| 52d Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron [1] | |
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52d Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron emblem |
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| Active | 1 February 1940 - 20 May 1946 1 July 1972 - 30 September 1977 11 May 1990 - 1 April 1997 29 March 2007 - Present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Pilot Training |
| Part of | 321st Air Expeditionary Training Group |
| Garrison/HQ | Speicher Air Base |
| Decorations | DUC MUA AFOUA |
The 52d Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron (52 EFTS) is part of the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission - Air Force (ITAM-AF) and is based at Contingency Operating Base (COB) Speicher, Tikrit, Iraq. It operates T-6A aircraft conducting flight training for members of the Iraqi Air Force. C-172 and C-208 aircraft will be moved from Kirkuk Air Base to COB Speicher in spring 2010 to be incorporated in the flying training program.
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Train, educate and advise professional Iraqi Airmen in order to build the institutional capacity to conduct credible fixed and rotary wing flight training for the Iraqi Air Force.
Activated in early 1940 as part of the pre-World War II build up of the United States Army Air Corps after the breakout of war in Europe. Assigned to the GHQ Northeast Air District, equipped with B-18 Bolos; later early model B-17C/D heavy bombers. After the Pearl Harbor Attack. flew antisubmarine patrol missions in the Caribbean from, January–June 1942.
Returned to the United States in June 1942 and was assigned to II Bomber Command. Was an Operational Training (OTU) and later Replacement Training Unit (RTU) for B-17 heavy bomber units and replacement personnel until March 1944 with the end of Heavy Bomber training.
Redgesignated as a B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment Squadron under Second Air Force. Deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO), assigned to North Field, Guam under XXI Bomber Command. Flew very long range strategic bombardment missions over the Japanese Home Islands, attacking military, industrial and transportation targets. Switched to night incendiary raids attacking major Japanese cities in the spring of 1945, causing massive destruction of urbanized areas. Continued strategic bombing raids and incendiary attacks until Japanese Capitulation in August 1945.
Squadron remained in Western Pacific, although largely demobilized in the fall of 1945. Some aircraft scrapped on Tinian; others flown to storage depots in the United States. Remained as a paper unit assigned to Twentieth Air Force until inactivated in 1946.
It conducted undergraduate pilot training from, 1972–1977 and 1990-1997. The 52d was reactivated in March 2007 as the first ever US Air Force expeditionary flying training squadron and the first flying training squadron activated in a combat zone. Its mission is to train, educate and advice Iraqi airmen to conduct undergraduate and instructor pilot training for the Iraqi Air Force.[1]
Capt Frank H. Robinson, 1 Feb 1940; Unknown, 3–9 May 1941; Capt Bockman, 10 May 1941; 1 Lt John D. Harcos, 27 Oct 1941; Capt James A. Walsh, 5 Nov 1941; Maj Edgar M. Wittan, 14 Feb 1942; Capt Lewellyn T. Boatwright, 21 Jun 1942; Capt Robert H. Warren, 5 Sep 1942; Maj Seldon L. McMillin, 7 Nov 1942; Capt James Kirkpatrick, 28 Jan 1943; Maj Robert L. Cox, 27 Apr 1943; Capt Delbert R. Hetrick, 15 Oct 1943-c. 1944. None (not manned), 1 Apr-3 May 1944; Capt John A. Martin, 4 May 1944; Lt Col Eugene O. Strouse, 23 May 1944; Maj Thomas W. Abbott Jr., 26 Jul 1945-c. 1946. Lt Col Charles E. Irwin, by 1 Jul 1972; Lt Col Max L. Hubrich, by 31 Dec 1973; Lt Col George B. Lapham, by Jun 1975-c. 30 Sep 1977. Lt Col Stanley R. Osborne, 11 May 1990; Lt Col Barry C. Hall, 5 Jun 1992; Lt Col Clarence A. McFarland, 1 Oct 1992; Lt Col Gerald R. Scroggins, 25 Jun 1993; Lt Col John Mazurowski, 31 Oct 1993; Lt Col Mark Richardson III, 20 Jan 1995; Lt Col LeeRoy A. Martin, 3 May 1996-1 Apr 1997. Lt Col Mark S. Bennett, 8 Sep 2007; Lt Col Nathan S. Brauner, 24 Jul 2008; Lt Col Charles E. Westbrook, 11 Jul 2009; Lt Col Charles Stevens 18 Jun 2010, Lt Col Andrew K Hamann 20 Jun 2011 .
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