The 352d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
unit. It was last assigned to the
301st Bombardment Wing
The 301st Air Refueling Wing is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force being last assigned to the Strategic Air Command at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, where it was inactivated on 1 June 1992.
History
: ''See the 301st Operations ...
, stationed at
Lockbourne Air Force Base
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation located near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker. It is the home of ...
, Ohio, where it was inactivated on 8 June 1964.
During World War II, the 352d Bombardment Squadron was a B-17 Flying Fortress squadron, assigned to the 301st Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations. The first in 1943, the second in 1944.
The squadron later earned the
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the Awards and decorations of the United States Department of the Air Force, unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the A ...
for the period covering 1 January 1961 to 31 December 1962.
History
World War II
Established as a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
heavy bombardment squadron in early 1942; trained under Second Air Force. Flew
antisubmarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
patrols off the
California coast
Coastal California, also known as the California Coastline and the Golden Coast, refers to the coastal regions of the U.S. state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by cultural, economic ...
from late May to early June 1942, then over the Mid-Atlantic coast during June–July 1942.
![B-17Gs-352d BS - July 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/B-17Gs-352d_BS_-_July_1944.jpg)
Deployed to European Theater of Operations in August 1942, being assigned to
VIII Bomber Command
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
, one of the first B-17 heavy bomb squadrons assigned to England. Engaged in strategic bombardment operations over Occupied Europe attacking enemy military and industrial targets. Reassigned to Mediterranean Theater of Operations as part of
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
invasion of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
. Assigned to
Twelfth Air Force
The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.
The command is the air component to U ...
and operated from desert airfields in Algeria and Tunisia during North African and Tunisian campaign. Assigned to Northwest African Strategic Air Force during Invasion of Sicily and later Italy in 1943. Allocated to
Fifteenth Air Force
The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...
for strategic bombing of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe. Attacked enemy targets primarily in the Balkans; Southern France; Southern Germany and Austria from southern Italy; engaged in shuttle bombing missions to airfields in the Soviet Union during the summer of 1944.
Personnel largely demobilized after German capitulation in May 1945; squadron reassigned to the United States and was programmed for conversion to
B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
operations and deployment to Pacific Theater, plans canceled after Japanese capitulation in August 1945. Aircraft sent to storage and unit inactivated largely as a paper unit in October 1945.
Strategic Air Command
![301st Bombardment Wing -- Boeing B-29A-40-BN Superfortress 44-61640](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/301st_Bombardment_Wing_--_Boeing_B-29A-40-BN_Superfortress_44-61640.jpg)
Reactivated in 1946 as a
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
strategic bombardment squadron. Deployed to
Fürstenfeldbruck AB
Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, located 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it has a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s, Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base.
Th ...
, Germany, July–August 1948; to
RAF Scampton
Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England.
RAF Scampton stands on the site of a First ...
, England, October 1948-January 1949; and to RAF Stations
Lakenheath
Lakenheath is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, ...
and
Sculthorpe, May–November 1950 for "show of force" missions in Europe as a result of the
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...
by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and rising
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
tensions in Europe. Squadron deployed to
Far East Air Forces
Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...
in February 1951, flying combat missions over North Korea; attacking strategic industrial and military targets during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
Returned to the United States in June 1952 and transitioned to the
Boeing B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
with the removal of the B-29 as a combat aircraft from the inventory. Moved to
Lockbourne AFB
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation located near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker. It is the home of t ...
in 1958. Added Electronic Countermeasures as an ancillary mission in 1961.
Unit was inactivated and closed in 1964 with the fleet-wide retirement of the B-47 aircraft.
Lineage
* Constituted as the 352d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942
: Activated on 3 February 1942
* Redesignated 352d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 20 August 1943
: Re-designated 352d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 5 August 1945
: Inactivated on 15 October 1945
* Activated on 4 August 1946
: Redesignated 352d Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 28 May 1948
[Lineage, including assignments, aircraft and stations, through 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 436-437]
: Inactivated on 8 June 1964
Assignments
*
301st Bombardment Group
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
, 3 February 1942 – 15 October 1945
* 301st Bombardment Group, 4 August 1946 – 16 June 1952 (attached to
301st Bombardment Wing
The 301st Air Refueling Wing is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force being last assigned to the Strategic Air Command at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, where it was inactivated on 1 June 1992.
History
: ''See the 301st Operations ...
10 February–20 September 1951, after 20 December 1951)
* 301st Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 - 8 June 1964
[Ravenstein, pp. 144-146]
Stations
* Geiger Field
Spokane International Airport is a commercial airport located approximately west-southwest of downtown Spokane, Washington, United States. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which consists of 30 counties and includes areas ...
, Washington, 3 February 1942
* Alamogordo Army Air Field
Alamogordo () is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was ...
