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9th Special Operations Squadron
The 9th Special Operations Squadron is part of the 27th Special Operations Wing (27 SOW) at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. The squadron operates MC-130J Commando II aircraft in support of special operations. The 9th SOS specializes in the use of night vision goggles and formation tactics to refuel large helicopter and tilt-rotor formations. On 9 December 2014, the 522nd SOS was re-flagged as the 9th SOS moved from its location at Hurlburt Field to join the 27 SOW at Cannon Air Force Base. Mission Clandestine penetration of enemy territory using low-level formation procedures to provide aerial refueling of special operations helicopters and the insertion, extraction, and resupply of special operations forces by low or high altitude airdrop or airland operations. History B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan Activated on 1 April 1944 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment squadron. When training was completed moved to North Field Tinianin the Mariana I ...
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Air Force Special Operations Command
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the special operations component of the United States Air Force. An Air Force major command (MAJCOM), AFSOC is also the U.S. Air Force component command to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a unified combatant command located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. AFSOC provides all Air Force Special Operations Forces (SOF) for worldwide deployment and assignment to regional unified combatant commands. Before 1983, Air Force special operations forces were primarily assigned to the Tactical Air Command (TAC) and were generally deployed under the control of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) or, as had been the case during the Vietnam War, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Just as it had relinquished control of the C-130 theater airlift fleet to Military Airlift Command (MAC) in 1975, TAC relinquished control of Air Force SOF to MAC in December 1982. AFSOC was initially establishe ...
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MC-130J Commando II
The Lockheed MC-130 is the basic designation for a family of special mission aircraft operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), a wing of the Air Education and Training Command, and an AFSOC-gained wing of the Air Force Reserve Command. Based on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport, the MC-130s' missions are the infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces, and the air refueling of (primarily) special operations helicopter and tilt-rotor aircraft. The first of the variants, the MC-130E, was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War. Eighteen were created by modifying C-130E transports, and four lost through attrition, but the remainder served more than four decades after their initial modification. An update, the MC-130H Combat Talon II, was developed in the 1980s from the C-130H and went into service in the 1990s. Four of the original 24 H-series aircraft have been lost in op ...
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Chuuk Lagoon
Chuuk Lagoon, previously Truk Atoll, is an atoll in the central Pacific. It lies about northeast of New Guinea, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). A protective reef, around, encloses a natural harbour , with an area of . It has a land area of , with a population of 36,158 people and a maximal elevation of . Weno city on Moen Island functions as the atoll's capital and also as the state capital and is the largest city in the FSM with its 13,700 people. Chuuk Lagoon was the Empire of Japan's main naval base in the Pacific War, South Pacific theatre during World War II. It was the site of a major U.S. attack during Operation Hailstone in February 1944, and Operation Inmate, a small assault conducted by British and Canadian forces during June 1945. Name Chuuk means ''mountain'' in the Chuukese language. The lagoon was known mainly as Truk (a mispronunciation of Ruk), until 1990. Other names included Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugu ...
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Weno
Weno, formerly Moen, is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It is the largest town in the FSM. It has an estimated area of 20 square kilometers. Population The population was 13,856 at the census taken in 2010. Geography It is located in the Chuuk Lagoon. Its villages are in the northwest (Sapuk, Penia, Peniesene, Tunnuk, Mechitiw, Iras, Nepukos, Mwan, Neiwe, and Wichap, Epinup) and serve as the main center of commerce. Weno is the state capital and the second-most populous island of the FSM, with a population of 13,856 at the 2010 census. The highest point is Mount Teroken, elevation 364 m (1,214 ft). Transportation Weno has the only airport in the state, Chuuk International Airport. The road system is not well established in some parts of the island. No public transportation exists, but visitors can use a small taxi to cruise around the island. There is one commercial shipyard for cargo ships and passenger voya ...
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Twentieth Air Force
The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) operations. The Twentieth Air Force commander is also the Commander, Task Force 214 (TF 214), which provides alert ICBMs to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). Established on 4 April 1944 at Washington D.C, 20 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. Operating initially from bases in India and staging through bases in China, 20 AF conducted strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands. It relocated to the Mariana Islands in late 1944, and continued the strategic bombardment campaign against Japan until the Japanese capitulation in August 1945. The 20 AF 509th Composite Group conducted the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and ...
