62d Bombardment Squadron

62d Bombardment Squadron
	Emblem of the 62d Bombardment Squadron
Active	1941-1944; 1944-1945; 1962-1 Sep 1991
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Bombardment

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 62d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 2d Operations Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana on 18 January 1993.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

2d Operations Group flying component of the United States Air Force 2d Bomb Wing

The 2d Operations Group is the flying component of the United States Air Force 2d Bomb Wing, assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command Eighth Air Force. The group is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.

Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in northwest Louisiana, USA, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale Air Force Base occupies more than 22,000 acres east of Bossier City and along the southern edge of Interstate Highway 20. More than 15,000 active-duty and Air Force Reserve members serve at Barksdale.

History

Established in 1941 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron, it was assigned to the GHQAF Northwest Air District in Washington State in July 1941. It flew antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific Northwest coastline after the Pearl Harbor attack. Its aircraft and crews were sent to Australia in early 1942, they were assigned to Fifth Air Force units being formed there after the withdrawal of B-17s from Clark Field in January 1942 after operations from Clark became untenable during the 1942 Battle of the Philippines.

A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.

The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service of the United States of America between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical rift developed between more traditional ground-based army personnel and those who felt that aircraft were being underutilized and that air operations were being stifled for political reasons unrelated to their effectiveness. The USAAC was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926, and was part of the larger United States Army. The Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941, giving it greater autonomy from the Army's middle-level command structure. During World War II, although not an administrative echelon, the Air Corps (AC) remained as one of the combat arms of the Army until 1947, when it was legally abolished by legislation establishing the Department of the Air Force.

The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and (loosely) by the Cascade Mountain Range on the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) and the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Broader conceptions reach north into Southeast Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east of the Continental Divide to include Western Montana and parts of Wyoming. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to partially overlapping commonalities of the region's history, culture, geography, society, and other factors.

The squadron reformed at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona in February 1942 as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber Operational Training Unit under the Second Air Force. It trained new units and replacement crews until heavy bomber training ended in April 1944.

Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western and the Mountain states. It is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico; its other neighboring states are Nevada and California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest.

The Second Air Force is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended the Northwestern United States and Upper Great Plains regions and during the Cold War, was Strategic Air Command unit with strategic bombers and missiles. Elements of Second Air Force engaged in combat operations during the Korean War; Vietnam War, as well as Operation Desert Storm.

B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan

Re-designated on 1 April 1944 as a B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment squadron. When training was completed moved to North Field Guam in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area in January 1945 and assigned to XXI Bomber Command, Twentieth Air Force. Its mission was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands and the destruction of its war-making capability.

The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II.

The Twentieth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.

Flew "shakedown" missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island, Truk, and other points in the Carolines and Marianas. The squadron began combat missions over Japan on 25 February 1945 with a firebombing mission over Northeast Tokyo. The squadron continued to participate in wide area firebombing attack, but the first ten-day blitz resulting in the Army Air Forces running out of incendiary bombs. Until then the squadron flew conventional strategic bombing missions using high explosive bombs.

Weno is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It is the largest town in the FSM.

Chuuk Lagoon, also previously known as Truk Lagoon, is a sheltered body of water in the central Pacific. About 1,800 kilometres north-east of New Guinea, it is located mid-ocean at 7 degrees North latitude, and is part of Chuuk State within the Federated States of Micronesia. The atoll consists of a protective reef, 225 kilometres (140 mi) around, enclosing a natural harbour 79 by 50 kilometres, with an area of 2,130 square kilometres. It has a land area of 93.07 square kilometres, with a population of 36,158 people and a maximal height of 443 m. Weno city on Moen Island functions as the atoll's capital and also as the state capital and is the largest city in the FSM with its 13,700 people.

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end. Historically, this area was also called Nuevas Filipinas or New Philippines as they were part of the Spanish East Indies and governed from Manila in the Philippines.

