344th Air Refueling Squadron | |
|---|---|
 The first USAFKC-46A Pegasus lands on the flightline 25 January 2019, at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. | |
| Active | 1942–1946; 1947–1966; 1986–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Aerial refueling |
| Part of | Air Mobility Command |
| Garrison/HQ | McConnell Air Force Base |
| Motto | Anytime-Anywhere (1994–present) Capable – Reliable – Versatile (1987–1994) Hell from the Heavens (1956–1966) |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | William Crumm |
| Insignia | |
| 344th Air Refueling Squadron emblem[a][1] |  |
| 344th Air Refueling Squadron emblem[b][2] |  |
| Patch with 344th Bombardment Squadron emblem[c][3] |  |
The344th Air Refueling Squadron is a unit of theUS Air Force, part of the22nd Air Refueling Wing ofAir Mobility Command atMcConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. It operates theBoeing KC-46 Pegasus aircraft conductingaerial refueling missions.
The squadron was first activated duringWorld War II as the344th Bombardment Squadron. It saw combat in theMediterranean Theater of Operations, participating in the low level attack onoil refineries nearPloiești, Romania. It earned twoDistinguished Unit Citations for its combat operations. AfterVE Day the squadron returned to the United States and trained withBoeing B-29 Superfortresses until inactivating in spring 1946.
The squadron was reactivated in 1947 with Superfortresses. During theKorean War, it deployed to Japan and earned another Distinguished Unit Citation for its combat operations. The squadron returned to the United States and converted to theBoeing B-47 Stratojet, which it flew until inactivating in 1966 when the B-47 was withdrawn from service andLincoln Air Force Base closed.
In 1986, the squadron was reactivated as the344th Air Refueling Squadron atSeymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. It moved to McConnell in 1994.
Thesquadron was first activated atMacDill Field, Florida as one of the original four squadrons assigned to the98th Bombardment Group. The 344th soon moved toBarksdale Field, Louisiana, where it began to train as aConsolidated B-24 Liberatorheavy bomber squadron underThird Air Force.[1][4]
The squadron's training was short and it deployed to Egypt in July 1942[1] over theSouth Atlantic Ferrying Route transiting from Morrison Field, Florida though the Caribbean Sea to Brazil. It made the Atlantic crossing from Brazil to Liberia, then transited east across central Africa to Sudan. The air echelon of the group reformed with the ground echelon which traveled by theSSPasteur around theCape of Good Hope, joining with the air echelon of the squadron, the343d Bombardment Squadron and groupheadquarters atSt Jean d'Acre Airfield, in Palestine.[5]
Upon arrival in the Near East, the squadron became part of United States Army Middle East Air Force, which was replaced byNinth Air Force in November. It entered combat in August, attacking shipping and harbor installations to cutAxis supply lines to North Africa. It also bombedairfields and rail transit lines inSicily and mainland Italy. The squadron moved forward with Ninth Air Force to airfields in Egypt; Libya and Tunisia supporting theBritish Eighth Army[citation needed] in theWestern Desert Campaign. Its support of this campaign earned the squadron theDistinguished Unit Citation.[1]
On 1 August 1943, the squadron participated inOperation Tidal Wave, the low-level raid onoil refineries nearPloiești, Romania. Alerted to the vulnerability of the Ploiești refineries by a June 1942 raid by theHALPRO project, the area around Ploesti had become one of the most heavily defended targets in Europe.[6] The squadron pressed its attack on the Asta Romana Refinery through smoke and fire from bombing by another group's earlier attack and heavyflak defenses. The squadron's actions in this engagement earned it a second Distinguished Unit Citation.[1]
When the forces driving East from Egypt and Libya met up with those moving westward from Algeria and Morocco in Tunisia in September 1943, Ninth Air Force was transferred to England to become the tactical air force for the invasion of the European Continent.[7] The squadron, along with allArmy Air Forces units in North Africa became part ofTwelfth Air Force. In November 1943, the squadron moved toBrindisi Airport, Italy, where it became part ofFifteenth Air Force, which assumed control of strategic operations in theMediterranean Theater of Operations, while Twelfth became a tactical air force.[4][8]
The squadron continued strategic bombardment raids on targets in Occupied France, southern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and targets in the Balkans. These included industrial sites, airfields, harbors andlines of communication. Although focusing on strategic bombing, the squadron was sometimes diverted to tactical operations, supportingOperation Shingle, the landings atAnzio and theBattle of Monte Cassino. In the summer of 1944, the squadron supportedOperation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.[4] The unit also assisted theSoviet advance into the Balkans,[4] and supportedYugoslav Partisans andguerillas in neighboring countries.[citation needed]
