B-36 Operations at Ramey Air Force Base The
squadron was activated along with the
72d Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at
Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico in June 1952. The wing and squadron remained non-operational until October, when the
55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing moved from Ramey to
Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas. The 72d Wing absorbed the residual resources of the 55th Wing at Ramey.
Convair RB-36 Peacemakers began arriving at Ramey in early 1953, and by March the squadron had received five aircraft. On 16 June 1954 the squadron, along with
Strategic Air Command (SAC)'s other B-36 reconnaissance units, was assigned bombing as its primary mission, although it retained its designations as a reconnaissance unit, and secondary reconnaissance capability until October 1955, when it became the
301st Bombardment Squadron. In September 1958, the squadron became nonoperational as the 72d Wing began preparations to transition to the
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Implementing this plan, the 301st moved to
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where it was assigned to the
4135th Strategic Wing. The squadron received its first
Boeing B-52G Stratofortress at Eglin in July 1959. General
Thomas S. Power established an initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC's planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. Twenty per cent of SAC's bombers and tankers were on alert by 1959, although the squadron did not begin to stand alert until January 1960. The command's goal of one third of its bombers on alert was finally reached in 1960. The SAC alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962. At Eglin, the squadron also participated in testing for the North American
GAM-77 Hound Dog air launched cruise missile. On 7 January 1959, the squadron received its first B-52G modified to launch the Hound Dog. The first air launch of a prototype Hound Dog at Eglin took place on 23 April 1959, but the squadron did not receive operational Hound Dogs until December. During testing, one Hound Dog crashed near the town of
Samson, Alabama when it failed to self-destruct. In May 1962, the squadron participated in Operation Silk Hat. During this exercise a low level Hound Dog test launch was conducted before an audience including President
John F. Kennedy and Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson. The squadron was also the first B-52 unit with the McDonnell
GAM-72 Quail, receiving a flight test model of the decoy missile on 27 February 1960. It made its first test launch of the Quail over the Gulf Test Range on 8 June, and in October, it became the first B-52 unit to receive operational missiles. The squadron became the first in SAC to be operational with the Quail in February 1961. As SAC equipped B-52 units with the Hound Dog and Quail, the 4135th Wing became the initial schoolhouse for training them on the missiles. SAC planners were looking into additional methods to protect their forces in addition to the ground alert program as early as 1957. Tests under the name Operation Head Start were precursors to
Operation Chrome Dome. In January 1961, SAC disclosed it was maintaining an airborne force for "airborne alert training." On 1 April 1962, the squadron began periodically flying Chrome Dome airborne alert missions. Soon after
detection of Soviet missiles in Cuba, SAC brought all degraded and adjusted alert sorties up to full capability. It withdrew its forces from
MacDill,
McCoy, and
Homestead Air Force Bases as these bases became saturated with tactical forces. By 24 October, all bombers from these bases had left Florida in Operation Riders Up, leaving the 301st's B-52s the closest to Cuba. On 20 October, the squadron was directed to put two additional planes on alert. On 22 October, the squadron began to launch two airborne alert sorties daily. On 24 October SAC went to
DEFCON 2, placing all the squadron's aircraft on alert. As tensions began to ease, on 21 November SAC went to DEFCON 3 and returned to its normal airborne alert posture. On 27 November SAC returned to its normal ground alert posture. The 4135th Wing was a
Major Command controlled (MAJCON) wing. SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its MAJCON strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time, but which could carry a permanent lineage and history. When the 4135th was replaced by the
39th Bombardment Wing in February 1963, The 301st Squadron was inactivated with it and its mission, aircraft and personnel were transferred to the
62d Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously activated. ==Lineage==