World War II Training in the United States The
squadron was constituted in early 1942 as the
22d Reconnaissance Squadron. Since a reorganization of
General Headquarters Air Force in September 1936, each bombardment group of the
Army Air Forces (AAF) had an attached
reconnaissance squadron, which operated the same aircraft as that group's assigned bombardment squadrons. However, it was renamed the
412th Bombardment Squadron before activating at
Barksdale Field, Louisiana in June as one of the four original squadrons of the
95th Bombardment Group. The squadron began training in August at
Geiger Field, Washington, It flew its first combat mission on 13 May 1943 against an
airfield near
Saint-Omer, France. For the next two months the squadron focused on attacking airfields and
V-1 flying bomb launch sites in France. It determined to move them closer to the target areas, and an exchange of bases began. The entire 95th group moved to
RAF Horham in June, where they replaced the
323d Bombardment Group, which departed the previous day. A few days later their place at Framlingham was taken by the newly arrived
390th Bombardment Group. The 412th began strategic bombing operations in July and continued until flying its last operation on 20 April 1945. Its targets included
harbors,
marshalling yards and other industrial targets along with attacks on cities. The squadron received its first
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) during an attack on an
aircraft factory at
Regensburg, Germany on 17 August 1943 when it maintained its defensive formation despite severe attacks by enemy
interceptor aircraft. It was awarded a second DUC for withstanding these attacks to bomb its objective. From 20 to 25 February 1944 the group participated in the
Big Week offensive against the German aircraft manufacturing industry. A few days later, on 4 March, the squadron attacked
Berlin despite adverse weather that led other units to either abandon the operation or attack secondary targets. Despite snowstorms and heavy cloud cover, the unit struck its target while under attack from enemy fighters, It received its third DUC for this operation. to
Warsaw to drop
ammunition, food and medical supplies to Polish Resistance forces fighting against German
occupation forces. The unit flew its last mission on 20 April 1945, when it attacked marshalling yards near
Oranienburg. In the first week of May, it airdropped food to Dutch citizens in Operation Chow Hound. From
V-E Day until departing the theater in June, it transported liberated
prisoners of war and
displaced persons. The air echelon flew their planes back to
Bradley Field, Connecticut, while the ground echelon sailed once more on the
Queen Elizabeth. The 412th was inactivated when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the
wing base organization system in June 1949 and ended its reserve flying operations at Knoxville. The squadron provided air refueling primarily to the B-52s of the 4137th wing. Once the squadron became combat ready, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute
alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962. 912th continued to maintain an alert commitment until the end of the
Cold War, except for periods it deployed aircraft to support other operations. The squadron also conducted world wide
air refueling missions. and SAC wanted to replace it with a permanent unit. The 912th was reassigned to the 465th wing. As the need for refueling support of tactical aircraft in Southeast Asia increased, the squadron deployed crews and aircraft to support Operation Young Tiger in Thailand. A little over five years later, when SAC terminated operations at
Homestead Air Force Base, Florida and transferred the base to
Tactical Air Command, it moved the
19th Bombardment Wing on paper to Robins, where it took over the assets of the 465th wing The 912th provided crews and planes to support the Alaskan, European and Pacific Tanker Task Forces. It supported
Operation Urgent Fury, the restoration of the government of
Grenada on 23 and 24 October 1983. The unit also flew EC–135 airborne command post missions from 1984 to 1989 for
United States Central Command. These missions included deployed missions flown in the Middle East. In September 1985 the 912th Air Refueling Squadron was consolidated with the 412th Bombardment Squadron.
Air Mobility Command With the inactivation of SAC in June 1992, most of its air refueling assets, including the 912th, were transferred to
Air Mobility Command. In 1994 the 912th moved without personnel or equipment to
Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota as Robins prepared to replace its refueling wing with a
J-STARS unit At Grand Forks it was reassigned to the
319th Operations Group as the third tanker squadron of the
319th Air Refueling Wing, which was being transformed into a "super tanker wing." With the 319th the squadron deployed KC-135Rs and crews to support tanker activities in
Operation Deny Flight, the United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Operation Uphold Democracy, the United Nations action to remove the military junta and restore the elected president of
Haiti; and Operation Constant Vigil from
Howard Air Force Base in Panama. In 1995 the squadron deployed to
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to support
Operation Southern Watch the Southwest Asia Task Force operation to monitor and control airspace in southern Iraq. From June through August 2000 the squadron moved its operations to
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida while the runways at Grand Forks were being repaired. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, the 912th contributed personnel and aircraft to the 319th Air Expeditionary Group in support of homeland defense. An advance party arrived at
March Air Reserve Base, California in October 2010, and began to organize the squadron once again. However, it was not until December that the ceremony to mark the 912th's new status as an active associate organization, an active duty Regular Air Force flying unit operating the same aircraft as the
336th Air Refueling Squadron and operationally controlled by the
452d Air Mobility Wing, was celebrated. The 912th is under the administrative control of the active duty
92d Air Refueling Wing at
Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. ==Lineage==