350th Air Refueling Squadron
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|---|---|
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| Active | 1942-1945; 1947-1949; 1956-1976; 1982-Present |
| Country |
 United States |
| Branch |
 United States Air Force |
| Role | Air Refueling |
| Part of |
Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force 22d Air Refueling Wing 22d Operations Group |
| Garrison/HQ | McConnell Air Force Base |
| Nickname(s) | Red Falcons |
| Decorations |
Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat V Air Force Outstanding Unit Award French Croix de Guerre with Palm |
| Insignia | |
| 350th Air Refueling Squadron Emblem (approved 17 Apr 1959)[1] |
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| World War II ETO fuselage code and color[2] |
LN Yellow |
The 350th Air Refueling Squadron (350 ARS) is part of the 22d Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. It operates the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions.
Mission[]
To organize, train and equip to provide global mobility, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
History[]
World War II[]
World War II 350th Bombardment Squadron emblem[3]
Organization and Training for Combat[]
The squadron was originally established as one of the original Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment squadrons of the 100th Bombardment Group in mid-1942[4] under Third Air Force but was immediately transferred to Second Air Force for training. It remained a paper unit until the initial cadre of the ground echelon (4 officers and 27 enlisted men) were assigned at Gowen Field, Idaho.[5] Two days later the squadron departed for Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington for Phase I training. There the first aircrew arrived on 1 December 1942.[6]
In February 1943 the ground echelon went to Kearney AAF, Nebraska, while the air echelon went to Ainsworth, Casper and Scottsbluff Army Air Fields where they acted as instructors training other units for the next three months.[7] On 28 April, Colonel Alkire, the first group commander was relieved of duty. Two days later, the air echelon returned to Wendover Field, and would not be reunited with the ground echelon until arriving in England in June.[8]
The ground echelon proceeded by rail to Camp Kilmer, then embarked on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, sailing on 27 May and arriving at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde, where they disembarked on 3 June.[9] The flight echelon ferried their aircraft through Maine, Newfoundland, Labrador and Iceland to the United Kingsom.[10]
Combat in the European Theater[]
The 350th engaged in strategic bombardment operations over Occupied Europe and Germany, sustaining very heavy losses of personnel and aircraft while conducting many unescorted missions over enemy territory attacking airfields, industries, naval facilities and transportation hubs. The squadron flew its first mission against Bremen, Germany on 25 June 1943.[11] During the summer of 1944, aircrews bombed enemy positions at Saint-Lô, followed by similar campaigns at Brest in August and September. In October 1944, the squadron attacked enemy and ground defenses in the allied drive on the Siegfried Line, then bombed marshaling yards, German occupied villages, and communication targets in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945. Attacked enemy targets in Germany during the spring of 1945, ending combat operations a strike on Berlin on 20 April 1945.[12]
The squadron emained in Europe as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe occupation forces, dropping food to the people in the west of the Netherlands, and in June transported French Allied former prisoners of war from Austria to France. Demobilizing in England, in December 1945 the squadron inactivated[4] as a paper unit.
Cold War[]
SAC 350th Bombardment Squadron emblem
Reserve Organization[]
The 350th activated in the Air Force Reserve in 1947 at Columbia AAB, South Carolina.[4] It is unclear whether or not the unit was manned or equipped. It was inactivated in 1949[4] when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve organization according to the Wing Base Organization.
Strategic Air Command[]
The squadron reactivated under Strategic Air Command received new, swept wing B-47 Stratojets in 1956[4] which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses with its high operational ceiling and near supersonic speed. The squadron flew the B-47 for about a decade when by the mid-1960s it had become obsolete and vulnerable to new Soviet air defenses. The squadron began to send its Stratojets to The Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center at Davis-Monthan AFB for retirement in 1965, the last being retired in 1966, one of the last B-47 Squadrons.
DC-130 Hercules carrying a pair of AQM-34 Firebee drones banking over the USS Chosin.
