915th Air Refueling Squadron The 915th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the 72d Bombardment Wing at Ramey AFB , Puerto Rico where it was inactivated on 30 June 1971 . The squadron was first activated as the 15th Bombardment Squadron in 1940 . It was disbanded on 1 October 1943 . On 4 July 1942 , crews and aircraft of the 15th Bombardment Squadron were first USAAF unit to bomb targets in Occupied Europe . In 1958 the 915th Air Refueling Squadron was activated and assigned to the 72d Bombardment Wing . The two squadrons were consolidated into a single unit in 1985 but remained in inactive status . History . World War II . The 15th Bombardment Squadron was initially activated as one of the original squadrons of the 27th Bombardment Group at Barksdale Field , Louisiana in 1940 . It was reassigned to 5th Air Support Command in late 1941 and moved to Fort Dix Army Airfield , New Jersey as the 27th prepared for shipment to the Philippines . After the Pearl Harbor attack , the unit was assigned to flying antisubmarine patrols over the Atlantic coast . The squadron returned to Lawson Field , Georgia , where it was redesignated as the 1st Pursuit Squadron ( Night Fighter ) , but after little more than a month returned to its original designation as a light bomber unit . It moved to England and was reassigned to VIII Bomber Command , arriving at RAF Grafton Underwood on 12 May , then to RAF Molesworth on 9 June . Under Eighth Air Force the airmen were equipped with the British Boston III light bomber , receiving their aircraft from No . 226 Squadron RAF . After a few weeks of familiarization training with the new aircraft , on 4 July 4 , 1942 six American crews from the 15th joined with six RAF crews from RAF Swanton Morley for a low - level attack on Luftwaffe airfields in the Netherlands , becoming the first United States Army Air Forces ( AAF ) unit to bomb targets in Europe . The Fourth of July raid had been specifically ordered by General " Hap " Arnold , commander of the AAF , and approved by President Roosevelt . Arnold believed that the Fourth of July would be an ideal day for the AAF to open its strategic bombing campaign against the Nazis , but General Carl Spaatz , commander of Eighth Air Force did not have any of his heavy bombardment group s ready for operational missions . Two of the 15th ' s planes did not return from the mission , along with one RAF aircraft . The squadron commander , Capt . Charles Kegelman ' s , plane was shot up badly and almost did not return . Spaatz considered the mission a " stunt " triggered by pressure in the American press that believed the people of both the United States and Great Britain needed a psychological boost . However , Kegleman was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and its British equivalent for his valor on that Fourth of July mission — the first Eighth Air Force airman to receive the nation ' s second highest combat decoration . The 15th flew most of its missions from Molesworth in its British Bostons , and did not receive AAF Douglas A - 20 Havoc aircraft until 5 September . The squadron was transferred to RAF Podington on 15 September where it flew a few missions before being transferred to Twelfth Air Force in October to support Allied landings in North Africa . In North Africa , the squadron was assigned to the Northwest African Training Command where its combat veterans provided advanced training in close air support with A - 20s and later A - 36 Apache s at several airfields throughout 1943 . It was disbanded at Nouvion Airfield , Algeria on 1 October 1943 and its crews and aircraft were absorbed into the 47th Bombardment Group . Cold War . The 915th Air Refueling Squadron was activated on 1 September 1958 by Strategic Air Command at Ramey AFB , Puerto Rico and equipped with KC - 135A Stratotanker s . The squadron mission was to provide air refueling to the B - 52G Stratofortress strategic bombers of its parent 72d Bombardment Wing and other USAF units as directed . The 915th deployed aircraft and crews periodically to Western Pacific region to support combat operations of deployed SAC units and tactical aircraft over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War , 1966 - 1970 . It was inactivated in 1971 along with its parent wing as Ramey AFB was transferred to Military Airlift Command . In September 1985 , the United States Air Force consolidated the two squadrons into a single unit under the designation 915th Air Refueling Squadron , Heavy , but the squadron has remained inactive since then . Lineage . 15th Bombardment Squadron 915th Air Refueling Squadron