The squadron was activated in the reserves as a light bomber unit in 1949 and served until it was called to active duty in 1951 as a result of the Korean War and its personnel used as fillers for other units. In 1955, the squadron was again activated in the reserves as the 711th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. It trained with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars and North American F-86 Sabres until being replaced by the 69th Troop Carrier Squadron in 1957.
The squadron activated in 1971 as the 711th Tactical Airlift Squadron at Duke Field, Florida with the mission of intratheater airlift, using Lockheed C-130 Hercules Aircraft. Three years later, it converted to the AC-130 gunship model of the Hercules and became the 711th Special Operations Squadron. In 1995 it converted to a third type of C-130 when it began to fly the MC-130 Combat Talon model. In 2013 it re-equipped with PZL C-145A Skytrucks and its mission became one of providing training and support for friendly nations.
Mission
In May 2013, the 711th ended its 42-year mission operating the Lockheed C-130 aircraft to transition to an aviation foreign internal defense mission flying PZL C-145A Skytrucks.[6] In 2015, the 711th SOS shares a building, flightline, aircraft and mission with the active-duty 6th Special Operations Squadron at Duke Field. The 6th moved from Hurlburt Field to Duke Field in 2012, as the 711th transitioned from the MC-130E to the foreign internal defense role, the two units jointly assuming the new mission. "As the only two Air Force operational squadrons performing this mission, their deployment tempo is best described as continuous averaging around one deployment a month."[7]
The squadron was stationed at RAF Rattlesden, England, from December 1943 to August 1945. It flew its first combat mission on 24 December 1943 against a V-1 flying bomb launch site near Saint-Omer in Northern France.[12]
From December 1943 to May 1944, the squadron helped prepare for the invasion of the European continent by attacking submarine pens, naval installations, and cities in Germany; missile sites and ports in France; and airfields and marshaling yards in France, Belgium and Germany.[13] The squadron conducted heavy bombardment missions against German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20 to 25 February 1944.[8]
The unit supported Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 by bombing airfields and other targets.[8] On D-Day the squadron bombed the beachhead area using pathfinder aircraft.[14]
The squadron aided in Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint Lo, France, and the effort to take Brest, France, from July to September 1944.[8] It bombed strategic targets from October to December 1944, concentrating on sources of oil production.[8] It assaulted marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communication centers during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945.[8] In March 1945 the group bombed an airfield in support of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine. The unit flew its last combat mission on 21 April 1945 against a marshalling yard at Ingolstadt, Germany.[15]
On 2 November 1944, 2d Lieutenant Robert E. Femoyer, a navigator with the squadron, was flying a mission to Merseburg, Germany. His B-17 was damaged by flak and Lt. Femoyer was severely injured in his back and side. He refused morphine to relieve the pain of his injuries in order to keep his mind alert to navigate the plane out of the danger from heavily defended flak areas and then to a place of safety for his crew. Because he was too weak to climb back in his seat, he asked other crew members to prop him up so he could read his charts and instruments. For more than two hours he directed the navigation of his plane back to its home station with no further damage. Shortly after being removed from his plane, Lt. Femoyer died of his injuries.[8][16]
The 711th redeployed to the United States during the summer 1945. The air echelon ferried their aircraft and personnel back to the United States, leaving on 29 and 30 June 1945. The squadron ground echelon, along with the 709th squadron sailed 3 August 1945 on the SS Benjamin R. Milam, from Liverpool. Most personnel were discharged at Camp Myles Standish after arrival at the port of Boston. A small cadre proceeded to Drew Field, Florida[17] and the squadron inactivated on 7 November 1945.[8]
Pre-Korean War reserve operations
The squadron was redesignated as a light bomber unit and activated in the reserve at Long Beach Municipal Airport, when the 448th Bombardment Group was authorized a fourth squadron. However, the unit was only authorized manning of 25% of normal strength.[18] It had no tactical aircraft assigned, but flew twin engine trainers[3] under the supervision of the 2347th Air Force Reserve Training Center.[19] In August 1950, the 448th Bombardment Wing's companion reserve unit at Long Beach, the 452d Bombardment Wing, was mobilized for Korean War service. In order to bring the 452d Wing to combat strength, skilled reservists and reservists who required 60 or fewer days training to qualify them as fully skilled assigned to the 448th Wing were transferred to the 452d Wing.[20] The 711th Squadron itself was called to active duty in the second wave of mobilization in March 1951 and its personnel who had not been transferred to the 452d Wing were used as fillers for other Air Force organizations, while the squadron was inactivated a few days later.[4]
Reserve fighter operations
F-80C as flown by the squadron
The reserve mobilization for the Korean War left it without aircraft, and the reserve did not again receive aircraft until July 1952.[21] When aircraft were assigned, six reserve pilot training wings were activated. However, the Air Force desired that all reserve units be designed to augment the regular forces in the event of a national emergency. Because the pilot training wings had no mobilization mission they were discontinued on 18 May 1955, and replaced by fighter-bomber and troop carrier wings.[22] The squadron was redesignated the 711th Fighter-Bomber Squadron and again activated as a reserve unit at Hensley Field, Texas when the 448th Fighter-Bomber Wing replaced the 8709th Pilot Training Wing. The squadron took over the North American T-28 Trojan aircraft of the 8709th, but soon re-equipped with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars.
