| Unit Name: | 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron |
| Dates: | 1917–1922; 1929–1942; 1942–1944; 1969–present |
| Role: | Airborne Command and Control |
| Command Structure: | Air Force Global Strike Command |
| Garrison: | Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska |
| Battles: | World War I – Western Front World War II – American Theater Global War on Terrorism[1] |
| Decorations: | Air Force Meritorious Unit Award Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Identification Symbol Label: | 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron emblem[2] |
| Identification Symbol 2 Label: | 1st Ferrying Squadron emblem |
The 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron is part of the 595th Command and Control Group at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It operates the Boeing E-4 aircraft conducting airborne command and control missions.
The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 25 September 1917, when it was organized at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. It served overseas in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The squadron saw combat during World War II, and became part of the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War.
The first predecessor of the squadron was organized at Fort Omaha Nebraska in September 1917 as Company A, 2d Balloon Squadron. Two months later it departed for overseas service on the Western Front (World War I), arriving in France in January 1918. It entered combat as an observation unit with the French Eighth Army on 19 April 1918, operating observation balloons over the front lines. Once forces of the American Expeditionary Forces, had built up, it continued to operate as the 1st Balloon Company with the American I Corps until 17 October 1918. Following the end of the war, it served with III Corps as part of the occupation forces until April 1919.[1]
In the spring of 1919, the squadron returned to the United States and was stationed at Ross Field, California as part of the Air Service Balloon School.[1] In June 1922, the Balloon School moved to Scott Field, Illinois and Ross Field was closed as a military installation. The squadron was inactivated[1] with the closure of Ross.
The second predecessor of the squadron, also designated the 1st Balloon Company, was activated at Scott in May 1929. After a brief period of training with the 21st Airship Group at Scott, it moved to Post Field, located on Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where it was assigned to the Field Artillery School.[1] It trained and conducted exercises with the school. At the beginning of World War II, it operated barrage balloons, but that mission was assigned to the coast artillery and the squadron was disbanded two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The third predecessor of the squadron was activated in April 1942 at Long Beach Army Air Base as the 1st Air Corps Ferrying Squadron, the location of a Douglas Aircraft Company manufacturing plant. It ferried aircraft from the Douglas factory and other factories in the Western Procurement District to overseas departure points.[1] However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training and logistics support mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[3] In March 1944, Air Transport Command units assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group were combined into the 556th AAF Base Unit.
On 1 June 1962, Headquarters Command organized the 1000th Airborne Command Control Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base to operate the National Emergency Airborne Command Post and assigned it to the 1001st Air Base Wing.[4] [5] By 1965, the squadron was operating Boeing EC-135 aircraft to support this mission.[6] On 1 July 1969, the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron was activated and assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 1000th Squadron.[7]
In 1974, the squadron began to replace its EC-135s with more capable Boeing E-4s, completing the upgrade the following year. In November 1975, the squadron was reassigned from Andrews' 1st Composite Wing to the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. On 1 July 1977, it moved to join the 55th Wing at Offutt[8] [1] On 1 October 2016, the unit was reassigned to the newly activated 595th Command and Control Group under the control of Air Force Global Strike Command.[9]
The 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron represents the consolidation of ultimately four different units, done in two consolidations. The first involved consolidating the 1st Airship and 1st Balloon Companies in 1929 into what would become the 1st Balloon Squadron. This was then consolidated with the 1st Ferrying Squadron and 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron in 1985 to form the current unit.
| Current unit | Units consolidated on 19 September 1985 | Units consolidated on 31 July 1929 |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron | 1st Balloon Squadron | 1st Airship Company |
| 1st Balloon Company | ||
| 1st Ferrying Squadron | ||
| 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron |
| Date | Designation | Assignment | Station | Equipment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September 1917 | Company A, 2d Balloon Squadron | Fort Omaha, Nebraska | organized | ||
| 30 November 1917 | |||||
| 7 December 1917 | transit | ||||
| 3 January 1918 | Gironde, France | Caquot Type R observation balloon | |||
| 15 April 1918 | Brouville, France | ||||
| 19 June 1918 | 1st Balloon Company | ||||
| July 1918 | |||||
| 19 July 1918 | Les Ecoliers, France | ||||
| 22 July 1918 | Épaux-Bézu, France | ||||
| 25 July 1918 | Épieds, Aisne, France | ||||
| 28 July 1918 | Artois Ferme, France | ||||
| 5 August 1918 | Mareuil-en-Dole, France | ||||
| 13 August 1918 | Coucelles-sur-Vesle, France | ||||
| 23 August 1918 | Tremblecourt, France | ||||
| 29 August 1918 | La Queue de Theinard, France | ||||
| 27 September 1918 | Bois de Brule, France | ||||
| 2 October 1918 | Varennes-en-Argonne, France | ||||
| 8 October 1918 | |||||
| 11 October 1918 | Chatel-Chehery, France | ||||
| 17 October 1918 | Auzeville-en-Argonne, France | ||||
| 20 November 1918 | |||||
| 21 November 1918 | Mercy-le-Bas, France | ||||
| 8 December 1918 | Euren, Germany | ||||
| 19 December 1918 | Niederberg, Germany | ||||
| 17 April 1919 | Colombey-les-Belles, France | ||||
| 5 May 1919 | St. Nazaire, France | ||||
| 6 June 1919 | Camp Lee, Virginia | ||||
| July 1919 | Air Service Balloon Observers School | Ross Field, California | |||
| 30 June 1922 | |||||
| 25 July 1922 | inactive | ||||
| 24 March 1923 | 1st Airship Company | ||||
| 31 July 1929 | consolidated into 1st Balloon Company |
| Date | Designation | Assignment | Station | Equipment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 October 1927 | 1st Balloon Company | inactive | |||
| 17 May 1929 | Scott Field, Illinois | ||||
| June 1929 | |||||
| 24 June 1929 | Post Field, Oklahoma | ||||
| 1 October 1933 | 1st Balloon Squadron | ||||
| 1937 | |||||
| 1939 | |||||
| 1940 | |||||
| 1 September 1941 | |||||
| 6 February 1942 | disbanded | ||||
| 19 September 1985 | reconstituted and consolidated into 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron |
| Date | Designation | Assignment | Station | Equipment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 February 1942 | 1st Air Corps Ferrying Squadron | inactive | |||
| 15 April 1942 | 6th Ferrying Group | Long Beach, California | various aircraft | ||
| 12 May 1943 | 1st Ferrying Squadron | ||||
| 1 April 1944 | disbanded | ||||
| 19 September 1985 | reconstituted and consolidated into the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron |
| Date | Designation | Assignment | Station | Equipment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 May 1969 | 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron | inactive | |||
| 1 July 1969 | 1st Composite Wing | Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland | |||
| December 1974 | [10] | ||||
| 1 November 1975 | |||||
| 1976 | |||||
| 1 July 1977 | Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska | ||||
| December 1979 | |||||
| January 1985 | |||||
| 1 September 1991 | |||||
| 1 October 2016 |