541st Bombardment Squadron

B-24 Liberator of a training unit in the southwest

The first predecessor of the squadron was the 541st Bombardment Squadron, which was activated at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as one of the four original squadrons of the 383d Bombardment Group. Its cadre moved to Rapid City Army Air Base a little over a week later, where it began to equip as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Operational Training Unit (OTU) the following year.[1][2] OTUs were oversized parent units that provided cadres to "satellite groups"[3]

In October 1943, the squadron moved to Peterson Field, Colorado, where it flew Consolidated B-24 Liberator and changed its mission to become a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual aircrews.[3] However, the AAF was finding that standard military units like the 541st, which were based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not 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 for the specific training mission.[4] As a result, the 383d Group, its elements and supporting units were inactivated or disbanded[1][2] and replaced by the 214th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Heavy), which was simultaneously organized at Peterson.

The second predecessor of the squadron was the 161st Liaison Squadron, which was activated at Statesboro Army Air Field, Georgia on 15 May 1944. The squadron served at a number of stations, mostly in the southern United States until it moved to the Panama Canal Zone in September 1946. It served in Panama until inactivating in June 1949, as President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force,[5][6]

The third predecessor of the squadron was formed as the 1st Combat Crew Training Squadron at Clinton County Air Force Base, Ohio on 1 July 1968, when it absorbed the personnel and equipment of the Combat Crew Training Squadron, Provisional, 302d, which had been organized on 1 April 1968 to provide aircrew training on the Fairchild AC-119 Stinger gunship. The provisional squadron remained active until 1 August, but only as a paper unit.[7] Although a reserve unit, the squadron provided training for regular Air Force crews, as well as for members of the military of South Vietnam, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Morocco. The squadron was renamed the 1st Tactical Airlift Training Squadron in 1970 and continued the training mission until inactivated in March 1973.[8]

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

• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  • Goss, William A. (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L. (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Knaack, Marcelle Size (1978). Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems (PDF). Vol. 2, Post-World War II Bombers 1945-1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-59-5. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• 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.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.