422d Bombardment Squadron

422d Bombardment Squadron
250px Emblem of the 422d Bombardment Squadron
Active	1942-1946; 1952-1954; 1958-1961
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Bombardment

File:422d Bombardment Squadron - Emblem.png

Squadron World War II emblem

The 422d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was as part of the 305th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana.

It was inactivated on 15 February 1961.

History

Established in June 1942 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment squadron; it trained under the Second Air Force. The squadron deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in September 1942, being assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England. It began flying long-range strategic bombardment missions on 17 November 1942 and attacked such targets as submarine pens, docks, harbours, shipyards, motor works and marshalling yards in France, Germany and the Low Countries. It continued attacks on enemy cities, manufacturing centers, transportation links and other targets until the German capitulation in May 1945.

After combat missions ended, the squadron moved to St Trond Air Base in Belgium in July 1945, where it conducted photo-mapping and intelligence-gathering flights over Europe and North Africa which came under the name Project 'Casey Jones'. On 15 December 1945 it moved to Lechfeld airfield, Germany which it had bombed on 18 March 1944 and which it now used as an occupation base.

The 364th Bomb Squadron was inactivated in December 1946 in Germany.

During the Korean War, Tactical Air Command (TAC) trained aircrews at Langley AFB, Virginia. The three squadrons of the 4400th Combat Crew Training Group performing this mission were Air National Guard units that had been called up for the war. At the start of 1953, these squadrons were released to state control and the 423d Bombardment Squadron took over the mission, personnel, and equipment of the 115th Bombardment Squadron, which returned to the California guard. It was then equipped with obsolete B-45 Tornado light bombers. The squadron was inactivated in 1954.

The squadron was reactivated in 1959 by Strategic Air Command (SAC) at MacDill AFB, Florida as a result of the phasing out of the B-47 Stratojet. Additional squadrons were activated as part of the consolation of Stratojet wings and the replacement of the B-47 by B-52 Stratofortresses. However, the squadron was never equipped or manned, but it was assigned administratively to several bases before being inactivated in 1961.

Lineage

• Constituted the 33d Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942.

Activated on 1 Mar 1942

Redesignated the 422d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 Apr 1942

Inactivated on 25 Dec 1946

• Redesignated the 422d Bombardment Squadron (Light) on 15 Nov 1952

Activated on 1 Jan 1953

Inactivated on 23 Mar 1954

• Redesignated the 422d Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 6 Oct 1958

Activated on 1 Jan 1959

Discontinued, and inactivated, on 15 Feb 1961

Assignments

• 305th Bombardment Group, 1 Mar 1942 – 25 Dec 1946
• 4430th Air Base Wing, 1 Jan 1953
• Tactical Air Command

Attached to: 405th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1 May 1953

• Third Air Force

Attached to: 47th Bombardment Wing, 20 Dec 1953

• 47th Bombardment Group, 8 Feb-23 Mar 1954
• 305th Bombardment Wing, 1 Jan 1959
• 3958th Operational Evaluation and Training Group, 1 Oct 1959
• 305th Bombardment Wing, 8 Mar 1960 – 15 Feb 1961 (Not manned or equipped)

Stations

• Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 1 March 1942
• Geiger Field, Washington, 11 June 1942
• Muroc Army Air Field, California, 4 July 1942
• Fort Dix Army Air Base, New Jersey, 29 August-4 September 1942
• RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF-106), England, 13 September 1942
• RAF Chelveston (AAF-105), England, 11 December 1942
• Sint-Truiden Airfield (ALG A-92), Belgium, 25 July 1945
• AAF Station Lechfeld (ALG R-71), Germany, 19 December 1945 – 25 December 1946

• Langley AFB, Virginia, 1 Jan-11 Dec 1953
• RAF Sculthorpe, England, 20 Dec 1953 – 23 Mar 1954
• MacDill AFB, Florida, 1 Jan 1959
• Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, 1 Jun 1959
• Carswell AFB, Texas, 1 Oct 1959
• Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, 15 Mar 1960 – 15 Feb 1961.

Aircraft

• B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1946
• B-26 Invader, 1953
• B-45 Tornado, 1953-1954

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.