963d Airborne Air Control Squadron

963d Airborne Air Control Squadron
200px Flight Patch
Active	7 December 1942 - 10 April 1944 19 September 1945 - 27 January 1946 3 October 1946 - 1 April 1949 8 December 1954 - 30 April 1976 5 May 1976 - Present
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	USA
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Air Squadron
Part of	Air Combat Command Twelfth Air Force 552d Air Control Wing 552d Operations Group
Garrison/HQ	Tinker Air Force Base
Mascot	Blue Knights
Engagements	Vietnam War Desert Storm/Desert Shield Operation Provide Comfort Operation Southern Watch Afghanistan War Iraq War
Decorations	AFOUA w/ V Device RVGC w/ Palm

The 963d Airborne Air Control Squadron (963 AACS) is a squadron of the United States Air Force based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron is a subordinate unit of the 552d Operations Group and it flies the E-3 Sentry, radar surveillance aircraft. The squadron currently falls under the authority of Air Combat Command and Twelfth Air Force.

Emblem

The 963d's mascot is the Blue Knight which is represented on the unit's insignia as a blue colored winged chess knight. The background is a series of black and white squares that resembles a chess board. Three bolts of lightning emitted from the knight's eye shows the lightning fast deployability of the AWACS, and the knight's wings represents the flying mission of the unit.

History

File:EC-121 Warning Star NMUSAF.jpg

EC-121 aircraft

The 963d Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron (963 AEW&Cs) was activated, on 8 July 1955 at McClellan AFB, California. The squadron flew the EC-121 Warning Star, which was a military version of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft, until the unit's inactivation in 1976.

It was inactivated on 30 April 1976.

The inactivation lasted less than a week however, as the Air Force again activated the unit on 5 May 1976 and redesignated it as the 963d Airborne Warning and Control Squadron (963 AWACS). On 1 July 1976, the squadron relocated to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. The squadron was under the command of the 552 AWACW, which reported directly to Headquarters, Tactical Air Command (TAC).[1] The squadron began flying the new E-3 Sentry aircraft upon being reactivated. This new airframe is a military version of the Boeing 707 aircraft.

File:Awacs.sentry.750pix.jpg

963d aircraft on the flight line

During the 1980s the squadron flew training missions in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East.

In 1990 the squadron deployed to Riyadh AB, Saudi Arabia with the military build-up prior to Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

In 1992, the unit (and its superior unit the 552 ACW) came under the authority of the newly formed Air Combat Command (ACC). Throughout the early to mid-1990s, 963d aircrews routinely deployed to Incirlik AB, Turkey to support the northern Iraqi no-fly zone (Operation Provide Comfort). Crews from the 963d also continued operations in Saudi Arabia on the southern no-fly zone (Operation Southern Watch). They were also deployed to other trouble spots around the world as a modern form of Gunboat diplomacy. On April 14, 1994 an aircraft and crew from the 963d operating out of Incirlik AB, Turkey featured prominently in the 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident.

In 1994, the squadron's name was redesignated to 963d Airborne Air Control Squadron (963 AACS).

The 963d AACS also participated in the invasion of Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Operations

• World War II
• Vietnam War
• Operation Just Cause
• Operation Earnest Will
• Operation Desert Storm

Lineage

• 3d Search Attack Squadron (Heavy) (1942–1944)
• 163d Liaison Squadron (Commando) (1944–1949)
• 963d Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron (1954–1976)
• 963d Airborne Warning and Control Squadron (1976–1994)
• 963d Airborne Air Control Squadron (1994–Present)

Assignments

• 1st Sea–Search Attack Group (1942–1944)
• III Tactical Air Division (1944)
• Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (1945)
• Tenth Army (1945)
• Seventh Air Force (1945)
• VII Bomber Command (1945)
• Pacific Air Command (1945–1946)
• Ninth Air Force (1946)
• Tenth Air Force (1948–1949)
• 8th Air Division (1955)
• 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing (1955–1976)
• 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing (1976–1978)
• 552d Air Control Wing (1978–Present)

Bases stationed

• Langley Field, Virginia (1942–1944)
• Cox Field, Texas (1944)
• Brownwood Army Air Field, Texas (1944–1945)
• Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaii (1945)
• Yara Hikojo, Okinawa, Japan (1945)

• Fort William McKinley, Luzon, Philippines (1945–1946)
• Marshall Field, Kansas (1946–1949)
• McClellan AFB, California (1955–1976)
• Tinker AFB, Oklahoma (1976–Present)

Aircraft Operated

• B-18 Bolo (1942–1943)
• B-24 Liberator (1943–1944)
• L-5 Sentinel (1944–1945)
• UC–64 Norseman (1944)
• L–4 Grasshopper (1945)
• L–5 Sentinel (1946–1949)
• C–45 Expeditor (1946–1947)
• R–5 Dragonfly (1947–1949)

• R-6 Hoverfly II (1947)
• L–13 Grasshopper (1948–1949)
• Sikorsky H-5 (1948–1949)
• RC-121 (1955–1959 & 1961–1963)
• TC–121 (1959–1961 & 1972–1975)
• EC-121 Warning Star (1963–1972)
• C–121 (1969–1976)
• E-3 Sentry (1976–Present)

B-18 Bolo (1942–1943)	B-24 Liberator (1943–1944)	L-5 Sentinel (1944–1945)	UC–64 Norseman (1944)
L–4 Grasshopper (1945)	C–45 Expeditor (1946–1947)	R–5 Dragonfly (1947–1949)	R-6 Hoverfly II (1947)
L–13 Grasshopper (1948–1949)	RC-121 (1955–1959 & 1961–1963)	EC-121 Warning Star (1963–1972)	E-3 Sentry (1976–Present)

External links

• Official heritage site
• [2]
• 552d Air Control Wing at GlobalSecurity.org