22d Tactical Air Support Training Squadron

22d Attack Squadron
Active 1941–1943; 1965–1988; 1988–1991; 2012–present
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Role Unmanned aerial vehicle operation
Decorations Presidential Unit Citation
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device
Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm[1]
Insignia
22d Reconnaissance Sq emblem[2]
Patch with 22d Tactical Air Support Training Squadron emblem
Patch with 22d Tactical Air Support Squadron emblem
Patch with 46th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 8 January 1943)[3]
Right front view of two OV-10 Bronco aircraft from the 22nd Tactical Air Support Squadron, Wheeler Field, Hawaii, as pre-flight operations take place during Exercise Opportune Journey 84.
see 46th Bomb Squadron for the Strategic Air Command squadron

The 22d Tactical Air Support Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 602d Tactical Air Control Wing, based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 30 September 1991.

It has been in active service on four different occasions, and saw combat service in the early years of World War II and in the Vietnam War. [4]

History

World War II

The squadron was first activated at March Field, California in January 1941 as the 46th Bombardment Squadron, one of the three original squadrons of the 41st Bombardment Group. The squadron moved to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona and trained there with Douglas B-18 Bolos. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron moved to Muroc Bombing Range and conducted antisubmarine patrols off the Pacific Coast from bases in California until the summer of 1942.[3][5]

The squadron moved to the Atlantic Coast in July 1942 and its air echelon was attached to Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command in October and continued its patrols in this area. The squadron formally joined Antisubmarine Command in the spring of 1943, when it became the 22d Antisubmarine Squadron. In August 1943 as the Navy assumed responsibility for antisubmarine operations, the air echelon moved to England, conducting operations over the Bay of Biscay. The ground echelon remained in the United States and was inactivated in October 1943. The air echelon was disbanded in November.[3]

Antisubmarine patrol flights were conducted in the squadron's assigned areas, producing a situation map that was continuously updated with enemy and friendly forces, convoys, and other pertinent information. The antisubmarine patrols also produced an enemy dispersion chart showing the disposition of all known enemy submarines in the entire Atlantic area.

Vietnam War

The 22d Tactical Air Support Squadron (Light) organized at Binh Thuy Air Base, South Vietnam, on 8 May 1965. It provided aircrews in Vietnam to direct air strikes for tactical aircraft operating within the Tactical Air Control System (TACS). Visual reconnaissance, convoy escort, and other missions were conducted as directed by the Tactical Air Commander, and aircraft and maintenance were provided in support of these operations within IV Corps, Republic of Vietnam, as directed by Seventh Air Force. The squadron provided aircraft and personnel in support of the Theater Indoctrination School, and field and transient maintenance support of USAF aircraft at Binh Thuy Air Base. The 22nd operated the Cessna 0–1 aircraft, 1965–1971; and the Cessna 0–2 aircraft, 1967–1971. Personnel and other resources of the 22d were absorbed by the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron on 15 January 1971, and the 22d was unmanned and non-operational until it transferred W/O/P/E to Wheeler AFB, Hawaii, on 15 May 1971.

Over the course of the war, the 22nd TASS suffered four killed in action.[6] Aircraft losses were 13 O-1 Bird Dogs and three Cessna O-2 Skymasters.[7]

Hawaii service

At Wheeler the 22d, using the Cessna 0–2, organized, trained, and equipped assigned personnel to provide the Air Force Component Commander with a joint force, capable of operating and maintaining a tactical air support subsystem for ground forces requiring close air support, tactical air reconnaissance, and tactical airlift.

The squadron also provided Direct Air Support Center and Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) personnel and equipment to support US Army units in Hawaii. During 1982, the 22d participated in a number of exercises and prepared plans for conversion to the OV-10. Converted to the OV-10 aircraft, August–October 1983. Supported U.S. Army on the ground with TACPs creating a network which provided the Army with immediate air support and, in the air, with OV-10 forward air control support. Participated in numerous exercises with US and allied army ground units throughout the Far East.

It was inactivated on 22 September 1988. It was then re-designated 22d Tactical Air Support Training Squadron on 1 October 1988 and reactivated on 14 October 1988. Its final inactivation was on 30 September 1991.[4]

Lineage

22d Antisubmarine Squadron
Activated on 15 January 1941
Redesignated: 22d Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) on 3 March 1943
Disbanded on 11 November 1943[3]
22d Attack Squadron
Organized on 8 May 1965
Inactivated on 22 September 1988
Activated on 14 October 1988
Inactivated on 30 September 1991
Activated on 10 September 2012[1]
Redesignated 22d Attack Squadron

Assignments

Stations

Ground echelon remained at Bluethenthal Field until September 1943, then moved to Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, where it was inactivated on 30 October 1943

Aircraft

Other TASS

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "22nd Reconnaissance Squadron". Flightline Insignia. 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ "22d Reconnaissance Squadron Emblem". The Institute of Heraldry. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 114-115
  4. 1 2 Kimbrough, Kenneth L. "22nd TASS". squawk-flash.org. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 97-98
  6. ↑ Hobson 2001, pp. 53, 152, 171, 187.
  7. ↑ Hobson 2001, p. 253.
  8. 1 2 Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 662q, 19 September 85, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Tactical Squadrons
  9. 1 2 Station number in Anderson.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

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