72d Test and Evaluation Squadron

72d Test and Evaluation Squadron
	B-2 Spirit landing at Whiteman AFB
Active	1918–1919; 1923–1947; 1947–1963; 1994-1996; 1998–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Weapon system testing and evaluation
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Whiteman Air Force Base
Engagements	World War I ; World War II
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation ; Navy Presidential Unit Citation ; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ; Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
Insignia
72d Test and Evaluation Squadron emblem (approved 14 February 1924) [1]

Last updated March 05, 2019

Squadron photo of the 72d Reconnaissance Squadron, 1948 46-72dreconsquadron-1948.jpg — Squadron photo of the 72d Reconnaissance Squadron, 1948

The 72d Test and Evaluation Squadron is part of the 53d Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The squadron is geographically separated but operated from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. It conducts testing and evaluation of the B-2 Spirit aircraft.

The 53d Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wing reports to the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, which reports to Headquarters Air Combat Command.

Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base in western Florida, located about three miles (5 km) southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County.

Whiteman Air Force Base human settlement in United States of America

Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Knob Noster, MO; 10 miles (16 km) east of Warrensburg, MO, and 70 miles (110 km) east-southeast of Kansas City.

Mission

The squadron is the focal point for executing operational test and evaluation of the $44.6 billion B-2 weapon system. The squadron evaluates the ability of the B-2 weapons system to support all major requirements and reports weapon system capabilities.

The unit provides experienced operations, maintenance, engineering, and analysis personnel who plan and conduct ground and flight tests, and analyze, evaluate, and report on the effectiveness and suitability of B-2 logistics support, tactics and survivability, foreign military exploitation, weapons and mission planning. The squadron reports results and conclusions to support DoD acquisition, deployment and employment decisions.^[2]

History

World War I

The squadron was formed in Texas in early 1918. After a period of training and organization, it departed from New York in the late summer of 1918, arriving in France on 4 September. It stayed two weeks at the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks, St. Maixent, then transited through Delouze Aerodrome before reaching Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome where it worked for the 1st Air Depot as "Advance Section, Serv. of Supply Air Park Squadron". It remained in France after the armistice until June 1919, arriving back in New York and subsequently demobilized in July.^[1]

The Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks is a former military facility in the vicinity of Saint-Maixent-l'École, Poitou-Charentes, France. It was used by the Air Service, United States Army as the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks during World War I. From the facility, Air Service personnel were sent into combat on the Western Front.

Delouze Aerodrome was a temporary World War I airfield in France. It was located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) NE of Delouze-Rosières, in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.

Interwar years

Reorganized in 1923 as a reconnaissance squadron, assigned to 5th Composite Group in Hawaii as part of the islands air defense organization. Assigned to Luke Field on Ford Island. Activities included training, participating in Army-Navy maneuvers, staging aerial reviews and sowing seeds from the air for the Territorial Forestry Division. In 1935, the squadron helped save the city of Hilo, Hawaii, during the eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano. Ten Keystone B-3 and Keystone B-4 bombers from the group’s 23d and 72d Bombardment Squadrons dropped twenty 600-pound bombs around the volcano to divert molten lava away from the town.^[1]

Ford Island is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island, and its native Hawaiian name is Mokuʻumeʻume. The island had an area of 334 acres (135 ha) when it was surveyed in 1825, which was increased during the 1930s to 441 acres (178 ha) with fill dredged out of Pearl Harbor by the United States Navy to accommodate battleships.

Hilo is the largest town and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaiʻi. The population was 43,263 at the 2010 census.

Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically been considered the largest volcano on Earth, dwarfed only by Tamu Massif. It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, with a volume estimated at approximately 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km³), although its peak is about 125 feet (38 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to be non-explosive.

World War II

When the Navy moved its Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in 1939, the squadron moved to Hickam Field. Was equipped with a mixture of Douglas B-18 Bolos and early B-17C/D Flying Fortresses in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Hawaii. The group suffered devastating personnel and aircraft losses in the Pearl Harbor Attack, remaining in Hawaii until September 1942 re-equipping.^[1]

San Diego is a city in the U.S. state of California. It is in San Diego County, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico.

Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It has been long visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, was the immediate cause of the United States' entry into World War II.

The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on its DC-2, and was developed to replace the Martin B-10.