The squadron continued attacking urban areas with incendiary raids until the end of the war in August 1945, attacking major Japanese cities, causing massive destruction of urbanized areas. Also conducted raids against strategic objectives, bombing aircraft factories, chemical plants, oil refineries, and other targets in Japan. The squadron flew its last combat missions on 14 August when hostilities ended. Afterwards, its B 29s carried relief supplies to Allied prisoner of war camps in Japan and Manchuria.

Manchuria geographic region in Northeast Asia

Manchuria is a name first used in the 17th century by Japanese people to refer to a large geographic region in Northeast Asia. Depending on the context, Manchuria can either refer to a region that falls entirely within the People's Republic of China or a larger region divided between China and Russia. "Manchuria" is widely used outside China to denote the geographical and historical region. This region is the traditional homeland of the Xianbei, Khitan, and Jurchen peoples, who built several states within the area historically.

Squadron remained in Western Pacific, although largely demobilized in the fall of 1945. Some aircraft scrapped on Tinian; others flown to storage depots in the United States. Inactivated as part of Army Service forces at the end of 1945.

Strategic Air Command

It was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command B-52G Stratofortress intercontinental strategic bombardment squadron in 1963, receiving the mission, personnel, aircraft, and equipment of the 301st Bombardment Squadron, which was inactivated. This was part of a Strategic Air Command (SAC) program to provide units with a combat lineage. The squadron performed operational testing of new equipment at Eglin AFB, between 1963 and 1965; it was reassigned to Barksdale AFB in 1965 and stood nuclear alert duties. It deployed to the western Pacific and engaged in combat operations over Indochina as part of Operation Arc Light (1966–1972). The unit returned to training status and stood nuclear alert after the end of the Vietnam War. Aircraft and personnel of the squadron deployed to 806th Provisional Bombardment Wing at RAF Fairford, England, Jan-Mar 1991 (Operation Desert Storm). It was inactivated in 1993 as part of the USAF drawdown after the end of the Cold War and retirement of the B-52G.

Operations and decorations

Combat Operations: Conducted bombardment missions against Japan, c. 6 Apr-14 Aug 1945.
Campaigns: World War II: Western Pacific; Air Offensive, Japan.
Decorations: Distinguished Unit Citations: Japan, 10 May 1945; Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, 23–29 May 1945.

Lineage

Constituted as the 62d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 20 November 1940

Activated on 15 January 1941

Inactivated on 1 April 1944

Redesignated the 62d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy and activated on 1 April 1944

Inactivated on 27 December 1945

Redesignated the 62d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy and activated, on 15 November 1962 (not organized)

Organized on 1 February 1963

Inactivated on 18 January 1993

Assignments

39th Bombardment Group, 15 January 1941 – 1 April 1944
39th Bombardment Group, 1 April 1944 – 27 December 1945
Strategic Air Command, 15 November 1962 (not organized)
39th Bombardment Wing, 1 February 1963
2d Bombardment Wing, 25 June 1965
2d Operations Group, 1 September 1991 – 18 January 1993

Stations

Fort Douglas, Utah, 15 January 1941
Geiger Field, Washington, 2 July 1941
Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, 5 February 1942 – 1 April 1944
Smoky Hill Army Airfield, Kansas, 1 April 1944
Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 27 May 1944
Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 17 July 1944 – 8 January 1945

North Field, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, 18 February 1945 – 16 November 1945
Camp Anza, California, 14 December 1945 – 27 December 1945
Eglin AFB, Florida, 1 Feb 1963
Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 25 June 1965 – 18 January 1993

Aircraft

B-17 Flying Fortress, 1941–1942
B-24 Liberator, 1942–1944
B-29 Superfortress, 1944–1945
B-52 Stratofortress, 1963–1993

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This is a list of United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator combat units during World War II including variants and other historical information. Heavy bomber training organizations primarily under II Bomber Command in the United States and non-combat units are not included.

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

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.

External links

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