10th Airborne Command and Control Squadron

Air Transport Command C-54A

The first predecessor of the squadron was activated on 1 March 1942 as the 10th Air Corps Ferrying Squadron at Bolling Field and equipped with a variety of transport aircraft. The squadron was the flying component of the newly-formed Bolling Field Sector, Air Corps Ferrying Command and was part of the command's Foreign Wing.[1] The squadron not only ferried aircraft overseas, it transported equipment and high-ranking officials on trans-Atlantic flights. It flew missions to support Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa in late 1942 and early 1943.[2]

In March 1943, the squadron became the 10th Transport Squadron and moved to General Billy Mitchell Field, Wisconsin. It flew high ranking personnel to locations in the Americas, the Far East and the Southwest Pacific, notably, in October a squadron Douglas C-54 Skymaster transported ambassador Averell Harriman from Washington, DC to Moscow. The squadron became non-operational at the beginning of 1944, when most its personnel were transferred to the headquarters of the 26th Transport Group.[2] Although the squadron nominally remained behind at General Mitchell Field, the group moved to Gravelly Point, Virginia, where it continued transporting distinguished visitors.

However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization not well adapted to support missions. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[3] Air Transport Command personnel at General Mitchell Field when the squadron disbanded there were merged into the 567th AAF Base Unit (14th Ferrying Service Station), while those at Gravelly Point became the 503d AAF Base Unit (26th Transport Group, Washington National Airport).[note 1]

L-20 Beaver

The second predecessor of the squadron, the 10th Liaison Squadron was activated at Seoul Air Base in July 1951 and assigned to Fifth Air Force. Far East Air Forces had requested the organization of a unit that included Sikorsky H-19 helicopters to enable it to perform aeromedical evacuation missions, but the squadron was authorized only fixed wing aircraft,[4] limiting its mission to serving as a light transport and communications unit in Korea until inactivating in 1955. It was equipped with Stinson L-5 Sentinel and de Havilland Canada L-20 Beaver aircraft. It provided light airlift to forward units and provided courier service. It surveyed forward areas for potential sites for landing strips, and communications and radar sites. It performed regular reconnaissance of abandoned airstrips. On occasion it transported North Korean prisoners of war and airdropped arms and supplies to guerillas operating behind enemy lines. Following the armistice in Korea, it was inactivated in March 1955.[5]

F-5B at Bien Hoa AB

The 10th Fighter Squadron, Commando was activated at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam in April 1967 to test the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter in operational missions. Tactical Air Command had organized the Tactical Fighter Squadron, Provisional, 4503d at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona to begin testing the F-5 under the name "Skoshi Tiger"[note 2] on 22 July 1965, with pilots and maintenance personnel from the USAF Tactical Air Warfare Center. After conducting initial tests in the United States, the 4503d deployed a dozen of its fighters to Bien Hoa in October 1965,[6] although the squadron officially remained at Williams until 10 March 1966.[7] On 8 April, the provisional squadron was discontinued and its personnel and equipment were used to form the regular 10th Squadron.[6]

The squadron increased in size to 18 aircraft. It flew more than 7,000 operational missions,[note 3] earning a Presidential Unit Citation and a Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm.[8][9] Six squadron aircraft were lost to enemy fire. In October 1966, the squadron began to train Viet Nam Air Force (VNAF) personnel on the operation and maintenance of the F-5. After a year of testing, its aircraft were turned over to the 522nd Fighter Squadron of the VNAF 23rd Tactical Wing at Bien Hoa on 17 April 1967[10] and the unit was inactivated, although some squadron personnel remained behind to continue training.[2][6]

The 10th Airborne Command Control Squadron was activated at RAF Mildenhall in January 1970, where it replaced the 7120th Airborne Command Control Squadron to provide an airborne command post for United States Air Forces Europe. The 7120th had performed this mission (Operation Silk Purse) since 1 December 1961, when it was activated at Chateauroux Air Base, France under the 322d Air Division. Seven months later, the squadron was assigned to the host organization at Chateauroux, the 7322d Air Base Group. The 7120th was redesignated as an airborne command control squadron on 1 October 1965, and moved to Mildenhall the following month,[11] where it became part of the 513th Troop Carrier Wing on 1 July 1966.[12]

The squadron's crews flew the Boeing EC-135H Airborne Command Post to support the United States Commander-in-Chief, Europe. The battle staff in the planes were from another organization. Squadron EC-135s also served as aerial tankers after 1972. The aircraft provided communications support during exercises in support of NATO, and other agencies following overwater routes near Europe. The planes also stood alert for emergency launches at Mildenhall. In 1970 and 1980, they operated from RAF Lakenheath while repairs were made on the runway at Mildenhall.[2] With the end of the Cold War, the squadron was inactivated at the end of 1991.

• Bolling Field Sector, Air Corps Ferrying Command (later Transatlantic Sector, Air Corps Ferrying Command; Transatlantic Sector, Air Transport Command), 1 March 1942
• Domestic Transportation Division, Air Transport Command, 1 March 1943[2]
• 26th Transport Group, 1 April 1943 – 31 March 1944[2]
• Fifth Air Force, 25 July 1951 – 15 March 1955[2]
• Pacific Air Forces, 28 March 1966 (not organized)
• 3d Tactical Fighter Wing, 8 April 1966 – 17 April 1967[14]
• 513th Tactical Airlift Wing (later 513th Airborne Command and Control Wing), 1 January 1970 – 31 December 1991[15]

• Bolling Field, District of Columbia, 1 March 1942[16]
• General Billy Mitchell Field, Wisconsin, 1 March 1943 – 31 March 1944[2]
• Seoul Airdrome (later Seoul Air Base), South Korea, 25 July 1951[5][4]
• Osan Air Base, South Korea, 28 January 1954 – 15 March 1955[17]
• Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, 8 April 1966 – 17 April 1967[18]
• RAF Mildenhall, England, 1 January 1970 – 31 December 1991[11]

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• 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., ed. (2001). The USAF in Korea, Campaigns, Units and Stations 1950-1953 (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Air Force Historical Research Agency. ISBN 0-16-050901-7. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Fletcher, Harry R (1993). Air Force Bases , Vol. II, Air Bases Outside the United States of America (PDF). Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Futrell, Robert F. (1983). The United States Air Forces in Korea 1950-1953 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-71-4. 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.
• Tambini, Anthony J. (2014). Caso, Adolph (ed.). F-5 Tigers over Vietnam. Wellesley, MA: Branden Books. ISBN 978-0828320597. Retrieved 5 November 2018. (link is to Google Books extract)
• "AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits" (PDF). Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force Index. 15 June 1971. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
• "AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II" (PDF). Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force. 30 September 1976. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
• Historical Division, Air Transport Command (March 1955). "Administrative History of the Ferrying Command, 29 May 1941 to 30 June 1942, USAF Historical Study No. 32" (PDF). Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence, Historical Division. Retrieved 6 November 2018.