The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

's 11th Air Support Operations Squadron was a combat support unit located at

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

, Texas. The squadron provided tactical command and control of airpower assets to the

Joint Forces Air Component Commander Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC) is a United States Department of Defense doctrinal term. It is pronounced "Jay-Fack". It refers to a senior officer who is responsible for the air forces within a joint force; i.e., a military force c ...

and

Joint Forces Land Component Commander Joint Force Land Component Commander (JFLCC), is a United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal gover ...

for combat operations.

History

World War II

The squadron saw combat in the

European Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater (warfare), theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It command ...

from

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

. Its air support parties primarily served

United States Third Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army that saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

units, directing air support missions for the ground forces they served. It provided three teams that participated in airborne and amphibious landings in the initial 6 Jun 1944 D-Day invasion.

Post Cold War

The squadron was reactivated as the 11th Air Support Operations Squadron in 1994 to support the 2nd Armored Division which was later re-flagged as 4th Infantry Division. When 4th Infantry Division was restationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, the Squadron provided support to the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, later renamed 3d Cavalry Regiment. It provided

Air Liaison Officer An air liaison officer is generally an air force official acting as an intermediary between the air force they represent and another organization, although this role can vary based on country. United Kingdom In World War II, air liaison officers ...

Joint Terminal Attack Controller Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) is the term used in the United States Armed Forces and some other military forces for a qualified service member who directs the action of military aircraft engaged in close air support and other offensive ...

s and Combat Mission Support Teams that administered airpower to ground forces until inactivating in 2018. After 24 years of service, the squadron was inactivated in a ceremony at

, Texas on 21 June 2018. Personnel of the unit was absorbed into the 9th Air Support Operations Squadron, also based at Fort Hood.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 11th Communications Squadron, Air Support on 9 September 1942 : Activated on 18 Sep 1942 : Redesignated 11th Air Support Communication Squadron on 11 January 1943 : Redesignated 11th Air Support Control Squadron on 20 August 1943 : Redesignated 11th Tactical Air Communications Squadron on 1 April 1944 : Inactivated on 12 October 1945 * Disbanded on 8 October 1948 * Reconstituted and redesignated 11th Air Support Operations Squadron on 24 June 1994 : Activated on 1 July 1994.Lineage information through August 2016 in Dollman, Factsheet : Inactivated c. 21 June 2018

Assignments

* III Air Support Command (later III Reconnaissance Command,

III Tactical Air Command The III Tactical Air Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. It was disbanded on 24 October 1945. The command was established in 1941 as the 3r ...

), 18 September 1942 *

IX Fighter Command The IX Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Erlangen, Germany, where it was inactivated on 16 November 1945. IX Fighter Command was the primary tactical fight ...

, 11 December 1943 *

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint D ...

, c. 1 February 1944 *

IX Air Support Command The IX Tactical Air Command was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. It fought in the European theater of World War II. Its last assignment was at Camp Shanks, New York, where it was inactivated on 25 October 1945. History Formed ...

, 26 February 1944 * XIX Air Support Command (later XIX Tactical Air Command), 4 March 1944 *

XII Tactical Air Command The XII Tactical Air Command was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe at Bad Kissingen, Germany, where it was inactivated on 10 November 1947. History The 12th Gr ...

, 4 July – c. 12 October 1945 *

3d Air Support Operations Group The United States Air Force's 3rd Air Support Operations Group (3 ASOG) is a combat support unit located at Fort Cavazos, Texas. The 3 ASOG provides Tactical Command and Control of air power assets to the Joint Forces Air Component Commander and ...

, 1 Jul 1994 – c. 21 June 2018

Stations

* Birmingham Army Air Base, Alabama, 18 September 1942 *

Key Field Meridian Regional Airport is a joint civil-military public use airport located at Key Field, a joint-use public/military airfield. It is located southwest of Meridian, a city in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, United States. The Meridian Airp ...

, Mississippi, 26 February 1943 *

Lebanon Army Air Field Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the sout ...

, Tennessee, c. 30 May 1943 * Birmingham Army Air Base, Alabama, c. 22 September – 16 November 1943 *

RAF Aldermaston Royal Air Force Aldermaston, or more simply RAF Aldermaston, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located east of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, Berkshire and southwest of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Ber ...

(Sta 467), England, 10 December 1943 *

Aldermaston Court Aldermaston Court is a English country houses, country house and landscape garden, private park built in the Victorian era for Daniel Higford Davall Burr with incorporations from a Stuart period, Stuart house. It is south-east of the nucleated ...

(Sta 476),Station number in Anderson, p. 32. England, 14 January 1944 * Sunninghill Park (Sta 472), England, 12 February 1944 * Aldermaston Court (Sta 476) England, 1 March 1944 *

Cricqueville Airfield Cricqueville en Bessin Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Cricqueville-en-Bessin in the Normandy region of northern France. Located just outside Cricqueville-en-Bessin, the United State ...

(A-2), France, 9 Jul 1944 * Nehou, France, 12 July 1944 * Le Bingard, France, 31 July 1944 * Mesnil-Rousset, France, 4 August 1944 * Poilley, France, 8 August 1944 * Andouille, France, 16 August 1944 * Autainville, France, 31 August 1944 * Chalons-en-Champagne, France, 13 September 1944 * Etain Airfield (A-82), France, 24 September 1944 *

Nancy, France Nancy is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, annexed by France under King Louis X ...

, 14 October 1944 *

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, Luxembourg, 16 January 1945 *

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the respons ...

, Germany, 28 March 1945 * Hersfeld, Germany, 9 April 1945 *

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

(R-96),Station number in Johnson, p. 42. Germany, 26 April – c. September 1945 *

Camp Patrick Henry Camp Patrick Henry is a decommissioned United States Army base which was located in Warwick County, Virginia. After World War II, the site was redeveloped as a commercial airport, and became part of City of Newport News in 1958 when the former C ...

, Virginia, 12 Oct 1945 * Fort Hood, Texas, 1 Jul 1994 – c. 21 June 2018

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

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