The 867th Attack Squadron is an active

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 reactivated at

Creech Air Force Base Creech Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) command and control facility in Clark County, Nevada used "to engage in daily Overseas Contingency Operations …of remotely piloted aircraft systems which fly missions across the globe." ...

, Nevada, on 10 September 2012 as a remotely piloted aircraft 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, ...

was first active during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as the 92d Aero Squadron. It deployed to England in October 1917 and conducted training with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, but saw no combat. It returned to the United States at the end of 1918 and was demobilized. Activated as the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron several months before the American entry into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the squadron performed in the antisubmarine campaign, while changing its designation every few months. When the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

assumed full responsibility for the antisubmarine campaign in 1943, it became the 867th Bombardment Squadron and provided the

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

for a new

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

group. The squadron moved to the Pacific and entered combat against Japan, serving to the end of the war.

History

World War I

The squadron was first established in the summer of 1917 as the 92d Aero Squadron (Service), a

Air Service

Kelly Field Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. In ...

, Texas. The squadron trained with the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

(later the

) in England, but never served in combat on the Western Front. The squadron returned to the United States in December 1918 and was demobilized.

World War II

Organization and antisubmarine campaign

The 17th Reconnaissance Squadron was activated in January 1941 at Army Air Base, Savannah as a

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

squadron equipped with

Douglas A-20 Havoc The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, Intruder (air combat), night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement f ...

s (along with a few DB-7s, an export version of the A-20).The United States impounded 356 DB-7s ordered for France or Great Britain Its initial mission was to support Army units at

Fort Stewart Fort Stewart is a United States Army post in the U.S. state of Georgia. It lies primarily in Liberty and Bryan counties, but also extends into smaller portions of Evans, Long and Tattnall counties. The population was 11,205 at the 2000 census. Th ...

in maneuvers. In 17 June moved with the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Army Air Base, Manchester An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, New Hampshire.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 103 In August 1942, the squadron was redesignated as the 92d Bombardment Squadron and assigned to the 45th Group when the Air Corps converted its reconnaissance squadrons attached to light bombardment

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

to bombardment squadrons. The squadron flew convoy patrols over the New England coast to the

Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

during the summer of 1941, protecting

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

shipments of supplies and equipment to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Following the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

the squadron began flying

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 Atlantic coast. By the end of 1941, it began flying the

Douglas B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...

, which was equipped with radar for the antisubmarine mission and, as a medium bomber unit, became the 92d Reconnaissance Squadron until April 1942, when the

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

converted its remaining reconnaissance squadrons, and it became the 433d Bombardment Squadron. The same month it moved to

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territory ...

, New York, as the 45th Group dispersed its squadrons for greater coverage. Although squadron headquarters was at Mitchel, detachments operated from Boca Chica Field and Miami Army Air Field, Florida and New Orleans Army Air Base, Louisiana, beginning in May 1942. The emphasis on operations in the Gulf of Mexico was demonstrated when the squadron moved to Miami Army Air Field in June. In October 1942, the

organized its antisubmarine forces into the single

Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, which ...

, which established the

26th Antisubmarine Wing 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

the following month to control its forces operating over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The command's bombardment group headquarters, including the 45th, were inactivated and the squadron, now designated the 10th Antisubmarine Squadron, was assigned directly to the 26th Wing. In July 1943, the AAF and Navy reached an agreement to transfer the coastal antisubmarine mission to the Navy. This mission transfer also included an exchange of AAF long-range bombers equipped for antisubmarine warfare for Navy Consolidated B-24 Liberators without such equipment.Ferguson, pp. 82-83

Combat in the Pacific

The squadron moved to

Gowen Field Boise Airport (Boise Air Terminal or Gowen Field) is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States, south of downtown Boise in Ada County, Idaho. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation and is overseen ...

, Idaho where it provided the

for the

494th Bombardment Group 494th may refer to: *494th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *494th Bombardment Wing, inactive United States Air Force unit *494th Fighter Squadron (494 FS), part of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England See al ...

