32d Air Refueling Squadron The 32d Air Refueling Squadron ( 32 ARS ) is part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire - Dix - Lakehurst , New Jersey . It operates the KC - 10 Extender aircraft conducting aerial refueling missions . The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force , its origins dating to 13 June 1917 , being organized at Kelly Field , Texas . The squadron deployed to England as part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I . The squadron saw combat during World War II , and later became part of the Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) during the Cold War . History . World War I . Established as an Army Signal Corps aero squadron in June 1917 ; deployed to France in September 1917 . In France , the 32d served as an aircraft repair unit 1917 – 1918 . Served as part of the Army of Occupation in the Rhineland after the 1918 armistice and returned to the United States in April 1919 ; inactivated . Inter - war years . Re - established and activated as an Army Air Corps bombardment squadron in 1932 ; assigned to California where the squadron flew a mixture of transport ; observation and bombers . Received B - 18 Bolo medium and early model YB - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers in 1935 ; subsequently B - 17B and B - 17Cs in the late 1930s . World War II . At the time of the Japan ese attack on Pearl Harbor the squadron was under orders to move to the Philippines . A portion of the squadron had already set sail from San Francisco on 6 December only to return on 9 December . The air echelon dispersed to Muroc Army Airfield after the attack for a possible attack on Japanese forces that might attack the California Coast . Later in December the air echelon was assigned to the Sierra Bombardment Group , which deployed to Australia , where it was dissolved and personnel assigned to other squadrons which had withdrawn from the Philippines . Squadron was reformed in the United States in March 1942 , by a redesignation of the newly established 354th Bombardment Squadron ; trained under Second Air Force . Flew antisubmarine patrols off the California coast from , late May – early June 1942 , then over the Mid - Atlantic coast during June – July 1942 . 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 . Engaged in strategic bombardment operations over Occupied Europe , attacking enemy military and industrial targets . Reassigned to Mediterranean Theater of Operations ( MTO ) as part of Operation Torch invasion of North Africa . Operated from desert airfields in Algeria and Tunisia during North African and Tunisian campaign . Assigned to Northwest African Strategic Air Force during Invasion of Sicily and later Italy in 1943 . Allocated to Fifteenth Air Force for strategic bombing of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe . Attacked enemy targets primarily in the Balkans ; Southern France ; Southern Germany and Austria from southern Italy ; engaged in shuttle bombing missions to airfields in the Soviet Union during the summer of 1944 . Personnel largely demobilized after German capitulation in May 1945 ; squadron reassigned to the United States and was programmed for conversion to B - 29 Superfortress operations and deployment to Pacific Theater , plans canceled after Japanese capitulation in August 1945 . Aircraft sent to storage and unit inactivated largely as a paper unit in October 1945 . Cold War . Reactivated in 1946 as a Strategic Air Command B - 29 squadron . Deployed to Furstenfeldbruck AB , Germany , July – August 1948 ; to RAF Station Scrampton , England , October 1948 - January 1949 ; and to RAF Stations Lakenheath and Sculthorpe , May – November 1950 for " show of force " missions in Europe as a result of the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union and rising Cold War tensions in Europe . Equipped in 1953 with B - 47 Stratojets ; the squadron trained with electronic countermeasures from 1958 – 1964 and performed aerial refueling operations worldwide from 1965 – 1979 and since 1981 . From c . 10 June – 8 October 1972 , all personnel and aircraft were on loan to units in the Pacific or other Strategic Air Command units , leaving the squadron unmanned . It deployed most aircraft and personnel to Southeast Asia October – December 1972 , in support of Operation Linebacker II . It again deployed aircrews and tankers to various locations for air refueling support in Southwest Asia from August 1990 – April 1991 . Modern era . The 32d received the first KC - 10A delivered to the Air Force , at Barksdale AFB , on 17 March 1981 .