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The 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force (USAF) unit. It is assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Operations Group at Al Dhafra Air Base in United Arab Emirates. It has supported operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan from this location. The squadron has a varied background, having been formed by a series of consolidations of no fewer than five distinct units. The squadron is one of the oldest in the USAF. Its origins date to 16 June 1917, when the 18th Aero Squadron was organized at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. This unit served as a pilot training squadron during World War I until it was demobilized in 1919. A second predecessor was also active under the same name at Rockwell for nine months in the early 1920s. The third predecessor of the squadron was the 18th Headquarters Squadron, which served as the host Air Corps unit at Bolling Field, District of Columbia from 1922 until 1928. The fourth predecessor of the squadron was the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, which was activated at Langley Field, Virginia in 1936. The squadron saw combat during World War II as the 408th Bombardment Squadron in the South West Pacific Theater of World War II, where it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations and a Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation. Elements of the squadron also participated in the Battle of Midway. It was inactivated in the Philippines in 1946. The 408th Bombardment Squadron was again activated at March Air Force Base, California in 1958 as part of Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the expansion of Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings during the Cold War. It was inactivated as the B-47 was being replaced by the longer-ranged Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The unit's fifth predecessor was also part of SAC as the 908th Air Refueling Squadron, stationed at Kincheloe Air Force Base, Michigan. It stood alert at Kincheloe and deployed aircrews and aircraft to support combat operations in Southeast Asia until it was inactivated when the Air Force closed the base. The squadron was converted to provisional status c. 2002 and has served as a McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender squadron in Southwest Asia since then. ==History== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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