The 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron develops expert leaders and technicians who can maintain, mobilize and generate the KC-10 Extender air refueling aircraft anywhere in the world. While sustaining 24-hour operations, the 24 aircraft maintained by the 660 AMXS support the flying requirements of five operations squadrons, contribute to over 6,000 annual sorties and enable the 60th Air Mobility Wing’s global mobility mission. While continuing to sustain operations at home and abroad with the KC-10, the 660 AMXS has been selected to receive the KC-46 Pegasus—an advanced, multi-role tanker which will further accentuate Team Travis’ ability to support Rapid Global Mobility daily.
Lineage
This squadron was constituted in November of 1944 as the 660th Air Material Squadron, and activated in April of 1945 in Bury St Edmunds, England. The 660 AMS provided maintenance to B-17s of the 94th Bombardment Group and 8th Air Force, ultimately contributing to the end of war in Europe through their maintenance support and strategic bombing and leaflet delivery. In December of that year, 145 officers and enlisted departed England for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, for inactivation; the squadron was then disbanded in 1948.
Nearly five decades later, in April of 1995, Air Mobility Command reconstituted and re-designated the unit as the 660th Aircraft Generation Squadron at Travis AFB, California, in order to maintain the KC-10A Extender in support of global mobility operations. While the unit operated out of a temporary hanger and support buildings, they moved to Hanger 14 in 1997, which remains the home of the KC-10 today. Subsequently, in 2002, Air Mobility Command re-designated the 660 AGS to the 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
Since 1997, as the 660 AGS and the 660 AMXS, the KC-10 and its critical maintainers launched aerial refueling operations out of Germany, Diego Garcia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other airfields. The efforts of these men and women to maintain the KC-10 have provided unrivaled support to global combat missions, including Operations DESERT FOX, ALLIED FORCE, ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM, FREEDOM’S SENTINEL, and INHERENT RESOLVE, ALLIES REFUGE and support to JTF Horn of Africa.