576th Flight Test Squadron

576th Bomb Squadron B-24H Liberator[note 1]

The 576th Flight Test Squadron was first activated at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, on 26 January 1943 as the 576th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) where it participated in the strategic bombardment campaigns of Europe and Germany as part of Eighth Air Force. Their involvement during the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge resulted in seven European-African-Middle Eastern Theater campaign streamers and one Distinguished Unit Citation.

The 576th was inactivated on 13 September 1945 with the close of World War II. It was reactivated on 24 September 1947 as a very heavy bombardment squadron at Barksdale Field Louisiana, the squadron's mission was changed in November 1947 to a light jet bomber squadron. It was again inactivated in November 1949.

The squadron was reactivated on 6 March 1958 as the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron at Cooke Air Force Base (later renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base). On 1 April 1958, the 576th was assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC) as an SM-65 Atlas ICBM unit, the nation's first ICBM unit. The squadron became the first SAC unit to place an ICBM on alert, when it placed one of its Atlas D missiles on alert on 31 October 1959 at Vandenberg.[3]

Initially, the 576th operated launch sites 576 Alpha 1, 2 and 3, which consisted of open support towers with SM-65D Atlas ICBMS standing in the open. The open launch pads remained on nuclear alert until 1 May 1964. In the spring of 1960, began using the "coffin" type shelters and missile erectors at Vandenberg Baker pads 1,2, and 3 along with 576 Charlie, Foxtrot and Golf that were used as a testing pad for the operational testing of the SM-65E Atlas and site 576 D for Atlas F operational testing.

The squadron went off ICBM nuclear alert duties with the inactivation of Alpha 1, 2 and 3, however it continued operational testing of the Atlas ICBM until 1965 when the weapons system was retired and the missiles sent to Norton Air Force Base California for long term storage and use as satellite launch vehicles for NASA. On 2 April 1966, the 576th was once again inactivated.

Redesignated the 576th Test Squadron on 29 August 1991, it was again activated on 1 September 1991 as part of the activation of the Twentieth Air Force, America's only ICBM numbered Air Force. The 576th designation was chosen to ensure the history and lineage of the 576th would continue with the important job of testing ICBMs. The 576th has almost made a complete circle since the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron tested the Atlas missile in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In July 1993, the 576th was assigned to the Fourteenth Air Force at Vandenberg AFB. The squadron was re-designated the 576th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS) on 1 July 1994. Then, on 22 February 1996 the squadron was reassigned from the Fourteenth Air Force to Space Warfare Center (SWC) at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.

On 14 March 1996, the 576th, the 30th Maintenance Squadron and portions of the 30th Logistics Support Squadron merged to form the new 576 FLTS. Whereas the three organizations previously reported, through different commanders, to the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg AFB, this merger aligned all personnel directly involved with Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) testing at Vandenberg under one commander. As part of the merger, the 576 FLTS also became a direct reporting unit to the Space Warfare Center, which later became the Space Innovation & Development Center (SIDC).

On 1 December 2009 the 576 FLTS was reassigned, along with the Air Force's ICBM mission, to Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC).

• 392d Bombardment Group, 26 January 1943 – 13 September 1945
• 392d Bombardment Group, 24 September 1947 – 10 November 1949
• 704th Strategic Missile Wing, 1 April 1958
• 1st Missile Division (later 1st Strategic Aerospace Division), 1 July 1959
• 392d Strategic Missile Wing, 18 October 1961
• 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, 20 December 1961 – 2 April 1966
• 310th Operations Group, 1 September 1991
• 30th Operations Group, 1 July 1993
• Space Warfare Center, 22 February 1996
• 595th Test and Evaluation Group (later 595 Space Group), 1 August 2002[4]
• Air Force Global Strike Command, 1 April 2013 – present

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• 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.
• Narducci, Henry M. (1988). Strategic Air Command and the Alert Program: A Brief History. Offutt AFB, NE: Office of the Historian, Strategic Air Command. Retrieved 18 February 2018.