78th Air Refueling Squadron

The 78th Air Refueling Squadron (78 ARS) is part of the 514th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. It operates the KC-10 Extender aircraft conducting aerial refueling missions as the reserve associate to the 305th Air Mobility Wing.

Mission

History

During World War II, transported personnel and cargo in the European Theater of Operations and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and participated in Allied airborne assaults on Normandy, Southern France, the Netherlands, and Germany. It conducted reserve airlift training and transport operations during periods July 1947 – February 1951, December 1952 – March 1954, April 1955 – November 1957, May 1959 – September 1961, and August 1962 – March 1972, during which times it often augmented Military Airlift Command's strategic airlift operations worldwide and took part in domestic training exercises. The squadron also served in an active status from, March 1951 – December 1952 and October 1961 – August 1962. Between April 1972 and October 1973, it performed a special operations role. In November 1981, the 78th began strategic aerial refueling and airlift operations. In December 1989 it refueled aircraft on way to Panama during Operation Just Cause. During Operation Desert Shield in 1990, its crews refueled more than a hundred aircraft on their way from the United States to the Persian Gulf area and delivered passengers and cargo.^[1]

Operations^[1]

• World War II
• Operation Just Cause
• Operation Desert Shield

Lineage^[1]

Assignments^[1]

• 435th Troop Carrier Group (1943–1945)
• 435th Troop Carrier Wing (1947–1954, 1955–1957, 1959–1963)
• 917th Special Operations Group (1963–1973)
• 452d Air Refueling Wing (1981–1987)
• 98th Air Refueling Group (1987–1994)
• 514th Air Mobility Wing (1994–Present)

Bases stationed^[1]

Aircraft Operated^[1]

• C-53 Skytrooper (1943–1945)
• C-47 Skytrain (1943–1945)
• CG-4 Haig (1943–1945)
• Horsa Glider (1943–1945)
• C-46 Commando (1944–1945, 1947–1951, 1952–1954, 1955–1957)
• C-119 Flying Boxcar (1951–1952, 1959–1961)
• C-124 Globemaster II (1961–1972)
• A-37 Dragonfly (1972–1973)
• KC-10 Extender (1981–present)

References

External links

• AFHRA 78th Air Refueling Squadron History