1.
Squadron (aviation)
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In most armed forces, two or more squadrons will form a group or a wing. Some air forces use the term squadrons for non-flying ground units. In contrast to United States Air Force units where flying squadrons are separate from supporting administrative and aircraft maintenance squadrons, in United States Marine Corps Aviation the nomenclature squadron is also used to designate all battalion-equivalent, aviation support organizations. These squadrons include, wing headquarters, tactical air command, air control, air support, aviation logistics, wing support, exceptions are USN helicopter mine countrmeasures squadrons, USMC composite medium tilt-rotor squadrons, heavy helicopter and light/attack helicopter squadrons, and Marine attack squadrons. Although part of U. S. naval aviation, United States Coast Guard aviation units are centered on an air station versus a squadron or group/wing organizational structure, the one exception to this is the Coast Guards Helicopter Interdiction Squadron, which is engaged primarily in counter-narcotics interdiction operations. In U. S. Army Aviation, flying units may be organized in battalions or squadrons reporting to an aviation brigade, an escadron is the equivalent unit in Frances Armée de lAir. It is normally subdivided into escadrilles of eight aircraft, in the Air Training Corps of the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations, a Squadron is a group of cadets who parade regularly. In the U. S. Civil Air Patrol, a squadron is the administrative unit. In the Swedish Air Force a helicopter squadron is a detachment from the Helicopter Wing
2.
No. 107 Squadron RAF
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No.107 Squadron RAF was a Royal Flying Corps bomber unit formed during the First World War. It was reformed in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was operational during the Cold War on Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, the squadron became at first part of the 13th wing of the 3rd brigade, working up to operational status. Thereafter it was transferred to the 51st wing of the 9th brigade and its main targets were enemy airfields, base areas and communication lines, which it continued to attack until the Armistice. The squadrons most successful raid was made on Saponay on 21 July 1918, from the squadrons airfield,20 miles away at Chailly, the reflection of the explosions and fire could be seen going on all the evening and throughout the night. Another notable raid was made on the Aulnoye railway station and junction on 1 October 1918. Returning to Hounslow Heath Aerodrome in March 1919, it disbanded there on 30 June of that same year, No.107 Squadron was reformed at RAF Andover on 10 August 1936 as a light bomber squadron, equipped with Hawker Hinds. These were replaced by Blenheim Mk. Is from August 1938 which gave way in their turn to Blenheim Mk. IVs in May 1939. The raid was no success, of the four aircraft despatched only one returned –, the first British Prisoner of war in World War II was Sergeant George Booth, a navigator with 107 Squadron. He was captured when his Bristol Blenheim was shot down over the German coast on that 4 September 1939, following the Dunkirk evacuation the squadron became engaged with attacking invasion barges and shipping concentrations in the Channel ports. In one of these attacks the new Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Basil Embry was shot down, the adventurous story of his escape from captivity eventually reached book form. Between 3 March 1941 and May 1941, the squadron was on loan to RAF Coastal Command and its duties while in Coastal Command were various, shipping strikes, convoy duties, coastal patrols, submarine searches and attacks on enemy airfields and harbours. These were quite hazardous as the squadron lost two COs during these operations, Wing Commander Cameron in April and Wing Commander Birch on 4 May 1941. From there anti-shipping missions were carried out along the Axis north-south convoy routes, around the Italian coast, Sicily and it was not the last time this man was in command of a RAF unit, he ended his career as Air Marshal Sir Ivor Broom. In November the squadron moved onto the continent, flying from Cambrai, the squadron continued to fly in the night intruder role to the end of war, when it took up the duty of training in the light bomber role. Remaining in Germany as part of the British Air Forces of Occupation after the war, when the Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile were employed in the UK each operating missile squadron was originally meant to control three sites. 107 Squadron so started out in September 1958 by being the C flight of the first RAF Thor missile unit, the flight was stationed at RAF Tuddenham. This new incarnation of No.107 Squadron did not last long though, the upcoming ICBM missiles soon made the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile obsolete, and in 1962 the Minister of Defence announced the phase-out of the Thor missiles. The squadron therefore disbanded once again, at Tuddenham on 10 July 1963, list of UK Thor missile bases Official history of No.107 Squadron at Royal Air Force website History of No. s 106–110 Squadrons at RAF Web
3.
No. 107 Squadron RAAF
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No.107 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol squadron of World War II. It was formed in May 1943 and was equipped with Vought OS2U Kingfisher aircraft, the squadron conducted anti-submarine patrols off the Australian east coast during the last years of the war, but did not encounter any enemy submarines, it was disbanded in October 1945. No.107 Squadron was formed on 10 May 1943 at RAAF Station Rathmines and these aircraft had previously been used by the Seaplane Training Flight and No.3 Operational Training Unit for training purposes. The squadrons first commanding officer was Flying Officer N. J, as soon as it was formed, No.107 Squadron began conducting anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols. Detachments of Consolidated PBY Catalinas from No.11 Squadron and No.20 Squadron were briefly attached to the squadron during June and September–October 1943. In mid-1944 it was decided to transfer No.107 Squadron from Rathmines, the squadron began moving south on 1 July 1944, but this process was delayed by bad weather. The facilities at St Georges Basin were greatly inferior to those at Rathmines, No.107 Squadron resumed its routine shipping protection patrols from St Georges Basin on 7 July. No.107 Squadrons patrols were intensified after the German submarine U-862 sank the American Liberty Ship Robert J. Walker off Moruya on 25 December 1944, the squadron flew five sorties a day for the next week in search of the submarine. On 29 December one of the squadrons Kingfishers attacked what its pilot believed was a periscope near the point at which Robert J. Walker had been sunk. However, by this time U-862 was in the Tasman Sea near New Zealand and this was the only deliberate attack made by a RAAF Kingfisher during the war. During early 1945 No.107 Squadrons duties were expanded to include providing search, the number of anti-submarine patrols was also decreased in early 1945 as the threat of attack had greatly diminished. The squadron was disbanded at St Georges Basin on 28 October 1945, Flying Squadrons of the Australian Defence Force. Weston Creek, Australian Capital Territory, Aerospace Publications, Units of the Royal Australian Air Force. Volume 4 Maritime and Transport Units, RAAF Unit History sheets Number 107 Squadron May 43 – Jun 45
4.
