Formed in August 1917 as the 50th Aero Squadron, the unit flew observation missions in American built de Havilland DH-4s over the battlefields of World War I. On 6 October 1918, 1Lt Harold E. Goettler and 2Lt Erwin R. Bleckley, of the squadron were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. In the spring of 1919, the squadron returned to the United States, and was stationed at Langley Field, Virginia until 1927, operating with the Air Corps Tactical School. It moved to Brooks Field, Texas, where it was inactivated in August 1927 and its personnel and equipment were transferred to another unit.
In 1930, the squadron was again activated in Hawaii. In 1938, it was redesignated the 50th Reconnaissance Squadron and was stationed at Hickam Field during the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1942, the squadron became the 431st Bombardment Squadron, and served in the Pacific Theater, where the unit earned the Distinguished Unit Citation and the Navy Presidential Unit Citation. The squadron remained in the Philippines after V-J Day, returning to the reconnaissance mission in 1946 as the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron until it was inactivated on 20 October 1947 and its resources transferred to another squadron.
The squadron was reactivated at the United States Air Force Academy on 1 October 1983 and designated the 50th Airmanship Training Squadron. The focus of the 50th later changed to the classroom, supporting the instruction of US Air Force Academy cadets in military strategic studies as the 50th Education Squadron. It was inactivated in August 2005.
The squadron was redesignated the 50th Attack Squadron and activated at Shaw in February 2018.
The unit was first organized as the 50th Aero Squadron with 149 men at Kelly Field No. 1, Texas, on 6 August 1917. It moved to Kelly Field No. 2 on 12 September and was designated as a school squadron, its personnel entered training for engine mechanics and performed field garrison duties. It moved back to Field No. 1 on 17 November and was equipped with Curtiss JN-4 aircraft and pilots, and entered training for combat service in France.[4]
On 20 December 1917, the 50th transferred from Kelly Field for overseas duty. It moved to the Aviation Concentration Center, Camp Mills, Garden City, New York arriving on 3 January 1918. It departed from the United States on transport No. 508 (RMS Carmania on 9 January, arriving at Liverpool, England on 24 January. Once in England, the 50th was moved to RFC Harlaxton, Lincolnshire and began advanced training in aircraft rigging and engine repair, along with gunnery, radio, photography and aerial bombing prior to being sent to France.[4]
Combat in France
The Dutch Girl logo of Old Dutch Cleanser.
Departure orders for France were received on 3 July 1918, the squadron departing from the port of Southampton, arriving in Le Havre, France on 14 July. It entered service with the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) at the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks, St. Maixent on 17 July. After receiving additional personnel, supplies and equipment, it moved to the combat flying school at the 1st Observation Group School on Amanty Airdrome on 27 July. At Amanty, the squadron received American-built De Havilland DH-4s and after training on the DH-4s, the squadron was designated as a corps observation squadron and assigned to the I Corps Observation Group. After a short spell at the Behonne Air Depot, the squadron moved to Bicqueley Airdrome on 8 September for combat duty on the front.[4] The squadron adopted the Dutch Girl trademark of Old Dutch Cleanser as its insignia. To the fliers of the 50th Aero Squadron, the Dutch Girl meant one thing: "Clean up on Germany." The insigne was painted on the aircraft, and squadron members wore matching pins above the right breast pocket on their uniforms.[5]
In combat, the mission of the 50th Aero Squadron was general surveillance of the enemy rear areas by means of both visual and photographic reconnaissance. These missions were carried out for the purpose of intelligence-gathering and informing First Army headquarters informed of enemy movements and preparations for attacks or retreats of its infantry forces. The 50th identified enemy activity along roads and railroads, ground stations, various storage dumps and airfields; the numbers of fires and activities of enemy aircraft, and the amount of anti-aircraft artillery was also monitored and reported. Due to the nature of the missions and the depths of enemy area which was penetrated, the missions were carried out at high altitudes, usually between 4,500 and 5,500 meters.[4]
Members and aircraft of the 50th Aero Squadron at Clermont-en-Argonne Airdrome, France, 1918
