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1st Airborne Command Control Squadron

(Redirected from 1st Balloon Company)

The 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron is part of the 595th Command and Control Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It operates the Boeing E-4 aircraft conducting airborne command and control missions.

1st Airborne Command Control Squadron
1st Airborne Command Control Squadron Boeing E-4 in flight
Active1917–1922; 1929–1942; 1942–1944; 1969–present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleAirborne Command and Control
Part ofAir Force Global Strike Command
Garrison/HQOffutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
Engagements
World War I – Western Front

World War II – American Theater

Global War on Terrorism[1]
Decorations
Air Force Meritorious Unit Award

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1]
Insignia
1st Airborne Command Control Squadron emblem[note 1][1]
1st Ferrying Squadron emblem

The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 25 September 1917, when it was organized at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. It served overseas in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The squadron saw combat during World War II, and became part of the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War.

History

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World War and Balloon School

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The first predecessor of the squadron was organized at Fort Omaha Nebraska in September 1917 as Company A, 2d Balloon Squadron. Two months later it departed for overseas service on the Western Front (World War I), arriving in France in January 1918. It entered combat as an observation unit with the French Eighth Army on 19 April 1918, operating observation balloons over the front lines. Once forces of the American Expeditionary Forces, had built up, it continued to operate as the 1st Balloon Company with the American I Corps until 17 October 1918. Following the end of the war, it served with III Corps as part of the occupation forces until April 1919.[1]

Interwar years

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In the spring of 1919, the squadron returned to the United States and was stationed at Ross Field, California as part of the Air Service Balloon School.[1] In June 1922, the Balloon School moved to Scott Field, Illinois and Ross Field was closed as a military installation. The squadron was inactivated[1] with the closure of Ross.

The second predecessor of the squadron, also designated the 1st Balloon Company, was activated at Scott in May 1929. After a brief period of training with the 21st Airship Group at Scott, it moved to Post Field, located on Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where it was assigned to the Field Artillery School.[1] It trained and conducted exercises with the school. At the beginning of World War II, it operated barrage balloons, but that mission was assigned to the coast artillery and the squadron was disbanded two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

World War II

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The third predecessor of the squadron was activated in April 1942 at Long Beach Army Air Base as the 1st Air Corps Ferrying Squadron, the location of a Douglas Aircraft Company manufacturing plant. It ferried aircraft from the Douglas factory and other factories in the Western Procurement District to overseas departure points.[1] However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training and logistics support mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[2] In March 1944, Air Transport Command units assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group were combined into the 556th AAF Base Unit.

Airborne command and control

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On 1 June 1962, Headquarters Command organized the 1000th Airborne Command Control Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base to operate the National Emergency Airborne Command Post and assigned it to the 1001st Air Base Wing.[3][4] By 1965, the squadron was operating Boeing EC-135 aircraft to support this mission.[5] On 1 July 1969, the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron was activated and assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 1000th Squadron.[note 2]

In 1974, the squadron began to replace its EC-135s with more capable Boeing E-4s, completing the upgrade the following year. In November 1975, the squadron was reassigned from Andrews' 1st Composite Wing to the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. On 1 July 1977, it moved to join the 55th Wing at Offutt[note 3][1] On 1 October 2016, the unit was reassigned to the newly activated 595th Command and Control Group under the control of Air Force Global Strike Command.[6]

Lineage and assignments

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Consolidation

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The 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron represents the consolidation of ultimately four different units, done in two consolidations. The first involved consolidating the 1st Airship and 1st Balloon Companies in 1929 into what would become the 1st Balloon Squadron. This was then consolidated with the 1st Ferrying Squadron and 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron in 1985 to form the current unit.

Current unit Units consolidated on 19 September 1985 Units consolidated on 31 July 1929
1st Airborne Command Control Squadron 1st Balloon Squadron 1st Airship Company
1st Balloon Company
1st Ferrying Squadron
1st Airborne Command Control Squadron

