99th Air Refueling Squadron

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99th Air Refueling Squadron
Air Mobility Command.svg
117th Air Refueling Wing - KC-135s on Flightine.jpg
117th Air Refueling Wing KC-135s on the Sumpter Smith ANGB flightline
Active
  • 1942–1944
  • 1957–1973
  • 1983–2008
  • 2009–present
CountryFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
BranchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
Role Aerial refueling
Part of Air Mobility Command
Garrison/HQ Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base, Alabama
NicknameBlack Knights [1]
Engagements Kosovo Southwest Asia [2]
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device
Meritorious Unit Award
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm [2]
Insignia
99th Air Refueling Squadron emblem [a] [2] (restored) 99th Air Refueling Squadron.jpg
99th Air Refueling Squadron emblem [b] [3] 99 Air Refueling Sq emblem (1984).png
399th Bombardment Squadron emblem [c] [4] 399 Bombardment Sq emblem.png

The 99th Air Refueling Squadron is part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, but is stationed at Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base, Alabama. It is an Active Associate Unit, an active duty component attached to the Alabama Air National Guard's 117th Air Refueling Wing. It works with, supports and flies the 117th Air Refueling Wing's Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft.

Contents

The first predecessor of the squadron was organized during World War II as the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron. Redesignated the 399th Bombardment Squadron, it served as a crew training unit until inactivated in May 1944 in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training units.

The 99th Air Refueling Squadron was activated in July 1957 and served with Strategic Air Command (SAC) until 1973, and again after 1983. In 1985, it was consolidated with the 399th Bombardment Squadron. When SAC was inactivated in 1992, the squadron became an element of Air Mobility Command. The squadron was inactivated in 2008, but was reactivated as an associated unit the following year.

Mission

The squadron supports Air Mobility Command (AMC) priorities through deployments in support of wartime operations and participation in joint and interservice exercises. It operates closely with the 117th Air Refueling Wing as part of the Air Force’s total force integration initiative, which aims to improve mission accomplishment through the sharing of aircrews, aircraft and other resources. [5]

History

World War II

The earliest predecessor of the squadron was constituted in January 1942 as the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron. However, the squadron was redesignated the 399th Bombardment Squadron before activating on paper at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as one of the original four squadrons of the 88th Bombardment Group. [2] [6]

B-17 Flying Fortress of a training unit in 1943 Flying Fortress Boeing B-17F Burbank 1943 (15517943324).jpg
B-17 Flying Fortress of a training unit in 1943

In September the squadron moved to Geiger Field, Washington, then to Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington, where it received its first personnel and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. In October, it moved to Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, where it became a heavy bomber Operational Training Unit (OTU). [2] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite" units. [7]

The squadron's time as an OTU was brief and in November, it returned to Walla Walla. Training “fillers” for existing units was becoming more important than unit training, [8] and the unit became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). [2] Like OTUs, RTUs were also oversized units, but their mission was to train individual pilots or aircrews. [7]

As Second Air Force prepared to concentrate on organizing and training Boeing B-29 Superfortress units, heavy bomber training operations were assumed by other commands and, in November 1943, the squadron moved to Avon Park Army Air Field, Florida [2] and became part of Third Air Force. [6] However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units like the 399th, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, [9] The 88th Bombardment Group, its components and its supporting units at Avon Park were disbanded or inactivated in May 1944, [2] [6] and replaced by the 325th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training, Bombardment, Heavy). [10]

Strategic Air Command air refueling

KC-135s at Westover AFB in 1969 KC-135 at Westover AFB 1969.jpg
KC-135s at Westover AFB in 1969

The 99th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia in July 1957 as a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker squadron under Strategic Air Command (SAC) and assigned to the 4050th Air Refueling Wing. The following month it moved to Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, where the wing headquarters was located. Beginning in 1958, The 99th conducted theater and overseas air refueling. [2] In 1963, the 4050th Wing, which was a Major Command controlled wing and could not continue its history if discontinued, [11] was replaced by the 499th Air Refueling Wing, an Air Force controlled wing, which could continue its history through periods of inactive service. In December 1965, operational control of the squadron was transferred to the 99th Bombardment Wing, which became the parent of the squadron when the 499th Wing was inactivated in January 1966. [12] [13]

