3 Space Operations Squadron
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Unit
Insignia
- Description:
Sable, a triangle, one point up Or, bearing a globe
Celeste, gridlined Azure, between two lightning flashes
of the first enfiling an elliptical ring surmounted by
three mullets of four points one and two, all between a
mullet of eight points in dexter chief and a mullet of
eight points in sinister base Argent; all within a
diminished bordure of the second. MOTTO: FIRST IN SPACE
COMMUNICATIONS. Approved on 5 May 1992; replaced emblem
approved on 24 Jul 1943.
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Lineage
Constituted 3d Photographic
Squadron on 15 May 1941. Activated on 10 Jun 1941. Redesignated:
3d Mapping Squadron on 13 Jan 1942; 3d Photographic Mapping
Squadron on 9 Jun 1942; 3d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron,
Very Heavy, on 19 May 1944; 3d Reconnaissance Squadron, Very
Long Range (Photographic-RCM), on 19 Sep 1945; 3d Reconnaissance
Squadron, Very Long Range, Photographic, on 15 Jan 1946.
Inactivated on 15 Mar 1947. Consolidated (13 Oct 1994) with the
3d Satellite Control Squadron, which was constituted on 9 Jan
1990. Activated on 2 Feb 1990. Redesignated 3d Space Operations
Squadron on 30 Jan 1992.
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Assignments
1st Photographic (later, 1st
Mapping; 1st Photographic Charting) Group, 10 Jun 1941; 11th
Photographic Group, 1 Dec 1943; 311th Photographic (later, 311th
Reconnaissance) Wing, 5 Mar 1944 (attached to Twentieth Air
Force, 1 Nov-13 Dec 1944; XXI Bomber Command, 14 Dec 1944-15 Jul
1945; Twentieth Air Force, 16 Jul 1945-2 Feb 1947); Twentieth
Air Force, 3 Feb-15 Mar 1947. 2d Space Wing, 2 Feb 1990; 50th
Operations Group, 30 Jan 1992-.
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Stations
Maxwell Field, AL, 10 Jun
1941; MacDill Field, FL, 22 Dec 1941; Smoky Hill AAFld, KS, 16
Apr-3 Aug 1944; Saipan, 18 Sep 1944; Guam, 11 Jan 1945-15 Mar
1947. Falcon AFB, CO, 2 Feb 1990-.
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Aircraft and Space Systems
Included F-2, 1942;
B-25/F-10, 1942-1944; B-24, 1943-1945; B-17/F-9, 1944,
1946-1947; B-29/F-13, 1944-1947. Satellites, 1990-.
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Operations
Mapped areas of the United
States, West Indies, and South America, May 1942-Jan 1943;
Canada and Alaska, Mar-Jul 1943; India, Burma, and China, Dec
1943-Mar 1944. Photographic, electronic, and weather
reconnaissance in Western Pacific, Nov 1944-Sep 1945. Controlled
satellites for the Defense Satellite Communications System, the
Fleet Satellite Communications System, the NATO II satellite
program, and the UHF Follow-on Satellite Program, 1990-.
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Service Streamers
World War II American
Theater.
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Campaign Streamers
World War II: Western
Pacific; Air Offensive, Japan.
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Armed Forces Expeditionary
Streamers
None
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Decorations
Air Force Outstanding Unit
Award: 1 Sep 1990-31 Aug 1991.
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