350th Air Refueling Squadron The 350th Air Refueling Squadron ( 350 ARS ) is part of the 22d Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base , Kansas . It operates the KC - 135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions . Mission . To organize , train and equip to provide global mobility , 24 hours per day , 7 days per week . History . World War II . Organization and Training for Combat . The squadron was originally established as one of the original Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment squadrons of the 100th Bombardment Group in mid - 1942 under Third Air Force but was immediately transferred to Second Air Force for training . It remained a paper unit until the initial cadre of the ground echelon ( 4 officers and 27 enlisted men ) were assigned at Gowen Field , Idaho . Two days later the squadron departed for Walla Walla Army Air Base , Washington for Phase I training . There the first aircrew arrived on 1 December 1942 . In February 1943 the ground echelon went to Kearney AAF , Nebraska , while the air echelon went to Ainsworth , Casper and Scottsbluff Army Air Field s where they acted as instructors training other units for the next three months . On 28 April , Colonel Alkire , the first group commander was relieved of duty . Two days later , the air echelon returned to Wendover Field , and would not be reunited with the ground echelon until arriving in England in June . The ground echelon proceeded by rail to Camp Kilmer , then embarked on the RMS Queen Elizabeth , sailing on 27 May and arriving at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde , where they disembarked on 3 June . The flight echelon ferried their aircraft through Maine , Newfoundland , Labrador and Iceland to the United Kingsom . Combat in the European Theater . The 350th engaged in strategic bombardment operations over Occupied Europe and Germany , sustaining very heavy losses of personnel and aircraft while conducting many unescorted missions over enemy territory attacking airfields , industries , naval facilities and transportation hubs . The squadron flew its first mission against Bremen , Germany on 25 June 1943 . During the summer of 1944 , aircrews bombed enemy positions at Saint - Lô , followed by similar campaigns at Brest in August and September . In October 1944 , the squadron attacked enemy and ground defenses in the allied drive on the Siegfried Line , then bombed marshaling yards , German occupied villages , and communication targets in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945 . Attacked enemy targets in Germany during the spring of 1945 , ending combat operations a strike on Berlin on 20 April 1945 . The squadron emained in Europe as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe occupation forces , dropping food to the people in the west of the Netherlands , and in June transported French Allied former prisoners of war from Austria to France . Demobilizing in England , in December 1945 the squadron inactivated as a paper unit . Cold War . Reserve Organization . The 350th activated in the Air Force Reserve in 1947 at Columbia AAB , South Carolina . It is unclear whether or not the unit was manned or equipped . It was inactivated in 1949 when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve organization according to the Wing Base Organization . Strategic Air Command . The squadron reactivated under Strategic Air Command received new , swept wing B - 47 Stratojet s in 1956 which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses with its high operational ceiling and near supersonic speed . The squadron flew the B - 47 for about a decade when by the mid - 1960s it had become obsolete and vulnerable to new Soviet air defenses . The squadron began to send its Stratojets to The Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center at Davis - Monthan AFB for retirement in 1965 , the last being retired in 1966 , one of the last B - 47 Squadrons . Redesignated as a strategic reconnaissance squadron , operating AQM - 34 Firebee strategic reconnaissance drones launched from DC - 130 Hercules aircraft and recovered by CH - 3 helicopters from , 1966 – 1976 . Additionally , it provided refueling support for SR - 71 aircraft from , 1983 – 1990 . The 350th also provided cargo support and intratheater refueling during combat in Southwest Asia from , August 1990 – March 1991 .