55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
Encyclopedia
The 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force
unit. It was last assigned to the 50th Operations Group
, being stationed at Schriever Air Force Base
, Colorado
. It was inactivated on 16 July 2002.
using B-24 Liberator
aircraft. Deployed to XXI Bomber Command
on Guam
in April 1945. Equipped with B-29 Superfortress
very long range aircraft and provided weather reconnaissance for Twentieth Air Force
B-29 raids on Japan in the Western Pacific theater. Returned to the United States in 1946, where it trained and conducted weather reconnaissance. Between July and Oct 1947, when it inactivated, the squadron flew daily missions over the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Reactivated as part of Strategic Air Command
in 1951, assigned to McClellan AFB, California
. The squadron flew weather reconnaissance missions over the northern Pacific using WB-29s. Upgraded to WB-50 Superfortresses in 1954. Tested WB-50 aircraft flying long-duration missions over 24 hours in length and trained crews for other weather squadrons.
During the 1950s, supported atomic tests by monitoring radioactive clouds and taking atmospheric samples. Provided weather reconnaissance data for northeast Pacific Ocean
, parts of Arctic Ocean
, and northwestern Atlantic Ocean
in late 1950s. Tracked Hurricanes Dot and Donna in 1959 and 1960. Provided weather data for transoceanic fighter deployments, photographic reconnaissance for testing experimental CORONA
reconnaissance satellite imagery, and surveillance for space flight recoveries. Operated detachments in Alaska
, Hawaii
and Washington until inactivation in 1961 due to budget reductions.
Reactivated in late 1961 and reorganized and equipped with new RB-57F Canberra aircraft modified for high altitude, long range intelligence gathering, assigned to the meteorological role. Part of their duties involved high-altitude atmospheric sampling and radiation detection work in support of nuclear test monitoring. Replaced Canberras in 1964 with WB-47 Stratojets and flew weather reconnaissance and atmospheric sampling missions over the Pacific and Arctic. Between 1965 and 1993, used WB-47s to test air for radiation from possible nuclear tests to verify treaty limitations, flying missions worldwide.
Retired RB-47s in 1969; re-equipped with WC-135 Stratolifters. In 1986, monitored atmospheric radiation in Europe after Chernobyl
nuclear accident in the Soviet Union
. In 1988 and 1989, tested special photographic equipment for Strategic Defense Initiative
research. Inactivated in 1993 with the end of the Cold War
. Reactivated under Space Command in 1997; inactivated in 2002 due to budget reductions.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
unit. It was last assigned to the 50th Operations Group
50th Operations Group
The 50th Operations Group is a component of the 50th Space Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Space Command. The group is stationed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado....
, being stationed at Schriever Air Force Base
Schriever Air Force Base
Schriever Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located approximately 10 miles east of Peterson AFB near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States.-Overview:...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. It was inactivated on 16 July 2002.
History
Established in mid-1944 as a weather reconnaissance squadron; trained under Third Air ForceThird Air Force
The Third Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe . It is headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....
using B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
aircraft. Deployed to XXI Bomber Command
XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in Guam for strategic bombing during World War II.- Lineage:* Constituted as XXI Bomber Command on 1 Mar 1944, and activated the same day.-Assignments:...
on Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
in April 1945. Equipped with B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
very long range aircraft and provided weather reconnaissance for Twentieth Air Force
Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations...
B-29 raids on Japan in the Western Pacific theater. Returned to the United States in 1946, where it trained and conducted weather reconnaissance. Between July and Oct 1947, when it inactivated, the squadron flew daily missions over the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Reactivated as part of Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
in 1951, assigned to McClellan AFB, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The squadron flew weather reconnaissance missions over the northern Pacific using WB-29s. Upgraded to WB-50 Superfortresses in 1954. Tested WB-50 aircraft flying long-duration missions over 24 hours in length and trained crews for other weather squadrons.
During the 1950s, supported atomic tests by monitoring radioactive clouds and taking atmospheric samples. Provided weather reconnaissance data for northeast Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, parts of Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
, and northwestern Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
in late 1950s. Tracked Hurricanes Dot and Donna in 1959 and 1960. Provided weather data for transoceanic fighter deployments, photographic reconnaissance for testing experimental CORONA
Corona
A corona is a type of plasma "atmosphere" of the Sun or other celestial body, extending millions of kilometers into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph...
reconnaissance satellite imagery, and surveillance for space flight recoveries. Operated detachments in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and Washington until inactivation in 1961 due to budget reductions.
Reactivated in late 1961 and reorganized and equipped with new RB-57F Canberra aircraft modified for high altitude, long range intelligence gathering, assigned to the meteorological role. Part of their duties involved high-altitude atmospheric sampling and radiation detection work in support of nuclear test monitoring. Replaced Canberras in 1964 with WB-47 Stratojets and flew weather reconnaissance and atmospheric sampling missions over the Pacific and Arctic. Between 1965 and 1993, used WB-47s to test air for radiation from possible nuclear tests to verify treaty limitations, flying missions worldwide.
