270th Engineering Installation Squadron

270th Engineering Installation Squadron
	Emblem
Active	1949 – present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Garrison/HQ	Horsham Air Guard Station, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Motto(s)	"Semper Supremi"
Mascot(s)	Squirrel

Last updated October 01, 2019

The 270th Engineering Installation Squadron (270th EIS) is a cyberspace engineering & installation unit located at Horsham Air Guard Station, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Horsham Air Guard Station is owned by the Pennsylvania Air National Guard and located in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The Air National Guard plays host to many different Army National Guard Units as well as other government agencies. The site was formerly the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove.

Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the Northeastern, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle. The Commonwealth is bordered by Delaware to the southeast, Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest, New York to the north, and New Jersey to the east.

History

The 270th Engineering Installation Squadron was originally activated at Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the 603rd Signal Light Construction Company on April 12, 1949. Federal recognition of the unit was extended on May 17, 1949 when the unit’s manpower consisted of 2 officers and 11 Airmen. By Jan. 1, 1951, the unit reached strength of 5 officers and 86 Airmen. When the 111th Bombardment Group, the unit’s Pennsylvania Air National Guard host, was mobilized on April 10, 1951 for the Korean War, the 603rd was left as the only Air Guard unit in Philadelphia. Due to the large amount of military air traffic in the area, one officer and six Airmen were placed on permanent duty with a mission to refuel and service military aircraft; maintain operational service and logging record on a 24-hour, 7 day per week basis. The wire construction mission continued with the unit winning several awards for military professionalism.

Philadelphia International Airport, is the primary airport serving Philadelphia. The airport serves 31.7 million passengers annually, making it the 20th busiest airport in the United States. The airport, located 7 miles (11 km) from downtown Philadelphia, has twenty-five airlines that offer nearly 500 daily departures to more than 130 destinations worldwide.

The Pennsylvania Air National Guard is the air force militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border.

On Oct. 1, 1952 the unit was reorganized and designated as the 270th Communications Squadron, Operations. The mission was changed from installation to operation of base communications equipment facilities to include telephone and teletype equipment. During annual training periods, unit members were integrated with active-duty Air Force communications units. When the 111th Bombardment Group returned to Philadelphia International Airport from Spokane, Washington, the 270th was relocated to the First Regiment Armory of the National Guard at 335 - 347 North Broad and Callowhill Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1]

The unit then returned to the Philadelphia International Airport and occupied temporary hangars where Atlantic Aviation, now Macquarie Infrastructure Company operates a Fixed-Base Operator Facility.^[2] In October 1960 the unit was reorganized and designated the 270th Ground Electronics Engineering Installation Agency (GEEIA) Squadron,^[3] and returned to the fixed communications installation mission. The gaining command at the time was the Air Materiel Command.^[4]

Air Materiel Command (AMC) was a United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In 1961, the command was redesignated the Air Force Logistics Command with some of its functions transferred to the new Air Force Systems Command.

They were then relocated to Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia until 1963 when the 111th Air Transport Group was reestablished to Willow Grove Naval Air Station, in Horsham, Pennsylvania. At that time, the 270th returned to the Philadelphia International Airport to become the sole military occupant and only Air National Guard unit in Philadelphia.

Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud Island on the Delaware River below Philadelphia, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia International Airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. In 1795 the fort was renamed for Thomas Mifflin, a Continental Army officer and the first post-independence Governor of Pennsylvania. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. It housed prisoners during the American Civil War. The army decommissioned Fort Mifflin for active duty infantry and artillery in 1962. However, while the older portion of the fort was returned to the City of Philadelphia, a portion of the fort's grounds are still actively used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, making it the oldest fort in military use in the United States. Historic preservationists have restored the fort, which is now a National Historic Landmark.

In May 1970, GEEIA was absorbed into the Air Force Communications Service, which later became the Air Force Communications Command (AFCC).^[4] The 270th was designated the 270th Electronics Installation Squadron at that time.

The unit was then rebranded in December 1982, to the designation of the 270th Engineering Installation Squadron with no change in mission or command. The 270th was relocated from Philadelphia International Airport to its current modern facilities at Willow Grove Air Reserve Station Oct. 15, 1985.

Finally in July 2005, the 270th EIS, along with the other 19 Air National Guard and active duty Engineering Installations Squadrons, transferred from Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) to Air Combat Command (ACC).

At present, the 270th EIS now falls under the 24th Air Force and Air Force Space Command. When fully mobilized as a wartime asset, the unit is gained by the 253rd Combat Communications Group located at Otis Air National Guard Base, Mass. The 270th Engineering Installation Squadron typically performs thousands of hours of real world engineering and installation of command, control, communications, and computer systems annually for the US Air Force as an adjunct to training.

Previous designations

603rd Signal Light Construction Company - 12 April 1949 - 1 October 1952
270th Communications Squadron, Operations - 1 October 1952 - October 1960
270th Ground Electronics Engineering Installation Agency (GEEIA) Squadron - October 1960 - May 1970
270th Electronics Installation Squadron - May 1970 - December 1982

Bases stationed

Philadelphia International Airport
First Regiment Armory of the National Guard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Willow Grove Air Reserve Station, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
Horsham Air Guard Station, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

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References

↑ "First Regiment Armory". www.philadelphiabuildings.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
↑ "Atlantic Aviation - Philadelphia, PA (PHL)". www.atlanticaviation.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
↑ "270". www.geeia.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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[1] "First Regiment Armory". www.philadelphiabuildings.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.

[2] "Atlantic Aviation - Philadelphia, PA (PHL)". www.atlanticaviation.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018.

[3] "270". www.geeia.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.

[tinker-4] 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)