552 Squadron "''Zangões''" (''Esquadra 552'') is a transport

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

of the

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

(PoAF). Its based at Air Base No. 11 ( pt, Base Aérea Nº 11, BA11), at Beja, and operates the AgustaWestland AW119 in transport and helicopter instruction roles.

Mission

It has the primary mission of executing tactical air transport operations and the secondary missions of providing basic and complementary flying training in helicopters, providing combat air support, executing general air transport operations and executing search and rescue operations. In addition to providing helicopter instruction for the Air Force, the squadron also has trained pilots of the Navy's helicopter squadron and pilots and ground crews of the Army's UALE.

History

Created on 24 November 1978, the 552 Squadron has inherited the traditions of all former

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

squadrons that operated the

Sud Aviation Alouette III Sud or SUD may refer to: Places * Sud (Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg constituency), a constituency in Luxembourg * Sud (department), an administrative subdivision of Haiti * Sud Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of ...

. After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

a major reorganization occurred in the

Portuguese Armed Forces The Portuguese Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas) are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: Portuguese Navy, Portuguese Army and Portuguese Air F ...

with many helicopters squadrons returning from the oversea colonies and being assigned to 33 Squadron based at Air Base No. 3 (BA3) and to the Helicopter Group ( pt, Grupo de Helicópteros) of Air Base No. 6 (BA6). In 1978 another reorganization in the Air Force lead to the renaming of the 301 Operational Group ( pt, Grupo Operacional 301) to 301 Operational Group, with the new formed 111 Squadron – dedicated to Aviocar and Alouette III training – and 552 Squadron, and the 61 Operational Group ( pt, Grupo Operacional 61, GO61), with the 551 Squadron (Alouette III) and

751 Squadron The 751 Squadron "Pumas" (''Esquadra 751'') is a helicopter squadron of the Portuguese Air Force. It is part of ''Grupo Operacional'' 61 and it is located in Air Force Base No. 6 ( pt, Base Aérea no. 6, BA6), Montijo, south of Lisbon. It opera ...

( Sud Aviation Puma). Upon its creation 552 Squadron's primary missions was tactical air transport, airborne operations,

medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

, special operations, and logistic air support, as well the secondary missions of general air transport and offensive operations of

close air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...

. In 1982, the '' Rotores de Portugal''

flight demonstration team was reactivated in 552 Sqn. with two helicopters, having the team been originally integrated in 33 Squadron when created in April 1976. During the early 1990s the team was integrated with 111 Sqn., operating three helicopters. With the disbandment of 551 Squadron in October 1986, all personnel and helicopters of that squadron are transferred to the 552 Squadron, which also receives from that squadron the secondary mission of

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

(SAR). 552 Sqn. also inherited the SAR detachment then maintained by 551 Sqn. at Maneuvers Airfield No. 2 ( pt, Aeródromo de Manobra Nº2, AM2; former Air Base No. 7, BA7), in Aveiro; this SAR detachment was later deployed to Maneuvers Airfield No. 1 (AM1) at

Ovar Ovar ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Aveiro District, Baixo Vouga Subregion in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,398, in an area of 147.70 km2. It had 42,582 eligible voters (2006). The municipality includes two cities: Ovar (16 ...

. At this time PoAF had 26 operational helicopters. On 18 November 1993, 552 Sqn. was moved to Air Base No. 11 (BA11), in Beja, due to the deactivation of BA3 on 29 December 1993. In 2005, the ''Rotores de Portugal'' were reactivated in 552 Sqn. with three helicopters.

Lineage

* Constituted as ''Esquadra 33'' (33 Squadron) in 1970 : Disbanded in 1978 * Reformed as ''Esquadra de Transporte Táctico 552'' (552 Tactical Transport Squadron) on 28 November 1978 : Re-designated: ''Esquadra 552'' (552 Squadron) in October 1986

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, url=http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/esquadra/comandante-552, title=''Biografia do Comandante da Esquadra 552 – "Zangões"'', publisher=Esquadra 552, access-date=2 March 2013, language=pt, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502050238/http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/esquadra/comandante-552, archive-date=2 May 2014, url-status=dead {{cite web, url=http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/esquadra/sobre-552, title=''Sobre a Esquadra 552 – "Zangões"'', publisher=Esquadra 552, access-date=2 March 2013, language=pt, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502000001/http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/esquadra/sobre-552, archive-date=2 May 2014, url-status=dead {{cite web, url=http://www.emfa.pt/www/esquadrasdetalhe.php?lang=pt&cod=e552 , title=''Esquadra 552 – "Zangões"'' , date=18 January 2012 , publisher=Portuguese Air Force , access-date=2 March 2013 , language=pt , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118165247/http://www.emfa.pt/www/esquadrasdetalhe.php?lang=pt&cod=e552 , archive-date=18 January 2012 {{cite web, url=http://www.emfa.pt/www/esquadra-51, title=''Esquadra 552 – "Zangões"'', publisher=Portuguese Air Force, access-date=2 March 2013, language=pt {{cite web, url=http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/rotores/historial.htm, title=''Historial'', publisher=Rotores de Portugal, access-date=2 March 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927045801/http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/rotores/historial.htm, archive-date=27 September 2012, url-status=dead

External links

Esquadra 552
official website Portuguese Air Force aircraft squadrons Military units and formations established in 1978 Military of Portugal

Mission

History

Lineage

See also

References

External links