| 305th Air Refueling Squadron | |
|---|---|
%2c_USA_-_Air_Force_AN1131026.jpg) | |
| Active | 1943–1944; 1951–1993 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Aerial refueling |
| Mottos | We Will Be There (old) Around the World, Around the Clock (new) |
| Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1] |
| Insignia | |
| 305th Air Refueling Sq emblem (new) |  |
| Patch with 305th Air Refueling Squadron emblem (old) |  |
The305th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactiveUnited States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the305th Air Refueling Wing atGrissom Air Force Base, Indiana, where it was inactivated on 20 August 1993.
The first predecessor of the squadron was the605th Bombardment Squadron which served as a training unit forheavy bomberaircrews duringWorld War II until it was disbanded in a major reorganization ofArmy Air Forces training units in 1944.
The 305th Squadron was activated in 1953 in 1953 withBoeing KC-97 Stratofreighter aircraft. It converted to theBoeing KC-135 Stratotankers and continued in the refueling role until inactivated. The twosquadrons were consolidated into a single unit in 1985.
Thesquadron's first predecessor was the605th Bombardment Squadron, which was activated atDavis-Monthan Field, Arizona on 1 March 1943, but made two moves the following month, arriving atWendover Field, Utah on 17 April. The squadron was one of the four original squadrons of the399th Bombardment Group. At Wendover, it served as anOperational Training Unit (OTU) forConsolidated B-24 Liberator units until August.[2][3] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to providecadres to "satellite groups"[4]
The squadron became aReplacement Training Unit (RTU).[3] Like OTUs, RTUs were oversize units, however their mission was to train individualpilots andaircrews.[4] Following this mission change, the 399th Group and its components were reassigned fromSecond Air Force toFourth Air Force, then moved toMarch Field, California in December.[2][3]
However, theArmy Air Forces was finding that standard military units like the 605th, which were assigned personnel and equipment based on relatively inflexibletables of organization were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which was manned and equipped based on the station's requirements.[5] The 605th Squadron was disbanded, and along with operational and supporting units at March was used to form the 420th AAF Base Unit (Bombardment Replacement Training Unit-Heavy).[2][6]
The305th Air Refueling Squadron was originally attached to the 305th Air Bombardment Wing atMacDill Air Force Base, Florida on 2 July 1951. At that time the squadron operatedBoeing KC-97 Stratofreighters that were a variant of the C-97 Stratofreighter (which was itself based on the B-50 Superfortress bomber), greatly modified with all the necessary tanks, plumbing, and "flying boom."
When the305th Bombardment Wing moved in June 1959 to operateBunker Hill Air Force Base (which was renamed Grissom Air Force Base in 1968), Indiana, the 305th was not part of the Wing. Later that same year, the first KC-135 Stratotankers were assigned to the Wing. At this time the68th Air Refueling Squadron was assigned to Bunker Hill. Two years later in 1961, B-58s began replacing the B-47s for the bomber squadrons.
On 25 March 1965 the 305th replacing the 68th as the refueling unit for the 305th Wing at Bunker Hill where it remained until it was inactivated. The 305th Wing lost all of its bomber units in 1970 whenStrategic Air Command (SAC) underwent a major reorganization. Thereafter the Wing concentrated on air refueling and [[A s|post attack command and control]] support and was redesignated the 305th Air Refueling Wing. Throughout the 1970s until the 1990s, the 305th's operational units were the70th and 305th Air Refueling Squadron and the3d Airborne Command and Control Squadron.
From the early 1970s, the 305th supported worldwide tanker task forces and military operations by deploying KC-135 aircraft to Europe (e. g. Torrejon AB, Spain), Alaska, Greenland, Southeast Asia (e.g.U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand) and the Pacific (e.g.Kadena Air Base, Okinawa,Andersen Air Force Base, Guam andHickam Air Force Base, Hawaii). The unit along with many others provided refuelling support forOperation Rolling Thunder andOperation Arc Light in Southeast Asia from 1965 to 1973. The unit later provided tanker support to units involved in the invasion of Grenada (October 1983) and the invasion of Panama (December 1989). Later in the 1990s the unit deployed personnel and aircraft to provide refuelling support for air operations to and in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. The squadron also delivered food to Kurdish Northern Iraq.
In the 1970s and 1980s Grissom was one of the largest tanker bases in the country. The 305th aircraft and crew participated every day in sustained alerts for SAC not only at Grissom but in support of bomber squadrons assigned to other SAC bases throughout the USA and Canada, e.g.Goose Bay Airport,McConnell Air Force Base,Ellsworth Air Force Base,Grand Forks Air Force Base and others. Its crews provided the primary refueling support for 3d Airborne Command and Control SquadronOperation Looking Glass missions.
The typical crew consisted of a set pilot, co-pilot, navigator (officers) and boom operator (enlisted). Typical missions included refuelling for B-52s, EC-135s, F-4s, RF-4s, RC-135s, SR-71s, U-2s, F-104s, and F-105s. Missions oftentimes included passenger runs and cargo runs.
Grissom was realigned underAir Mobility Command (AMC) in 1992 following the inactivation of SAC. The Wing moved toMcGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey in 1994, but the 305th did not move with the Wing and became inactive.
605th Bombardment Squadron
| 305th Air Refueling Squadron
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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