The 50th flew its first combat mission on 12 September, supporting the 82nd and 90th Infantry Divisions as part of the St. Mihiel Offensive Campaign. It flew flights to help adjust the artillery barrage on enemy forces for the 90th Division, and also reconnaissance missions, observing and photographing enemy forces in the rear areas and reporting that information to the 82d Division commander. The weather during the offensive, however, was extremely poor. Fortunately, the enemy air activity was very slight at the beginning of the offensive, but a day or two afterwards, there was a marked increase in enemy activity. One observer was killed in action, and one plane, with its observer and pilot failed to return during the Offensive.[4]
After St. Mihiel, the squadron moved to the Remicourt Aerodrome in preparation for the next American offensive, in the Forest of Argonne. There it joined the 1st and 12th Aero Squadrons. Its movement to Remicourt was delayed until 24 September due to weather. On the 26th, squadron combat operations began supporting the 77th Division, the 50th Aero Squadron flew its first missions of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive with a complement of 15 pilots, 15 observers, and 16 aircraft. Initially the aircraft flew observation or dropped messages[6]
At the beginning of October, units of the 308th Infantry Regiment were cut off and surrounded by German troops. Able to communicate with division headquarters only by carrier pigeon, the battalion-sized force inadvertently supplied division headquarters with incorrect coordinates of its location. On 2 October the 50th Aero Squadron searched for signs of the cut-off battalion, and on 5 October the 77th Division commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander, requested that the 50th Aero Squadron locate and resupply the "Lost Battalion" by air with ammunition, rations, and medical supplies.[6]
The following day, pilot Harold E. Goettler and observer Erwin R. Bleckley made a second trip to drop supplies to the battalion which had been cut off by the enemy in the Argonne Forest. They had been subjected on their first trip to violent fire from the enemy, but attempted on the second trip to come still lower in order to get airdropped packages more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of this flight the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from, resulting in the instant death of Lt Goettler and resulting in fatal wounds to L. Bleckley, who died before he could be taken to a hospital. For this action, they were each awarded the Medal of Honor[7][8]
On 28 October, the squadron moved from Remicourt to the new Parois Airdrome near Clermont-en-Argonne,[1] where it continued combat operations until the 11 November Armistice with Germany. In its short period of combat, it flew 192 missions, consisting of 373 sorties. It lost 25 aircraft and claimed one enemy aircraft destroyed.[4][9]
Post World War I duty in France
After the end of hostilities, the air service in France was slow to bring their units back to the United States. Transportation was poor, and many had to wait months to board a ship. The 50th was no exception, as it was split into flights and assigned to various locations in France, performing postwar service duties.[citation needed]
With the inactivation of the First Army Air Service, the 50th Aero Squadron was ordered to report to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome on 1 April 1919, to turn in all of its supplies and equipment and was relieved from duty with the AEF. The squadron's DH-4 aircraft were delivered to the Air Service Production Center No. 2. at Romorantin Aerodrome. There practically all of the pilots and observers were detached from the squadron. Personnel at Colombey were subsequently assigned to the Commanding General, Services of Supply and ordered to report to the staging camp at Clamecy, France on 9 April. There, personnel awaited scheduling to report to one of the Base Ports in France for transport to the United States. It moved to the port of Marseille, France, 22 April when it boarded the SS Caserta.[10]
Upon its arrival in New York, the squadron proceeded to Scott Field, Illinois, arriving on 27 May.[1][11]
Lt. Mitchell H. Brown, Distinguished Service Cross, 1 aerial victory
Lt. George R. Phillips, Distinguished Service Cross, 1 aerial victory[12]
Inter-War era
Regular unit at Langley Field
A small cadre of the squadron remained at Scott Field until August 1919 when it was moved to Langley Field, Virginia. At Langley, it again received De Havilland DH-4s and was assigned to the 2d Wing. It was assigned to coastal and submarine patrol duties along the Atlantic coast.[citation needed] On 1 October it was attached to the 1st Army Observation Group.[1][13]
In 1920, the squadron was called upon to help keep order during coal miner strikes in West Virginia.[13] In May 1921, it was attached to the 1st Provisional Air Brigade,[1] which was formed to demonstrate that aircraft could successfully attack armored navy ships. The test was held at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Following training at Langley, the brigade bombed the German cruiser SMS Frankfurt and battleships SMS Ostfriesland and USS Alabama (BB-8).[14]
The squadron moved to Brooks Field, Texas, where it was assigned to the Air Corps Training Center, in June 1927. It was inactivated on 1 August 1927 and its personnel and equipment transferred to the 51st School Squadron.[1][15]