Starting in 1965 the 99th supported operations in Southeast Asia. For its efforts, it earned the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm. During several periods after 1967, all squadron resources were transferred to units supporting the Vietnam War, although the squadron nominally remained at Westover. [12] The squadron was inactivated in September 1973 as the 99th Wing reduced its operations in preparing Westover for transfer to the Air Force Reserve. [2] [13] [14]

Airborne command post operations

In 1962, SAC established an airborne command post at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, nicknamed Looking Glass, to ensure continuity of command and control of SAC forces in the event of a nuclear attack. Looking Glass was soon augmented by auxiliary aircraft stationed with the headquarters of SAC's three Numbered Air Forces. The 99th Squadron added Boeing EC-135 aircraft to its inventory in 1965 to operate the Eastern Auxiliary Command Post for Eighth Air Force at Westover. The EC-135s had turbofan engines, were equipped with advanced electronics equipment, and could be refueled by other tankers while retaining the refueling capability of the KC-135s. The 99th continued to operate EC-135s until 1 April 1970, when SAC reorganized its airborne command post aircraft and withdrew them from vulnerable bases near the coasts like Westover and assigned them to the 2d, 3d, and 4th Airborne Command and Control Squadrons, stationed at bases closer to the heartland of North America. [15]

Operations at Robins Air Force Base

Deployed KC-135A Stratotanker from Robins AFB in 1985 Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker (717-146), USA - Air Force AN1117573.jpg
Deployed KC-135A Stratotanker from Robins AFB in 1985

In October 1983 the squadron was reactivated at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, [2] becoming the second refueling squadron of the 19th Air Refueling Wing when the 19th Wing converted from the strategic bombardment mission and lost its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress aircraft. [16] It again flew worldwide aerial refueling missions. Between 1984 and 1991 it also performed the airborne command post mission. [2]

Shortly after its activation, the 99th supported Operation Urgent Fury, which replaced the Stalinist regime in Grenada. In December 1989, 99th tankers supported Operation Just Cause, which ousted Manuel Noriega as the leader of Panama. In its last contingency operation while part of SAC, the unit deployed aircraft and crew to support Operation Desert Shield in August 1990 and continued its deployment through Operation Desert Storm, which ended the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq. [2]

Air Mobility Command

In 1992, the Air Force reorganized its combat forces. In the reorganization, tanker aircraft, which had been assigned to SAC, were mostly reassigned to the new Air Mobility Command (AMC). Under AMC, the squadron participated in Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia, from January to February 1995 and again in August 1996. It provided personnel and aircraft to refuel aircraft participating in Operations Provide Comfort, Northern Watch and Southern Watch, enforcing no-fly zones over Iraq in 1996. Deployed squadron operations along the border of Iraq continued in the following two years in Operations Phoenix Scorpion, Desert Thunder and Desert Fox. [2]

In 1998 and 1999 the squadron supported Operations Noble Anvil, Deliberate Forge and Allied Force over the Balkans in areas that had been part of Yugoslavia. [2]

Closer to home, The squadron also refueled aircraft involved in Operation Constant Vigil, counter drug operations over the Caribbean Sea in 1998. These operations later expanded to locations in South America. After the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the squadron supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. The unit also transported Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Cuba. In 2008, the squadron was inactivated at Robins. [2]

Active associate unit

In October 2009, the 99th was reactivated at Sumpter Smith Air National Guard Base, Alabama as part of the Air Force's Total Force Integration initiative. The squadron and its personnel are an active duty Air Force unit assigned to the 6th Operations Group at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. [2] Operational direction for day-to-day taskings comes from the 117th Operations Group of the Alabama Air National Guard at Birmingham as the squadron's personnel operate the KC-135s of the 117th's 106th Air Refueling Squadron. [17]

