617th Bombardment Squadron

917th Air Refueling Squadron
Squadron Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker deploying to RAF Fairford
Active	1943; 1944–1947; 1958–1994
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Air Refueling
Motto(s)	ANTE OPTIMAS Latin Before the Best
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
617th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 18 August 1944)
917th Air Refueling Squadron emblem

The 917th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as a Geographically Separated Unit at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, while assigned to the 43d Operations Group at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, where it was inactivated on 1 July 1994.

The squadron was first activated in 1943 as the 617th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four squadrons of the 477th Bombardment Group, but the squadron was soon inactivated. In 1944 the group was again activated as the first (and only) bombardment group in the United States Army Air Forces to include black pilots. Members of the squadron participated in the Freeman Field Mutiny, protesting racial segregation in the military. The squadron was inactivated in 1945 after the 477th became a composite group that included bombardment and fighter squadrons.

In May 1959, the 917th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas. Beginning in 1960, the squadron began to stand alert with its Boeing KC-135A Stratotankers. It continued to maintain an alert commitment at Biggs, and later at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas until the end of the Cold War.

On 19 September 1985, The 917th Air Refueling Squadron was consolidated with the 617th Bombardment Squadron. With the inactivation of Strategic Air Command in 1992, the squadron transferred to Air Mobility Command, but two years later it was inactivated.