Retired RB-47s in 1969; re-equipped with WC-135 Stratolifters. In 1986, monitored atmospheric radiation in Europe after Chernobyl
Chernobyl
Chernobyl or Chornobyl is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city had been the administrative centre of the Chernobyl Raion since 1932....
nuclear accident in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In 1988 and 1989, tested special photographic equipment for Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
research. Inactivated in 1993 with the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Reactivated under Space Command in 1997; inactivated in 2002 due to budget reductions.
Lineage
- Constituted as: 655th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, on 11 Aug 1944
- Activated on 21 Aug 1944
- Redesignated: 55th Reconnaissance Squadron, Long Range, Weather, on 16 Jun 1945
- Redesignated: 55th Reconnaissance Squadron, Very Long Range, Weather, on 27 Nov 1945
- Inactivated on 15 Oct 1947
- Redesignated 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, Medium, Weather, on 22 Jan 1951
- Activated on 21 Feb 1951
- Redesignated 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron on 15 Feb 1954
- Discontinued, and inactivated, on 8 Jul 1961
- Activated on 12 Oct 1961
- Organized on 8 Jan 1962
- Inactivated on 1 Oct 1993
- Redesignated 55th Space Weather Squadron on 1 Mar 1997
- Activated on 17 Mar 1997
- Inactivated 16 Jul 2002
Assignments
- Third Air ForceThird Air ForceThe Third Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe . It is headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....
, 21 Aug 1944 - III Tactical Air CommandIII Tactical Air CommandThe III Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana...
, 1 Oct 1944 - III Tactical Air Division, (by Nov) 1944
- Twentieth Air ForceTwentieth Air ForceThe Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile operations...
, 11 Apr 1945
- Attached to XXI Bomber CommandXXI Bomber CommandThe XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in Guam for strategic bombing during World War II.- Lineage:* Constituted as XXI Bomber Command on 1 Mar 1944, and activated the same day.-Assignments:...
, c. 11 Apr-c. 26 Nov 1945- 311th Reconnaissance Wing, 27 Nov 1945
- Attached to U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces, 27 Nov 1945-c. 19 Mar 1946
- Air Transport CommandAir Transport CommandAir Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...
, 13 Mar 1946 - Air Weather Service, 20 Mar 1946-15 Oct 1947; 21 Feb 1951
- 9th Weather Group, 20 Apr 1953-8 Jul 1961
- Military Air Transport ServiceMilitary Air Transport ServiceThe Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...
, 12 Oct 1961 - 9th Weather Reconnaissance Group, 8 Jan 1962
- 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing9th Weather Reconnaissance WingThe 9th Weather Reconnaissance Wing is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Weather Service, being stationed at McClellan Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 31 August 1975.- History :...
, 8 Jul 1965 - 41st Rescue and Weather Reconnaissance Wing, 1 Sep 1975
- Air Rescue ServiceAir Rescue ServiceThe Air Rescue Service is a disestablished organization in the United States Air Force. Previously a subcommand of the Military Air Transport Service , a USAF major command , ARS was redesignated as the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service on 1 Jan 1966 when MATS was redesignated as the Military...
, 1 Aug 1989 - 60th Operations Group60th Operations GroupThe 60th Operations Group is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing. It is stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California....
, 1 Feb-1 Oct 1993 - 50th Operations Group50th Operations GroupThe 50th Operations Group is a component of the 50th Space Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Space Command. The group is stationed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado....
, 17 Mar 1997-16 Jul 2002
- Air Transport Command
Stations
- Will Rogers Field, OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, 21 Aug 1944-5 Mar 1945 - Depot (later, Harmon) Field, GuamGuamGuam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Northern Mariana IslandsNorthern Mariana IslandsThe Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
, 11 Apr 1945-28 Feb 1946 - Buckley Field, ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, 20 Mar 1946 - Langley Field, VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, 9 May 1946 - Morrison Field, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Jul 1946 - Fairfield-Suisun Army Airfield, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 1 Jun-15 Oct 1947 - McClellan AFB, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 21 Feb 1951-8 Jul 1961; 8 Jan 1962-1 Oct 1993
- Detachment 1, located at: Ladd AFB, AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, 1 Jul 1958-8 Jul 1961 - Detachment 2, located at: Hickam AFB, HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, 1 Jul 1958-8 Jul 1961 - Detachment 3, located at: McChord AFB, Washington, 1 Jul 1958-8 Jul 1961
- Falcon (later, Schriever) AFB, ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, 17 Mar 1997-16 Jul 2002
- Falcon (later, Schriever) AFB, Colorado
Aircraft
- A-20 Havoc, 1944
- B-24 LiberatorB-24 LiberatorThe Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
, 1944–1945 - B-29 SuperfortressB-29 SuperfortressThe B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
, 1946–1947; WB/TB-29, 1951–1955 - WB-50 Superfortress, 1954–1961, 1962–1963; TB-50, 1958–1960
- WB-47 Stratojet, 1957–1961, 1962–1969; JB-57, 1960–1961, 1962–1963
- C/WC-130 Hercules, 1962–1965; WC-130, 1970–1975; HC-130, 1975.
- RB-57F Canberra, 1963–1964
- C-135, 1965; Boeing WC-135, 1965–1993