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XXI Bomber Command
The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II. The command was established at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas on 1 March 1944. After a period of organization and its assigned groups receiving their B-29 Superfortress aircraft, the command transferred first to Peterson Field, Colorado, then deployed to the central Pacific, being headquartered at Harmon Field, Guam, in the Mariana Islands. Its assigned units engaged in very long-range bombardment operations, primarily against Japan until mid-July 1945. History The Marianas chain of islands, consisting primarily of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, were considered as being ideal bases from which to launch B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan. The islands were about 1500 miles from Tokyo, a range which the B-29s could just about manage. Most important of all, they could be put on a direct supply line from the United States by ship. In August 1944, ...
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North Field (Tinian)
North Field is a former World War II airfield on Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Abandoned after the war, today North Field is a tourist attraction. Along with several adjacent beaches on which Allied forces landed during the Battle of Tinian, the airfield is the major component of the National Historic Landmark District Tinian Landing Beaches, Ushi Point Field, Tinian Island. North Field was one of several bases for Twentieth Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations against the Japanese Home Islands in 1944–45. North Field contributed aircraft to the 1945 campaign to burn out Japanese cities with incendiary bombs, including the 9 March 1945 bombing of Tokyo which still stands as the most destructive air raid ever. North Field was the base for the 313th Bombardment Wing which carried out Operation Starvation, the dropping of naval mines in the harbors and sea lanes used by Japan. North Field was also the base for the 509th Composite Group which flew the atomic bombing ...
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Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only aircraft ever to drop nuclear weapons in combat. One of the largest aircraft of World War II, the B-29 was designed with state-of-the-art technology, which included a pressurized cabin, dual-wheeled tricycle landing gear, and an analog computer-controlled fire-control system that allowed one gunner and a fire-control officer to direct four remote machine gun turrets. The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $ billion today), far exceeding the $1.9 b ...
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6th Bombardment Group B-29s 1945
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smallest composite number, behind 4; its proper divisors are , and . Since 6 equals the sum of its proper divisors, it is a perfect number; 6 is the smallest of the perfect numbers. It is also the smallest Granville number, or \mathcal-perfect number. As a perfect number: *6 is related to the Mersenne prime 3, since . (The next perfect number is 28.) *6 is the only even perfect number that is not the sum of successive odd cubes. *6 is the root of the 6-aliquot tree, and is itself the aliquot sum of only one other number; the square number, . Six is the only number that is both the sum and the product of three consecutive positive numbers. Unrelated to 6's being a perfect number, a Golomb ruler of length 6 is a "perfect ruler". Six is a con ...
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Airdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, themselves often airborne forces, airdrops can also refer to the airborne assault itself. History Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from aircraft. Later, small crates fitted with parachutes were pushed out of aircraft side cargo doors. Later, cargo aircraft were designed with rear access ramps, lowerable in flight, that allowed large platforms to be rolled out the back. As aircraft grew larger, the U.S. Air Force and Army developed ''low-level extraction'', allowing vehicles like light tanks, armored personnel carriers and other large supplies to be delivered. Propaganda leaflets are another commonly airdropped item. Airdrops evolved to include massive bombs as payload. The 15,000-pound (6,800&n ...
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Aerial Refueling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft are in flight. The two main refueling systems are ''probe-and-drogue'', which is simpler to adapt to existing aircraft, and the ''flying boom'', which offers faster fuel transfer, but requires a dedicated boom operator station. The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue/physical needs and engineering factors such as engine oil consumption. As the receiver aircraft can be topped up with extra fuel in the air, air refueling can allow a takeoff with a greater payload which could be weapons, cargo, or personnel: the maximum takeoff weight is maintained by carrying less fuel and topping up once airborne. Aerial ...
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Formation Flying
Formation flying is the flight of multiple objects in coordination. Introduction Formation flight in aviation originated in World War I when fighter aircraft were assigned to escort reconnaissance aircraft. It was found that pairs of aircraft were more combat effective than single aircraft, and therefore, military aircraft would always fly in formations of at least two.  By World War II, pilots had discovered other strategic advantages to formation flight such as enhanced stability and optimal visibility. However, birds have been known to receive performance benefits from formation flight for over a century, through aerodynamic theory of Wieselsberger in 1914. Today, a multitude of studies have been performed on the performance benefits of aircraft flying in formation. Mechanism of drag reduction It is a common misunderstanding to relate the reduction of drag in organized flight to the reduction of drag in drafting. However, they are quite different mechanistically. The ...
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