12th Reconnaissance Squadron: Difference between revisions

12th Reconnaissance Squadron
12th Reconnaissance Squadron RQ-4 Global Hawk
Active	2 June 1917–March 31, 1946 29 July 1946-March 28, 1949 25 February 1951-March 8, 1960 3 November 1965-September 30, 1992 8 November 2001 – present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Aerial reconnaissance
Size	Squadron
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota
Motto(s)	Know Your Enemy
Engagements	World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Operation Desert Storm Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lewis H. Brereton Robert Merrill Lee
Insignia
12th Reconnaissance Squadron emblem
Aircraft flown
Reconnaissance	RQ-4 Global Hawk

The 12th Reconnaissance Squadron (12 RS) is a United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the 69th Reconnaissance Group at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota

The squadron traces its lineage to the Air Service, United States Army 12th Aero Squadron, activated on 2 June 1917 at Kelly Field, Texas. It earned seven Campaign Streamers in World War I flying the French Salmson 2A2 aircraft as a Corps Observation squadron. The squadron again flew tactical reconnaissance missions in France and Northern Europe during World War II as part of Ninth Air Force. As a United States Air Force squadron, it flew reconnaissance missions in the Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm and the Global War on Terrorism. It continues its history of reconnaissance today, now equipped with the RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Reconnaissance Vehicle (UAV).

The 12th Reconnaissance Squadron plans and executes worldwide high-altitude combat surveillance and reconnaissance missions including peacetime intelligence gathering, contingency operations and conventional warfare. Operating the RQ-4B Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), the 12 RS provides signals intelligence and near real-time imagery intelligence to fulfill operational requirements generated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in support of the Secretary of Defense and unified commanders.^[1]

The 12th Reconnaissance Squadron originated at Kelly Field, Texas in May 1917 when the unit was organized from men picked from about 5,000 aviation recruits being drilled in provisional training companies. Those men formed “H” Company and were selected for their mechanical ability and experience. On 2 June, the unit was given its official designation, 12th Aero Squadron.^[2]

After several weeks of classes on aircraft engines and parts, the squadron went to Wilbur Wright Field at Fairfield, Ohio. Arriving on 5 July 1917, the men began assembling Standard J-1 and Curtiss JN-4 training airplanes shipped direct from the factory, and they took part in the training of the flying cadets that began pouring into the field in late July. The squadron’s first flight is supposed to have been made by a Captain Christy on 17 July 1917 in a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny".^[2]

At the end of October, preparations for overseas movement were made. The squadron left Wright Field on 31 October, for the Aviation Concentration Center, Camp Mills, Garden City, New York, arriving at Field #1 on 2 November. At Garden City, the squadron remained for about a month awaiting transportation. On 5 December it boarded the SS Northland sailing from Philadelphia. After a week waiting at Halifax Nova Scotia, the trans-Atlantic crossing was made without incident, and the ship arrived at Liverpool, England on 25 December. The squadron then took a train to Southampton, and made the cross-channel crossing to Le Harve, France, arriving at a British Rest Camp the next day. After a few days, it was moved by a French train south to the large American base at St. Maixent Aerodrome on 1 January 1918.^[3]

After two weeks at St. Maixent, where the squadron largely performed guard duty and drills, orders were received to move to Chaumont Aerodrome, arriving on January 16th. where its mechanics took charge of maintenance on French Nieuports and SPAD aircraft. On 2 February, the 12th finally began its combat training, being moved to Amanty Airdrome in Lorraine where it joined the 1st, 91st and 88th Aero Squadrons. At Amanty, the squadron was equipped with Avion de Reconnaissance 1 (AR 1) trainers. classes were held in radio and machine-gun work and ground training was conducted by French officers. In addition the squadron helped in airfield construction projects. The AR-1s were inferior, obsolete machines, called “Antique Rattletraps” by the pilots, which the French had retired to training duties. However, they were suitable for training and after several weeks of making do with the training provided, on 3 May orders were received to head to the front, being assigned to the I Corps Observation Group at Ourches Aerodrome, where the 12th was designated as a Corps Observation squadron.^[3][2]

