The 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 53d Test and Evaluation Group, stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, California as a geographically separated unit of the 53rd Wing. The 31 TES is an Air Combat Command (ACC) tenant unit at Edwards, providing personnel to support combined test and evaluation on Air Force weapons systems.
The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to 26 June 1917, being organized at Kelly Field, Texas. The squadron deployed to England as part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. The squadron saw combat during World War II, and later became part of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the Cold War.
Overview The squadron provides Air Combat Command personnel to support combined test and evaluation on Air Force weapons systems. The unit also provides the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and Air Force Materiel Command with test team members who have an operational perspective to perform test and evaluation on Combat Air Force systems.
The 31st is one of the oldest squadrons in the Air Force, its origins dating to 26 June 1917. Over this time, members of the squadron took part in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.Maurer, Combat Squadrons
History World War I The 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron traces its history to the organization of the 31st Aero Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas, on 26 June 1917, shortly after the United States' entry into World War I.Gorrell, Series "E", Volume 7 The first commander of the squadron was 1st Lieutenant John E. Rossel. (link requires paid subscription) It received personnel from First Company, B Provisional Battalion. About the first of July, orders were received to equip the squadron for overseas duty. The entire month of July was spent in drill and preparation for foreign service. Captain Carl Spaatz, who would later go on to become the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. was placed in command on 13 July, bringing with him several men of previous military experience, who added much to the efficiency of the organization.
Across the Atlantic The squadron left Kelly field on 11 August for Fort Totten New York, and after waiting transportation, the 31st was transported on 22 August to the Port of Entry, Hoboken, New Jersey, and were boarded on the RMS Baltic. The next day, they left Pier 59, en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the ship anchored awaiting for a convoy. Finally, on 5 September, the convoy was formed and the trans-Atlantic journey began.
On the night of 14 September, two red rockets were fired from an accompanying destroyer that had spotted a submarine periscope. The destroyer dropped depth charges on the submarine, and the Baltic made a sudden turn to port, that caused both men and anything loose aboard the ship to move. Suddenly a large explosion was heard and five long blasts were made by the ship's whistle and everyone on board was ordered to report to their assigned lifeboats. The Baltic's captain announced that a torpedo had struck the ship, but it had only made a glancing blow on the bow; that the emergency pumps were working and there was no danger. The next day, the Baltic arrived in Liverpool, England, and the men immediately boarded the train for Southampton, arriving at 1:00am on 15 September.
3d Aviation Instruction Center At Southampton, 50 of the men were detached from the squadron and were sent to various Royal Flying Corps schools to undergo training in machine gunnery and airplane construction. These schools were at Grantham, Uphaven, Lincoln and Reading, England. The remainder of the squadron proceeded to France, arriving in Le Havre on the 19th, and from there boarded a troop train to the First Army Air service Mechanics Regiment at Étampes. There, the squadron was divided into three detachments. Two were assigned to the Training Section of the AEF, being sent to French aircraft mechanics schools at Paris and Lyons. The third detachment was ordered to proceed to the 3d Air Instructional Center at Issoudun Aerodrome.
Initially, the men of the squadron at Issoudun were engaged in construction projects, such as putting up new buildings, hangars and other necessities to make the 3d AIC operational. The squadron was recombined at Issoudun Aerodrome just after Christmas Day, 1917. The men had been thoroughly trained in aircraft assembly, engine maintenance and the other skills needed for them to do their work at the 3d AIC. The men from England arrived on 14 January, and they had become instructors in pistol, rifle, and machine-gunnery. The duties of the squadron became the maintenance of the training aircraft, primarily French Nieuports at the school, which had been set up by the Training Section, AEF to train American pursuit pilots prior to them being sent into combat at the Front.
The 31st Aero Squadron was assigned to the care and upkeep of Nieuport 15-meter aircraft (Nieuport 17, 17bis, 21, 23, 24, 24bis, and 27s) at Field No. 5, which was used for taxiing, taking off, and landing and wing slips. It was at Issoudun that the squadron emblem, still in use today, was designed. In their off-hours, the men engaged in sports such as boxing and football. Athletics was an important part of the duty at Issoudun, giving the squadron, which was widely divided around the station, an esprit-de-corps and helped build morale. In addition to the aircraft work, squadron members were also engaged in expanding the 3d Aviation Instruction Center as necessary, erecting additional buildings and aircraft hangars as new airfields were required as training was expanded with additional pilots and aircraft.
During the month of September 1918, training was especially intense as new pilots, to be assigned to the new Second Army Air Service, began to arrive for instruction. By the time of the Armistice on 11 November, the men of the squadron held responsible positions in many of the support areas of the 3d Aviation Instruction Center. Although they did not enter combat, the men provided the means to train the pilots who went to the front and gave them the best of training so they might accomplish their work.
