Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11 (MALS-11) is an aviation

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

support unit of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, part of Marine Aircraft Group 11 (MAG-11), currently based at

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the av ...

and also part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

History

Early years

The unit was activated in December 1921, as Flight 1, 2nd Air Squadron, Marine Flying Field, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia. On 24 August 1922, Flight 1 was redesignated as Division 3, VO Squadron 3, First Aviation Group. On 1 September 1924, Division 3 became Service Squadron, First Aviation Group. On 1 March 1929, the unit was again redesignated and remained Aviation Service Company 1, Aircraft Squadrons, East Coast Expeditionary Force until 18 January 1934, when it was redesignated Headquarters and Service Battalion 1, 1st Marine Aircraft Group, Fleet Marine Forces.

World War II

On 1 September 1941, the unit was redesignated as Headquarters and Service Battalion 11, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. The unit's designation was changed on 1 February 1944 to Headquarters Squadron 11, Marine Aircraft Group 11, Marine Air South Pacific. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Headquarters Squadron 11 participated in campaigns in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. H ...

, Central Pacific, and Philippines Islands campaign. On 15 February 1954, the unit was redesignated Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 11 (H&MS-11).

Vietnam War

On 7 July 1965 H&MS-11 relocated to Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam where they supported the first attacks by Marine aircraft against

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

forces. During their time in Vietnam the squadron supported 12 different aircraft types including providing support to aircraft from Task Force 77 operating off

Yankee Station Yankee Station (officially Point Yankee) was a fixed coordinate off the coast of Vietnam where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and support ships operated in open waters over a nine-year period during the Vietnam War. The location was used primar ...

. H&MS-11 departed the

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

1 June 1971 and joined the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located next to the community of El Toro, near Irvine, California. Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast ...

, California.Ginter, p. 63

Persian Gulf War & the 1990s

On 5 October 1988, the squadron was redesignated Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11. During August 1990, MALS-11 deployed to Southwest Asia where the squadron supported

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. MALS-11 was awarded the Secretary of Defense Award for Maintenance Excellence for July 1991 through July 1992, and was again the Marine Corps' nominee in 1995, 1999 and 2000. On 1 July 1996, MALS-11 moved to

MCAS Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the av ...

in support of MAG-11.

Global War on Terror

During 2002 and 2003, MALS-11 deployed to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in support of

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

and

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. In March 2004, MALS-11 was the recipient of the 2003 Marine Corps Aviation Association

Marion Carl Major General Marion Eugene Carl (November 1, 1915 – June 28, 1998) was an American military officer, World War II fighter ace, record-setting test pilot, and naval aviator. He was the United States Marine Corps' first ace in World War II. Ear ...

Award. In 2009, MALS-11 was recognized as the Naval Aviation Enterprise AIRSpeed site of the year and also received the Marine Corps Aviation Association Col Don Davis award as best Aviation Logistics squadron of the year.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * ;Web *
Unofficial Lancers Homepage (hasn't been updated in a while)
;Web
MALS-11's official website
{{3rdMAW LOG11