8th Air Support Operations Squadron

8th Air Support Operations Squadron
8th Air Support Operations Squadron
	Squadron members, soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and Italian army paratroopers Board a CH-47 Chinook
Active	1942–1945; 1984–1991; 1994-2004; 2006–2013
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Close air support operations
Size	Squadron
Motto(s)	Sparare Avanzere Communicare (Italian for 'Shoot, Scoot, Communicate') (After 2006)
Engagements	European Theater of Operations; Desert Storm
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
8 Air Support Operations Sq emblem
8th Air Support Operations Group emblem

The 8th Air Support Operations Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit that was last stationed at Aviano Air Base, Italy. Its first predecessor served during World War II, participating in the amphibious landings in Normandy on D-Day as the 8th Tactical Air Communications Squadron.

The squadron's second predecessor served in combat during Desert Storm as the 8th Air Support Operations Group, but was inactivated later in 1991. It was activated as a squadron at Aviano in December 2006.

History

World War II

The squadron's first predecessor was activated in August 1942 at Richmond Army Air Base as the 8th Communications Squadron. Although assigned to Eighth Air Force, it was attached to First Air Force for training until moving to the European Theater of Operations in January 1943.^[1]

It entered combat as the 8th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on D-Day, 6 June. Its air support parties primarily served units of the United States First Army, directing air support missions for the ground forces they served. It provided six teams that made airborne and amphibious landings in the initial invasion. It continued in combat until May 1945. Following V-E Day, it became part of the occupation forces until returning to the United States in December 1945 for inactivation. It was disbanded on 8 October 1948.^[1]

Cold War and Desert Storm

The second predecessor of the squadron was activated at Moehringen Army Installation, Germany in March 1984 as the 602nd Air Support Operations Center. It advised the Army's VII Corps on employment of tactical airpower. It provided the VII Corps with an air support operations center and managed the tactical air control parties for the corps’ combat maneuver units. In February 1988, the two units were consolidated into a single unit that was redesignated the 8th Air Support Operations Group the following month. The group saw combat in Southwest Asia from January through December 1991, when it was inactivated.^[1]

Post Cold War

It was reduced to a flight and activated in July 1994 at Fort Lewis, Washington. It was inactivated there in 2004.^[1]

In December 2006 it was redesignated the 8th Air Support Operations Squadron and activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy.^[b] The squadron's main mission was to advise Southern European Task Force and the 173rd Airborne Brigade on the use of air power and provide precision terminal attack guidance of close air support aircraft.^[2] Due to budget constraints, the squadron was inactivated in 2013.^{[citation needed]}

Lineage

8th Tactical Air Communications Squadron

Constituted as the 8th Communications Squadron, Air Support on 8 July 1942^[c]

Activated on 29 August 1942

Redesignated 8th Air Support Communications Squadron on 11 January 1943

Redesignated 8th Air Support Control Squadron on 22 November 1943

Redesignated 8th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on 1 April 1944

Inactivated on 28 December 1945

Disbanded on 8 October 1948
Reconstituted on 8 February 1988 and consolidated with the 602d Air Support Operations Group as the 602d Air Support Operations Group^[1]

8th Air Support Operations Squadron

Constituted as the 602nd Air Support Operations Center on 8 March 1984

Activated on 15 March 1984

Redesignated 602d Air Support Operations Group on 1 May 1985

Consolidated with the 8th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on 8 February 1988^[1]

Redesignated [8th] Air Support Operations Group on 1 March 1988^[d]

Inactivated on 1 November 1991

Redesignated 8th Air Support Operations Flight on 24 June 1994

Activated on 1 July 1994

Inactivated on 2 February 2004^[3]

Redesignated 8th Air Support Operations Squadron on 21 November 2006^[4]

Activated on 1 December 2006^[4]

Inactivated in 2013^{[citation needed]}

Assignments

Eighth Air Force, 29 August 1942 (attached to First Air Force until c. 27 Dec 1942)
VIII Air Support Command, c. 13 January 1943
IX Fighter Command, 16 October 1943
IX Air Support Command (later IX Tactical Air Command), 4 December 1943
XII Tactical Air Command, 1 August – 30 November 1945
Army Service Forces, Port of Embarkation, 1–28 December 1945
601st Tactical Control Wing, 15 March 1984
65th Air Division, 1 June 1985 (attached to Seventeenth Air Force for operational control after 31 October 1985)
Seventeenth Air Force, 15 March 1986 – 1 November 1991
1st Air Support Operations Group, 1 July 1994 – 2 February 2004^[3]
4th Air Support Operations Group, 1 December 2006^[4] – 2013^{[citation needed]}

Stations

Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia, 29 August – 26 December 1942
RAF Aldermaston (Station 467),^[5] England, 15 January 1943 (deployed to RAF Membury (Station 466),^[5] England, c. 4 February – c. 20 March 1943)
Aldermaston Court (Station 476),^[6] England, 17 April 1943
Au Gay, France, c. 30 June 1944
Les Oubeaux, France, c. 2 July 1944
Canisy, France, 2 August 1944
Coutouvray, France, 12 August 1944
Haleine, France, 22 August 1944
Rocquencourt, France, 2 September 1944
Bomeree, Belgium, 11 September 1944
Verviers, Belgium, 1 October 1944
Charleroi, Belgium, 18 December 1944
Verviers, Belgium, 17 January 1945
Bruhl, Germany, 25 March 1945
Marburg, Germany, 7 April 1945
Weimar (R-7),^[7] Germany, 26 April 1945
Fritzlar Airfield (Y-86),^[8] Germany, 27 June 1945
Darmstadt-Griesheim Airfield (Y-76),^[9] Germany, 14 September 1945
Stuttgart, Germany, 5 October 1945
Darmstadt/Griesheim Airfield (Y-76), Germany, 10 October 1945
Army Air Force Station Mannheim/Sandhofen (Y-79),^[8] Germany, 18 October – c. December 1945
Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, 25–28 December 1945
Moehringen Army Installation, Germany, 15 March 1984 – 1 November 1991
Fort Lewis, Washington, 1 July 1994 – 2 February 2004^[3]
Aviano Air Base, Italy, 1 December 2006^[4] – 2013^{[citation needed]}

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

^ Approved 4 April 1989.
^ The 8th Air Support Operations Squadron (Provisional) was activated at Aviano on 25 August 2006 and attached to the 4th Air Support Operations Group. It was inactivated on 1 December 2006, when the 8th was activated, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, August 2006, Maxwell AFB, AL.
^ This squadron is not related to the 8th Communications Squadron, Wing (originally the 325th Signal Company, Aviation) active from 1946 to 1948, or the current 8th Communications Squadron, which was first activated in 1948.
^ Robertson lists this redesignation, but repeats the group's previous designation, in an apparent typographical error.

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Robertson, Patsy, Lineage and Honors History of the 8th Air Support Operations Flight, 11 July 2008
^ Wronek, Colleen (8 August 2006). "New TACP squadron arriving at Aviano". 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lineage through 2004 in Robertson
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, December 2006, Maxwell AFB, AL
^ ^a ^b Station number in Anderson, p. 31.
^ Station number in Anderson, p. 32.
^ Station number in Johnson, p. 35.
^ ^a ^b Station number in Johnson, p. 33.
^ Station number in Johnson, p. 32.

Bibliography

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Anderson, . Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
Johnson, David C. (1988). U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO) D-Day to V-E Day (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
Robertson, Patsy, Lineage and Honors History of the 8th Air Support Operations Flight, 11 July 2008, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, AL.