2nd Special Operations Squadron

The unit was initially formed at Fort Omaha, Nebraska as Company B, 2nd Balloon Squadron on 25 September 1917 at the Fort Omaha Balloon School. Its mission was to provide forward observations for the artillery. The unit trained in the fall of 1917, one of the last, as training was rather difficult at Fort Omaha: the weather was bad much of the time, and it was impossible to keep balloons in the air for long periods. The Army decided they needed Balloon Schools in warmer, more stable, environments and selected Camp John Wise in San Antonio, Texas and Camp Ross, Arcadia, California.[4] On 30 November, orders were received for the unit to proceed to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island, for preparation to serve overseas.[5]

On 7 December, the squadron, now designated the 2nd Balloon Company, boarded a train and proceeded to Saint John, New Brunswick, Newfoundland where it boarded the RMS Tunisian for the crossing of the Atlantic. It left on 12 December and arrived at Liverpool, England on Christmas Day. From there, the company traveled by train to Southampton on the English Channel coast and boarded the steamer Archangel for Le Havre, France, arriving on 28 December. It reported to the American Expeditionary Force Balloon School at Camp de Coetquidan, Morbihan, France, on 3 January 1918.[6]

: Close-up view of an American major in the basket of an observation balloon flying near front lines

At the school, the company received French Caquot (U.S. Type R) observation balloons. It was trained on the equipment by members of the French Army, and, on 23 January, the first trial ascents with an observer in the basket were made. The company sent members to the front lines and operated under French control, making artillery adjustments for the 101st, 102, 149th and 150th French Artillery Regiments. Finally, on 29 February, training was ended and the 2nd Balloon Company was ordered to report to the First Army at Toul, arriving on 1 March, joining the French encampment of the 90th French Balloon Company at Camp L'Emitage, near Menil-la-Tour. It was the first American balloon company to reach the Western Front and enter combat.[6]

The first observer of the company to be decorated was 1st Lieutenant Sidney Howell, when on 16 March, he was forced to jump from a burning balloon set on fire by enemy aircraft. He received a Croix de Guerre with palm. During the Chateu-Thierry operations, the company took a very active part, following the advance of Allied troops moving frequently as the front moved up. Frequently the balloons were attacked and set on fire by enemy aircraft, observers jumping and landing safely.[6] The company took part in the St. Mihiel and Muse-Argonne offensives during 1918, making a total of 180 ascensions with 13 observers. The missions being hazardous with 9 balloons being shot down, however no squadron members were killed or wounded in action.[6]

With the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the company was reassigned to the Third Army and ordered to report to Trier-Euren, Germany, in the Rhineland and performed occupation duty along the Rhine River. It remained with Third Army until 20 May until being relieved and ordered to return to the United States. After processing at the 1st Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, France, the unit reported first to a staging area, then to a port for the return home.[7]

The 2nd Balloon Company arrived at the Port of New York on 22 June 1919 on the USS Patria and transferred to Mitchel Field, New York, c. 23 June 1919, where the men were demobilized and returned to civilian life.[8]

Type "R" observation balloon at Arcadia Balloon School, Arcadia, California, 1921

On 11 August 1919, the company was transferred to Ross Field, Arcadia, California without personnel or equipment. The unit was reorganized on 1 October 1921 and redesignated as the Air Service Balloon School Detachment. However, the Air Service decided to close Ross Field due to the Santa Ana winds, which blew in from the desert. These winds created much havoc with the aerial observation, ground training, and balloon handling. The detachment was disbanded and the remaining equipment left over from the war and some men were sent to Brooks Field, Texas.[4] The unit was demobilized on 21 May 1922.[8][1]

A new 2nd Balloon Company was constituted in the Regular Army on 18 October 1927, as part of the 26th Balloon Group at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The company was assigned to the Army's Eighth Corps Area, however it was not activated. The designation was transferred to the Sixth Corps Area on 1 September 1928, before being organized at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 29 May 1930.[8] The unit was equipped with type C-3 observation balloons as well as type A-6 and A-7 spherical balloons. It was consolidated with its World War I predecessor unit on 6 August 1930.[1]

At Fort Bragg, the unit was redesignated the 2nd Balloon Squadron on 1 October 1933, and equipped with C-6 observation balloons in 1938.[1] It supported activities of the Coast Artillery Barrage Balloon Training Center at Camp Davis, North Carolina, 1940-41.[8] Aircraft reconnaissance technology was making the manned observation balloon obsolete by 1940; the unit was last assigned on 1 September 1941 to I Air Support Command of First Air Force at Pope Field, before being disbanded on 3 February 1942 shortly after the Pearl Harbor Attack.[1]

