369th Bombardment Squadron

369th Bombardment Squadron
306th Bombardment Wing B-47 Stratojet [lower-alpha 1]
Active	1942–1946; 1947–1963
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Bomber
Engagements	European Theater of Operations [1]
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award [1]
Insignia
369th Bombardment Squadron emblem [lower-alpha 2] [1]
World War II squadron fuselage code	WW [2]
World War II group tail marking	Triangle H [2]

The 369th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 306th Bombardment Wing stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

The squadron was first activated in 1942. After training in the United States, it became one of the first units to deploy to the European Theater of Operations to participate in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. earning two Distinguished Unit Citations. After V-E Day, the squadron remained in Europe and participated in the photographic mapping of Europe and Africa until it was inactivated in 1946.

The squadron was reactivated in 1947 and served as a medium bomber unit with Strategic Air Command (SAC) until inactivating in 1963, as SAC drew down its medium bomber force.

History

Initial organization and training

The squadron was first established in March 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho, one of the original four squadrons of the 306th Bombardment Group. ^{[3] [4]} In April, its personnel moved to Wendover Field, Utah, where it began training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. ^[1] On 1 August 1942, the squadron's ground echelon began its deployment, spending a week at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia before moving to Fort Dix, New Jersey at the Port of Embarkation. It sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 30 August, arriving in Scotland on 5 September 1942. The air echelon departed for Westover Field, Massachusetts, and began ferrying their B-17s to England via the North Atlantic ferrying route. ^{[4] [5]}

Combat in Europe

Squadron B-17F Flying Fortress

The squadron settled into its combat station, RAF Thurleigh, England, in early September. Although several bomber units arrived in England before the 369th, when these units left England to participate in Operation Torch it became, along with its companion squadrons of the 306th Group, the oldest bombardment squadrons of VIII Bomber Command. It few its first combat mission on 9 October 1942 against a steel factory near Lille, France, but with poor results. This was the first mission on which VIII Bomber Command assembled a strike force of over 100 bombers. ^{[5] [6] [lower-alpha 4]} The squadron operated primarily against strategic targets, including the locomotive factory at Lille, marshalling yards at Rouen, France, and Stuttgart, Germany. The squadron took part in the first strike into Germany by bombers of Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 when it struck U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven. It struck shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, the aircraft factory at Leipzig, Germany, and similar facilities. ^[4]

On 11 January 1944, the squadron participated in an attack on an aircraft plant in central Germany, near Brunswick. Extensive cloud cover had resulted in the recall of two of the three bombardment divisions involved in the mission and made the rendezvous of the fighter groups scheduled to provide cover in the target area difficult. In contrast, clear weather to the east of the target permitted the Germans to assemble one of the largest fighter formations since October 1943, with 207 enemy fighters making contact with the strike force. ^[7] For this mission, the squadron was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). The following month the squadron earned a second DUC for its performance during Big Week, an intensive bombing campaign against the German aircraft industry. Despite adverse weather on 22 February that led supporting elements to abandon the mission the squadron and group effectively bombed the aircraft assembly plant at Bernburg, Germany. ^[4]

The squadron also performed in a tactical role, assisting ground forces Operation Cobra, the St Lo breakthrough, Operation Market Garden, the attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine near Arnhem in the Netherlands, stopping German attacking forces in the Battle of the Bulge, and bombing enemy positions during Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in the spring of 1945. ^[4]

After V-E Day, the squadron became part of the occupation forces and participated in Project Casey Jones, the photographic mapping of portions of Europe and North Africa. ^[4] The 306th Group began to phase out of the project in July. ^[8] In February 1946, the squadron moved to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, where it absorbed elements of the inactivating 92d and 384th Bombardment Groups, returning to Germany in July. ^[5] The squadron was inactivated in December 1946. ^[1]

Strategic Air Command

I was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command Boeing B-29 Superfortress squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in 1948. It began upgrading to the new Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an advanced version of the B-29 in 1950. The B-50 gave the unit the capability to carry heavy loads of conventional weapons faster and farther as well as being designed for atomic bomb missions if necessary.^{[ citation needed ]}

It began receiving the first production models of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bomber in 1951 and despite initial difficulties, the Stratojet became the mainstay of the medium-bombing strength of SAC all throughout the 1950s. Began sending its B-47s to AMARC at Davis–Monthan in 1963 when the aircraft was deemed no longer capable of penetrating Soviet airspace. Inactivated in 1963 with phaseout of the B-47.^{[ citation needed ]}

Lineage

• Constituted 369th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942

Activated on 1 March 1942

Redesignated 369th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943 ^[9]

Inactivated on 25 December 1946

• Redesignated 369th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 11 June 1947

Activated on 1 July 1947

Redesignated 369th Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 11 August 1948

Inactivated on 1 April 1963 ^[10]

Assignments

• 306th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1942 – 25 December 1946
• 306th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1947
• 306th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 – 1 April 1963 ^[10]

Stations

• Gowen Field]], Idaho, 1 March 1942
• Wendover Field, Utah, c. 6 April-1 August 1942
• RAF Thurleigh (Sta 111), ^[11] England, c. 6 September 1942
• AAF Station Giebelstadt (Y-90), ^[12] Germany, 25 December 1945
• Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (Y-17), ^[13] France, 26 February-29 June 1946
• Andrews Field (later Andrews Air Force Base), Maryland, 1 July 1947
• MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, 1 August 1948 – 1 April 1963 ^[14]

Aircraft

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1948–1951
• Boeing B-50 Superfortress, 1950–1951
• Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1951–1963 ^[10]

References

• World War II portal

Notes

Explanatory notes

1. Aircraft is Boeing B-47B-40-BW, serial 51-2212. This plane was sent to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center on 16 September 1960.
2. Approved 10 August 1944. Description: On a turquoise blue disc, a caricatured black bug with green face, wings, and markings on stomach, wearing black helmet, black boxing glives and black shoes, in fighting stance on black irregular feature at ase of, and in front of, a white cloud formation.
3. Aircraft is Lockheed Aircraft built Boeing B-17F-20-VE, serial 42-5784, WW-R. This plane was shot down on a mission on 1 May 1943 with all on board lost. Missing Air Crew Report 15635.
4. With the departure of units to North Africa in Operation Torch, it would be six months before VIII Bomber Command could duplicate this feat. Freeman, p. 18.

Citations

1. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp.456-457
2. Watkins, pp. 56-57
3. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 454-457, 519
4. Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 179–180
5. Freeman, p. 248
6. Freeman, p. 18
7. Freeman, pp. 104-106
8. "Abstract, Project Casey Jones, Post Hostilities Aerial Mapping". Air Force History Index. 1988. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
9. SeeHaulman, Daniel L. (17 March 2017). "Factsheet 306 Flying Training Group (AETC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 21 November 2018. (date group redesignated)
10. Lineage through March 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp.456-457.
11. Station number in Anderson, p. 68.
12. Airfield designation in Johnson, p. 34.
13. Airfield designation in Johnson, p. 27.
14. Stations through March 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp.456-457, except as noted.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
• Johnson, 1st Lt. David C. (1988). U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO) D-Day to V-E Day (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN   0-912799-02-1. LCCN   61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN   0-405-12194-6. LCCN   70605402. OCLC   72556.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN   0-912799-53-6.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN   0-912799-12-9 . Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN   978-0-7643-1987-7.