Redesignated as a strategic reconnaissance squadron, operating AQM-34 Firebee strategic reconnaissance drones launched from DC-130 Hercules aircraft and recovered by CH-3 helicopters from, 1966–1976. Additionally, it provided refueling support for SR-71 aircraft from, 1983–1990. The 350th also provided cargo support and intratheater refueling during combat in Southwest Asia from, August 1990–March 1991.[1]
Lineage[]
- Constituted as the 350 Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942
- Activated on 1 June 1942
- Redesignated 350 Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943
- Inactivated on 15 December 1945
- Redesignated 350 Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 9 July 1947
- Activated in the Reserve on 16 July 1947
- Inactivated on 27 June 1949
- Redesignated 350 Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 1 August 1955
- Activated on 1 Jan 1956[13]
- Redesignated 350 Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron on 25 June 1966
- Inactivated on 1 July 1976
- Redesignated 350 Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy on 19 January 1982
- Activated on 28 January 1982
- Redesignated 350 Air Refueling Squadron on 1 September 1991[14]
Assignments[]
- 100th Bombardment Group: 1 June 1942 - 15 December 1945
- 100th Bombardment Group: 16 July 1947 - 27 June 1949
- 100th Bombardment (later, 100 Strategic Reconnaissance) Wing, 1 January 1956 -1 July 1976 (attached to Sixteenth Air Force, 4 March 1958 - 4 April 1958[13]
- 100th Air Refueling Wing, 28 January 1982
- 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 15 March 1983
- 9th Operations Group, 1 September 1991
- 43d Operations Group, 1 Octpber 1993
- 22d Operations Group, 1 July 1994 – Present[14]
Stations[]
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Aircraft and Missile[]
- Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1945[13]
- North American AT-6 Texan, 1947–1949[14]
- Beechcraft AT-7 Navigator, 1947–1949[14]
- Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan, 1947–1949[14]
- Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1956–1966[13]
- Lockheed DC-130 Hercules, 1966–1976[14]
- Sikorsky CH-3, 1966–1976[14]
- Ryan AQM-34 Firebee, 1966–1976[14]
- Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, 1982–Present[14]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Robertson, Patsy, AFHRA Factsheet 350 Air Refueling Squadron 2/13/2008 (retrieved September 9, 2013)
- ↑ Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd.. pp. 48–49. ISBN 0-7643-1987-6.
- ↑ The emblem depicts a gremlin dropping bombs out of a chamber pot and was the idea of Sgts Bowa, Hawkins, Hays, and Pvt Parker. Parker did the design work. Sheridan pp. 13-14
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Maurer, Maurer, ed (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. pp. 434–435. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_sq_of_the_af_wwii.pdf.
- ↑ Sheridan, Jack W. (1946). They Never Had It So Good: The Personal, Unofficial Story of the 350th Bombardment Squadron (H), 100th Bombardment Group (H), USAAF 1942-1945. San Francisco, CA: Stark-Rath Printing Co.. pp. 5, 160. http://archive.org/details/TheyNeverHadItSoGood. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
- ↑ Sheridan, pp. 7, 23
- ↑ Sheridan, p. 19
- ↑ Sheridan p. 29
- ↑ Sheridan, pp. 40, 45
- ↑ Sheridan, pp. 49-50
- ↑ Sheridan, p. 162
- ↑ Sheridan, p. 165
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Lineage, assignments, stations, and aircraft through 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 434-435
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 Lineage, assignments, stations, and aircraft after 1963 in AFHRA Factsheet
- ↑ Station number in Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II. Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. http://www.afhra.af.mil./shared/media/document/AFD-081010-027.pdf. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
Bibliography[]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
- Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II. Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. http://www.afhra.af.mil./shared/media/document/AFD-081010-027.pdf. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, AL: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- Sheridan, Jack W. (1946). They Never Had It So Good: The Personal, Unofficial Story of the 350th Bombardment Squadron (H), 100th Bombardment Group (H), USAAF 1942-1945. San Francisco, CA: Stark-Rath Printing Co.. http://archive.org/details/TheyNeverHadItSoGood. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
- Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 0-7643-1987-6.
See also[]
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The original article can be found at 350th Air Refueling Squadron and the edit history here.