In its early years, along with its own fighter wings for escorting its bombers, Strategic Air Command (SAC) formed a limited air transport capability to supplement that of the Military Air Transport Service, which provided SAC with the majority of its airlift support. The 2nd Strategic Support Squadron was organized and activated on 14 January 1949 at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, where it drew its cadre from the 1st Strategic Support Squadron, which had moved to Biggs the previous month.[9] The squadron was assigned directly to SAC's Eighth Air Force, but was attached to the host wing at Biggs, the 97th Bombardment Wing.[1]

Initially flying Douglas C-54 Skymasters, the squadron carried much classified equipment and personnel to various locations around the world. During the 1950s the squadron operated from several SAC bases in various locations and was upgraded to the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II intercontinental airlifter in 1950. The squadron was inactivated on 15 June 1961 when SAC divested itself of its organic transport aircraft and transferred the mission back to MATS. In September 1985, the two squadrons were consolidated as the 2nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, but the consolidated squadron remained inactive.[1]

The squadron was reactivated in the reserve as the 2nd Special Operations Squadron in 2009. With its history of being a combat reconnaissance unit, the squadron was assigned modern General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The 2nd became the first Air Force reserve squadron to assume command of a UAV combat air patrol - a 24/7 orbit over a critical area of a combat zone.[10]

The 2nd was originally established as a classic associate squadron with a bit of a twist. It was initially located at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, geographically separated from both its parent unit, the 919th Special Operations Wing at Duke Field, Florida, and its host associate unit, the Regular Air Force's 3rd Special Operations Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. It is also geographically separated from the aircraft it operates, as all of the aircraft the squadron operates are owned by the active-duty unit, and all are deployed in combat areas.[10] In 2014, the squadron relocated to its current home of Hurlburt Field, Florida, concurrent with its transition to the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.[11]

Like many other UAV squadrons, the 2nd is composed of people with a wide range of aircraft experience in addition to the MQ-1 and MQ-9: AC-130 gunships, MC-130 Combat Talons, A-10s, Marine Corps AV-8 Harriers, Navy F-14s, F-15s, F-16s, Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18s, F-22s and bombers, tankers, airlifters, and even helicopters.[10]

• Unknown, 25 September 1917-July 1918
• Balloon Wing, I Army Corps (later Balloon Group, I Army Corps), July 1918
• Balloon Group, IV Army Corps, 20 November 1918
• Balloon Group, VII Army Corps, 27 April-11 May 1919
• unknown, May–August 1919
• Balloon School (later Air Service Balloon Observers School), Ross Field, California, August 1919 – 15 August 1922
• Sixth Corps Area, 20 May 1930
• First Army, 30 December 1940
• I Air Support Command, 1 September 1941 – 3 February 1942
• Eighth Air Force, 14 January 1949 (attached to 97th Bombardment Wing until 18 April 1950, then to 509th Bombardment Wing)
• Fifteenth Air Force, 16 May 1951
• Second Air Force 1 September 1956
• Eighth Air Force, 1 January 1959
• 321st Bombardment Wing, 1 September 1959 – 15 June 1961
• 919th Operations Group, 1 March 2009 – present[1]

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

• Clay, Steven E. (2011). US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941 (PDF). Vol. 3 The Services: Air Service, Engineers, and Special Troops 1919-1941. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-98419-014-0. LCCN 2010022326. OCLC 637712205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
• DesChenes, Richard E. (2013). The Insignia, Uniforms & Equipment of the U. S. Army Balloon Corps: 1917-1922 (Second ed.). Self published. ISBN 978-0615188386.
• Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series F: Balloon Section. Vol. 1 History of the Balloon Section, American Expeditionary Forces. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC 215070705.
• History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series O: Weekly statistical reports on progress of Air Service Activities, October 1918-May 1919. Vol. 29. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1974. OCLC 215070705.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Schiver, Patricia T. (1980). "The Caquot Flies Again" (PDF). Air University Review. 31 (1). Retrieved 7 December 2010.
• War Department (1920). Battle Participation of Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, Belgium and Italy, 1917–1919. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. OCLC 118250. Retrieved 4 December 2016.