703d Helicopter Squadron

The 703d Helicopter Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 908th Flying Training Wing at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, where it was activated in July 2024 to conduct training on the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter.

The first predecessor of the squadron was activated during World War II as the 703d Bombardment Squadron in 1943. It trained with Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers in the western United States before deploying to England. There it engaged in air combat for eighteen months in the European Theater of Operations, earning the Distinguished Unit Citation and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for its actions during the war.

Although inactivated at the end of the war, the squadron was activated in the reserves in 1948. It apparently was not fully manned or equipped before it was inactivated when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the Wing Base organizational plan.

The squadron's second predecessor, 703d Tactical Air Support Squadron, was activated as a forward air control (FAC) unit in Texas in 1967. It became a special operations unit for two years before returning to its FAC mission, this time equipped with helicopters. In 1985 USAF consolidated the two squadrons into a single unit. The consolidated squadron was inactivated in June 1988.