page_title: 32nd Air Refueling Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 32nd Air Refueling Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Fully bombed up, B-17F 42-5145 the 32d Bombardment Squadron was photographed en route to Viterbo Airfield, Italy on 29 July 1943. Assigned to the group seven months earlier, this aircraft had completed 62 missions by the time It was transferred on to the 96th Bombardment Squadron of the 2d Bombardment Group in November 1943.Having passed the 100-mission mark, 42-5145 was lost on its 102nd combat sortie when It was shot down by German fighters over Fedora, Italy, on 11 March 1944. Six crewmen baled out (USAAF photo)
context_page_description: The 32nd Air Refueling Squadron, sometimes written as 32d Air Refueling Squadron, is part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. It operates the KC-10 Extender aircraft conducting air refueling missions. The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 19 May 1917, being organized at Kelly Field, Texas. The squadron deployed to England as part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. During World War II, the squadron saw combat service as a B-17 Flying Fortress unit, assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy. During the early years of the Cold War, it was an RB-47 Stratojet Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron as part of Strategic Air Command.
context_section_description: The squadron was reformed in the United States in March 1942, by a redesignation of the newly established 354th Bombardment Squadron. It trained under Second Air Force. It flew antisubmarine patrols off the California coast from late May to early June 1942, then over the Mid-Atlantic coast from June to July 1942.
  The squadron deployed to European Theater of Operations (ETO) in August 1942, being assigned to VIII Bomber Command, one of the first B-17 heavy bomb squadrons assigned to England. It engaged in strategic bombardment operations over occupied Europe, attacking enemy military and industrial targets. It was reassigned to Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) as part of Operation Torch invasion of North Africa. It operated from desert airfields in Algeria and Tunisia during North African and Tunisian campaign. It was assigned to Northwest African Strategic Air Force during the invasion of Sicily, and later Italy in 1943. It was allocated to Fifteenth Air Force for strategic bombing of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe. It attacked enemy targets primarily in the Balkans, Southern France, Southern Germany and Austria from southern Italy. It engaged in shuttle bombing missions to airfields in the Soviet Union during the summer of 1944.
  Personnel were largely demobilized after German capitulation in May 1945. The squadron was reassigned to the United States and was programmed for conversion to B-29 Superfortress operations and deployment to Pacific Theater. Plans were canceled after Japanese capitulation in August 1945. The aircraft were sent to storage and the unit was inactivated largely as a paper unit in October 1945.
caption: Fully bombed up, B-17F 42-5145 the 32d Bomb Squadron was photographed en route to Viterbo Airfield, Italy on 29 July 1943. Assigned to the group seven months earlier, this aircraft had completed 62 missions by the time it was transferred on to the 86th BS/2 BG in November 1943. Having passed the 100-mission mark, 42-5145 was lost on its 102nd combat sortie when it was shot down by German fighters over Fedora, Italy, on 11 March 1944. Six crewmen bailed out.
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