965th Airborne Air Control Squadron

B-17 Flying Fortress

The 595th Bombardment Squadron was first activated at Mountain Home Army Air Field, Idaho on 16 February 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 396th Bombardment Group.[1][4] After initial organization and equipping with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, the squadron moved to Moses Lake Army Air Base, Washington. There the squadron acted as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) for B-17 units. The OTU program was patterned after the unit training system of the Royal Air Force. The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups". It assumed responsibility for their training and oversaw their expansion with graduates of Army Air Forces Training Command schools to become effective combat units.[5][6][7] Phase I training concentrated on individual training in crewmember specialties. Phase II training emphasized the coordination for the crew to act as a team. The final phase concentrated on operation as a unit.[8] In August 1943, the unit's mission changed to being a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).[1] By This time most combat units had been activated and many of them had deployed overseas. With the exception of special programs, like forming Boeing B-29 Superfortress units, training "fillers" (individual pilots or aircrews) for existing units became more important than unit training.[9] Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units. Their mission, however was to train individual pilots or aircrews.[5]

In November 1943, the 595th moved to Drew Field, Florida, where it would remain for the duration of its active service.[1] However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, 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.[10] The 592d was inactivated on 1 May 1944 at Drew Field, Florida.[1] Its personnel and equipment became part of the 326th AAF Base Unit.[11]

UC–64 Norseman

L-5 Sentinel

The 165th Liaison Squadron was activated at Asansol, India as part of the 1st Air Commando Group in September 1944. It was manned almost entirely by enlisted pilots.[12] The following month it moved to Burma, where, along with other airlift elements of the 1st Air Commando Group, it operated under Eastern Air Command's Combat Cargo Task Force.[13] It flew evacuation missions and provided light transport services for ground forces in Burma from various locations until 23 April 1945.[1] Following the fall of Rangoon, It returned to Asansol, where it came under the control of Northern Combat Area Command,[13] and remained there until October, when it returned to the United States. It was inactivated two days after its arrival at the New York Port of Embarkation on 1 November 1945.[1]

EC-121 Warning Star over Thailand

The 965th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron was activated in August 1955 at McClellan Air Force Base, California as the third Lockheed RC-121 Warning Star[lower-alpha 3] squadron of the 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing. Squadron operations were mostly devoted to training with the new systems, with the unit becoming an active part of Air Defense Command (ADC)'s radar network in March 1956.[14] The squadron flew patrols off the Pacific coast that extended the air defense radar coverage beyond the range of ground-based radar sites. late in 1958, the squadron also began flying gap filler missions when ground radar sites were inoperative. After 1957, it deployed to remote parts of the Pacific to track impact points of test launches of ballistic missiles over the Pacific ranges.[15][14]

At the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, ADC had a single air defense orbit established in Florida, supported by the six RC-121s of the 966th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron.[16] On 17 October 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed ADC to increase its presence at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida to twelve EC-121s.[17] Crews and planes from the squadron were included in this augmentation of air defense forces, with the first plane arriving at McCoy from McClellan on 19 October.[15] This augmentation permitted the establishment of two additional orbits to detect potential air action by Cuba.[18][lower-alpha 4] The additional aircraft at McCoy were released from their commitment on 3 December 1962, and returned to their home station by 5 December.[15][19]

Starting in April 1965, the squadron began operating in Southeast Asia as part of the Big Eye Task Force (later renamed College Eye). College Eye operations continued until the squadron was inactivated.[1][15] Initially, two orbits were maintained over the Gulf of Tonkin to support Operation Rolling Thunder from Tan Son Nhut Airport, near Saigon. From these orbits, Task Force aircraft could alert strike aircraft when enemy MiGs were launched. Squadron members rotated to the College Eye Task force on four month long temporary duty assignments. Operations later continued from bases in Thailand. A third orbit over Laos was added in October 1966, followed by reduction of the Gulf of Tonkin flights to a single orbit. This station also controlled strikes during Operation Barrel Roll.[20] Although the squadron did not deploy as a unit to Southeast Asia, its support of these actions earned it an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device and a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm[1]

The airborne radar mission in the United States began to be reduced at the end of 1969,[21] and the 552nd Wing's squadrons assumed the remaining Atlantic coastal and Iceland missions. The squadron was inactivated on 30 June 1971 as these reductions continued.[1][15]

The 965th was redesignated the 965th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron and reactivated at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma on 1 July 1978 to fly the Boeing E-3 Sentry. The squadron became non-operational in September 1979, although it remained on the active list. It resumed operations at the start of 1984.[1] Upon resumption of operations, it supported deployments to ELF One in Southwest Asia, to monitor the war between Iraq and Iran until April 1989.[22] In September 1985, the 595th Bombardment Squadron and the 165th Liaison Squadron were consolidated with the squadron.[1] In August 1989, the squadron began patrolling the southern border of the United States in the war against drugs. In 1990, counter drug operations expanded to include regular fights from Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico.[23]

It flew combat support missions for Operation Just Cause over Panama from 20 December 1989 to 24 January 1990.[23] These missions included providing command and control for tanker aircraft refueling transports transporting troops to Panama. Since the refueling area was near Cuban airspace, it also included control of F-15 aircraft providing cover for the transports.[24]

Elements of the 552nd Wing began to deploy in support of Operation Desert Shield as early as 10 August 1990.[23] They also provided airborne control of the initial strikes in Iraq on 17 January and continued support of Operation Proven Force until 6 March 1991.[1] In late May 1992, the 522nd Wing reorganized under the Objective Wing plan.[25] The 965th and other operational elements of the wing were reassigned to the newly-formed 552nd Operations Group.[1][25] In July 1994, the squadron name was shortened to the 965th Airborne Air Control Squadron.[1]

The squadron supported Operations Provide Comfort and Operation Southern Watch with deployed crews and aircraft.[25] It has been the major force provider for deployments and exercises, with its personnel and planes forming the 965th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron. Among others, these expeditionary units have served in 1999 at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey; at RAF Waddington, England in 2003; and at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska (Exercise Cope Thunder 06-1)[26]

• 396th Bombardment Group, 16 February 1943 – 1 May 1944
• 1st Air Commando Group, 3 September 1944 – 3 November 1945
• 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, 8 August 1955 – 30 June 1971
• 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing (later 552d Airborne Warning and Control Division, 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing, 552d Air Control Wing), 1 July 1978
• 552d Operations Group, 29 May 1992 – present[1]

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (1943–1944)
• Noorduyn C-64 Norseman (1944–1945)
• Stinson L-5 Sentinel (1944–1945)
• Lockheed RC-121 (later EC-121) Constellation (1955–1971)
• Boeing E-3 Sentry (1978–1979, 1984–present)[1]

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• Allen, William J. (2000). "Intervention in Panama: Operation Just Cause". In Warnock, A. Timothy (ed.). Short of War: Major USAF Contingency Operations 1947-1997 (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press. ISBN 978-0-16050411-2. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
• 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.

• Endicott, Judy G. (1998). Active Air Force Wings as of 1 October 1995 and USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995 (PDF). Air Force History and Museums Program. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ASIN B000113MB2. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
• LaFayette, MSG Kenneth K.; Newberry, J. Scott. "Operational History of the 552d Air Control Wing 1955-2000" (PDF). 552d Air Control Wing History Office. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Taylor, Joe G. (April 1957). "Air Supply in the Burma Campaigns, USAF Historical Study No. 75" (PDF). Research Studies Institute, USAF Historical Division, Air University. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
• NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO , 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996)