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CAN DO 305th Air Mobility Wing Patch – Plastic Backing

$11.99

29 in stock (can be backordered)

Description

CAN DO 305th Air Mobility Wing Patch – Plastic Backing

A 3.9.”W x 4.1″H squadron patch of the CAN DO 305th Air Mobility Wing with plastic backing.

The 305th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command. It generates, mobilizes and deploys C-17 Globemaster III and KC-10 Extender aircraft. The 305th AMW is a tenant unit at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey. It also controls one of the Air Force’s busiest aerial ports, and the air operations at both McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Lakehurst.

The wing’s motto is “Can Do,” a description formulated in World War II when its predecessor unit, the 305th Bombardment Group, earned its reputation as courageous, innovative warriors. The legendary 305th Bomb Group was first commanded by then-Colonel Curtis E. LeMay. The wing is the only Air Force unit with two Medal of Honor recipients – Lieutenants William Lawley and Edward Michael, who earned them on separate B-17 missions during World War II.

History
For additional history and lineage, see 305th Operations Group
305th Bombardment Wing
MacDill Air Force Base operations
The 305th Bombardment Wing was established on 20 December 1950 and activated on 2 January 1951 at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.[1] The wing took charge of the 305th Bombardment Group’s former flying squadrons when the Air Force reorganized its wings into the tri-deputate system. Initially training with the Boeing B-29 and B-50 Superfortress, the 305th received its first Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter later that year. Following this, the group began training heavily in its new dual mission of strategic bombardment and aerial refueling.

In June 1952, the wing became the second Strategic Air Command (SAC) wing to receive the Boeing B-47A Stratojet bomber. Operational squadrons of the wing were the 305th, 364th, 365th and 366th Bombardment Squadrons, while the 306th Bombardment Squadron was intended to act as a training unit to prepare future B-47 crews. The B-47As were primarily training aircraft and were not considered as being combat-ready, since most of them were unarmed and were initially without almost any of their vital electronic components

In 1953, the 305th was upgraded to the B-47B production Stratojet and the wing began operational strategic bombardment and refueling missions from MacDill. The wing deployed overseas three times, once to England (September–December 1953) and twice to North Africa (November 1955 – January 1956 and January–March 1957), in keeping with its mission of global bombardment and air-refueling operations. The wing’s deployments marked the first overseas deployment of the B-47B.

Two of the wing’s B-47s set speed records on 28 July 1953 when one flew from RCAF Goose Bay, Labrador, to RAF Fairford, England, in 4:14 hours and the other flew from Limestone Air Force Base, Maine, to RAF Fairford in 4:45 hours.

During this period, the 305th also figured prominently in the filming of the 1955 James Stewart and June Allyson film, Strategic Air Command, a portion of which was filmed in and around both the 305th Bombardment Wing and 306th Bombardment Wing areas and their B-47 aircraft at MacDill.

In 1955, SAC upgraded the 305th to the B-47E, the major production version of the Stratojet.

A major tragedy struck the 305th on the evening of 10 October 1956, when 50 of its personnel returning from a 90-day temporary duty assignment in England on a Military Air Transportation Service flight died when the United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster carrying them disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. A search discovered wreckage from the aircraft, but no survivors or bodies ever were found.

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