917th Air Refueling Squadron

917th Air Refueling Squadron

Active 1943; 1944–1947; 1958–1994
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Role Air Refueling
Motto(s) ANTE OPTIMAS Latin Before the Best[a 1]
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
617th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 18 August 1944)[1]
917th Air Refueling Squadron emblem

The 917th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as a Geographically Separated Unit at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, while assigned to the 43d Operations Group at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, where it was inactivated on 1 July 1994.

The squadron was first activated in 1943 as the 617th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four squadrons of the 477th Bombardment Group, but the squadron was soon inactivated. In 1944 the group was again activated as the first (and only) bombardment group in the United States Army Air Forces to include black pilots. Members of the squadron participated in the Freeman Field Mutiny, protesting racial segregation in the military. The squadron was inactivated in 1945 after the 477th became a composite group that included bombardment and fighter squadrons.

In May 1959, the 917th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas. Beginning in 1960, the squadron began to stand alert with its Boeing KC-135A Stratotankers. It continued to maintain an alert commitment at Biggs, and later at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas until the end of the Cold War.

On 19 September 1985, The 917th Air Refueling Squadron was consolidated with the 617th Bombardment Squadron. With the inactivation of Strategic Air Command in 1992, the squadron transferred to Air Mobility Command, but two years later it was inactivated.

History

World War II

The 617th Bombardment Squadron was activated in June 1943 at MacDill Field, Florida.[1] as one of the four original squadrons of the 477th Bombardment Group,[2] but was never fully manned[3] and was inactivated in August.[1]

Officers of the 477th Bombardment Group at Freeman Field, Indiana, about to board air transports to take them to Godman Field, Kentucky.[a 2]

The 477th group was reactivated in January 1944 at Selfridge Field, Michigan as the "first colored bombardment group in the Army Air Forces" with personnel drawn from Selfridge and from Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama.[4] The group moved to Godman Field, Kentucky, just after 617th was activated in April.[1] The unit encountered problems attributed to the lack of experienced personnel, which required even basic training in military occupational specialties to be conducted within the unit, rather than at technical training schools.[5]

Although designated a "colored" squadron, some officers, including the squadron leadership were white. The initial commander of the 477th group enforced racial segregation on the posts where the squadron was stationed. The squadron's members were involved in the civil rights action referred to as the Freeman Field Mutiny; the "mutiny" came about when African-American aviators became outraged enough by racial segregation in the military that they resorted to mass insistence that military regulations prohibiting discrimination be enforced. The Freeman Field Mutiny was a crucial event in the African-American struggle for equal civil rights.[6]

In 1945 after the 477th became a composite group formed of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 617th Bombardment Squadron,[7] Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., a black officer, assumed command of the group. The squadron was inactivated in 1947 when the 477th was replaced by the 332d Fighter Group.[2][8]

Cold War

The 917th Air Refueling Squadron was activated on 1 May 1959 by Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas and equipped with KC-135 Stratotankers. This was part of SAC's program to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.[9] When the squadron was activated, the 95th wing was in the process of converting from the Convair B-36 Peacemaker to the B-52 and the 917th's tankers were briefly the only operational aircraft assigned to the wing.[10] Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962.[11] The 917th continued to maintain an alert commitment when not deployed until the end of the Cold War.[12]

The squadron mission was to provide air refueling to the B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers of its parent 95th Bombardment Wing and other USAF units as directed. This included support for Operation Chrome Dome missions.[13] The squadron was also tasked from time to time to perform other missions, including emergency aeromedical evacuation flights.[14] In its first year of operation, the squadron was named the best refueling unit in SAC at the annual bombing/navigation competition.[15] The squadron supported reflex deployments to forward Tanker Task Forces beginning in 1960,[16] including deployments to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska and the Alaskan Task Force.[17] The squadron also supported the European and Pacific Tanker Task Forces.[18] During the Vietnam War, the squadron deployed to the Pacific to support Operation Arc Light and the Young Tiger Task Force.[19]

In 1963, the 421st Air Refueling Squadron, a Tactical Air Command unit stationed at Biggs and flying Boeing KB-50 Superfortress aircraft was inactivated. To accommodate the loss of refueling capability caused by the inactivation of the 421st, the 917th's strength was increased by five additional KC-135As.[13]