Lineage

399th Bombardment Squadron

Redesignated 399th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 April 1942
Activated on 15 July 1942
Inactivated on 1 May 1944

99th Air Refueling Squadron

Activated on 1 July 1957
Inactivated on 30 September 1973
Redesignated 99th Air Refueling Squadron on 1 September 1991
Inactivated on 1 September 2008

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

Awards and campaigns

Award streamerAwardDatesNotes
AF MUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Meritorious Unit Award 1 July 2006–30 June 200799th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA with Valor.jpg Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 2-21 March 1969 and 15–31 March 197099th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1 July 1957]–1 December 195999th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 October 1967–1 March 196899th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award2 March–1 April 196899th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1971–30 June 197299th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 October 1983–30 June 198499th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1986–30 June 198799th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1993–30 June 199499th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1994–30 June 199699th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1998–30 June 199999th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1998–30 June 199999th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award24 March 1999–10 June 200099th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2002–30 June 200399th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2003–30 June 200499th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2004–30 June 200599th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2005–30 June 200699th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2006–30 June 200799th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2009–30 June 201099th Air Refueling Squadron [18]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 2013–30 June 201499th Air Refueling Squadron [18]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 January 2016–30 September 201799th Air Refueling Squadron [18]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 October 2017–30 September 201999th Air Refueling Squadron [18]
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 October 2022–30 September 202399th Air Refueling Squadron [18]
VGCP Streamer.jpg Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm 2 March 1969–31 March 197099th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
Campaign StreamerCampaignDatesNotes
World War II - American Campaign Streamer (Plain).png American Theater without inscription15 July 1942–1 May 44399th Bombardment Squadron [2]
Streamer SAS.PNG Defense of Saudi Arabia2 August 1990–16 January 199199th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
Streamer SAS.PNG Liberation and Defense of Kuwait17 January 1991–11 April 199199th Air Refueling Squadron [2]
Streamer KC.PNG Air Campaign24 March 1999–10 June 199999th Air Refueling Squadron [2]

See also

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ↑ Approved 15 May 1959. Description: On a disc black, a light blue globe, grid lines Black, over all a White stylized aircraft leaving a trail of Red exhaust encircling the globe and terminating in a split trail.
  2. ↑ Approved March 1984.
  3. ↑ Approved 25 February 1943. Description: On an orange disc, border green, a skull wearing a black top hat proper, between two green aerial bombs held in skeleton hands.
Citations
  1. ↑ Nunez, Caleb (12 September 2018). "Meet the Black Knights: 99th Air Refueling Squadron". MacDill Air Force Base . Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 Robertson, Patsy (22 October 2009). "Factsheet 99 Air Refueling Squadron (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  3. ↑ Approved insignia for: 99th Air Refueling Squadron (15 March 1984) National Archives
  4. ↑ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 489-90
  5. ↑ Bowman, SRA Shannon (31 March 2021). "6th ARW leaders visit 'Black Knights'". 6th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Maurer, Combat Units p. 154
  7. 1 2 Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi
  8. ↑ Goss, pp. 74-75
  9. ↑ Goss, p. 75
  10. ↑ No byline (1 May 1944). "Abstract, History Avon Park Army Air Field, Vol. 2". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  11. ↑ Ravenstein Guide to Air Force Lineage, p. 12
  12. 1 2 RavensteinAir Force Wings, p. 272
  13. 1 2 Ravenstein, Air Force Wings, pp. 141-42
  14. ↑ Mueller, p. 578
  15. ↑ Ogletree, Greg. "A History of the Post Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)". Strategic Air Command Airborne Command and Control Association. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  16. ↑ Robertson, Patsy (7 November 2008). "Factsheet 19 Airlift Wing (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  17. ↑ No byline (October 2026). "117th Air Refueling Wing: Units". 117th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "Air Force Personnel Services: Unit Awards". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 26 October 2026. (search)

Bibliography

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN   48003657. OCLC   704158 . Retrieved 17 December 2016.
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