The 26th Air Refueling Squadron was formed at
Lockbourne Air Force Base Ohio in May 1952. Equipped with the new
Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter, it was assigned as the
air refueling component of the
26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, primarily supporting the wing's
Boeing RB-47 Stratojets. It provided air refueling support for a variety of
Strategic Air Command (SAC) directed exercises and operations that included numerous simulated combat missions and deployments, ranging from a few days to a few months. The exercises took the squadron's aircraft to such bases as
Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska;
Thule Air Base, Greenland;
RAF Upper Heyford and
RAF Fairford, United Kingdom;
Sidi Slimane Air Base in Morocco;
Goose Bay Airport, Laborador; and
Lajes Field in the Azores. In August 1953, the squadron refueled
Republic F-84G Thunderjet fighters from the
508th Strategic Fighter Wing participating in the Operation Long Stride. They refueled seventeen F-84Gs from
Turner Air Force Base, Georgia to
RAF Lakenheath, Great Britain during a non-stop 4,485-mile trip. During the second phase of Operation Long Stride in October 1953, the 26th helped refuel eight F-84s of the
31st Strategic Fighter Wing from Turner to
Nouasseur Air Base, French Morocco. The aircraft covered 3,800 miles in 10 hours and 20 minutes, thanks to in-flight refueling in the vicinity of Bermuda and the Azores. Crews and aircraft from the 26th deployed to Lajes in September 1954 for 45 days to refuel the 26th Wing's
reconnaissance aircraft. In April 1955, the squadron was reassigned to the new
4050th Air Refueling Wing under the
57th Air Division at
Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts. From Westover, the squadron carried out air refueling primary for Eighth Air Force B-47s transiting the Atlantic from either the United States or returning from SAC's
Operation Reflex bases in Europe and North Africa. On 22 May 1957, the 26th moved from Westover to
Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York, being reassigned to the
380th Bombardment Wing under the
820th Air Division. From its base at Plattsburgh, the squadron continued to support training in air refueling for B-47 and B-52 crews as well as deploying to bases in Newfoundland and Greenland. Aircraft and crews were at
Sondrestrom Air Base, Greenland, when President
John F. Kennedy was assassinated, to guard against any potential "sucker punch" that the USSR might try while our country grieved. The squadron was inactivated in September 1964 as part of the retirement of the KC-97 from SAC service. ==Lineage==