509th Weapons Squadron

The mission of the squadron is to provide Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker instructional flying. ==History==

World War II The squadron was first activated as the 609th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 400th Bombardment Group, at Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, in March 1943. The group was equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators and served under Second Air Force as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) at several bases in the southwestern United States until the end of the year. The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups". The unit moved to Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina in late December, where it became part of First Air Force and changed its mission to that of a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). RTUs units were likewise oversize units, but their mission was to train aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters. while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated. This resulted in the 609th, along with other units at Charleston, being disbanded in April 1944 and being replaced by the 113th AAF Base Unit (Bombardment (Heavy)), which assumed the squadron's mission, personnel, and equipment. Cold War The 509th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Roswell Air Force Base, New Mexico and assigned to the 509th Bombardment Group. The squadron was inactivated in 1965 as the 509th phased down in preparation for inactivation. Weapons training The squadron was reactivated in 1999 at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, initially as the KC-135 Combat Employment School of Air Mobility Command's Air Mobility Warfare Center based at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. Its first student class began in June 2000. In 2006, the Air Force consolidated all weapons squadrons under the United States Air Force Weapons School under the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. In six months of training, weapons upgrade students receive graduate-level training in air refueling core competencies and learn to integrate and plan for joint operations. The students went to Nellis three times to receive "core" classes with the rest of the weapons school. They deployed on temporary duty assignments for terminal approach tactics at Roswell, New Mexico; participated in United States Strategic Command integration at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; certify in special operations air refueling at Hurlburt Field, Florida; and exercise with Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirits at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri; and plan and execute a mission employment exercise from Nellis two weeks before graduation. ==Lineage==

609th Bombardment Squadron • Constituted as the 609th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 15 February 1943 : Activated on 1 March 1943 : Disbanded on 10 April 1944 • Reconstituted and consolidated with the 509th Air Refueling Squadron as the 509th Air Refueling Squadron, Medium on 19 September 1985 509th Weapons Squadron • Constituted the 509th Air Refueling Squadron, Medium on 12 June 1948 : Activated on 12 July 1948 : Discontinued and inactivated on 25 June 1965 • Redesignated 509th Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy and activated, on 8 August 1966 (not organized) : Organized on 2 October 1966 • Consolidated with the 609th Bombardment Squadron on 19 September 1985 : Redesignated 509th Air Refueling Squadron on 1 September 1991 : Inactivated on 1 October 1994 • Redesignated 509th Weapons Squadron on 30 May 2003 : Activated on 1 June 2003 Assignments • 400th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944 • 509th Bombardment Group, 12 July 1948 • 509th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 • 817th Air Division, 5 January 1958 • 509th Bombardment Wing, 8 July 1958 – 25 June 1965 • Strategic Air Command 8 August 1966 (not organized) • 509th Bombardment Wing, 2 October 1966 • 416th Bombardment Wing, 1 July 1990 • 416th Operations Group, 1 September 1991 • 380th Operations Group, 1 June 1992 – 1 October 1994 • USAF Mobility Weapons School, 1 June 2003 • USAF Weapons School, 5 July 2006 – present Stations • Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, 1 March 1943 • Davis–Monthan Field, Arizona, 11 April 1943 • Pueblo Army Air Base, Colorado, c. 2 May 1943 • Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 31 July 1943 • Albuquerque Army Air Base, New Mexico, 19 September 1943 • Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina, 15 December 1943 – 10 April 1944 • Roswell Air Force Base (later Walker Air Force Base), New Mexico, 12 July 1948 (deployed at RAF Upper Heyford, England, 4 June – 3 September 1952, at RAF Lakenheath, England, 26 January – 1 May 1956) • Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, 5 January 1958 – 25 June 1965 • Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, 2 October 1966 • Griffiss Air Force Base, New York, 1 July 1990 – 1 October 1994 • Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, 1 June 2003 – present Aircraft • Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1944 • Boeing KB-29L/M Superfortress, 1948–1954 • Boeing KC-97F/G Stratotanker, 1954-1965- • Boeing KC-135A/R/RT Stratotanker, 1966–1994 • Boeing KC-135R/T Stratotanker, 2003–present Awards and campaigns ==References==