Fighter Wing. Advances in technology soon made escort fighter wings obsolete. A single atomic bomb had more explosive power than all the conventional bombs dropped during all of World War II, so only one of them could certainly destroy a target far more effectively than a formation of bombers. SAC's missions were based on the use of an individual airplane, not a formation of them.

Lineage
608th Bombardment Squadron
 * Constituted as the 608th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 15 February 1943
 * Activated on 1 March 1943


 * Disbanded on 10 April 1944
 * Reconstituted on 19 September 1985 and consolidated with the 508th Air Refueling Squadron as the 508th Air Refueling Squadron

508th Air Refueling Squadron
 * Constituted as the 508th Air Refueling Squadron, Strategic Fighter ca 4 November 1953
 * Activated on 25 November 1953
 * Inactivated 1 July 1957


 * Consolidated with the 608th Bombardment Squadron on 19 September 1985 as the 508th Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy (remained inactive)

Assignments

 * 400th Bombardment Group: 1 March 1943 - 10 April 1944
 * 508th Strategic Fighter Wing: 25 November 1953 (attached to 31st Strategic Fighter Wing 10 February 1954 - 1 June 1954, unknown 4 July 1954 - 15 October 1954)
 * 31st Strategic Fighter Wing: 11 May 1956
 * 4050th Air Refueling Wing: 1 April 1957 - 1 July 1957

Stations

 * Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, 1 March 1943
 * Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, 11 April 1943
 * Pueblo Army Air Base, Colorado, ca. 2 May 1943
 * Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 31 July 1943
 * Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 14 September 1943
 * Charleston Army Air Base, South Carolina, 15 December 1943 - 10 April 1944
 * Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, 25 November 1953 - 1 July 1957

Aircraft

 * Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943-1944
 * Boeing KB-29 Superfortress, 1953-unknown
 * Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker, unknown-1957