Deployed to the South Pacific, engaging in long-range bombing of enemy targets in the Solomon Islands and Central Pacific using Very Long-Range Consolidated B-24 Liberators. participating in MacArthur's island-hopping campaign in New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. Participated in the Philippines Campaign, earning a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its actions in combat, 1944–1945. Inactivated at Clark Field, 1947 although most personnel had already returned to the United States.^[1]

The Pacific Ocean theater, during World War II, was a major theater of the war between the Allies and the Empire of Japan. It was defined by the Allied powers' Pacific Ocean Area command, which included most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, while mainland Asia was excluded, as were the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Australia, most of the Territory of New Guinea and the western part of the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The country's capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands, but excludes outlying islands, such as Rennell and Bellona, and the Santa Cruz Islands.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.

Strategic reconnaissance

Reactivated at Ladd Field, Alaska in 1947 assuming the mission, personnel and equipment of the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron with a mission to conduct strategic reconnaissance operations over the Arctic. The squadron's reconnaissance missions included electronic and weather monitoring flights used to track Soviet activities in the area. Between 1948-1949 the Boeing RB-29 Superfortresses of the 72d conducted numerous photographic reconnaissance and ELINT missions over the Soviet Arctic and Far East. Equipped with cameras that enabled then to remain in international airspace, whilst photographing targets deep inside Soviet territory, the aircraft searched for evidence of Soviet military activity, but unsurprisingly, found little going on in the inhospitable Arctic wastes but nobody knew what was happening further inland. To investigate activity deeper inside the Soviet Union, some RB-29s were stripped of all unnecessary equipment, allowing them to increase their operating ceiling, and began overflying Soviet territory.^[3]

President Harry Truman, authorized the first overflight on 5 August 1948 when an RB-29 took off from Ladd AFB and, after routing over Siberia and spending over 19 hours in the air, eventually landed at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Even longer flights soon became routine with aircraft operating up to 35,000 ft, covering 5000 miles and remaining airborne for occasionally up to 30 hours. Although the Soviet Military was equipped rudimentary radar, copied from World War II US supplied equipment, large gaps existed in their radar coverage, particularly over the vast Arctic region. These gaps were soon identified and exploited by the RB-29s as they penetrated deeper inside the Soviet Union. Although they were detected on many occasions, none of the RB-29s was ever intercepted because the early MiG-15 was the only fighter with sufficient performance to reach these high-flying aircraft and none of the new fighters were then stationed in Siberia.^[3]

The most significant of these missions included one on 3 September 1949 which identified the first evidence of a successful explosion of a Soviet nuclear weapon in the Semipalatinsk test site in Eastern Kazakhstan on 29 August 1949.^[3]

Strategic bombardment

Moved to the Continental United States in 1951, being re-equipped with Very Long Range RB-36H Peacemaker strategic reconnaissance bombers and assigned to the 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, California. The aircraft were equipped with four J47 jet engines and with fourteen K-17C, K-22A, K-38, and K-40 cameras. It also received some advanced electronics. Its normal crew was 22, which included 5 gunners to man the 16 M-24A-1 20-mm cannon. Conducted global strategic reconnaissance until 1955, conducting ELINT and Ferret missions along the east Asian coastline. Gradually shifting to bombardment training mission beginning in 1954 as the 72d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, on 1 October 1955.^[3]

Flew B-36Js heavy bombers until their phaseout in 1958, being reassigned to the 4134th Strategic Wing, being re-equipped with Boeing B-52F Stratofortress intercontinental heavy bombers. Was reassigned to Mather Air Force Base, California by SAC to disperse its heavy bomber force. Conducted worldwide strategic bombardment training missions and providing nuclear deterrent. Was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its strategic wings, replacing them with permanent Air Force Wings. Squadron was inactivated with its aircraft, personnel and equipment being transferred to the 441st Bombardment Squadron.^[1]

Reactivated as a B-52H heavy bomb squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota in late 1994, but inactivated on 1 July 1996.

Test and evaluation

Reactivated as a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber evaluation squadron in 1998.^[1]

Lineage

72d Aero Squadron

Organized as the 72d Aero Squadron on 18 February 1918

Demobilized on 11 July 1919

Reconstituted and consolidated with the 72d Bombardment Squadron' as the 72d Bombardment Squadron on 8 April 1924^[1]^[4]

72d Test and Evaluation Squadron

Constituted as the 72d Bombardment Squadron on 6 February 1923
Activated on 1 May 1923

Consolidated with the 72d Aero Squadron pm 8 April 1924^[4]

Redesignated 72d Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 6 December 1939

Redesignated 72d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 20 November 1940

Redesignated 72d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 6 March 1944

Redesignated 72d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 30 April 1946

Inactivated on 10 March 1947

Redesignated 72d Reconnaissance Squadron, Very Long Range, Photographic on 16 September 1947

Activated on 13 October 1947

Redesignated 72d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, Photographic on 23 February 1949