At Ourches, the 12th joined the 1st Aero Squadron and began active operations over the front. It was equipped with SPAD S.XIA.2s aircraft. In combat, the mission of the 12th Aero Squadron was general surveillance of the enemy rear areas by means of both visual and photographic reconnaissance. These missions were carried out for the purpose of intelligence-gathering and informing First Army headquarters informed of enemy movements and preparations for attacks or retreats of its infantry forces. The 12th identified enemy activity along roads and railroads, ground stations, various storage dumps and airfields; the numbers of fires and activities of enemy aircraft, and the amount of anti-aircraft artillery was also monitored and reported. Due to the nature of the missions and the depths of enemy area which was penetrated, the missions were carried out at high altitudes, usually between 4,500 and 5,500 meters.^[3]

With few exceptions, the 12th’s pilots had never flown combat, but most of the observers had spent a number of weeks flying with French squadrons on active missions. One of these, Lieutenant Stephen W. Thompson, was at the 1st Squadron Gunnery School at Cazaux Airdrome, near Bordeaux when he was loaned on 5 February to the 123d French Breguet Squadron due to a shortage of observers in that unit. Returning from a bombing raid on Saarbruken, the aircraft in which Lt Thompson was operating the rear guns was attacked by German Albatross pursuit ships. He shot one down, becoming the first man in an American uniform to shoot down an enemy airplane. Later, on 28 July 1918, as a member of the Twelfth, he was credited with two more “kills.” ^[2]

The 12th’s operations in the Toul Sector was a seasoning period for the squadron as it gained experience over a relatively inactive front with almost no enemy air opposition. “On the other hand,” according to an Air Service report after the war, “the enemy antiaircraft fire in the sector was exceedingly dense, active and accurate. Pilots of the Group were adept at evading antiaircraft fire after a month in the sector.” On 10 June, the 12th Aero Squadron moved to the Baccarat Sector and to the unfinished Flin Aerodrome, from which they supported the 42d American and 167th French Divisions. There, the 12th began to receive the latest in French observation aircraft, the Salmson 2A2. This front, too, was considered “stabilized” or quiet, but the opposing German air force, while not flying the latest types, was active and aggressive. The 12th flew visual and photographic reconnaissance, adjusted artillery fire, and staged “infantry-contact patrols” to locate the front lines. ^[2][3]

By 29 June, the squadron had relocated to Saints Aerodrome in the Marne Sector to participate in the Battle of Château-Thierry. The 12th encountered intense opposition in the air from a concentration of German squadrons equipped with the most advanced Fokker aircraft. Encounters with up to 20 enemy aircraft on a patrol was a daily occurrence. On 5 July, the squadron moved again to a neighboring field at Francheville in support of the 26th Division, but because of its distance from the front, what would later be known as a “forward operating location,” or FOL, was established at Moras (or Morass) Ferme. Two 12th Squadron aircraft and two from the 88th Aero Squadron were flown to it at daybreak each day and held ready for developing requirements. The Allied counteroffensive was launched on 18 July and the squadron's support was vital in photographing targets ahead of the advance according to priorities set by corps intelligence. It was during this operation that oblique photography, sometimes from as low as 400 meters, began to be used; previously all photos had been vertical. The Moras Ferme location was upgraded to a full airfield on 22 July when the squadron occupied it to participate in the Chateau-Thierry offensive, during which it lost five officers. ^[2]

In the first half of August, the unit moved three times, finally being withdrawn from the sector on 12 August for a brief rest at Chailly-en-Brie Aerodrome. The 12th moved to Gengault Aerodrome near Toul on 23 August and operated in support of the St. Mihiel offensive. During that offensive, 12-13 September, the unit was equipped with 16 additional Salmsons and flew continuously to support the rapidly advancing 5th Division. Two aircraft, one piloted by Major Lewis Brereton, commander of the I Corps Observation Group and former 12th C.O., were lost, but all four crewmembers survived after landing inside friendly lines. Immediately after the St. Mihiel salient was reduced, the squadron was assigned to support the 90th Division. ^[2]

On 20 September, the 12th was transferred to Remicourt Aerodrome to prepare for the Meuse-Argonne offensive which began on 26 September. During the Argonne operation the 12th Aero Squadron was very much in demand. One morning after many assignments had been made, a call came in for a photographic mission. Five planes were ordered for the flight, but only four observers were available. Eddie Foy, a radio officer, volunteered to serve as an observer for the mission. The planes encountered a large formation of Germans near the target and three were shot down, one carrying Eddie Foy, who had been wounded. It is believed that he had the distinction of being the only non-flyer in the Air Service to be wounded and taken prisoner as a result of aerial combat. ^[2]

