Question: 601 Lobos is a squadron of the Portuguese Air Force that operates an aircraft that is easily distinguished by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD Boom", used for what?

Context articles: Sintra Air Base
RCAF Western Air Command
711 Squadron (Portugal)
Portuguese Air Force Academy
102nd Squadron (Portugal)
Lockheed P-3 Orion
Boom operator (US military)
Monte Real Air Base
751 Squadron (Portugal)
601 Squadron (Portugal)

Sintra Air Base (Portuguese: "Base Aérea de Sintra" ) (ICAO: LPST) , officially designated as Air Base No. 1 (Portuguese: "Base Aérea Nº 1" , BA1), is a Portuguese Air Force base located in the Sintra Municipality, Portugal.
 The base is home to a flight training squadron and the Portuguese Air Force Academy.
Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.
 When Canada declared war against Germany in September 1939 the command consisted of only five squadrons.
 Four of them equipped with obsolete aircraft including a bomber squadron with aircraft from the Great War and there were no fighter aircraft at all for its only fighter squadron (113 Fighter Squadron was thus disbanded).
 With the Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor it grew rapidly and played a critical role in fighter and anti-submarine operations in Canadian and American waters during the Aleutian Islands Campaign.
 It was there that Squadron Leader K.A. Boomer of No. 111 Squadron shot down a Rufe fighter, the RCAF's only kill in the Pacific Theatre.
 On 7 July 1942 a Bristol Bolingbroke pressed home an attack on the Japanese Submarine Ro 32 the pilot F/Sgt.
 P.M.G. Thomas of No. 115 Squadron RCAF then led American Destroyers to sink the damaged submarine.
 By January 1943 Western Air Command had expanded to include many bomber, fighter and operational units under its control.
 By the end of the war the command would involve some twenty squadrons when the last units to join were added in 1943.
 These were the 163 Army Cooperation Squadron in March flying Bristol Bolingbrokes and Hawker Hurricanes, in May the 160 Bomber-Reconnaissance Squadron was added flying Cansos from Sea Island BC (before moving to Yarmouth NS in July) and the 166 Communication Squadron formed in September flying various types.
 In addition to the new squadrons, new aircraft types came on line replacing the command's remaining Supermarine Stranraers and Blackburn Sharks with Canso's and the Bolingbrokes and Beauforts with the Lockheed Ventura.
 Countless training missions and operational patrols bolstered the air activity over the coastal areas but there was not much action until RCAF Western Command was on the look out for General Kusaba's Fire Balloons that the Japanese called the Fūsen Bakudan Campaign.
 In February and March 1945, P-40 fighter pilots from 133 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force operating out of RCAF Patricia Bay (Victoria, British Columbia), intercepted and destroyed two fire balloons, On 21 February, Pilot Officer E. E. Maxwell While shot down a balloon, which landed on Sumas Mountain, in Washington State.
 On 10 March, Pilot Officer J. O. Patten destroyed a balloon near Saltspring Island, British Columbia.
 During another interception a Canso forced down a fire balloon which was examined at the army headquarters.
 Patrol activity was joined by the Operational Training Schools (OTS) operated by Number 4 Training Command of the BCATP.
 They were the No. 3 OTS flying the Canso and Catalina and No. 32 OTS with Ansons, Beauforts and Swordfish at Patricia Bay.
 In April, 1944 the No. 5 OTS Heavy Conversion unit stood up at Boundary Bay when 16 B-24 Liberators arrived fresh from American factories.
 By the end of September 1944 RCAF 5 O.T.U. had grown to sizeable force of some 87 aircraft including 38 B-24 Liberators, 35 B-25 Mitchells, 5 Bolingbrokes, 8 P-40 Kittyhawks and a single Norseman.
 With the end of the war in Europe these aircraft were joined by a number of Victory Aircraft Lancaster X bombers which were to be used to train the British Commonwealth's Very Long Range Bomber Tiger Force that would soon be sent to bomb the Japanese mainland from Okinawa.
 With the unconditional surrender of Japan the RCAF's Tiger Force bomber squadrons were disbanded before they flew overseas and the total draw down of the Western Air Command was suddenly undertaken.
 Within several months almost all the flying squadrons would be completely stood down.
The 711 Squadron ""Albatrozes"" ("Esquadra 711") was a flying squadron of the Portuguese Air Force.
 Its primary mission was Search and Rescue and it has had secondary missions tactical air transport and general air transport in the Azores archipelago.
 During the time it was active it was the only operational squadron in the Portuguese military to operate both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.
The Portuguese Air Force Academy (AFA, "Academia da Força Aérea" in Portuguese) is a Portuguese military higher education institution whose aim is to provide all its students with the training and the experience that will enable them to graduate having gained the knowledge and the character qualities that are essential for leadership, and the motivation to become Portuguese Air Force officers.
 It comprises both university and polytechnical academic programmes.
102 Squadron ""Panchos"" ("Esquadra 102") was an elementary flight training squadron of the Portuguese Air Force disbanded in 1992.
 Formed in 1962, the squadron administered air force training and performed at air shows throughout Portugal.
 Between 1963 and its disbandment in 1992, the squadron lost nine pilots.
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s.
 Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.
 The aircraft is easily distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD Boom", used for the magnetic detection of submarines.
In the U.S. Air Force, a boom operator is an aircrew member aboard tanker aircraft who is responsible for safely and effectively refueling other aircraft during flight.
 The name boom operator implies that one "operates a boom" which in the case of a tanker is a long extendable metal arm that connects two aircraft for fuel transfer.
 Boom operators also control other air refueling equipment such as the refueling hose when using the probe-and-drogue system.
 The official Air Force title for boom operators is "In-Flight Refueling Operator" but this title is usually reserved for administrative paperwork such as enlistment contracts and performance reports in reference to the 1A0X1 "In-Flight Refueling" Air Force Specialty Code.
 The title "Boom Operator" is most commonly used, often informally shortened to "boom."
Monte Real Air Base, officially designated as Air Force Base No. 5 (Portuguese: "Base Aérea Nº 5" , BA5), is a Portuguese Air Force Military airbase located in Monte Real, Leiria, Portugal.
 Its mission is to guarantee the readiness and deployment of the air force units based there.
 Since its opening in October 1959, the base has been home to the air force's jet fighter aircraft, with several of the units based there being equipped with F-86F Sabre, Fiat G.91, T-33 Shooting Star, T-38 Talon and A-7 Corsair II aircraft.
The 751 Squadron "Pumas" ("Esquadra 751") is a helicopter squadron of the Portuguese Air Force.
 It is part of "Grupo Operacional" 61 and it is located in Air Force Base No. 6 (Portuguese: "Base Aérea Nº 6" , BA6), Montijo, south of Lisbon.
 It operates the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin.
 The 751 Squadron motto is ""Para que outros vivam"" (That others may live).
 More than 3455 lives have been saved by their crews since 1978.
601 Squadron ""Lobos"" ("Esquadra 601") is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare squadron of the Portuguese Air Force (PoAF), currently based at Beja Air Base.
 It operates the Lockheed P-3C CUP+ Orion.