Regular Army Inactive service
The squadron was organized in December 1927 with Organized Reserve personnel as a Regular Army Inactive (RAI) unit at Dodd Field, Texas.[13][e] Organized Reserve officers assigned to the unit participated in summer training at Kelly Field in 1928 and its designated mobilization training station was Dodd Field. The squadron was withdrawn from the Eighth Corps Area on 27 October 1928 and allotted to the Second Corps Area. It was organized on 27 May 1929 as an RAI unit at Mitchel Field, New York and withdrawn at the end of October 1930.[13]
Return to active service
The squadron was reactivated as an aerial observation and defensive patrol squadron off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii Territory, 1 November 1930, stationed at Luke Field,[16] and assigned to the 5th Composite Group, with Thomas-Morse O-19 as initial equipment.[17] It remained in Hawaii as part of the Hawaiian Department throughout the 1930s as part of the air defenses of the islands. In 1932 and 1933, it participated in joint maneuvers with Army and Navy forces in the Hawaiian Islands.[13]
In 1936, the squadron equipped with Martin B-12 medium bombers, although it retained some lighter aircraft as well. These were replaced in 1938 by Douglas B-18 Bolos. Recognizing the longer range of these planes, the squadron was redesignated the 50th Reconnaissance Squadron in January 1938. Later that year, its assignment to the 5th Group became an attachment.[1][f] Between 1938 and 1941, it participated in annual exercises by the Hawaiian Department.[13] Its attachment changed to the 11th Bombardment Group when it was activated in February 1940 as part of the Air Corps plan to expand to 24 combat groups.[18][19] Beginning in May 1941, the squadron began training with the Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress, with the capability to fly longer reconnaissance missions from its base at Hickam Field.[1][18][20]
World War II
Squadron B-17E Flying Fortress at the Thirteenth Air Depot, Tontouna Airfield, New Caledonia[g]
The squadron was at Hickam during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. In April 1942, the 50th was redesignated the 431st Bombardment Squadron. The squadron flew patrol and search mission from the Hawaiian Islands, including air support during the Battle of Midway.[18][21] In June 1942, shortly after the Battle of Midway, the 11th Group was authorized as a mobile force by the Army Air Forces in order to respond to a Navy request by Admiral Nimitz for long-range armed search planes to locate Japanese fleets, accompanied with firepower to withstand defending Japanese interceptors while tracking the fleet. The 11th Group left Hawaii to support Navy operations in the South Pacific Theater during the Guadalcanal and Northern Solomon Islands Campaigns.[21]
The squadron moved to the New Hebrides on 22 July 1942 and became part of Thirteenth Air Force. It bombed airfields, supply dumps, ships, docks, troop positions, and other objectives in the South Pacific from July to November 1942, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for those operations. It continued operations in the South Pacific, attacking Japanese airfields, installations, and shipping until late March 1943.[18]
The squadron returned to Hickam Field and the control of Seventh Air Force on 8 April 1943. In Hawaii, the squadron equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers, which it flew until the end of the war.[18] Its training Included missions against Wake Island and other central Pacific bases held by the Japanese.[21] It deployed to Ellice Island on 9 November 1943 and resumed combat participating in the Allied offensive through the Gilbert, Marshall and Marianas Islands, while operating from Funafuti, Tarawa, and Kwajalein.[18]
"The squadron moved to Guam on 25 October 1944 and attacked shipping and airfields in the Volcano and Bonin Islands. It moved to Okinawa on 2 July 1945 to participate in the final phases of the air offensive against Japan, bombing railways, airfields, and harbor facilities on Kyushu and striking Japanese airfields in Eastern China."[18]
Postwar reconnaissance in the Pacific
After V-J Day, the squadron flew surveillance and reconnaissance missions over China and ferried former prisoners of war to the Philippines. In December 1945 the squadron moved without personnel or equipment to Fort William McKinley, Philippines. On 29 April 1946 the squadron was redesignated as the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron and assigned to US Army Forces, Pacific, when its parent 11th Group moved to Guam. On 15 June 1946, the squadron moved to Clark Field, Philippines, where it was transferred to the 313th Bombardment Wing and began to reman and reequip.[1][18]