In the last few months of the war, the 12th was called in many times to help locate Allied troops that had been cut off from their units. On one such occasion during the Argonne offensive, the 82d Division reported that troops near Verpel, just east of Grand Pre were out of contact with division headquarters. Because of the foul weather and approaching darkness, Captain Steve N. Noyes, squadron commander of the 12th would not send any of his pilots on the mission, going himself instead. Flying in dense fog and rain, Captain Noyes located the troops and landed near the division HQ after dark. The information proved to be exact, and the squadron was highly commended for this as well as many other missions. The 12th completed its World War I operations from Julvecourt Aerodrome, where it moved on 5 November in order to operate closer to the front lines.^[2]

After the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the 12th Aero Squadron became a part of the Army of Occupation. The unit was located at several different places in France and Germany until 30 December, when it went to Fort Alexander (Feste Kaiser Alexander) at Koblenz, Germany, to take part in construction work. The squadron left Koblenz on 16 April 1919 and prepared for its movement back to the United States. Sailing from Brest aboard the USS Liberator on 3 June, the 12th arrived at Garden City, New York, on 17 June 1919.^[2]

Arriving at Mitchell Field, New York in June 1919, most squadron members were separated from the Air Service and returned to civilian life. A small cadre of members remained on duty, and on the 8 October, Lt Alexander Pearson in a 12th Squadron De Havilland DH-4 took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island in the first transcontinental air race, a round trip to Crissy Field, San Francisco, California, which he won with a flying time of 48 hours, 37 minutes, and 16 seconds, or an average speed of 111.3 mph.^[2]

After a brief attachment to Scott Field, Illinois, the 12th was transferred back to Kelly Field, where it immediately began preparations for service along the Mexican Border. By February 1920, the squadron (less A Flight, which was detached to Douglas Field, Arizona) was settling in at Fort Bliss, El Paso, equipped with De Havilland DH-4s. Later that month, a terse telegram described one incident of this service: Lts G. L. Usher and L. M. Wolfe, “lost direction on patrol. Made forced landing near Nacozari Sonora Mexico. Plane reported broken. Commanding General Southern Department making arrangements for officers release from Mexico.” Wolfe and Usher, on a flight from Columbus Airfield New Mexico to Nogales, Arizona on 2 February 1920, lost their way due to a bad compass and poor visibility, mistakenly following a railway some 80 miles into Mexico. In landing near the village of La Noira, fifteen miles south of Nacozari, a wing was damaged. They were detained by Mexican authorities, although they were given the freedom of Nacozari and spent most of their time at the club of an American copper company. They were finally released on 24 February. Between the 4-11 April, the 12th moved to Nogales, where it operated for nearly a year until it joined the detached flight at Douglas Field, Arizona. On 28 September the squadron, reduced in numbers, returned to Fort Bliss.^[2]

• Organized as 12th Aero Squadron on 2 June 1917

Re-designated: 12th Aero Squadron (Corps Observation), 3 May 1918

Re-designated: 12th Aero Squadron, 17 June 1919

Re-designated: 12th Squadron (Observation) on 14 March 1921

Re-designated: 12th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923

Re-designated: 12th Observation Squadron (Medium) on 13 January 1942

Re-designated: 12th Observation Squadron on 4 July 1942

Re-designated: 12th Reconnaissance Squadron (Fighter) on 31 May 1943

Re-designated: 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron on 13 November 1943

Inactivated on 31 March 1946

• Re-designated 12th Reconnaissance Squadron, Photographic (Jet Propelled) on 9 July 1946

Activated on 29 July 1946

Re-designated 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Photographic-Jet on 14 June 1948

Inactivated on 28 March 1949

• Re-designated 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Night Photographic on 5 February 1951

Activated on 25 February 1951

Re-designated 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Night Photographic-Jet on 23 February 1959

Discontinued on 8 March 1960

• Re-designated 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Photographic-Jet, and activated on 3 November 1965

Organized on 1 July 1966

Re-designated: 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron on 1 October 1966

Re-designated: 12th Reconnaissance Squadron on 1 November 1991

Inactivated on 30 September 1992

• Activated on 8 November 2001^[4]

World War I

Inter-War Period

World War II

United States Air Force

• List of American Aero Squadrons

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Official factsheet
• Short history and patches
• 12th TRS Korean War page
• July 14, 2008 - 90th anniversary Commemoration of 1st aero squadron and 12th aero squadron in France during World War I