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Now the 50th Air Refueling Squadron is assigned to MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. They operate the KC-135R/T for the 6th Operations Group with the 91st Air Refueling Squadron and the 99th Air Refueling Squadron at Birmingham, for the Alabama Air National Guard.
History
World War II
Activated in the summer of 1942 under
I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with
Douglas C-47 Skytrains at
Drew Field,
FL. Trained in various parts of the eastern United States until the end of 1943. Deployed to French Morocco in May 1943 and assigned to
Twelfth Air Force to support combat operations in the
North African Campaign. Remained with Twelfth Air Force, moving to Tunisia and Sicily providing transport and resupply operations as well as casualty evacuation of wounded personnel in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). Reassigned to
IX Troop Carrier Command in England during early 1944 as part of the build-up of Allied forces prior to
Operation Overlord, the invasion of France.[3]
After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It dropped paratroops near
Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the
Operation Market Garden, the airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the
Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the
101st Airborne Division near
Bastogne.
Moved to Belgium in early 1945, and participated in the Western Allied invasion of Germany, participating in the air assault across the
Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the
17th Airborne Division and released them near
Wesel.
After V-E Day, became part of the
United States Air Forces in Europe, and was part of the USAFE European Air Transport System (EATS), supporting the occupation forces in Germany as well as carrying supplies and personnel between various stations in Western Europe. Inactivated in early 1946 while stationed in France, unit inactivated later that year as an administrative unit.
Tactical Air Command
Reactivated as part of
Tactical Air Command (TAC) in 1949 with
Fairchild C-82 Packets and various gliders as an assault squadron. Deployed to Japan for combat operations in 1950 for the
Korean War. Furnished airlift between Japan and Korea and airdropped paratroops and supplies at Sukchon/Sunchon and Munsan-ni. Moved to the Philippines in 1954 after the armistice and was inactivated.[3]
Campaigns. World War II: Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Rome-Arno; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Central Europe. Korea: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter; Korea Summer-Fall, 1952; Third Korean Winter; Korea, Summer 1953. Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia; Liberation and Defense of Kuwait.
314th Tactical Airlift Wing, 15 August 1973 (attached to
322d Tactical Airlift Wing 1 June–18 August 1974, 374th Tactical Airlift Wing 28 April–6 June 1975,
435th Tactical Airlift Wing 6 December 1975 – 12 February 1976,
513th Tactical Airlift Wing 7 September–1 November 1976, 435th Tactical Airlift Wing, 6 April–9 Jun 1977, 513th Tactical Airlift Wing, 14 January–14 March 1978)
314th Tactical Airlift Group, 1 November 1978 (attached to 513th Tactical Airlift Wing, 6 August–8 October 1979)
314th Tactical Airlift Wing, 15 June 1980 (attached to
313th Tactical Airlift Group, 5 December 1980 – 12 February 1981, 5 June–14 August 1982, 4 October–14 December 1983, 2 June–14 August 1985, 3 August–16 October 1986, 5 October–16 December 1987, 3 December 1988 – 15 February 1989, 4 August–15 October 1991)
314th Operations Group, 1 December 1991 (attached to 313th Tactical Airlift Group 27 November 1992 – 31 January 1993,
86th Airlift Wing, 7 December 1995 – 11 March 1996)
Bolling Field, District of Columbia, 15 February-27 May 1946
Smyrna Air Force Base (later Sewart) Air Force Base), Tennessee, 17 October 1949 – 27 August 1950
Ashiya Air Base, Japan, 4 September 1950 – 15 November 1954 (operated from
Clark Air Base, Philippines, 26 June-5 Sep 1954)
Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee, 15 November 1954 – c. 26 December 1965 (deployed to Clark Air Base, Philippines, 29 August-c. 20 December 1958 and May-Jul 1965;
Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France, 27 March-c. 15 August 1961)
Deployed to
Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, 1 June-18 Aug 1974, 3 December 1975 – 8 February 1976 and 4 April-14 Jun 1977
Deployed to Clark Air Base, Philippines, 25 April-7 Jun 1975
Deployed to
RAF Mildenhall, England, 4 September-13 Nov 1976, 14 January-14 Mar 1978, 6 August-8 Oct 1979, 5 December 1980 – 12 February 1981, 5 June-14 Aug 1982, 4 October-14 Dec 1983, 2 June-14 Aug 1985, 3 August-16 Oct 1986, 5 October-16 Dec 1987, 3 December 1988 – 15 February 1989, 4 August-15 Oct 1991, 27 November 1992 – 31 January 1993
Deployed to
Ramstein Air Base, Germany, (7 December 1995 – 11 March 1996, 5 December 1997 – 30 January 1998, 26 May – 26 Jul 1999)[7]
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, 2 October 2017 – present[1]