USAF Patch Air Refueling c 305 AREFS Squadron KC 135 mid 60s

USAF Patch 305 AREFS Air Refuelling Squadron Heavy Patch mid 1960s KC 135 Stratotanker MacDill AFB Embroidered on twill cut edge 100mm  three and fifteen sixteenth inches diameter.

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Squadron History 

305 Air Refueling Squadron Medium was activated on 2 July 1951 at MacDill AFB Florida equipped with KC 97 Stratotankers based on the B 29 Superfortress under 305 Bombardment Wing in support of Strategic Air Command operations worldwide. Following a number of periods of attachment to 306 Bombardment Wing in 1954 and 1956 the Squadron was reassigned to 306 BW on 1 May 1959. The Squadron reequipped with KC 135 Stratotankers and was assigned to 4050 Air Refueling Wing on 15 January 1960 499 Air Refueling Wing on 1 January 1963 and 810 Air Division on 1 July 1964. The Squadron retuned to 305 Bombardment Wing 25 March 1965 replacing 68 AREFS assuming its mission personnel and equipment at Bunker Hill AFB later renamed Grissom AFB. The Squadron adopted 68 AREFS motto Around the world around the clock instead of its original motto We will be there. 

305 AREFS provided refuelling support for Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Arc Light in South East Asia during the Vietnam War. When 305 BW lost its bomber units in 1970 following a major reorganization of SAC the Wing concentrated on air refueling and was redesignated the 305 Air Refueling Wing on 1 January 1970. 305 AREFS continued supporting worldwide tanker task forces and military operations by deploying KC 135 aircraft to Europe Alaska Greenland Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The Squadron provided tanker refuelling support to units involved in the invasion of Grenada October 1983 and the invasion of Panama December 1989 and in the 1990s deployed personnel and aircraft to provide refuelling support for air operations to and in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. The squadron also delivered food to Kurdish Northern Iraq. 

305 AREFS was inactivated on 20 August 1993 on the reorganisation of 305 Air Refueling Wing into 305 Air Mobility Wing. 

This patch dates from the mid 1960s following adoption of 68 AREFSs motto.