9th Combat Operations Squadron

460th Bombardment Group B-24 Liberators bombing

The squadron was first activated as the 761st Bombardment Squadron at Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico on 1 July 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 460th Bombardment Group.[1][5] A cadre of the unit's air echelon went to Orlando Army Air Base, Florida for specialized training with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. In August, the unit was filled out with ground personnel at Kearns Army Air Base, Utah, then moved to Chatham Army Air Field, Georgia to complete its training with Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers.[6] Upon completing training, the squadron departed for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in January 1944.[1][5]

The squadron completed its deployment to Spinazzola Airfield, Italy by the middle of February 1944, and entered the strategic bombing campaign against Germany the following month, with an attack on a marshalling yard and docks at Metković, Yugoslavia.[7] It attacked oil refineries and storage facilities, railroads, industrial areas, including aircraft manufacturing plants in Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia.[5]

On 26 July 1944, the squadron was part of a 460th Group formation that led the 55th Bombardment Wing on an attack against an airfield and aircraft manufacturing plant at Zwolfaxing, Austria. It attacked the target through heavy enemy flak and adverse weather, for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.[5]

The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic bombing mission to perform air interdiction and close air support missions. In August 1944, it supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France by attacking submarine pens, marshalling yards and artillery batteries in the area of the amphibious landings. It struck lines of communications, railroads, ammunition dumps and other targets in connection with Operation Grapeshot, the allied offensive in Northern Italy.[5] The squadron flew its last mission against a target in northern Italy on 26 April 1945.[7]

After V-E Day, the 460th Group and its squadrons were transferred to the South Atlantic Division, Air Transport Command, moving to Parnamirim Field, near Natal, Brazil to participate in the Green Project. Green Project was aimed at transporting 50,000 military personnel a month from the European and Mediterranean Theaters back to the United States, with priority for those that plans called for redeploying to the Pacific.[8] The squadron's combat veterans proved none too happy with this assignment,[9] but continued supporting the project until inactivating on 26 September 1945.[1]

In 1946, the 761st was redesignated the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron and assigned to the 314th Composite Wing, of Fifth Air Force, at Johnson Air Base and then Yokota Air Base, Japan.[2] 9th airmen flew the Bell P-39 Airacobra, as well as the Consolidated F-7 Liberator, Boeing F-9 Flying Fortress, and Boeing F-13 Superfortress bombers retrofitted to perform photographic reconnaissance performing mapping missions over occupied Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Indochina, and other areas under Far East Air Forces' control after World War II. The squadron also flew classified missions over the Soviet Far East.

The squadron was inactivated in October 1947 and its personnel, equipment and mission were transferred to the 31st Reconnaissance Squadron.[2][10] The squadron was reactivated at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina on 11 November 1953, as the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and was assigned to the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group.[1] The squadron's initial equipment was the Douglas RB-26 Invader, plus one North American B-25 Mitchell. These aircraft had been modified with special electronic warfare equipment, including AN/APR-4 and AN/APR-9 radar receivers, and AN/APA-17 direction finders. Some were also fitted with AN/APT-1 jammers and chaff dispensers. Although the unit's wartime role was to fly ferret and stand-off jamming missions, the main task assigned to it was to provide jamming training for ground radar operators.[11]

363d Wing RB-66B Destroyer at Tan Son Nhut Airport[lower-alpha 4]

In January 1956, the squadron was the first in the Air Force to receive jet powered Douglas RB-66B Destroyers, which added weather sampling capability.[12] The unit later flew other upgraded models of the plane (RB-66C and WB-66D).[13] The arrival of the B-66s enabled the squadron to retire its RB-26s as well as the Lockheed RT-33A Shooting Stars it had begun using for weather reconnaissance. When Tactical Air Command adopted the dual deputy organization, it inactivated the squadron's parent 363d Reconnaissance Group, and assigned the squadron directly to the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.[1] In 1961, three of the squadron's WB-66s deployed to Clark Air Base in Operation Long Pass, a joint deployment exercise in the Philippines.[11]

In 1962, 9th had a Navy squadron commander, Commander Chester E. Kingsbury, and flew classified film missions supporting the Cuban Missile Crisis starting in October 1962.[1] Between 1963 and 1966, the 9th routinely deployed aircraft and crews to Southeast Asia[1] and served as an Air Force training squadron for the upgraded B-66 Destroyer.

In 1969, the 9th moved to Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, where it became part of the 75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and flew McDonnell RF-4 Phantom IIs. On 31 August 1971, the squadron inactivated.[1] The squadron's aircraft and personnel were transferred to the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, which moved to Bergstrom on paper from Vietnam as USAF forces in Southeast Asia were reduced.[14]

Since the early 1990s, the space command and control mission evolved rapidly. In 1994, 14th Air Force was activated at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and became responsible for space operations. Between 1994 and 1998, United States Air Force reservists supported Fourteenth Air Force on various man-day tours, primarily as individual mobilization augmentees. In 1999, Captain Pat Assayag led a team to discuss the possibility of activating a reserve squadron to support the 614th Space Operations Flight.

On 1 October 1999, the 9th Space Operations Squadron was activated as a reserve squadron[15] with 37 billets and the responsibility of supporting the newly redesignated 614th Space Operations Squadron to build the weekly Space Tasking Order. Many reservists supporting Fourteenth Air Force were then reassigned to the 9th Squadron. At the unit activation ceremony, Major General Robert Hinson, commander of Fourteenth Air Force, stated "our ability to maintain our nation's superiority in space is dependent upon the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve as critical contributors to part of a cohesive Total Force."

In 2002, the space mission transferred from United States Space Command to United States Strategic Command, as Space Command inactivated. Then in 2003, Strategic Command's Joint Force Component Command was developed, and the Joint Space Operations Center was activated under the command's Space and Global Strike.

In 2005, as the Fiscal Year 2008 Program Objective Memorandum was drafted, Air Force Space Command increased the squadron's manpower authorization from 37 to 126 billets, ensuring additional support to the 614th and the new 614th Space Intelligence Squadron. Also that year, the 1st Space Control Squadron moved to Vandenberg to become part of the 614th Space Operations Squadron. The 1st and 614th Space Operations Squadron combined to form the 614th Air and Space Operations Center in 2007.

In 2010, the command structure of the 9th was adjusted to bring it more in line with the host 614 AOC's O-6 led command and division chief structure.

The 9th was redesignated the 9th Combat Operations Squadron in a ceremony held on 3 June 2017[4] to follow the name standard of other reserve units associated with Air Operations Centers throughout the Air Force. Today, the 9th is a unit of over 100 space, intelligence and communications professionals, expanding the role of support of the 614th and the Combined Space Operations Center.

• 460th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1943 – 26 September 1945
• 314th Composite Wing, 20 June 1946 – 20 October 1947 (attached to 3d Bombardment Group c. 25 Sep 1946; 71st Reconnaissance Group, 22 April 1947; 3d Bombardment Group after 7 May 1947)
• 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 11 November 1953
• 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 8 February 1958
• 4402d Tactical Training Group, 1 July 1966
• 363 Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 1 February 1967
• 75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 1 September 1969
• 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 15 July–31 August 1971
• 310th Space Group, 1 October 1999
• 310th Operations Group, 7 March 2008 – present[1]

• Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 July 1943
• Kearns Army Air Base, Utah, 31 August 1943
• Chatham Army Air Field, Georgia, 29 October 1943 – 3 January 1944
• Spinazzola Airfield, Italy, c. 11 February 1944 – 6 June 1945
• Waller Field, Trinidad, 15 June 1945
• Parnamirim Airport, Brazil, 30 June 1945 – 26 September 1945
• Johnson Air Base, Japan, 20 June 1946
• Yokota Air Base, Japan, c. September 1946 – 20 October 1947
• Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, 11 Nov 1953
• Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, 1 Sep 1969 – 31 Aug 1971
• Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, 1 Oct 1999 – present[1]

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• Heck, Frank H (1955). "Traffic Homeward Bound" (PDF). In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VII. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Knaack, Marcelle Size (1988). Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems. Vol. 2, Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-59-5.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• 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. 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.