Despite its fighter bomber designation, the squadron was gained by Air Defense Command (ADC) upon mobilization. ADC required the squadron be designed to augment active duty squadrons capable of performing air defense missions for an indefinite period after mobilization independently of its parent wing.[23] The squadron flew the F-80 until 1957, when it began converting to the North American F-86 Sabre.[19]
However, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were pressuring the Air Force to provide more wartime airlift. At the same time, about 150 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became available from the active force. Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed Continental Air Command to convert three reserve fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission by September 1957. In addition, within the Air Staff was a recommendation that the reserve fighter mission given to the Air National Guard and replaced by the troop carrier mission.[24] As a consequence in November 1957, the 711th[4] and the remainder of the 448th Wing were inactivated[19] when reserve operations at Hensley converted to the airlift mission and the 69th Troop Carrier Squadron moved to Hensley from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.[25]
The unit reactivated in 1971 at Duke Field, Florida as the 711th Tactical Airlift Squadron, a reserve intratheater airlift squadron equipped with the Lockheed C-130A Hercules. Its mission was the airlift of personnel and cargo as well as airdrop support for Army paratroopers during exercises.[3]
In late 1974, the squadron began transitioning to the AC-130A Spectre aircraft[3] and when transition to gunships was complete the squadron was redesignated as the 711th Special Operations Squadron in the summer of the following year.[3]Close air support of conventional and special operations ground forces became the unit's primary duty, but additional capabilities included the ability to perform armed interdiction, reconnaissance, and escort, forward air control and combat search and rescue in conventional or unconventional warfare settings.[26]
The 711th again flew combat missions during Operation Desert Storm in Southwest Asia from February through March 1991.[3] The squadron deployed five aircraft and eight aircrews to King Fahd International Airport, near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, arriving on 7 February and flying its first sortie two days later.[27] On 26 February three of the squadron's AC-130As attacked the Jahra to Basra road, which was being used by fleeing Iraqi troops. Fighter aircraft had struck the road, and numerous vehicles were backed up on the road, struggling to make their way north. Ghost 10 was the first squadron aircraft to attack, but it had to depart the area after destroying five vehicles due to its low fuel situation. It was replaced by Ghost 06 and Ghost 07, which destroyed an additional 29 vehicles, including four armored personnel carriers. The squadron flew 59 sorties during the war, and performed airlift as well as gunship missions. It departed the theater on 12 March and arrived at Duke on 19 March.[28]
The squadron's primary mission changed in late 1995 as the unit transitioned to the MC-130E Combat Talon I aircraft. In its new role, the squadron provided long-range clandestine delivery of special operations forces and equipment. It periodically deployed personnel and aircraft to support special operations contingency operations worldwide, as well as numerous humanitarian missions.[3] Beginning on 1 October 1997, the 711th also provided the flight portion of MC-130E Combat Talon I training for both Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Force Reserve Command.[3]
The squadron ended forty-two years of operating with the Hercules in 2013, when it transitioned into the PZL C-145 Skytruckshort takeoff and landing aircraft.[30] The unit's new mission is aviation foreign internal defense. Aviation foreign internal defense is a special operations forces mission employing airmen as combat aviation advisors to assess, train, advise and assist foreign nations in aviation. It supports friendly nations to assist the United States in achieving strategic political and military goals. In this mission, the squadron is a reserve associate unit operating and maintaining aircraft of the 6th Special Operations Squadron a colocated regular unit.[31]
On 15 December 2022, the squadron retired the C-145A from active service.[32] According to two 2022 articles in Task & Purpose, the 711th was programmed to be inactivated.[33][34] However, as of 2023, the 711th is still shown on the 919th Special Operations Wing's af.mil website as an active squadron.
Lineage
Constituted as the 711th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 6 April 1943
Activated on 1 May 1943
Redesignated 711th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943
Inactivated on 7 November 1945
Redesignated 711th Bombardment Squadron, Light on 10 May 1949
Activated in the reserve on 27 June 1949
Ordered to active service on 17 March 1951
Inactivated on 21 March 1951
Redesignated 711th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 12 April 1955
Activated in the reserve on 18 May 1955
Inactivated on 16 November 1957.
Redesignated 711 Tactical Airlift Squadron on 17 June 1971
Activated in the Reserve on 30 July 1971
Redesignated 711 Special Operations Squadron on 1 July 1975[3]
Assignments
447th Bombardment Group, 1 May 1943 – 7 November 1945
448th Bombardment Group, 27 June 1949 – 21 March 1951
448th Fighter-Bomber Group, 18 May 1955 – 16 November 1957
^Approved 6 September 1943. Description: Over and through a light blue disc, outlined dark blue, a yellow orange aerial bomb on white speed segment, piercing lower rim of disc, and deflecting a pair of dice to top and bottom of disc on white impact rays, dark blue spots 6, 5, and 4, showing on upper die and 1, 2, and 3, on lower die, with the spots 5 and 2 on the top of the dice.
^Aircraft is Boeing B-17G-45-BO Flying Fortress, serial 42-97392, Ramblin' Wreck. This plane survived the war and was sent to storage at Kingman AAF, AZ on 20 December 1945. It was sold for scrap in July 1946. Baugher, Joe (6 May 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
^Aircraft is Lockheed AC-130A-LM, serial 53-3129. First Lady. This aircraft was built as a C-130A Hercules. It was converted to JC-130A configuration in September 1959 and to AC-130A Spectre on 2 December 1968. It is now on display at Eglin AFB. It is the first Hercules built. Baugher, Joe (8 April 2023). "1953 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
^This 919th Special Operations Group is not the same unit that the squadron was assigned to from 1971 to 1993. That unit is now the 919th Special Operations Wing. Robertson, Factsheet 919 Special Operations Wing (AFRC).
^The 711th received credit for this campaign. However unit histories show that the squadron did not deploy until the campaign ended. Dollman, Factsheet 711 Special Operations Squadron.
^ abcdefghijklMaurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 712–713
^Roux, Capt Monique (8 January 2018). "Quiet Professionals don brown beret". Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-1987-7.
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