, New Mexico, 28 May 1942 (operated from Muroc Army Air Base
Muroc (also, Rogers, Rod, Yucca, and Rodriguez) is a former settlement in Kern County, California in the Mojave Desert.
It was located on Rogers Dry Lake east of Edwards, at an elevation of 2283 feet (696 m).
Muroc still appeared on maps as o ...
and Lindbergh Field
San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federa ...
, California, until 14 June 1942)
* Richmond Army Air Base
Richmond International Airport is a joint civil-military airport in Sandston, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community (in Henrico County, Virginia, Henrico County). The airport is about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of downtown ...
, Virginia, 21 June–19 July 1942
* RAF Chelveston
Royal Air Force Chelveston, or more simply RAF Chelveston, is a former Royal Air Force station located on the south side of the B645 (former A45 road), east of Wellingborough, near the village of Chelveston in Northamptonshire, England. Durin ...
(AAF-105),[Station number in Anderson.] England, 19 August 1942
* Tafaraoui Airfield
Oran Tafaraoui Airport is a joint civil/military airport in Oran Province, Algeria .
History
During World War II, it was a primary mission objective of the United States Army 34th Infantry Division during the Allied Operation Torch landings on 8 ...
, Algeria, 24 November 1942
* Biskra Airfield
Mohamed Khider Airport or Biskra Ouakda Airport is an airport in Algeria, located approximately 12 km north-northeast of Oumache; about 200 km south-southwest of Constantine, Algeria, Constantine.
History
During World War II, the air ...
, Algeria, 21 December 1942
* Ain M'lila Airfield
Ain M'lila Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Algeria, located approximately 17 km north-northwest of Aïn Kercha in Oum el Bouaghi province, about 50 km south-southeast of Constantine, Algeria, Constantine. It wa ...
, Algeria, 16 January 1943
* Saint-Donat Airfield
Saint-Donat Airfield was a World War II military airfield in Algeria, located near Tadjenanet in Mila Province; approximately 63 km southwest of Constantine, Algeria, Constantine. It was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air ...
, Algeria, 8 March 1943
* Oudna Airfield
Oudna Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Tunisia, which was located approximately southwest of La Mohammedia, south-southwest of Tunis It was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force during the North Af ...
, Tunisia, 6 August 1943
* Cerignola Airfield
The Foggia Airfield Complex was a series of World War II military airfields located within a radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Italy. The airfields were used by the United States Army Air Force Fifteenth Air Force as part of the str ...
, Italy, 10 December 1943
* Lucera Airfield
Lucera Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Italy. It was located 7.9 kilometers east of Lucera, in the Province of Foggia. The airfield was abandoned and dismantled after the end of the war in 1945.
History
Lucera Airfield a ...
, Italy, 2 February 1944-July 1945
* Sioux Falls Army Air Field
Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...
, South Dakota, 28 July 1945
* Mountain Home Army Air Field
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...
, Idaho, 17 August 1945
* Pyote Army Air Base
Pyote Air Force Base was a World War II United States Army Air Forces training airbase. It was on a mile from the town of Pyote, Texas, on Interstate 20, 20 miles west of Monahans and just south of U.S. Highway 80, east of El Paso.
It was ...
, Texas, 23 August–15 October 1945.
* Clovis Army Air Field
Cannon Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base, located approximately southwest of Clovis, New Mexico. It is under the jurisdiction of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The host unit at Cannon is the 27th Special Operatio ...
, New Mexico, 4 August 1946
* Smoky Hill Army Airfield
Salina Regional Airport , formerly Salina Municipal Airport, is three miles southwest of Salina, Kansas, United States. The airport is owned by the Salina Airport Authority. It is used for general aviation, with service by one passenger airline, ...
(later Smoky Hill Air Force Base), Kansas, 16 July 1947
* Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB ...
, Louisiana, 7 November 1949 – 16 June 1952 (deployed to Kadena Air Base
(IATA: DNA, ICAO: RODN) is a highly strategic United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the "Keystone of the Pacific" because of its highl ...
, Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
, 10 February 1951 – 16 June 1952)
* Lockbourne Air Force Base
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation located near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker. It is the home of ...
, Ohio, 15 April 1958 - 8 June 1964[
]
Aircraft
* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1945
* Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1946–1952
* Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1958-1961
* Boeing EB-47, 1961-1964[
]
See also
*
References
; Notes
; Citations
Bibliography
*
*
* {{cite book, last=Ravenstein, first=Charles A., title=Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977, url=https://archive.org/details/airforcecombatwi0000rave, access-date=December 17, 2016, year=1984, publisher=Office of Air Force History, location=Washington, DC, isbn=0-912799-12-9, url-access=registration
Military units and formations established in 1942
Bombardment squadrons of the United States Air Force
Bombardment squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces