351st Air Refueling Squadron | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Active | 1942–1945; 1947–1949; 1956–1966; 1992–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Aerial refueling |
| Part of | United States Air Forces in Europe |
| Garrison/HQ | RAF Mildenhall |
| Motto | Pax Opus Nostrum (Latin for 'Peace is our Profession')[1] |
| Equipment | KC-135R/T Stratotanker |
| Engagements | European Theater of Operations Kosovo War |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award French Croix de Guerre with Palm[1] |
| Insignia | |
| 351st Air Refueling Squadron emblem[b][1] |  |
| Patch with 351st Bombardment Squadron emblem(World War II)[2] |  |
| World War IIfuselage code | EP (1942–1945) |
| Tail code | Square D (100th Group, World War II, 1992–present)[3] |
The351st Air Refueling Squadron is aUnited States Air Force unit that is part of the100th Air Refueling Wing atRAF Mildenhall, England. Since 1992, it has operated theBoeing KC-135R/T Stratotanker aircraft conducting primarilyaerial refueling but alsoairlift andaeromedical evacuation missions.
Thesquadron was activated as the351st Bombardment Squadron duringWorld War II as aheavy bomber unit. It served in combat in theEuropean Theater of Operations, where it earned aDistinguished Unit Citation and theFrench Croix de Guerre with Palm for its actions. AfterV-E Day the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated at the port of embarkation.
The squadron was briefly active in thereserve from 1947 to 1949, but does not appear to have been fully equipped or manned. It served between 1956 and 1966 withStrategic Air Command as abombardment unit, flyingBoeing B-47 Stratojets.
Thesquadron was activated atOrlando Army Air Base, Florida on 1 June 1942 as one of the four original squadrons of the100th Bombardment Group,[4][5] It was intended to equip the squadron withConsolidated B-24 Liberators TheArmy Air Forces (AAF) decided to concentrateheavy bomber training underSecond Air Force, and before the end of June, the squadron moved toPendleton Field, Oregon. Its intended equipment changed toBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses.[6]
As a result, the squadron only began organizing in October 1942, after it had moved toGowen Field, Idaho. Two days later, the squadron departed forWalla Walla Army Air Base, Washington. There the first aircrew arrived on 1 December 1942 and it received its first operational aircraft and began training.[6]
The 351st completed its training and departedKearney Army Air Field, Nebraska for theEuropean Theater of Operations on 1 May 1943.[6] The ground echelon sailed on theRMS Queen Elizabeth on 28 May, arriving atGreenock, Scotland on 3 June, while the air echelon flew via thenorthern ferry route to England about 21 May 1943.[1][6]
The squadron established itself at its combat station,RAF Thorpe Abbotts, on 9 June 1943, flying its first combat mission on 25 June. Until the end of the war, the squadron was primarily employed in thestrategic bombing campaign against Germany. Until January 1944, it concentrated its operations on airfields in France, and industrial targets and naval facilities in France and Germany. On 17 August 1943, it participated in anattack on a factory manufacturingMesserschmitt Bf 109 fighters inRegensburg, Germany, which seriously disrupted production of that plane. Although the mission called for fighter escort, the fighter group assigned to protect the squadron's formation missed the rendezvous and thewing formation proceeded to the target unescorted. Enemy fighter opposition focused on the low "box", formed in part by the squadron. Ten of the 21 Flying Fortresses flown by the 100th Group were lost on this mission. Unknown to AAF intelligence at the time, the attack also destroyed almost all of the fuselage construction equipment for Germany's secretMe 262 jet fighter. Rather than returning to England, the unit turned south and recovered at bases in North Africa.[7] For this action, the squadron was awarded theDistinguished Unit Citation (DUC).[4]
From January to May 1944, the 351st attacked airfields, industrial targets,marshalling yards, and missile sites in Western Europe. DuringBig Week, it participated in the concentrated attack on the German aircraft industry. In March, it conducted a series of long range attacks againstBerlin, for which it was awarded a second DUC.[4] The raid of 6 March was to be the costliest mission flown byEighth Air Force during the war. German fighter controllers detected that the formation including the squadron was unprotected by fighter escorts and concentratedinterceptor attacks on it. Twenty-three B-17s from the formation failed to return.[8][c] Two days later, German fighters shot down the leader of the45th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the 100th Group took the lead in another attack on Berlin.[9] From the summer of 1944, the 351st concentrated on German oil production facilities.[4]