Demobilization The 31st remained at Issodun until the end of December 1918 when orders were received to proceed to the 1st Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome, France, for demobilization. From Colombey, the squadron was moved to a staging camp under the Services of Supply at Bordeaux, France, in January waiting for a date to report to a base port for transportation home. In mid-March, the squadron boarded a troop ship, arriving in New York on 5 April. From there, the 31st moved to Mitchel Field, New York where the men were demobilized and returned to civilian life.Gorrell, Series "D" The 31st Aero Squadron was demobilized on 14 April 1919 at Mitchel Field, New York.Clay,
Inter-war years
The 31st Bombardment Squadron was reconstituted as a reserve Army Air Service unit on 24 March 1923, being assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group in the Third Corps Area. It was an active associate unit to the 49th Bombardment Squadron at Langley Field, Virginia. Its members spending their reserve commitments with the 49th, primarily supporting the Dayton-Wright DH-4s of the squadron. It was moved to the Ninth Corps Area in California on 28 February 1927 but never fully organized in the reserves. It was then moved to the Eighth Corps Area in Texas on 1 September 1928, and its members trained as individual reservists at Kelly Field.
On 1 April 1931 it was transferred to the United States Army Air Corps as a regular unit without reservists, being activated at March Field, California and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group. It was initially equipped with Keystone B-3 and B-4 biplane bombers, the bombers usually differed from each other only in the type of engine which powered them, and it was often only possible to distinguish one from the other by an examination of their serial numbers. The Keystone planes were the standard Army bomber during the 1920s and about as powerful as their World War I contemporaries, but in terms of safety they were much improved.Baugher, Keystone B-3/B-4
The group was transferred on 5 December 1934 to the newly built Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, as part of a realignment of the Air Corps units in California due to the closure of Rockwell Field near San Diego and the transfer of units from Rockwell to March Field. At Hamilton Field, the 31st was upgraded Martin B-10 and B-12s, the first all-metal monoplane bomber to enter full production for the Army. It was also the first bomber to have a performance that exceeded that of contemporary pursuit aircraft. Again, the main difference between the bombers was the engine type. In the spring of 1937, the 31st received new Douglas B-18 Bolos, the 7th Group being the first operational unit to receive the bombers.Baugher, B-18 BoloBaugher, Martin B-10/B-12
The squadron trained at Hamilton until the end of 1937, when it was ordered to proceed to Hickam Field, Hawaii, to reinforce the Hawaiian Department. It departed from the port of San Francisco on the USAT Republic on 1 February 1938, arriving at the port of Honolulu on 8 February and transferring to Hickam the same day, being assigned to the 5th Composite Group. The 31st joined the 23d and 72d Bombardment Squadrons at Luke Field on Ford Island which were equipped with Martin B-12s. The 31st had brought its B-18s with it to Hickam, and it began engaging in reconnaissance flights over the Islands. In mid-1941, the 5th Bombardment Group began receiving B-17D Flying Fortresses from the United States, as part of the United States buildup of its Pacific forces due to rising tensions with the Japanese Empire.Baugher, B-17 in Pacific Theater
On 6 December 1941, the 5th had a total of 12 B-17Ds on the line at Hickam Field, along with 33 B-18s. Five additional B-17Ds with the 11th Bombardment Group, were also on the line at Hickam. The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron with four B-17Cs and two new B-17Es were inbound from Hamilton Field to Hickam on their way to Clark Field in the Philippines to reinforce the American force there.
World War II During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, 5 of the B-17Ds were destroyed, and the rest were damaged. Most of the B-18s were destroyed on the ground in the initial Japanese onslaught. The ones that remained played no significant role in subsequent operations. The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron arrived at Oahu at the height of the attack (radar operators mistakenly thought that the Japanese attack force was this flight arriving from California). Some of the planes managed to land at the short Haleiwa Fighter Strip, one set down on a golf course, and the remainder landed at Hickam under the strafing of Japanese planes. The 31st suffered eighteen casualties among assigned and attached personnel; four were killed and fourteen others wounded (two of the latter died of their wounds).A Brief History of the 5th Bombardment Group, Office of History, 5th Bombardment Wing, Minot AFB, North Dakota, 2011. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013.
Defense of the Hawaiian Islands
In the aftermath of the attack the planes that could be repaired were put back on the line, and were reinforced by the wider-tailed B-17E that had a tail gunner position. For the balance of 1942, the 31st remained in Hawaii, its aircraft flying long range reconnaissance missions from Kipapa Airfield and Kualoa Airfield. Its patrols ranged three or four hundred miles out from Oahu, searching for anything that might betoken another attack on Hawaii. In February the Hawaiian Air Force became the Seventh Air Force, and the 18th Bombardment Wing (comprising the 5th and 11th Groups) became the VII Bomber Command.