365th Bombardment Squadron

The 365th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was first activated in March 1942. After training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in the United States, the squadron deployed to the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The squadron was twice awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for its combat actions. Following V-E Day, it moved to the continent of Europe and engaged in photographic mapping until inactivating in December 1946.

The squadron was briefly active on paper from 1947 to 1949. It was activated again in 1951 as a strategic bomber unit, flying Boeing B-47 Stratojets. In 1949, it moved to Indiana, where it converted to the Convair B-58 Hustler. It was inactivated in 1970, when the Hustler was phased out of service.

History

World War II

The squadron was established in June 1942 as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment unit which trained under the Second Air Force. It deployed to the European Theater of Operations in September 1942, being assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England. The squadron began flying long-range strategic bombardment missions on 17 November 1942 and attacked such targets as submarine pens, docks, harbors, shipyards, motor works and marshalling yards in France, Germany and the Low Countries. It continued its 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 Sint-Truiden Airfield, Belgium in July 1945 where it conducted photographic mapping and intelligence gathering flights called Project Casey Jones over Europe and North Africa. On 15 December 1945 it moved to Lechfeld Airfield, Germany which it had bombed on 18 March 1944 and now used as an occupation base. The squadron was inactivated in December 1946 in Germany.

Strategic Air Command

The squadron, along with a number of other units, was activated at Andrews Field in 1947 as a paper unit. It was not manned or equipped before inactivating on 6 September 1948

Reactivated under Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1951 with Boeing B-47 Stratojet medium jet bombers, it began flying operational strategic bombardment and refueling missions from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. In 1955, SAC upgraded the squadron to the B-47E, the major production version of the Stratojet. In May 1959, the squadron, with B-47s, moved to Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana.

B-58 operations

The squadron began training crews on the Convair B-58 Hustler in 1961, replacing its Stratojets. The squadron also was equipped with training models of the Hustler.

At the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Only six B-58s in the entire SAC inventory were on alert. Even these aircraft were "second cycle" (follow on) sorties. Training was suspended, and the squadron, along with SAC's other B-58 squadrons, began placing its bombers on alert. By the first week of November, 84 B-58s were standing nuclear alert, and as SAC redeployed its Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, 20 of these were "first cycle" sorties.The availability of KC-135s to refuel the B-58s was the main factor in relegating them to the second cycle of the war plan. KC-135s were primarily dedicated to refueling B-52s. ''See'' Kipp ''et al.'' p. 30 and following for SAC bomber actions during the Cuban Crisis. Within a short time, this grew to 41 bombers. By 20 November, SAC resumed its normal alert posture, and half the squadron's aircraft were kept on alert.

In December 1965, Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense announced a phaseout program that would further reduce SAC’s bomber force. This program called for the mid-1971 retirement of all B-58s and some Boeing B-52 Stratofortress models. With the removal of the B-58 from SAC's bomber force, the squadron was inactivated at the end of January 1970.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 365th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942
: Activated on 1 March 1942
: Redesignated 365th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 20 August 1943
: Inactivated on 25 December 1946
* Redesignated 365th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 11 June 1947
: Activated on 1 July 1947
: Inactivated on 6 September 1948
* Redesignated 365th Bombardment Squadron Medium on 20 December 1950
: Activated on 2 January 1951Lineage and Aircraft information through May 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 451-452.
: Inactivated on 1 January 1970This squadron is not related to the Bombardment Squadron, Provisional, 365, that was designated and activated on 1 July 1972 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam and assigned to the Strategic Wing, Provisional, 72. It moved U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand on 1 January 1973, where it was attached to the 307th Strategic Wing. The squadron served as headquarters for Boeing B-52D Stratofortress crews and aircraft deployed to Southeast Asia until it was inactivated on 30 June 1975.

Assignments

* 305th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1942
* XII Tactical Air Command, 1 November 1946 – 25 December 1946
* 305th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1947 – 6 September 1948
* 305th Bombardment Group, 2 January 1951 (attached to 305th Bombardment Wing after 10 February 1951)Ravenstein, pp. 150-151
* 305th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 – 1 January 1970

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
* RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF-106), England, 11 September 1942
* RAF Chelveston (AAF-105), England, 11 December 1942

* Sint-Truiden (Saint-Trond) Airfield (A-92), Belgium, 25 July 1945
* AAF Station Lechfeld (R-71), Germany, c. 19 December 1945 – 25 De3cember 1946 (operated primarily from Tripoli, Libya January – October 1946 and Port Lyautey Morocco thereafter)
* Andrews Field (later Andrews Air Force Base), Maryland, 1 July 1947 – 6 September 1948
* MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, 2 January 1951
* Bunker Hill Air Force Base (later Grissom Air Force Base), Indiana, 1 June 1959 – 1 January 1970Mueller, p. 214

Aircraft

* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946
* Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1951-1953
* Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1952–1960
* Convair B-58 Hustler, 1960–1970

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes

; Citations

Bibliography

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{{Strategic Air Command

Bombardment squadrons of the United States Air Force
Bombardment squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces
Military units and formations established in 1942