310th Air Refueling Squadron

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310th Air Refueling Squadron
(later 310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight)
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
Patch with 310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight Emblem[a][1]

The 310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight is a provisional

380th Air Refueling Wing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base
.

The first predecessor of the flight is the 610th Bombardment Squadron, which served from 1943 to 1944 as an Operational Training Unit, preparing other heavy bomber units for combat, then as a Replacement Training Unit, training aircrews for Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft.

The flight's second predecessor, the 310th Air Refueling Squadron was activated in the fall of 1952 and equipped with

General Dynamics FB-111s. During the Vietnam War
, the squadron deployed crews and aircraft to support combat operations. The two squadrons were consolidated in 1985. The unit continued to support USAF operations until it was inactivated in 1994. In 2004, it was converted to provisional status as the 310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight.

History

World War II

The first predecessor of the flight, the 610th Bombardment Squadron, was activated at

Smoky Hill Army Air Field, at the end of July to continue aircrew training.[1]

The squadron became an

pilots or aircrews.[1][2]

However, the AAF was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible

tables of organization were proving poorly adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, in the spring of 1944, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[3] As a result of this reorganization, the 610th, along with the remaining elements of the 400th Group, was disbanded on 10 April 1944[1][4] and its mission, personnel and aircraft were transferred to the 113th AAF Base Unit (Bombardment, Heavy).[5]

Air refueling operations

Strategic Air Command KC-97 operations

The second predecessor of the flight is the 310th Air Refueling Squadron, which was activated on 8 October 1952 at Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Kansas as part of the

air refueling support with for Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers through the 1950s and early 1960s.[1]

The squadron deployed with its parent 310th Wing to England as part of Operation Reflex on two occasions. The first was to RAF Upper Heyford from March to June 1955 and the second to RAF Greenham Common from October 1956 to January 1957.[1][6] During Operation Reflex deployments with the 310th Wing, the squadron's aircraft also served as transports, carrying extra air crew, support personnel, and spare parts.[7]

Later, the squadron made deployments with its KC-97s to forward locations, placing it ahead of the faster Stratojets it would refuel, and on their programmed route.

Goose Air Base, Newfoundland from 25 March to 8 July 1958 to provide air refueling support in the North Atlantic area. The squadron began to phase out its KC-97s in October 1961, losing its final airplane in November 1963, when it became non-operational.[1]

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, SAC assumed DEFCON 3 status on 23 October, The 310th Wing dispersed a portion of its aircraft to other bases to reduce their vulnerability. By November, SAC had returned to its normal readiness status.[9]

Conversion to KC-135s

Unlike most refueling squadrons assigned to B-47 wings, the squadron began to convert to the

Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense directed a phaseout program that reduced SAC's bomber force, retiring older B-52 models.[11]

On 25 January 1967, the squadron moved to

380th Strategic Aerospace Wing, another B-52 unit. From Plattsburgh, the squadron supported tanker task forces in Europe and Alaska and made with temporary deployments of planes and crews to operational theaters. In October 1973, it deployed aircraft and crews to Lajes Field in the Azores, to refuel Lockheed C-141 Starlifters and Lockheed C-5 Galaxys transporting war materiel to Israel during Yom Kippur War. Missions supporting combat in Southeast Asia ended in 1976, but the squadron deployed crews and aircraft as part of tanker task forces in the Pacific area.[1]

The 380th Wing bomber force converted to the

Air Force Reserve, and other military services until it was inactivated on 1 October 1994.[1]

Lineage

610th Bombardment Squadron
  • Constituted as the 610th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 15 February 1943
Activated on 1 March 1943
310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight
  • Constituted as the 310th Air Refueling Squadron, Medium on 20 August 1952
Activated on 8 October 1952
Redesignated 310th Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy on 1 November 1963
  • Consolidated with the 610th Bombardment Squadron on 19 September 1985
Redesignated 310th Air Refueling Squadron on 1 September 1991
Inactivated on 1 October 1994
  • Redesignated 310th Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight and converted to provisional status on 29 September 2004[1]

Assignments

  • 400th Bombardment Group: 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944
  • 310th Bombardment Wing (later 310th Strategic Aerospace Wing): 8 October 1952 (attached to 802d Air Division, 1–28 March 1954, Eighth Air Force, 28 December 1955 – 5 February 1956, 25 November–10 December 1957, 25 March–8 July 1958, 6th Strategic Aerospace Wing after 15 April 1965)
  • 6th Strategic Aerospace Wing: 25 June 1965
  • 380th Strategic Aerospace Wing (later 380th Bombardment Wing, 380th Air Refueling Wing), 25 January 1967
  • 380th Operations Group: 1 September 1991 – 1 October 1994[1]

Stations

Aircraft

  • Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1944
  • Boeing KC-97F Stratotanker, 1953–1962
  • Boeing KC-97G Stratotanker, 1953–1963
  • Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, 1963–1995[1]

Awards and campaigns

Award streamer Award Dates Notes
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
 1 January 1956-1 January 1959 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 January 1958-31 May 1959 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1974-30 June 1975 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1979-30 June 1980 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1980-30 June 1981 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1983-30 June 1985 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1986-30 June 1988 310th Air Refueling Squadron[1]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
American Theater without inscription 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944 610th Bombardment Squadron[1]

See also

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ^ Approved 8 August 1956.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Kane, Robert B. (12 August 2009). "Factsheet 310 Expeditionary Air Refueling Flight (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  2. ^ Craven & Cate, p. xxxvi
  3. ^ Goss, p. 75
  4. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, p. 7
  5. ^ Mueller, p. 89
  6. ^ Ravenstein, p. 159
  7. ^ Smith, p. 39
  8. ^ See Smith, p. 39
  9. ^ Kipp, et al., p. 53
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ Knaack, p. 248 n. 41
  12. ^ Ravenstein, p. 206

Bibliography

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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