At Clark, the 5th was equipped with Boeing F-13 Superfortress (B-29)s, F-7A Liberators (B-24J and L)s and a few F-9B Flying Fortresses (B-17F)s equipped for long range photography and mapping which had operated from Australia during the war. The squadron's mission was to perform aerial photography and mapping over the Southwest Pacific, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Formosa, and the Pescadores, 1946–1947, some missions being clandestine over northern China, Northern Korea and the Soviet Union.[22] In February 1947, the squadron was reassigned to the 5th Reconnaissance Group, but was inactivated on 20 October 1947, transferring its mission, equipment and personnel to the 23d Reconnaissance Squadron, which was simultaneously activated at Clark.[1][23]
The summer of 1997 saw the last flight of the squadron's T-43As for the squadron with a change in mission for the squadron to classroom education of cadets in military strategic studies and a loss of funding for the 200th Airlift Squadron. In January 2001 the squadron was redesignated the 50th Education Squadron, reflecting the squadron's change in mission.[5] The squadron was inactivated on 1 August 2005.[1]
Remotely piloted vehicle operations
The squadron was redesignated the 50th Attack Squadron and activated at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina on 18 February 2018. It was originally assigned to the , located at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.[1] As unmanned aerial vehicle operations at Shaw expanded, the 25th Attack Group was activated in October 2018 and the 50th was assigned to it. The squadron operates the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper.[3]
Lineage
Organized as the 50th Aero Squadron on 6 August 1917
Redesignated 50th Aero Squadron (Corps Observation) on 8 September 1918[citation needed]
Luganville Airfield, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 1 November 1942 – 28 March 1943 (forward echelon operated from Henderson Field (Guadalcanal), Solomon Islands, December 1942)
^Regular Army Inactive units were units that were constituted in the regular army. Although they were not activated, they were organized with reserve personnel during the 1920s and early 1930s. Even though they had reserve personnel assigned, they were not Organized Reserve units. Because they had no regular personnel they were still considered inactive in the regular army. Clay, p. vi.
^Neither Maurer not Haulman provide the unit of assignment while the squadron was attached to the 5th and 11th Bombardment Groups. However, both groups were assigned to the 18th Bombardment Wing which was formed "to provide the separate squadrons [in Hawaii] with an air headquarters." Williams, p. 171.
^Aircraft is B-17E Flying Fortress, serial 41–2426. Photo taken in August 1943, when the plane was undergoing depot level maintenance along with a Lockheed P-38, Bell P-39 and Martin B-26. This B-17 returned to the United States in February 1944 and was used as an instructional airframe. It was salvaged on 31 December 1945. Baugher, Joe (8 April 2023). "1941 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
^Aircraft is Convair B-24M-20-CO Liberator, serial 44-42151 Bolivar Jr. Picture taken at Agana Airfield, Guam, Marianas Islands on 6 June 1945.
^This wing is not related to the current 18th Wing, which was established in 1948.
^Maurer says (p. 531) "Langres, France (operated from Longeau)". Two construction squadrons (482nd and 484th) worked earlier at Longeaux (with an "x"), south of Ligny en Barrois. These may be the same location.
^ abIngold, A1C Benjamin (4 October 2018). "25th Attack Group activated at Shaw". Air Combat Command. 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 24 December 2020.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abcdefghiGorrell, Series E, Volume 3, History of the 47th-50th Aero Squadrons.[page needed]
^Editors, "Military Aviation for 1930", Air Corps News Letter, Information Division, Air Corps, Munitions Building, Washington, D.C., 15 January 1931, Volume XV, Number 1, page 6.
^Luke Field Correspondent, "Luke Field, T.H., 10 December 1930", Air Corps News Letter, Information Division, Air Corps, Munitions Building, Washington, D.C., 15 January 1931, Volume XV, Number 1, page 24.
Cate, James L.; Craven, Wesley F. (1948). "Prelude to War, Chapter 2, The Army Air Arm between Two Wars, 1919-39". In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II(PDF). Vol. I, Plans and Early Operations. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657. OCLC704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
Watson, Richard L. (1948). "Prelude to War, Chapter 4, The Air Corps Prepares for War, 1939-41". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II(PDF). Vol. I, Plans and Early Operations. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657. OCLC704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
Williams, E. Kathleen (1948). "Prelude to War, Chapter 5 Deployment of the AAF on the Eve of Hostilities". In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II(PDF). Vol. I, Plans and Early Operations. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657. OCLC704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC215070705.
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