Redesignated 72d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, Heavy on 14 November 1950

Redesignated 72d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 1 October 1955

Discontinued, and inactivated on 1 February 1963

Redesignated 72d Bomb Squadron on 30 November 1994

Activated on 1 December 1994

Inactivated on 1 July 1996

Redesignated 72d Test and Evaluation Squadron on 1 November 1998

Activated on 20 November 1998^[1]

Assignments

Unknown, 18 February–September 1918
1st Air Depot, September 1918 – June 1919
Unknown, June-11 July 1919
5th Composite Group, 1 May 1923
19th Bombardment Group (attached to 5th Composite Group after 24 June 1932)
5th Bombardment Group (later 5th Reconnaissance Group), 12 October 1938 – 10 March 1947
Alaskan Air Command, 13 October 1947
311th Air Division, 1 April 1949
5th Strategic Reconnaissance Group, 28 June 1949 (attached to 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing after 10 February 1951)
5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (later 5th Bombardment Wing), 16 June 1952
4134th Strategic Wing, 1 July 1958 – 1 February 1963
5th Operations Group, 1 December 1994 – 1 July 1996
53d Test and Evaluation Group, 20 November 1998 – present^[1]

Stations

Waco, Texas, 18 February 1918
Rich Field, Texas, 23 February 1918
Garden City, New York, 16 July-13 August 1918
St. Maixent Replacement Barracks , France, 4 September 1918
Delouze Aerodrome, France, 20 September 1918
Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, France, 30 September 1918 – June 1919

Detachment at: Behonne Aerodrome, France, 4 October-1 December 1918 (Advance Air Park)

Mitchel Field, New York, c. 29 June-11 July 1919
Luke Field, Hawaii, 1 May 1923
Hickam Field, Hawaii, 4 January 1939
Bellows Field, Hawaii, 11 December 1941 – 18 September 1942
Pallikulo Bay Airfield, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 24 September 1942

Operated from: Henderson Field (Guadalcanal), Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 4 October 1942 – 8 August 1943; 7 October-15 November 1943; 13 December 1943 – 27 January 1944

Munda Airfield, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, 9 January 1944

Momote Airfield, Los Negros, Admiralty Islands, 15 April 1944
Wakde Airfield, Netherlands East Indies, c. 19 August 1944
Kornasoren (Yebrurro) Airfield, Noemfoor, Schouten Islands, 27 September 1944
Wama Airfield, Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, 24 October 1944
Guiuan Airfield, Samar, Philippines, 20 March 1945
Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines, December 1945-10 March 1947
Ladd Army Airfield, Alaska, 13 October 1947
Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, 28 June 1949
Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base (later Travis Air Force Base), California, 9 November 1949

Deployed at: RAF Sculthorpe, England, 31 May −15 November 1950

Deployed at: Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 14 January-12 April 1955

Mather Air Force Base, California, 1 July 1958 – 1 February 1963
Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, 1 December 1994 – 1 July 1996
Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, 20 November 1998 – present^[1]

Aircraft

DH-4 (1923–1929)
NBS-1 (1923–1929)
LB-5 (1927–1929)
Keystone B-4 (1929–1936)
Keystone B-5 (1929–1936)
LB-6 (1929–1936)
B-12 (1936–1938)
B-18 Bolo (1938–1942)

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (1941, 1942–1943)
Consolidated B-24 Liberator (1943–1945)
Boeing B-29 Superfortress (1947–1951)
Boeing F-13 (RB-29) Superfortress (1947–1948)
Convair RB-36 Peacemaker (1951–1958)
Convair B-36 Peacemaker (1955–1958)
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (1958–1963, 1994–1996)
B-2 Spirit (1998–present)^[1]

Operations

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Warnock, A. Timothy (20 December 2007). "Factsheet 72 Test and Evaluation Squadron (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
↑ "53d Test and Evaluation Group" (PDF). 53d Wing Public Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
1 2 3 4 Wack, Fred J. The Secret Explorers: Saga of the 46th/72nd Reconnaissance Squadrons. N.p., 1990
1 2 Clay, p. 1424

Bibliography

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 . Retrieved 16 October 2012.
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.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[72TESfacts-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Warnock, A. Timothy (20 December 2007). "Factsheet 72 Test and Evaluation Squadron (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 22 October 2016.

[2] "53d Test and Evaluation Group" (PDF). 53d Wing Public Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2017.

[kb1-3] 1 2 3 4 Wack, Fred J. The Secret Explorers: Saga of the 46th/72nd Reconnaissance Squadrons. N.p., 1990

[Clay-4] 1 2 Clay, p. 1424