VMGR-234
Encyclopedia
Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234) is a reserve United States Marine Corps
KC-130T
squadron. They are a part of Marine Aircraft Group 41
(MAG-41), 4th Marine Aircraft Wing
(4th MAW) and provide both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aerial refueling
capabilities to support Marine Forces Reserve
air operations in addition to assault air transport of personnel, equipment, and supplies. The squadron, known as the "Rangers" is stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
, Texas
.
on May 1, 1942. The squadron departed for Espiritu Santo
in December 1942 and began their first combat tour as part of the Cactus Air Force
on Guadalcanal
on January 28, 1943. Their second stint on Guadalcanal began on April 15, 1943. During this time they did patrol duties in the Fiji Islands and also provided close air support
in New Georgia
. They moved to Munda and began operating from there on October 1943 concentrating their attacks in the vicinity of Bougainville
. In November 1943 the squadron had moved to Efate
and from there they returned to the United States.
They relocated to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
, California
in November of 1943 and were redesignated Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 234 (VMTB-234) on October 14, 1944. Their name was again changed this time to VMTB(CVS)-234 after which they deployed as part of Marine Carrier Group 3 onboard the USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111)
. They were paired with VMF-513 during their deployment but never saw combat as the war ended. The squadron returned to California in November 1945 and was deactivated at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
on March 20, 1946..
of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing
at MCAS El Toro, California. The squadron was deactivated on March 20, 1946. On July 1, 1947, the unit was reactivated as VMF-234, at Naval Air Station San Diego, California, and later moved to NAS Twin Cities in Minneapolis. During the Korean War
, many of squadron’s personnel were recalled to active duty and assigned to other squadrons, leaving VMF-234 as a paper squadron in Minneapolis.
The 1950s were a decade of constant change for the squadron, as it was transformed into an attack squadron (VMA-234) with the transition to the F9F Panther
in February 1955; then the Douglas AD-5 Skyraider
in May 1958; and the Fairchild C-119F Flying Boxcar
in December of 1961. After trading the Skyraider for Flying Boxcars, the unit was re-designated as Marine Transport Squadron 234 (VMR-234) on January 1, 1962.
. Five years later, they traded the C-119F Packets for the KC-130F Hercules
. The “Thundering Herd” received its current squadron designation, Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234), on October 23, 1983.
In December 1986, VMGR-234 became the first Marine squadron to land an aircraft on an ice runway, transporting supplies to McMurdo Station
, Antarctica. In April 1988, a submarine, the USS Bonefish
required assistance off the Florida coast. With the new nickname “Bears,” from the local Chicago major league football team, VMGR-234 flew flotation equipment to NAS Norfolk, Virginia
and NAS Newport, Florida
, getting off the ground in less than an hour.
for Operation Desert Storm, and the squadron remained on active duty until May 1991. In August 1994, the squadron was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 41
at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
, Texas
. On October 22, 1995, the unit surpassed 73,000 accident free flight hours.
In 2000, VMGR-234 flew a variety support missions on six different continents for both active and reserve components. Changing their nickname again, the Rangers were deployed for a total of 717 days. In one calendar year alone the squadron flew a total of 1,691 sorties.
In 2004 the squadron was deployed to Al Asad, Iraq as part of a co-operative cycle of Marine VMGR squadrons constantly in support of the war in Iraq. 234 was deployed from March to October 2004 with VMGR-352 and VMGR-452.
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
KC-130T
Lockheed Martin KC-130
The Lockheed Martin KC-130 is the basic designation for a family of the extended-range tanker version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft modified for aerial refuelling. The KC-130J is the latest variant operated by the United States Marine Corps, with 38 delivered out of 47 ordered...
squadron. They are a part of Marine Aircraft Group 41
Marine Aircraft Group 41
Marine Aircraft Group 41 is a United States Marine Corps reserve aviation unit based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas that is currently composed of one F/A-18A+ squadron, one KC-130T squadron, a Maintenance and Logistics squadron, as well as detachments from Engineer and...
(MAG-41), 4th Marine Aircraft Wing
4th Marine Aircraft Wing
The 4th Marine Aircraft Wing is the reserve airwing of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana but its subordinate units are scattered throughout the United States...
(4th MAW) and provide both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aerial refueling
Aerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....
capabilities to support Marine Forces Reserve
United States Marine Corps Reserve
The Marine Forces Reserve is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command in the U.S...
air operations in addition to assault air transport of personnel, equipment, and supplies. The squadron, known as the "Rangers" is stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base or NAS Fort Worth JRB includes Carswell Field, a military airfield located west of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. This military airfield is operated by United States Navy...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
World War II
Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 234 (VMSB-234) was activated at Marine Corps Air Station EwaMarine Corps Air Station Ewa
Marine Corps Air Station Ewa was a United States Marine Corps air station that was located west of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The base was hit during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and later served as the hub for all Marine aviation units heading into combat in the Pacific Theater...
on May 1, 1942. The squadron departed for Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
in December 1942 and began their first combat tour as part of the Cactus Air Force
Cactus Air Force
Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field...
on Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
on January 28, 1943. Their second stint on Guadalcanal began on April 15, 1943. During this time they did patrol duties in the Fiji Islands and also provided close air support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
in New Georgia
Battle of New Georgia
The New Georgia Campaign was a series of battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific...
. They moved to Munda and began operating from there on October 1943 concentrating their attacks in the vicinity of Bougainville
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
. In November 1943 the squadron had moved to Efate
Éfaté
Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...
and from there they returned to the United States.
