The 366th 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. Its last assignment was as part of the

305th Bombardment Wing The 305th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command. It generates, mobilizes and deploys C-17 Globemaster III and KC-10 Extender aircraft. T ...

, stationed at

Grissom Air Force Base Grissom Air Reserve Base is a United States Air Force base, located about north of Kokomo in Cass and Miami counties in Indiana. The facility was established as a U.S. Navy installation, Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, in 1942 and was an active ...

, Indiana. It was inactivated on 1 January 1970.

History

World War II

Established in June 1942 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, the

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

trained under the

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) 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 ...

; it deployed to the

European Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground For ...

in September 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 ...

in England. It began flying long-range strategic bombardment missions on 17 November 1942 and attacked such targets as

submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...

s, docks, harbors, shipyards, vehicle factories 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

Sint-Truiden Air Base Sint-Truiden / Brustem Airfield ( nl, Vliegveld Sint Truiden, ) is an airfield located in , southeast of Sint-Truiden (Limburg) and approximately east of Brussels. Formerly known as Sint-Truiden Air Base ( nl, Luchtmachtbasis Sint-Truiden, frenc ...

in Belgium in July 1945 where it conducted photo-mapping and intelligence-gathering flights called Project Casey Jones over Europe and North Africa. On 15 December 1945, it moved to

Lechfeld Airfield Lechfeld Air Base is a German Air Force (''Luftwaffe'') base located 1 km east of Lagerlechfeld in Bavaria, about 20 km south of Augsburg on the Bundestrasse 17. It was the home of Training Division A of the School of Management Assista ...

, Germany which it had bombed on 18 March 1944 and now used as an occupation base. The squadron was inactivated on December 1946 in Germany.

Strategic Air Command

The squadron was reactivated under

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 ...

(SAC) in 1951 with

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 ...

medium jet bombers, originally B-47As,then B-47Bs. It began flying operational strategic bombardment and refueling missions from

MacDill Air Force Base MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

, Florida. In 1955, SAC upgraded the squadron to the B-47E, the major production version of the Stratojet. The squadron, still with B-47s, moved to

Bunker Hill Air Force Base Grissom Air Reserve Base is a United States Air Force base, located about north of Kokomo, Indiana, Kokomo in Cass County, Indiana, Cass and Miami County, Indiana, Miami counties in Indiana. The facility was established as a U.S. Navy installat ...

, Indiana in May 1959. In September 1960, it upgraded to the

B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

supersonic medium bomber and was declared operationally ready in August 1962. It began phasing down B-58 operations in 1969, and was inactivated in January 1970.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 366th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 June 1942 : Activated on 1 March 1942 * Redesignated 366th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943 : Inactivated on 25 December 1946 * Redesignated 366th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 11 June 1947 : Activated on 1 July 1947 : Inactivated on 6 September 1948 * Redesignated 366th Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 20 December 1950 : Activated on 2 January 1951Lineage information through May 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp.452-453. : Inactivated on 1 January 1970

Assignments

* 305th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1942 – 25 December 1946 * 305th Bombardment Group, 1 Jul 1947 – 6 Sep 1948 * 305th Bombardment Group, 2 January 1951 (attached to

after 10 February 1951)Ravenstein, pp. 150-151 * 305th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 – 1 January 1970

Stations

Salt Lake City Army Air Base Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-minu ...

, Utah, 1 March 1942 *

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, 11 June 1942 *

Muroc Army Air Field Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is Ed ...

, California, 4 July 1942 *

Fort Dix Army Air Base A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, New Jersey, 29 August-4 September 1942 *

RAF Grafton Underwood Royal Air Force Grafton Underwood or more simply RAF Grafton Underwood is a former Royal Air Force station located northeast of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. Royal Air Force use The airfield at Grafton Underwood was opened in 1941 an ...

(AAF-106),Station number in Anderson, p.19. England, 13 September 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), England, 11 December 1942 * Sint-Truiden Airfield (A-92), Belgium, 25 July 1945 * AAF Station Lechfeld (R-71), Germany, 19 December 1945 – 25 December 1946 *

Andrews Field Andrews may refer to: Places Australia *Andrews, Queensland *Andrews, South Australia United States *Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places *Andrews, Indiana *Andrews, Nebraska *Andrews, North Carolina *Andrews, Oregon * Andrews, South ...

(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 1970

Aircraft

* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946 *

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 ...

, 1951-1953 * Boeing B-47A Stratojet, 1952-1953 * Boeing B-47B Stratojet, 1953–1955 * Boeing B-47E Stratojet, 1955–1960 *

Convair B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

, 1960–1970''See'' Ravenstein, pp. 150-151 (305th aircraft).

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Strategic Air Command Bombardment squadrons of the United States Air Force Military units and formations in Indiana Bombardment squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1970 1942 establishments in Utah 1970 disestablishments in Indiana