The squadron was occasionally diverted from strategic bombing to performinterdiction andair support missions. It attacked bridges andgun positions to supportOperation Overlord, the landings at Normandy in June 1944. In August and September it supportedOperation Cobra, the breakout atSaint Lo, and bombed enemy positions inBrest. AsAllied forces drove across Northern France toward theSiegfried Line in October and November, it attacked transportation and ground defenses. During theBattle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945, it attackedlines of communication and fortified villages in theArdennes. It provided support forOperation Varsity, the airborne assault across theRhine in March 1945. The squadron was awarded theFrench Croix de Guerre with Palm for attacks on heavily defended sites and dropping supplies to theFrench Forces of the Interior.[4]
The squadron flew its last mission on 20 April 1945.[10] Following,V-E Day, the squadron was initially programmed to be part of theoccupation forces in Germany, but that plan was cancelled in September, and between October and December, the squadron's planes were ferried back to the United States or transferred to other units in theater.[6] Its remaining personnel returned to the United States in December and the squadron was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation on 19 December 1945.[1]
Starting with the Regensburg mission of August 1943, the squadrons of the 100th Bombardment Group began suffering losses among the highest inVIII Bomber Command.[11] On 8 October, it lost seven aircraft on a raid on Bremen, including its lead and deputy lead aircraft.[12] Only two days later, it lost twelve aircraft on an attack onMünster, again including the lead aircraft. The only group plane returning from that mission had lost two engines and had two wounded on board.[13][d] Its highest one day loss occurred on the 6 March 1944 attack on Berlin, when 15 bombers failed to return.[14] On 11 September 1944, theLuftwaffe put up its heaviest opposition in months, destroying 11 of the group's bombers.[15] On 31 December 1944, half the1st Bombardment Division's losses consisted of a dozen 100th bombers.[16] With a group authorization of 40 B-17s, it lost 177 planes to enemy action.[6] It became a legend for these losses and was referred to as the "Bloody Hundredth."[6]
The squadron was again activated in thereserve at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida on 17 July 1947 and assigned to the 100th Group, which was located atMiami Army Air Field, Florida. At Orlando, its training was supervised byAir Defense Command (ADC). It does not appear the squadron was fully staffed and was not equipped with operational aircraft.[1] In 1948,Continental Air Command assumed responsibility for managing reserve andAir National Guard units from ADC.[17]
PresidentTruman's reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of Air Force units.[18] As a result, the 351st was inactivated[1] as manned flying operations at Orlando Air Force Base ceased.
The unit was reactivated underStrategic Air Command on 1 January 1956 as the351st Bombardment Squadron, Medium. Based atPortsmouth Air Force Base (later Pease AFB), New Hampshire, the 351st BS was equipped with 15 new, swept wingBoeing B-47E Stratojets which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses. The 351st deployed toRAF Brize Norton,Oxfordshire, from 29 December 1957 to 1 April 1958.[19]
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 AMARC atDavis–Monthan AFB,Arizona, for retirement in 1965, and the unit was inactivated on 25 June 1966, one of the last B-47 Squadrons.[1]
The unit was reactivated atRAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, in the United Kingdom on 31 March 1992 as the351st Air Refueling Squadron, operating theBoeing KC-135R Stratotanker.[1] The first KC-135R to arrive at Mildenhall for the 351st was 58–0100 on 19 May 1992 fromLoring Air Force Base, Maine.[20] Nine KC-135Rs had arrived by September 1992.[21] Following their reactivation, the 351st went on to support OperationsProvide Comfort,Restore Hope andNorthern Watch.[1]
In April 1996, the 351st contributed to Operation Assured Response, deploying three KC-135s toDakar-Yoff International Airport, Senegal, to help support the evacuation of U.S. citizens andthird country nationals from Liberia after fighting flared up inMonrovia during theFirst Liberian Civil War.[22][23]