They relocated to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar , formerly Naval Air Station Miramar is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in November of 1943 and were redesignated Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 234 (VMTB-234) on October 14, 1944. Their name was again changed this time to VMTB(CVS)-234 after which they deployed as part of Marine Carrier Group 3 onboard the USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111)
USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111)
USS Vella Gulf was a of the United States Navy.She was laid down as Totem Bay on 7 February 1944 at Tacoma, Washington by the Todd-Pacific Shipyards. She was renamed Vella Gulf on 26 April 1944 and launched on 19 October 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Donald F. Smith. On 9 April 1945, she was...
. They were paired with VMF-513 during their deployment but never saw combat as the war ended. The squadron returned to California in November 1945 and was deactivated at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located near Irvine, California.Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps aviation on the West Coast. Designated as a Master Jet Station, its four runways could handle the largest aircraft...
on March 20, 1946..
Late 1940s through the 1960s
In January 1946, VMTB-234 was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 46Marine Aircraft Group 46
Marine Aircraft Group 46 was a United States Marine Corps reserve aviation group based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California with subordinate units spread throughout California. It previously composed of one adversary squadron equipped with the F-5, one CH-46 squadron, one CH-53E...
of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing
4th Marine Aircraft Wing
The 4th Marine Aircraft Wing is the reserve airwing of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana but its subordinate units are scattered throughout the United States...
at MCAS El Toro, California. The squadron was deactivated on March 20, 1946. On July 1, 1947, the unit was reactivated as VMF-234, at Naval Air Station San Diego, California, and later moved to NAS Twin Cities in Minneapolis. During the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, many of squadron’s personnel were recalled to active duty and assigned to other squadrons, leaving VMF-234 as a paper squadron in Minneapolis.
The 1950s were a decade of constant change for the squadron, as it was transformed into an attack squadron (VMA-234) with the transition to the F9F Panther
F9F Panther
|-Popular culture:The Panther played a prominent role in the 1954 movie Men of the Fighting Lady . The F9F was featured in the flying sequences in the 1954 movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri, although in the 1953 James A...
in February 1955; then the Douglas AD-5 Skyraider
A-1 Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider was an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. It became a piston-powered, propeller-driven anachronism in the jet age, and was nicknamed "Spad", after a French World War I fighter...
in May 1958; and the Fairchild C-119F Flying Boxcar
C-119 Flying Boxcar
The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute...
in December of 1961. After trading the Skyraider for Flying Boxcars, the unit was re-designated as Marine Transport Squadron 234 (VMR-234) on January 1, 1962.
1970s through the 1980s
In 1970, the unit moved to NAS Glenview, IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Five years later, they traded the C-119F Packets for the KC-130F Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
. The “Thundering Herd” received its current squadron designation, Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234 (VMGR-234), on October 23, 1983.
In December 1986, VMGR-234 became the first Marine squadron to land an aircraft on an ice runway, transporting supplies to McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
, Antarctica. In April 1988, a submarine, the USS Bonefish
USS Bonefish (SS-582)
' was a Barbel-class submarine in the United States Navy. She was the second Navy submarine named for the bonefish.The contract to build her was awarded on 29 June 1956 to the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey and her keel was laid down on 3 June 1957. She was launched on 22...
required assistance off the Florida coast. With the new nickname “Bears,” from the local Chicago major league football team, VMGR-234 flew flotation equipment to NAS Norfolk, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and NAS Newport, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, getting off the ground in less than an hour.
1990s
In January 1991, the squadron was activated in support of the Gulf War, but remained at Naval Air Station Glenview. Aircraft from VMGR-234 deployed to the Persian GulfPersian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
for Operation Desert Storm, and the squadron remained on active duty until May 1991. In August 1994, the squadron was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 41
Marine Aircraft Group 41
Marine Aircraft Group 41 is a United States Marine Corps reserve aviation unit based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas that is currently composed of one F/A-18A+ squadron, one KC-130T squadron, a Maintenance and Logistics squadron, as well as detachments from Engineer and...
at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base or NAS Fort Worth JRB includes Carswell Field, a military airfield located west of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. This military airfield is operated by United States Navy...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. On October 22, 1995, the unit surpassed 73,000 accident free flight hours.
In 2000, VMGR-234 flew a variety support missions on six different continents for both active and reserve components. Changing their nickname again, the Rangers were deployed for a total of 717 days. In one calendar year alone the squadron flew a total of 1,691 sorties.
Global War on Terror
In 2003, VMGR-234 deployed to Bahrain and Kuwait to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the initial weeks of the invasion, the Rangers averaged roughly 25 combat sorties and 60 hours of flight time per day. The Rangers began their retrograde back to NAS-JRB Fort Worth, Texas, in September of that year. The squadron flew a total of 3,435 combat flight hours and 2,059 combat sorties in 2003.In 2004 the squadron was deployed to Al Asad, Iraq as part of a co-operative cycle of Marine VMGR squadrons constantly in support of the war in Iraq. 234 was deployed from March to October 2004 with VMGR-352 and VMGR-452.
See also
- United States Marine Corps AviationUnited States Marine Corps AviationUnited States Marine Corps Aviation is the air component of the United States Marine Corps. Marine aviation has a very different mission and operation than its ground counterpart, and thus, has many of its own histories, traditions, terms, and procedures....
- List of active United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons
- List of inactive United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons