The squadron's mission is to provide mission ready airmen to advise, integrate & control air and space power in support of the 4th Infantry Division; to train, deploy, & focus combat airpower and integrated weather operations for the joint force commander alongside III Corps or a supported land force commander.[2]
History
World War II
The squadron was first activated in January 1943 at Birmingham Army Air Base, Alabama, where it trained with III Air Support Command for the next six months. In June, it moved to Thermal Army Air Field, California, where it was assigned to IV Air Support Command.[1] In California, it helped train ground units and participated in exercises and maneuvers with the Desert Training Center.[3][4] By 1944, the need for ground forces to train for desert warfare had been reduced. Also, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving not well adapted to the training mission and decided to replace them with a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[5] As a result, the squadron, now the 13th Tactical Air Communications Squadron, was disbanded in April 1944.[1]
Current operations
The squadron was redesignated the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron and activated on 1 July 1994 at Fort Carson, Colorado.[1]
Lineage
Constituted as the 13th Air Support Control Squadron on 11 January 1943[note 1]
Activated on 15 January 1943
Redesignated 13th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on 29 February 1944
Disbanded on 15 April 1944
Reconstituted and redesignated 13th Air Support Operations Squadron on 24 June 1994
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. LCCN48003657. OCLC704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
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United States
United States Air Force