SAC had planned to move the squadron from Biggs almost as soon as it was activated. In 1960, plans were made to move the unit to Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, then to Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana.[16][20] In 1961, it was to be moved to March Air Force Base, California.[21] But each move was cancelled and the unit remained at Biggs. Finally, at the beginning of 1965, the 917th moved to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas[22] and fifteen days later was reassigned to the 96th Strategic Aerospace Wing.[23] The squadron remained at Dyess until 1994 when the squadron's KC-135As were retired.[24]

In 1985, the 96th wing converted from the B-52 to the B-1B Lancer and the unit focused on training on techniques for refueling the new bomber.[25] Later that year, the 917th Air Refueling Squadron and the 617th Bombardment Squadron were consolidated.[26]

Six of the squadron's aircraft and associated crews deployed to Southwest Asia in the fall of 1990 to support Operation Desert Shield.[27]

In September 1991 SAC implemented the Objective Wing reorganization and the wing's operational squadrons, including the 917th, were assigned to the 96th Operations Group.[12] The assignment lasted only until June 1992, when Air Mobility Command took over the air refueling mission from SAC, and the squadron was reassigned to the 43d Operations Group, which was located at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana,[28] although the squadron remained at Dyess until 1994, when it was inactivated.[29]

Lineage

617th Bombardment Squadron

Activated on 1 June 1943
Inactivated on 25 August 1943
Activated on 15 May 1944
Inactivated on 1 July 1947[30]

917th Air Refueling Squadron

Activated on 1 May 1959
Redesignated 917th Air Refueling Squadron on 1 September 1991
Inactivated on 1 July 1994[24]

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

Awards and campaigns

Award streamer Award Dates Notes
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1974 – 30 June 1975917th Air Refueling Squadron[32]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 June 1987 – 30 June 1988917th Air Refueling Squadron[33]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award30 May 1990 – 29 May 1992917th Air Refueling Squadron[33]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
American Theater without inscription1 June 1943 – 25 August 1943, 15 May 1944 – 2 March 1946617th Bombardment Squadron[1]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 917th Air Refueling Squadron. The motto can also be translated "In front of the best ones" and seen as referring to the position of squadron tankers when refueling tactical aircraft.
  2. ↑ The officers were under arrest for refusing to sign a document acknowledging that they had read a regulation denying them access to an all-white officers' club.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 687
  2. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 349–350
  3. ↑ Haulman, Tuskegee Airmen, p. 28
  4. ↑ "Abstract, History 477 Bombardment Group Jan–Jul 1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  5. ↑ "Abstract, History 477 Bombardment Group Oct 1944 – Jan 1945". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Moye, p. 133
  7. ↑ "Abstract, History 477 Bombardment Group Apr–Jul 1945". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, p. 213
  9. ↑ "Abstract (Unclassified), Vol 1, History of Strategic Air Command, Jan–Jun 1957 (Secret)". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing May 1959". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Abstract (Unclassified), History of the Strategic Bomber since 1945 (Top Secret, downgraded to Secret)". Air Force History Index. 1 April 1975. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 "Abstract, History 95 Wing Jul 1991 – Dec 1992". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Jun 1963". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Jan 1962". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  15. ↑ "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Oct 1959". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  16. 1 2 "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Jul–Aug 1960". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Mar 1962". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  18. ↑ "Abstract, Vol. 1 History 96 Bombardment Wing Jul–Sep 1985". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Abstract, Vol. 1 History 96 Strategic Aerospace Wing Jul–Sep 1969". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing May 1960". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  21. ↑ "Abstract, History 95 Bombardment Wing Feb 1961". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  22. 1 2 Mueller, p. 121
  23. 1 2 3 Ravenstein, p. 135
  24. 1 2 3 4 See Haulman, Factsheet, 43 Operations Group
  25. ↑ "Abstract, History 96 Bombardment Wing Oct 1985 – Mar 1986". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  26. 1 2 3 Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 662q, 19 September 85, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Tactical Squadrons
  27. ↑ "Abstract, Vol. 1 History 96 Bombardment Wing Jul–Dec 1991". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  28. 1 2 Haulman, Daniel L. (4 December 2007). "Factsheet 43 Operations Group (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  29. ↑ "Abstract, History 43 Air Refueling Wing Jul 1991 – Dec 1993". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Lineage, including aircraft, stations and assignments from 1943 to 1945 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 688
  31. ↑ Ravenstein, p. 134
  32. ↑ AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II, p. 94
  33. 1 2 "Air Force Recognition Programs". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 14 June 2014.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

Further reading

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