73d Bombardment Squadron

73d Bombardment Squadron
	Emblem of the 73d Bombardment Squadron
Active	1941–1963
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Bombardment

Last updated March 05, 2019

See 73d Bombardment Squadron (World War II) for the United States Army Air Forces World War II squadron

The 73d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 4241st Strategic Wing, based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. It was inactivated on 15 April 1963.

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.

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The base is named for Navy Lt. Seymour A. Johnson, a test pilot from Goldsboro who died in an airplane crash near Norbeck, Maryland, on March 5, 1941.

North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th-most extensive and the 9th-most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh, which along with Durham and Chapel Hill is home to the largest research park in the United States. The most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York City.

History

Established in late 1941 as a pursuit squadron in the Hawaii Territory, initially equipped with obsolete P-26 Peashooters, later with some early model Curtiss P-40C Warhawks. Most aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Wheeler Field during the Pearl Harbor Attack; squadron was reassigned to Bellows Field for re-equipping, being re-formed by May 1942 and redesignated as a Fighter Squadron assigned to the new Seventh Air Force. Deployed to Midway Island after the Battle of Midway as a defensive squadron, providing air defense of the island. Reassigned back to Hawaii at the beginning of 1943, remained part of the Territory's air defense forces.

United States Air Forces Korea and USAFK redirect here.

The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare".

Received P-47D Thunderbolts in late 1943; deployed to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. During the Marianas Campaign, worked closely with Marine ground forces, pioneered close infantry support and employed the first use of napalm. On Saipan the squadron was attacked by Japanese ground forces in June 1944 on Aslito Airfield soon renamed Isley Field, Saipan, sustaining modest casualties. Pilots and ground personnel took a crash course in infantry tactics afterward. Received the new long range P-47Ns in early 1945, before moving next door to Okinawa on Ie Shima.

Saipan is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2017 estimates by the United States Census Bureau, Saipan's population was 52,263.

The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is an insular area and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago except the southernmost island of the chain, Guam, which is a separate U.S. territory. The CNMI and Guam are the westernmost point and territory of the United States.

Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical. The title is a portmanteau of the names of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: co-precipitated aluminium salts of naphthenic and palmitic acids. Napalm B is the more modern version of napalm and, although distinctly different in its chemical composition, is often referred to simply as "napalm".

With the P-47N the squadron pioneered Very Long Range (VLR) fighter operations across the Pacific with missions of historic length and duration: Kauai to Midway Atoll, Midway to Kaneohe and Makin to Jaluit and Maloelap. By 1945, with the long range P-47Ns, VLR sorties were the rule rather than the exception. In April 1945 the squadron began flying 1300 mile escorts and sweeps from Iwo Jima to Honshu. In May 1945 the 73d advanced to le Shima where they reached out to Japanese targets in Kyu-shu and China.

During the summer of 1945 was reassigned to the Twentieth Air Force and continued its fighter sweeps against Japanese airfields and other targets, in addition to flying long-range B-29 escort missions to Japanese cities, until the end of the war. Assigned to Eighth Air Force on Okinawa in August 1945, shortly after V-J Day. Returned to the United States and inactivated in Jan 1946.

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.

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.

Activated in the postwar air force reserve, but never manned or equipped. Inactivated due to budget shortages in 1949.

Reactivated in 1952 as a Strategic Air Command RB-36 Peacemaker strategic reconnaissance squadron at Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico; flew very long range intelligence gathering missions over the borders of the Soviet Union, North Korea and Communist China .until 1959 when the B-36 was retired. In 1959 was reassigned to SAC provisional 4241st Strategic Wing, being re-equipped with B-52G Stratofortress intercontinental heavy bombers. Was reassigned to Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina by SAC to disperse its heavy bomber force. Conducted worldwide strategic bombardment training missions and providing nuclear deterrent.

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM), responsible for Cold War command and control of two of the three components of the U.S. military's strategic nuclear strike forces, the so-called "nuclear triad," with SAC having control of land-based strategic bomber aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.

Was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its provisional Strategic Wings, redesignating them permanent Air Force Wings. Squadron was inactivated with aircraft/personnel/equipment being redesignated 51st Bombardment Squadron in an in-place, name-only transfer.

The 51st Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 68th Bombardment Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1982.

Lineage

Constituted 73d Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 4 October 1941

Activated on 5 October 1941

Redesignated 73d Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942

Inactivated on 12 January 1946

Activated in the reserve on 1 August 1947

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

Redesignated 73d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 4 June 1952

Activated on 16 June 1952

Redesignated 73d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 October 1955.

Discontinued, and inactivated on 15 April 1963; personnel/aircraft/equipment redesignated as 51st Bombardment Squadron

Assignments

18th Pursuit (later Fighter) Group, 5 October 1941
318th Fighter Group, 15 October 1942 – 12 January 1946
72d Reconnaissance Group, 1 August 1947 – 27 June 1949
72d Strategic Reconnaissance (later Bombardment) Wing, 16 June 1952
4241st Strategic Wing, 5 January 1959 – 15 April 1963

Stations

Wheeler Field, Hawaii Territory, 5 October 1941
Bellows Field, Hawaii Territory, 22 May 1942
Henderson Field, Midway Eastern Island, 17 June 1942
Kaneohe Field, Hawaii Territory, 26 January 1943
Mokuleia Field, Hawaii Territory, 5 May 1943
Bellows Field, Hawaii Territory, 8 November 1943
East Field Saipan, Mariana Islands, c. 23 June 1944

Ie Shima Airfield, Okinawa, 30 April 1945
Naha Airfield, Okinawa, November–December 1945
Fort Lewis, Washington, 11–12 January 1946
Hamilton Field (later AFB), California, 1 August 1947 – 27 June 1949
Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, 16 June 1952
Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, 5 January 1959 – 15 April 1963

Aircraft

Boeing P-26, 1941
P-40 Warhawk, 1941–1943
P-47 Thunderbolt, 1943–1945
P-38 Lightning, 1944–1945
RB-36 Peacekeeper, 1953–1958
B-52G Stratofortress, 1959–1963

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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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