Patch with 74th Air Defense Missile Squadron emblem
24th Tactical Missile Squadron emblem (approved 29 July 1957)
40th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 7 February 1942)[1]
Military unit
The 24th Tactical Missile Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as the 74th Air Defense Missile Squadron assigned to the 23d Air DivisionofAerospace Defense Command, stationed near Duluth Municipal Airport, Minnesota, where it was inactivated in 1972. The squadron's earliest predecessor was active early in World War II as an antisubmarine unit in the Caribbean and Europe until its mission was transferred to the United States Navy. During the Cold War it was a training unit for Matador cruise missiles. Its most recently active predecessor was an air defense missile squadron in the northern United States from 1960 to 1972.
The squadron was activated for a second time on 15 March 1957 as the 24th Tactical Missile Squadron and assigned to Ninth Air Force's 589th Tactical Missile Group (TMG). It trained for operation of TM-61 Matador tactical cruise missiles at Orlando AFB. When the 17th Tactical Missile Squadron deployed to Taiwan in April 1958, the 24th was transferred to the 588th TMG. It engaged in crew training with the 589th but never received any missiles or deployment orders before inactivating.
The 24th and 588th TMG were programmed to deploy to South Korea during the fall of 1958, but instead, the unit was inactivated on 15 July 1958. The personnel and equipment of the 588th were reassigned to the newly formed 58th Tactical Missile Group[4]atOsan AB, South Korea, while the 310th Fighter-Bomber Squadron at Osan gave up its F-86 Sabres and became the 310th Tactical Missile Squadron,[5] becoming a Matador squadron and absorbing the personnel of the 588th TMG en masse.
The squadron was activated for the third time on 1 April 1960 as the 74th Air Defense Missile SquadronatDuluth Municipal Airport.[6] It stood alert during the Cold War, with IM-99A (later CIM-10) BOMARC surface to airantiaircraft missiles. The squadron was tied into a Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) direction center which could use analog computers to process information from ground radars, picket ships and airborne aircraft[7] to accelerate the display of tracking data at the direction center to quickly direct the missile site to engage hostile aircraft.[8] It was inactivated on 30 April 1972.[6]
The BOMARC missile site was located 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Duluth MAP at 46°55′56″N091°53′00″W / 46.93222°N 91.88333°W / 46.93222; -91.88333 (74th ADMS). Although geographically separated from the base, it was an off base facility of Duluth MAP and the squadron received administrative and logistical support from the military facilities at Duluth Airport.
The 40th Bombardment Squadron and the 74th Air Defense Missile Squadron were consolidated with the 24th Tactical Missile Squadron on 19 September 1985, while remaining in inactive status.[9]
Consolidated with the 24th Tactical Missile Squadron and the 74th Air Defense Missile Squadron as the 24th Tactical Missile Squadron on 19 September 1985
74th Air Defense Missile Squadron
Constituted as the 74th Air Defense Missile Squadron (BOMARC) on 17 December 1959
13th Bombardment Group, 15 January 1941 (air echelon attached to US Navy Caribbean Sea Frontier, 30 August 1942 - 9 October 1942 and 16 October 1942 - 15 November 1942 and to 99th Bombardment Squadron 9 October 1942 – 16 October 1942)[1]
Langley Field, Virginia, 16 June 1942 - ca. 6 June 1942[1]
Mitchel Field, New York, 3 August 1942 (part of air echelon operated from Guantanamo, Cuba 30 August 1942, Vernam Field, Jamaica, 14 September 1942, Edinburgh Field, Trinidad, 6 October 1942, Zanderij Field, Surinam, 9 October 1942. Edinburgh Field, Trinidad, 16 October 1942 – 15 November 1942)[1]
^Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 662q, 19 Sep 85, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Tactical Squadrons
Mindling, George; Bolton, Robert (2009). U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles, 1949-1969 The Pioneers. George Mindling & Robert Bolton. ISBN978-0-557-00029-6.