In March 1998, the 351st participated in Exercise Strong Resolve 98 atSola Air Station, Norway.[24] After theEuropean Tanker Task Force was ended on 28 November 1998, the number of KC-135s assigned to the 351st was increased to 15 tankers.[25] In 1999, the squadron supportedOperation Allied Force, NATO intervention during theKosovo War, as the351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron.[26]
.jpg)
In October 2001, the 351st EARS deployed 12 tankers: four toIncirlik Air Base, Turkey; another four toRhein-Main Air Base, Germany; and a final four toSouda Bay, Greece, in support ofOperation Enduring Freedom (OEF).[27] On 23 November 2001, KC-135s deployed toBurgas Airport in Bulgaria, from where they conducted OEF missions.[28]
In March 2011, the 351st Air Refueling Squadron deployed a portion of its KC-135 Stratotanker fleet toIstres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, in support of OperationUnified Protector, as the 351st EARS.[29]
Since 2013, the 351st EARS, has regularly deployed toMorón Air Base, Spain in support of Operation Juniper Micron – which aims to assistFrench operations in Mali.[30][31] The first deployment occurred on 13 January 2013.[32] In June 2013, the 351st ARS refuelled threeLuftwaffeMcDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom IIs ofTaktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71 "Richthofen" on their last air-to-air refueling sortie before their retirement on 29 June 2013.[33] In October 2014, the 351st was awarded the 2013Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Trophy, which is given to the best USAF air refueling squadron, becoming the first unit based outside of the United States to win the award.[34]
On 22 February 2019, a KC-135R of the squadron participated in a flypast overSheffield to mark the 75th anniversary of the crash of B-17GMi Amigo, which saw the loss of all ten crew on board.[35]
Between 29 September and 1 October 2020, the 351st ARS conducted Exercise Wolff Pack, a surge operation to test the 100th ARW's ability to deploy its aircraft to multiple areas across Europe, which included anelephant walk of 12 of the squadron's 15 KC-135s.[36] The 351st ARS participated in the2020 Nigeria hostage rescue on 31 October, forward deploying six tankers to Morón Air Base from where they provided air refueling support for the operation.[37]
In May 2021, the 351st was awarded the 2020 Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Trophy, winning it for a second time.[38] The 351st also participated in Exercise Atlantic Trident 2021 during May, operating alongside theFrench Air and Space Force and USAFLockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs from the4th Fighter Squadron.[39][40] Between 18 and 21 May, the 351st hosted the 2021 European Tanker Symposium, which saw aMcDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender and aRoyal Air ForceVoyager KC3 deploy to Mildenhall.[41]
The2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led to an increased number of sorties by the 351st, supporting NATO's Enhanced Air Policing.[42][43]
.jpg)
The 15 squadron KC-135R/T tankers typically wear nose art to reflect the 100th Wing's history as a bombardment group during WWII.[20][h]
In 2019, to mark the 75th anniversary ofOperation Overlord, two KC-135Rs received special schemes to reflect the squadron's participation in 1944.[44]
In May 2021, nose art (Skipper III) was unveiled on KC-135R, serial 59-1470 in honor of 100th BG Master Sergeant Dewey Christopher, who maintained B-17s Skipper and Skipper II during World War II.[45] Another tanker (serial 58-0089) was unveiled the following month in dedication ofLt. Col. Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal, who was assigned to the 100th Group between September 1943 and September 1944.[46]
In October 2023, nose art (Squawkin Hawk) was unveiled on KC-135R 59–1511 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Black Week, where theEighth Air Force suffered heavy losses.[47] The originalSquawkin Hawk was the first B-17 of the 100th Bombardment Group to fly 50 combat missions.[48]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
| Bases |
| ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organizations |
| ||||||||||||||
Part of theUnited States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) | |||||||||||||||
| Leadership |  | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure |
| ||||||||||
| Personnel and training | |||||||||||
| Uniforms and equipment | |||||||||||
| History and traditions |
| ||||||||||
