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#1543 MQ-9A Reaper

MQ-9A Reaper
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£10.00 €11.99 $12.67
43.8 cm x 29.2 cm
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Print
MQ-9 Reaper
11-4145
2 SOS, 919 SOW
Hurlburt Field, Florida
US - Air Force
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Description

Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1543 - 11-4145, MQ-9A Reaper, 2d Special Operations Squadron, 919th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Florida.

The unit known today as the 2d Special Operations Squadron traces its roots to World War I and the 2d Balloon Company. Part of the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces, the 2d Balloon Company formed at Fort Omaha, Nebraska for training hastily when the United States entered World War I in April 1917. The 2d Balloon Company relieved a French balloon unit on 26 February 1918 at L’Ermitage Woods and began operations with the American First Division. Thus the 2d Balloon Company became the first complete American Air Service unit in history to operate against an enemy on foreign soil.  The 2d Balloon Company carried out the dangerous duty of spotting targets for front line artillery. By the Armistice of 11 November 1918 there were a total of 35 balloon companies and the size of the Air Service totaled 57,508 personnel, of which approximately 17,000 were balloon troops. Over the course of the war, the 2d and the rest of the balloon squadrons logged 1,642 combat ascensions totaling 3,111 hours of observation and were responsible for over 18,000 aerial photographs. Following the war, the 2d and many other of these units were decommissioned. The 2d appeared again when on September 26, 1931 Lt William R. Turnbull requested an Insignia for the newly reconstituted 2d Balloon Company at Ft Bragg, NC. It displayed the blue and gold background colors of the Army Air Corps, the “Caquot” balloon in its natural gray fabric color, and had seven stars representing the major operations in which the 2d participated. His request contains the oldest recorded use of the motto “Semper Vigilans” – Always Vigilant. Over the squadron’s lifetime the squadron was redesignated or reconstituted six times. During the 1950s, the 2d flew strategic support missions using C-54 Skymaster and C-124 Globemaster II aircraft to transport classified equipment and personnel for the Strategic Air Command. Reactivated in March 2009, the 2d Special Operations Squadron (SOS) became the first Air Force Reserve squadron to assume command of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Combat Air Patrol (CAP) – a persistent orbit over a critical combat zone. For its first five years, the 2d SOS was geographically separated from its parent unit, the 919th Special Operations Wing based at Duke Field, FL. Operations continued from Nellis Air Force Base, NV until 14 June 2014, when the unit transferred  to its new home at Hurlburt Field, FL. As part of the move, the squadron transitioned from the MQ-1 Predator to the MQ-9 Reaper. Living up to its rich history and the squadron’s motto “Always Vigilant”, operations continued ceaselessly during the airplane transition and the move was completed without so much as a minute of lost combat support time, in direct testament to the hard work and dedication of  the squadron’s leadership, its members, and its civilian contractors. The 2d SOS added a second MQ-9 CAP less than four months after beginning operations from Hurlburt. The 2d SOS has participated in eight different named Operations since standing back up. They flew the last MQ-1 to leave Iraq on 18 November 2011, ceasing US combat operations in Iraq on the last day of Operation New Dawn. As of 9 April 2019, the 2d SOS has flown over 100,000 hours. The aircraft shown at the top are the previous platforms the 2d SOS has flown, while the main display is of the MQ-9 Reaper which is what they currently utilize in combat operations. This particular tail number holds significance as it was the one flown when the 2d SOS reached 100,000 hours since its reactivation in 2009.

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