427th Air Refueling Squadron

The 427th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 4505th Air Refueling Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1963.

History
The squadron was established in 1956 by Tactical Air Command (TAC) to provide dedicated in-flight refueling, initially for F-100 Super Sabres and later for other air refueling capable TAC fighters and fighter bombers. The 427th was initially equipped with Boeing KB-29M Superfortresses transferred from Strategic Air Command (SAC). These aircraft were converted from bombers to tankers using a British-developed hose refueling system.

The unit re-equipped with Boeing KB-50 Superfortresses in 1959, which provided greater speed to refuel jet aircraft. The squadron's KB-50s were modified about 1960 to the KB-50J configuration which added a J-47 turbojet engine underneath each wing in place of the auxiliary fuel tanks to increase the speed of the aircraft.

By 1962 the squadron's aircraft were phased out due to their age. They were replaced by SAC Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The squadron was inactivated in the spring of 1963 and its KB-50Js were sent to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.

Lineage

 * Constituted as 427th Air Refueling Squadron, Fighter-Bomber on 1 Septermber 1956
 * Activated on 7 Sep 1956
 * Redesignated 427th Air Refueling Squadron, Tactical on 1 July 1958
 * Discontinued and inactivated on 1 April 1963

Assignments

 * Ninth Air Force, 7 September 1956
 * Eighteenth Air Force, 1 October 1957
 * Twelfth Air Force, 1 January 1958
 * 4505th Air Refueling Wing, 1 July 1958 – 1 April 1963 (not operational after 9 January 1963)

Stations

 * Robins AFB, Georgia, 7 September 1956
 * Langley AFB, Virginia, 20 August 1958 – 1 Apr 1963

Aircraft

 * KB-29M Superfortress, 1956–1959
 * KB-50/KB-50J Superfortress, 1959–1963