2nd ARS celebrates 90-year anniversary Published June 27, 2013 By 1st Lt. Brice D. Damen 2nd Air Refueling Squadron JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- This week, a squadron with a proud heritage pays homage to one of the most significant events in military aviation history, marks the 90th anniversary of the first air-to-air refueling and the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron here carries on the legacy their members created so long ago. Lt. Col. William Wade, 2nd ARS commander, said it is amazing to see how far we have come in the 90 years since pioneers from the 2nd ARS took flight with two planes, a hose and some expendable items. The "Duce" performs this duty on a daily basis passing fuel, literally by the truck load, around the world. Military air superiority through air refueling would be a much harder task without the pioneers that came before them however. The first air-to-air refueling took place over Rockwell Field, Calif., June 28, 1923. With past and future members of the 2nd Aero Squadron, which was the original designation of the Duce, they managed to remain aloft for 37 hours. The impracticality of carrying five gallon tanks of gas over the wing inspired them. The feat was accomplished, the same way as it would be in the golden age of aviation, with a flapping hose on one end and a lieutenant on the other. This was quite the task when considering what the world looked like at this time. The first portable radio was developed, the refrigerator was invented and television was nonexistent. The Army Air Forces figured out how to fly two aircraft within close proximity of each other and exchange gasoline regardless. Maj. Henry "Hap" Arnold, who is more widely known as Gen. Hap Arnold today, commemorated the event by taking official record on a table napkin. He followed the action with the famous "question mark" aircraft in 1929 when it set a world record by remaining airborne for more than 150 hours. The 2nd ARS had already been relocated to the Philippines by this time where it would eventually suffer catastrophic losses from a Japanese invasion. Through a series of deactivations and reactivations from 1946 until 1989 the Duce would finally find its home with the KC-10 Extender. The picture looks much different today with a four-man team comprising two pilots, a flight engineer and a boom operator. The crew lowers its boom with fly-by-wire technology into the receptacles of multimillion-dollar jet aircraft at approximately 450-mile-per-hour speeds. Chief Master Sgt. Mark Redden, 2nd ARS superintendent, says his adrenaline still rises as an aircraft pulls up behind a tanker, even after 25 years as a boom operator. Only pieces of scrap metal remain from the original aircraft today. The 2nd ARS recognizes this day with educational and fun events to remember the accomplishments of their brethren nine decades ago in the heritage room, auditorium and softball fields here. Commemorative patches lie on their shoulders designed by the young boom operators awaiting their initial training. Editor's note: Ms. Aungelic Nelson, 305th Air Mobility Wing historian, contributed information used in this article.