The squadron returned to the United States in May 1945. Upon arrival it was redesignated as a very heavyBoeing B-29 Superfortress squadron and began training for deployment to the Pacific to conduct strategic bombardment raids on Japan. In November 1945, the 98th Group was inactivated and the squadron moved toMerced Army Air Field, California, where it was assigned to the444th Bombardment Group,[3] where it replaced the678th Bombardment Squadron, which was converted into a reconnaissance unit.[9] The squadron was inactivated at what was now Castle Field in March 1946.[3]
The squadron was reactivated in 1947 as aStrategic Air Command (SAC) Superfortress unit atSpokane Army Air Field, Washington. The squadron performed strategic bombardment training missions until the outbreak of theKorean War.[1]
_attacking_target_in_Korea_1951.jpg)
In the summer of 1950, when theKorean War began, the19th Bombardment Wing was the onlymedium bomber unit available for combat in the Pacific. In August, SAC dispatched the squadron and other elements of the 98th Bombardment Group toYokota Air Base, Japan to augment FEAF Bomber Command, Provisional. The group flew its first combat mission on 7 August againstmarshalling yards nearPyongyang, capital of North Korea. The squadron's missions focused oninterdiction of enemy lines of communications, attacking rail lines, bridges and roads. The squadron also flew missions that supportedUnited Nations ground forces.[1][10]
SAC’s mobilization for the Korean War highlighted that SAC wing commanders were not sufficiently focused on combat operations. Under a plan implemented for most wings in February 1951 and finalized in June 1952, the wing commander focused primarily on the combat units and the maintenance necessary to support combat aircraft by having the combat and maintenance squadrons report directly to the wing and eliminating the intermediate group structures.[11] This reorganization was implemented in April 1951 for the 98th Wing, when wingheadquarters moved on paper to Japan, taking over the personnel and functions of the 98th Group, which became a paper organization, and the squadron began operating under wing control.[12]
Starting in January 1952, the threat posed by enemyinterceptors forced the squadron to fly only night missions. The unit flew its last mission, a propaganda leaflet drop, on the last day before thearmistice was signed.[13] The squadron remained in combat ready status in Japan until July 1954 when it moved toLincoln Air Force Base, Nebraska.[1][12]
The squadron disposed of its B-29s to storage atDavis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. At Lincoln, the squadron was equipped with newBoeing B-47E Stratojets. it engaged in strategic bombardment training with the B-47 throughout the rest of the 1950s, into the early 1960s. From November 1955 through January 1966, the squadron deployed toRAF Lakenheath as part ofOperation Reflex, standingalert at the forward deployment site.[1]
From 1958, the 344th began to assume an alert posture at its home base, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases to meet GeneralThomas S. Power's initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC’s planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.[14] The alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962.[15]
Soon afterdetection of Soviet missiles in Cuba, on 22 October 1962 the squadron's B-47s dispersed.[16] On 24 October the 343d went toDEFCON 2, placing all its aircraft on alert. Most dispersal bases were civilian airfields with AF Reserve orAir National Guard units. The unit's B-47s were configured for execution of the Emergency War Order as soon as possible after dispersing. On 15 November 1/6 of the squadron's dispersed B-47s were recalled to Lincoln.[17] The remaining B-47s and their supporting tankers were recalled on 24 November. On 27 November SAC returned its bomber units to normal alert posture.[18]
The squadron was inactivated in June 1966 with the phaseout of the B-47 and closure of Lincoln.[1]
The squadron was redesignated the344th Air Refueling Squadron and reactivated in May 1986 atSeymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The squadron was assigned to SAC's68th Air Refueling Wing until the implementation of the objective wing organization, which called for one wing to control all units an each base. The 68th Wing was inactivated and the squadron transferred to the4th Operations Group as the4th Wing added the air refueling mission to itsfighters. After the formation ofAir Mobility Command (AMC) in 1992, the squadron moved toMcConnell Air Force Base, Kansas and became part of AMC's22nd Operations Group.[1]
On 25 January 2019, McConnell received the first two (15-46009 and17-46031) of a planned 36KC-46 Pegasus aircraft that will eventually replace the KC-135 as the primary Air Force tanker aircraft.[19] June 4, 2019 the 334th performed the first KC-46 Pegasus IOT&E (initial operations testing and evaluation) flight, refueling two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft four times with around 29,000lb of fuel.[20]
The squadron wasn't officially converted to a KC-46 squadron until April 1
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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