107th Fighter Squadron
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The 107th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Michigan Air National Guard 127th Wing. It is assigned to Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan and is equipped with the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, the squadron is a descendant organization of the World War I 107th Aero Squadron, established on 27 August 1917. The 107th Fighter Squadron traces its origins to 26 August 1917 with the organization of the 107th Aero Squadron, forty recruits arrived at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas from Vancouver Barracks, Washington. An additional 341 recruits arrived from Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and 110 men, the squadron was initially indoctrinated into military service, performing drill, fatigue duties and also construction work at the field. Once basic indoctrination training was completed, the 107th was ordered for duty, being ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City. It was there that final arrangements were made for the overseas, complete equipment was drawn. On 7 December, the 107th was ordered to proceed by train to St. Johns, on the 10th it boarded the SS Tuscania for the cross-Atlantic voyage, arriving on Christmas Morning at Liverpool, England. After a brief rest, the arrived at Southampton, England on the 29th. There, it traveled by train to the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, St. Maixent Replacement Barracks, France. At St. Maixent the squadron was re-designated as the 801st Aero Squadron, finally, it was ordered to proceed to the 3d Air Instructional Center, Issoudun Aerodrome, in Central France, arriving on 21 February. Initially the squadron was assigned to the airfield, working in the aircraft assembly. On 7 June, help was needed at Field #2, cooperating with another squadron, Field #2 was placed on an efficient basis as any field in the AEF. The squadron remained at 3d AIC until after the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, arrived at Mitchel Field where the squadron members were demobilized and returned to civilian life. After the war the squadron was reorganized in 1925 as the Michigan National Guards first flying unit and it received Federal recognition in May 1926 as the Air Section of the Michigan National Guards 32nd Division. Its primary mission was artillery spotting and observation of troop movements, in March 1938, elements of the 107th Observation Squadron performed gunnery training at Eglin Field, Florida, for fifteen days, deploying from Wayne County Airport at Detroit, Michigan. Twenty-three officers and 111 men arrived on 1 March, one detachment flew in eight aircraft while the rest arrived by rail over the Louisville and Nashville Railroad at Crestview, Florida. For many years this airfield was called the Artillery Range Airport Camp. On 11 April 1941, Lieutenant Wilmer Esler was killed in the crash of his O-47 when it experienced a failure on take off
5.
Military organization
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Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer military capability required by the national defense policy. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in an armed forces. Armed forces that are not a part of military or paramilitary organizations, such as insurgent forces, often mimic military organizations, the use of formalized ranks in a hierarchical structure came into widespread use with the Roman Army. These in turn manage Armed Services that themselves command combat, combat support and combat support formations. Within each departmental agency will be found administrative branches responsible for further agency business specialization work, in most countries the armed forces are divided into three or four Armed services, army, navy, and air force. Many countries have a variation on the model of three or four basic Armed Services. Some nations also organize their marines, special forces or strategic missile forces as independent armed services, a nations coast guard may also be an independent military branch of its military, although in many nations the coast guard is a law enforcement or civil agency. A number of countries have no navy, for geographical reasons, most smaller countries have a single organization that encompasses all armed forces employed by the country in question. Third-world armies tend to consist primarily of infantry, while first-world armies tend to have larger units manning expensive equipment and it is worthwhile to make mention of the term joint. In western militaries, a joint force is defined as a unit or formation comprising representation of power from two or more branches of the military. It is common, at least in the European and North American militaries, to refer to the blocks of a military as commands, formations. In a military context, a command is a collection of units and it is not uncommon for a nations services to each consist of their own command, but this does not preclude the existence of commands which are not service-based. A formation is defined by the US Department of Defense as two or more aircraft, ships, or units proceeding together under a commander. The formations only differ in their ability to achieve different scales of application of force to achieve different strategic, operational and tactical goals and it is a composite military organization that includes a mixture of integrated and operationally attached sub-units, and is usually combat-capable. Example of formations include, divisions, brigades, battalions, wings, formation may also refer to tactical formation, the physical arrangement or disposition of troops and weapons. Examples of formation in such usage include, pakfront, panzerkeil, testudo formation, any unit subordinate to another unit is considered its sub-unit or minor unit. It is not uncommon for unit and formation to be used synonymously in the United States, in Commonwealth practice, formation is not used for smaller organizations like battalions which are instead called units, and their constituent platoons or companies are referred to as sub-units. In the Commonwealth, formations are divisions, brigades, etc, different armed forces, and even different branches of service of the armed forces, may use the same name to denote different types of organizations
