Reviewing maintenance operations history Published Dec. 4, 2012 By Maj. Wendy Enderle 92nd Maintenance Operations Support Squadron Commander FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- With the New Year fast approaching, I began thinking about all the changes and events that will accompany a change in the calendar year. One of those significant changes for the 92nd Maintenance Group and my squadron, the 92nd Maintenance Operations Squadron, is the deactivation of our unit next summer. The mission of our unit will not change and the men and women of the 92nd MOS will still carry out their duties, but we will organizationally transition to a flight on the 92nd MXG staff. This transition got me thinking about the history of our unit. So I had members of our squadron did some research and found some very interesting information. Not only has our squadron been renamed several times, but it has been activated and inactivated numerous times throughout our history, which extends back to one of the most critical times in world history and to another continent altogether. Like many other units at Fairchild AFB, the 92nd MOS can trace its roots back to World War II in England. The 92nd MOS was originally constituted as the 92nd Station Complement Squadron on Oct. 25, 1943, in Warton, England. It was later redesigned in 1944 as the Station Complement Squadron, Base Air Depot #2 (BAD 2) under the 8th Air Force Service Command. The mission of BAD 2 was the modification and repair of military aircraft. The base would modify U.S. war planes to meet special mission requirements of the European Theater and would also repair battle damaged aircraft from the war. The Station Complement Squadron was responsible for keeping a station of more than 10,000 U.S. servicemen operating properly and keeping aircrews and aircraft mission ready. Like today's 92nd MOS, which provides essential aircraft maintenance support functions such as wing plans and scheduling, the maintenance operations center and maintenance training, the Station Complement Squadron was also a critical support unit. However, back then the unit also included many of the functions that are now part of today's mission support group, medical group, wing staff and other agencies. Some of these the tasks done by a Station Complement Squadron were control tower operator, telephone operator, cook, aircraft sheet metal worker, truck driver and hospital orderly, just to name a few. The squadron was inactivated in November 1945 after the war and was reconstituted 46 years later at Fairchild AFB as the 92nd Logistics Support Squadron on Oct. 29, 1991. Then on Oct. 1, 2002, the squadron was renamed to its current designation as the 92nd Maintenance Operations Squadron. Next year in the summer of 2013, the unit will again be deactivated in accordance with upcoming Air Force organizational changes until it is called upon again in the future. I'm confident that our flag will not stay folded indefinitely and that the Air Force hasn't seen the last of this 92nd unit!