1st Airship Company

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Date Designation Assignment Station Equipment Notes
25 September 1917 Company A, 2d Balloon Squadron Fort Omaha, Nebraska organized[1]
30 November 1917 Garden City, New York [1]
7 December 1917 transit [1]
3 January 1918 Gironde, France Caquot Type R observation balloon [1]
15 April 1918 Brouville, France [1]
19 June 1918 1st Balloon Company [1]
July 1918 Balloon Wing, I Army Corps [1]
19 July 1918 Les Ecoliers, France [1]
22 July 1918 Épaux-Bézu, France [1]
25 July 1918 Épieds, Aisne, France [1]
28 July 1918 Artois Ferme, France [1]
5 August 1918 Mareuil-en-Dole, France [1]
13 August 1918 Coucelles-sur-Vesle, France [1]
23 August 1918 Tremblecourt, France [1]
29 August 1918 La Queue de Theinard, France [1]
27 September 1918 Bois de Brule, France [1]
2 October 1918 Varennes-en-Argonne, France [1]
8 October 1918 Balloon Group, I Army Corps [1]
11 October 1918 Chatel-Chehery, France [1]
17 October 1918 Auzeville-en-Argonne, France [1]
20 November 1918 Balloon Group, III Army Corps [1]
21 November 1918 Mercy-le-Bas, France [1]
8 December 1918 Euren, Germany [1]
19 December 1918 Niederberg, Germany [1]
17 April 1919 Colombey-les-Belles, France [1]
5 May 1919 St. Nazaire, France [1]
6 June 1919 Camp Lee, Virginia [1]
July 1919 Air Service Balloon Observers School Ross Field, California [1]
30 June 1922 Ninth Corps Area [1]
25 July 1922 inactive [1]
24 March 1923 1st Airship Company [1]
31 July 1929 consolidated into 1st Balloon Company [1]

1st Balloon Squadron

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Date Designation Assignment Station Equipment Notes
18 October 1927 1st Balloon Company inactive [1]
17 May 1929 Sixth Corps Area Scott Field, Illinois A-6 & A-7 spherical balloon
C-3 observation balloon		 [1]
June 1929 Field Artillery School [1]
24 June 1929 Post Field, Oklahoma [1]
1 October 1933 1st Balloon Squadron [1]
1937 A-6 & A-7 spherical balloon
C-3 & C-6 observation balloon		 [1]
1939 A-6 & A-7 spherical balloon
C-3 & C-6 observation balloon
D-2 barrage balloon		 [1]
1940 A-6 & A-7 spherical balloon
C-6 observation balloon
D-3, D-4, D-5, & D-6 barrage balloon		 [1]
1 September 1941 III Air Support Command [1]
6 February 1942 disbanded [1]
19 September 1985 reconstituted and consolidated into 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron [1]

1st Ferrying Squadron

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Date Designation Assignment Station Equipment Notes
18 February 1942 1st Air Corps Ferrying Squadron inactive [1]
15 April 1942 6th Ferrying Group Long Beach, California various aircraft [1]
12 May 1943 1st Ferrying Squadron [1]
1 April 1944 disbanded [1]
19 September 1985 reconstituted and consolidated into the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron [1]

1st Airborne Command Control Squadron

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Date Designation Assignment Station Equipment Notes
9 May 1969 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron inactive [1]
1 July 1969 1st Composite Wing Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland EC-135J [1]
December 1974 E-4A, EC-135J [1][7]
1 November 1975 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing [1]
1976 E-4A [1]
1 July 1977 Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska [1]
December 1979 E-4A/B [7]
January 1985 E-4B [7]
1 September 1991 55th Operations Group [1]
1 October 2016 595th Command and Control Group [1]

References

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Notes

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Explanatory notes
  1. ^ Approved 8 August 1969.
  2. ^ Although the 1st Squadron was a new organization, it was also entitled to retain the honors (but not the history or lineage) of the 1000th. This includes an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award earned for the period 1 January 1967 – 31 December 1968. AF Pamphlet 900-2, p. 484
  3. ^ Offutt Air Force Base occupies much of the same ground as Fort Omaha did in 1917, when the 2d Balloon Squadron was organized there.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm Musser, James M. (20 June 2019). "1 Airborne Command Control Squadron (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  2. ^ Goss, p. 75
  3. ^ Mueller, p. 12
  4. ^ "Abstract, History 1001 Air Base Wing Jan–Jun 1962". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Abstract, History 1001 Air Base Wing Jan–Jun 1965". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  6. ^ Hammes, SRA Rachel (4 October 2016). "595th Command and Control Group activates at Offutt" (Press release). Air Force History Index. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b c den Daas, Gostar (January 2014). "Boeing E-4: The Doomsday plane". Avia Magazine. Retrieved 4 May 2023. the first complete A model was handed over to Andrews AFB, December 1974

Bibliography

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  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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