Military unit
The United States Air Force's 269th Combat Communications Squadron is an Ohio Air National Guard combat communications unit located at Springfield Air National Guard Base, Ohio.
Mission
The dual mission of the 269th Combat Communications Squadron is to rapidly deploy an integrated force capable of establishing initial and build-up Command and Control (C2); Communications; and Information Operations (IO) capabilities to support the war fighter during times of war and Federal/State agencies during Homeland Emergencies.
History
USAAC/WWII
The 269th Combat Communications Squadron is the oldest combat communications squadron in the Air Force and was formed three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent United States entry into World War II. It became the 77th Signal Platoon (Aviation), an Army communications element at Davis Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona, with a complement of one person, a Private Bunn, who later became First Sergeant. The unit had an authorized strength of approximately two hundred personnel with all the tools and equipment essential to provide communications for a typical fighter or bomber unit headquarters and its detachments. The company trained at three stateside bases, Gowen Field, Idaho; Wendover Field, Utah; and Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, before transferring to England in June 1943. They were renamed the 1077th Signal Company, Service Group and were assigned to Camp Cheddington, England. The 8th Air Force Composite Command was the first of a series of fighter and bomber units served by the company in England and Northern Ireland. Moving to Belgium with 1st Bombardment Division and the VIII AF Fighter Command in February 1945, the company was based at Charleroi, Belgium. From there they dispatched personnel to install and operate beacons and communications systems across the expanding front in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Germany. They moved forward with the fliers and even participated in an infantry attack at Frislar.[3]
Post-WWII
Returning to England in May 1945, the organization was assigned as a demobilization unit until its own inactivation, 4 December 1945. The 1077th was reconstituted as the 605th Signal Light Construction Company of the Ohio National Guard on 24 May 1946. However, sufficient people to achieve federal recognition were not assembled at its new home at the state Armory on East Mulberry Street in Springfield until 29 January 1948. Three officers and fifteen men were assigned to the new company. The mission and name changed, concurrent with the construction of a new facility at Springfield Municipal Airport. The buildings were located across the road from the bustling airport on land which became the home of a much larger unit, the 178th Fighter Group. The 605th was renamed the 269th Communications Squadron Operations, effective 1 July 1952. In October 1952, it was assigned to the newly formed 251st Communications Group.[3]
United States
Air National Guard
