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TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- As we celebrate the 85th anniversary of Travis Air Force Base’s oldest squadron, it is worth a look back at the history, heritage and legacy of the squadron which became the modern Extenders. It’s no surprise that the world has changed a lot since 1940. The 6th Air Refueling Squadron—formerly the 6th Bombardment Squadron—has changed a lot too.
Constituted on Dec. 22, 1939, the squadron was stood up as part of the United States Army Air Corps in response to the European war which had broken out three months earlier. According to the Air Force Historical Support Division and historian Ronald H. Spector, the nation was preparing for a crisis. President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded by signing the National Defense Act of 1940, drastically increasing the size of the US Army Air Corps from 22,000 Airmen and 500 planes to 48,000 Airmen and 6,000 planes, and the 6th BS was already posturing to respond—even if its strength was little more than a pile of paperwork. As soon as its parent organization, the 29th Bombardment Group was activated on Feb. 1, 1940 the 6th BS joined its ranks—fitting the “Square O” on the tails of their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Douglas B-18 Bolos.
Together, the 6th and its fellow squadrons in the 29th BG defended the American homeland, flying anti-submarine patrols out of MacDill Field, Florida. On countless sunny days and cloudless nights over the vast stretches of the Gulf of Mexico, the 6th BS scoured the waves for threats. They flew innumerable hours over vast stretches of ocean, extending American airpower far from friendly shores, providing a critical deterrent for even the most brazen U-boat captains, and projecting strength beyond where our adversaries thought possible—just as the modern 6th ARS continues to project American airpower worldwide.
Later in the war, the 6th BS onboarded the new Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. According to Dr. Richard R. Muller in “A History of Air Warfare”, the B-29 was a technical marvel, and “one of the biggest industrial projects of the entire war.” The machines initially gave the aircrew, maintainers and support teams significant difficulties due to their sheer complexity and modern capabilities—far beyond what they had previously been required to support. As time went on and they built experience with the new aircraft, the teams’ confidence and competence soared. This pairing of professional maintainers and driven aircrew is reflected today in the phenomenal partnership shared by the 6th ARS and 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as we grow the KC-46A Pegasus enterprise at Travis AFB.
It was at this juncture, early 1945, when the 6th BS joined General Curtis LeMay’s XXI Bomber Command in the Western Pacific for the last great air campaign of the war. LeMay was intent on improved operations in every command he ever held. He focused intently on training and was never afraid to accept challenges to current operations, doctrine or his own assumptions—he just wanted the best results with whatever capabilities he had at the time. While the 6th BS was assigned to his command, they executed bombing runs from various altitudes while using multiple types of bombs, innovating on every mission. Today the 6th ARS continues to innovate and train to the highest standards. Just last year executing Air Mobility Command’s first KC-46A Pegasus low level and graduating the first-ever KC-46A Pegasus Weapons Officer from the demanding US Air Force Weapons School.
The courage and sacrifice of the aviators of the 6th BS contributed to the decisive defeat of Imperial Japan and the end of World War II—earning two distinguished unit citations for their effort. Their final mission of the war was an early morning takeoff, hours before sunrise and a 1,500-mile flight to join up for the largest fly-by in history—over 800 military aircraft, including 462 B-29 Superfortresses from XXI Bomber Command. The 6th BS was on time to the rendezvous, ready to execute their assigned mission and deliver the strategic effects—a show of force to both the surrendering Japanese and the visiting Soviet delegation—exactly when it was needed. It was no wonder that during the closing months of the war General Carl Spaatz called the 6th BS’s parent organization, XXI Bomber Command, “the best organized and most technically and tactically proficient military organization the world has seen to date.”
After the war the 6th BS innovated again, becoming the 6th Air Refueling Squadron in 1951 by transitioning to the KB-29—modified B-29 Superfortresses—and supporting the new Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) long-range bombing missions. Their time in SAC saw the 6th ARS move between Texas, New Mexico and California, picking up the latest air refueling platform, the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in 1958. Again, the 6th ARS was recognized for the capabilities of its aircrew, as it took on the critical air refueling training role for KC-135 Stratotankers the following year, a mission which it retained until 1962.
Following the transfer of its training mission, the Airmen of the 6th ARS divided their time between SAC’s ubiquitous alert missions—standing guard against a surprise Soviet nuclear strike—and supporting tactical missions in Southeast Asia. The Extenders—so named for their 1960s motto, “Vis Extensa”, or “Strength Extended”—were experts in their craft, supporting rapid global mobility before Air Mobility Command and its mission were even thoughts on a mobility planner’s vision board.
In the mid-1960s the defense establishment determined it was time to start retiring the aging B-52 Stratofortress and as the number of strategic bombers were reduced, so too was the need for strategic refueling capabilities. The 6th ARS parent Wing began retiring B-52 Stratofortress’s and divested KC-135 Stratotankers. The 6th ARS was tasked with flying many KC-135 Stratotankers to other bases across the Air Force. When a similar divestment happened on Sept. 26, 2024 and aircrew from the 6th ARS flew the final KC-10A Extender into the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, the crews at least had the ongoing acquisition of the KC-46A Pegasus to keep the squadron together—in 1965 however, there was no such reprieve, and the 6th ARS was deactivated.
The 6th ARS Extenders could have faded into the history books at that moment, but Air Force acquisitions had another fate in store for them. In 1989 the squadron was reactivated and assigned the McDonnel-Douglas KC-10A, coincidentally also named the Extender like the 6th ARS. As the Cold War wound down, the 6th ARS used its new airframe’s diverse boom and drogue capabilities as well as its ability to function as both a tanker and receiver aircraft to support US military operations from Desert Shield onward. From the first alert mission that sent the KC-10A Extender into the Middle East after Saddam Hussein’s troops invaded Kuwait, until the final KC-10A deployment ended in October 2023, Airmen from the 6th ARS were airborne, extending airpower over United States Central Command and beyond.
While 2023 marked the end of one chapter in the 6th ARS’s story, it also began a new one as the 6th ARS welcomed its newest airframe, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus. Though it is a new jet, it continues the squadron’s legacy. The Airmen are different than the ones flying B-17s and B-18s over the Gulf of Mexico, but their role in airpower remains the same: “project American military power”. Our symbols may have changed from the “Square O” to the Pegasus proclaiming “Vis Extensa”, but the legacy of innovation remains. And while the Extender Nation’s Airmen are not deployed to the Western Pacific or Middle East at present, the squadron’s KC-46A Pegasus still fly missions to every corner of the world—displaying a commitment to our allies and partners, and our resolve to those who question the reach of America’s rapid global mobility.
Yes, the world has changed a lot since 1940… but perhaps the 6th ARS has not changed that much at all.
| Date Taken: | 02.27.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2025 16:50 |
| Story ID: | 491721 |
| Location: | TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE , CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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