349th Air Refueling Squadron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1942–1945; 1947–1949; 1956–1992; 1994–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Air refueling |
| Part of | Air Mobility Command |
| Garrison/HQ | McConnell Air Force Base |
| Nickname(s) | Blue Knights (1957–1977) |
| Engagements | European Theater of Operations[1] |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award withCombat "V" Device Air Force Outstanding Unit Award French Croix de Guerre with Palm[1] |
| Insignia | |
| 349th Air Refueling Squadron emblem[a][1][2] |  |
| Patch with 349th Bombardment Squadron emblem[b][3] |  |
| 349th Bombardment Squadron emblem(World War II)[4] | .png) |
| World War II fuselage code[4] | XR |
The349th Air Refueling Squadron is a unit of theUS Air Force, part of the22d Air Refueling Wing atMcConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. It operates theBoeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conductingaerial refueling missions.
Thesquadron, was activated as the349th 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 1992 withStrategic Air Command as abombardment,strategic reconnaissance and air refueling unit.
Thesquadron was activated as the349th Bombardment Squadron atOrlando Army Air Base, Florida on 1 June 1942, one of the four original squadrons of the100th Bombardment Group,[5][6] It was intended to be equipped withConsolidated B-24 Liberators.[7] TheArmy Air Forces (AAF) decided to concentrateheavy bomber training underSecond Air Force, and before the end of June, the squadron moved toPendleton Field, Oregon, and its intended equipment changed toBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. As a result, the squadron only began organizing in October 1942, after it had moved toGowen Field, Idaho. The following month, it moved toWalla Walla Army Air Field, Washington, where it received its first operational aircraft and began training.[7]
The 349th completed its training and departedKearney Army Air Field, Nebraska for theEuropean Theater of Operations on 1 May 1943. The ground echelon sailed on theRMS Queen Elizabeth on 28 May, arriving atGreenock, Scotland on 3 June, while the air echelon engaged in additional training before departing via thenorthern ferry route to England about 21 May 1943.[1][7]
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.[8] For this action, the squadron was awarded theDistinguished Unit Citation (DUC).[5]
From January to May 1944, the 349th 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.[5] 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.[9][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.[10] From the summer of 1944, the 349th concentrated on German oil production facilities.[5]
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.[5]
The squadron flew its last mission on 20 April 1945. 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.[7] 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 onBremen, 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.[7] It became a legend for these losses and was referred to as the "Bloody Hundredth."[7]
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The squadron was again activated in thereserve atMiami Army Air Field, Florida and assigned to the 100th Group on 29 May 1947. There, its training was supervised by the 473d AAF Base Unit (later the 2585th Air Force Reserve Training Center) ofAir Defense Command (ADC).[17] It was nominally a very heavy bomber squadron, but it does not appear the squadron was fully staffed and it was equipped only with training aircraft.[1]
In 1948Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve andAir National Guard units from ADC.[18] The 349th was inactivated when ConAC reorganized its reserve units under thewing base organization system in June 1949.[1] The squadron's personnel and equipment, along with other reserve units at Miami were transferred to elements of the435th Troop Carrier Wing.[17]
Reactivated underStrategic Air Command received new, swept wingBoeing B-47 Stratojets in 1956 which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses with its high operational ceiling and near supersonic speed. The squadron flew the B-47 for about a decade when by the mid-1960s it had become obsolescent and vulnerable to new Sovietair defenses. The squadron began to send its Stratojets toAerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis–Monthan AFB for retirement in 1965, the last being retired in 1966, one of the last B-47 Squadrons.[citation needed]
Redesignated as astrategic reconnaissance squadron from 1966–1976.[citation needed]
The squadron flew air refueling in support of theLockheed SR-71 Blackbird from 1976–1990 and provided cargo andaerial refueling support to combat units inSouthwest Asia from, August 1990 – March 1991.[1]
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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