, a newly forming

heavy bomber unit as the 867th Bombardment Squadron.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 363-364

Aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions ...

s filled out the squadron in March. The air echelon began to receive new B-24Js in May and began departing for Hawaii on 28 May. The ground echelon began its move to Hawaii on 1 June 1944. 865th Bombardment Squadron - B-24 Liberator

865th Bombardment Squadron - B-24 Liberator

The squadron remained at

Barking Sands Army Air Field The Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands is a U.S. naval facility and airport located five nautical miles (9 km) northwest of the central business district of Kekaha, in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. PMRF is the world's l ...

for additional training and modifications to its planes to meet theater standards until late September 1944, when it deployed to

Angaur Airstrip Angaur Airstrip (Japanese: アンガウル飛行場, Hepburn: Angauru hikōjō, ) is a small airstrip on Angaur, one of the islands of Palau. It also served as an airfield during World War II. History World War II The day the island was declare ...

in the

Palau Islands Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

. The squadron ground echelon was initially involved with the construction of the base on Angaur. Although some unit aircrews flew combat missions with the 30th Bombardment Group from

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

, the air echelon only began to arrive on Angaur on 24 October 1944, after the

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...

and Army engineers had prepared the airstrip for

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...

operations. The squadron finally conducted its first mission on 3 November, when it attacked Japanese

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

s on

Yap Yap ( yap, Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micro ...

and

Koror Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island (also ''Oreor Island''). It is Palau’s most populous state. History In the oral tradition ...

. It conducted attacks on Japanese military that had been bypassed as American forces had advanced in the Central Pacific. It also attacked the Philippines, hitting gun emplacements, bivouacs, and storage depots on

Corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...

and

Caballo Island Caballo Island (which means "Horse Island" in Spanish) is a bluff, rocky island located at the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines. It is about long with the highest elevation at 381 feet high. Caballo, along with the larger Corregidor ( ...

s at the entrance to

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

. It also attacked radio communications installations and power plants at Japanese bases in the Philippines; and attacked airfields, including

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

on Luzon. Early in 1945, the 867th struck ammunition and supply dumps in the

Davao Gulf Davao Gulf is a gulf situated in the southeastern portion of Mindanao in the Philippines. It has an area of or about 520,000 hectares. Davao Gulf cuts into the island of Mindanao from the Philippine Sea. It is surrounded by all five provinces in ...

and

Illana Bay Illana Bay, also known as the Iranun Bay, is a large bay of the Moro Gulf, off the southwestern coast of Mindanao island in the Philippines. Illana Bay and Moro Gulf form part of the Celebes Sea. See also *Sibuguey Bay Sibuguey Bay is a larg ...

areas of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

and airfields on the island. The squadron moved to

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 ...

in June 1945. From its base at

Yontan Airfield Yontan Airfield (also known as Yomitan Auxiliary Airfield) is a former military airfield located near Yomitan Village on the west coast of Okinawa. It was closed in July 1996 and turned over to the Japanese government in December 2006. Today it i ...

it engaged primarily in attacks against enemy airfields on

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

and around the Inland Sea of Japan until

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

. It also struck airfields in China and Korea. The unit also participated in incendiary raids and dropped propaganda leaflets over urban areas of Kyūshū. After the war's end, the unit transporting personnel and supplies from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. In December, the squadron returned to the United States, where it was inactivated at the

Fort Lawton Fort Lawton was a United States Army post located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington overlooking Puget Sound. In 1973 a large majority of the property, 534 acres of Fort Lawton, was given to the city of Seattle and dedicated as ...

Port of Embarkation on 7 January 1946.

Remotely piloted aircraft operations

The squadron was redesignated 867th Reconnaissance Squadron and on 10 September 2012, the squadron was activated. In May 2016 it was redesignated as the 867th Attack Squadron at

, Nevada and assigned to the 732d Operations Group of the

432d Wing The 432nd Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command at Creech Air Force Base near Indian Springs, Nevada. It flies General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-170 Sentinel Unmanned aerial vehicles. The group operates unmanne ...

Lineage

92d Aero Squadron * Organized as 92d Aero Squadron on 21 August 1917 : Demobilized on 21 December 1918 * Reconstituted and consolidated with the 92d Reconnaissance Squadron in 1942 867th Reconnaissance Squadron * Constituted as the 17th Reconnaissance Squadron (Light) on 20 November 1940 * Activated on 15 January 1941 : Redesignated 92d Bombardment Squadron (Light) on 14 August 1941 : Redesignated 92d Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium) on 30 December 1941 * Consolidated with the 92d Aero Squadron in 1942 : Redesignated 433d Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 22 April 1942 : Redesignated 10th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) on 29 November 1942 : Redesignated 867th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 21 October 1943 : Inactivated on 4 January 1946 * Redesignated 867th Reconnaissance Squadron on 9 August 2012 : Activated on 4 June 2012 : Redesignated 867th Attack Squadron on 15 May 2016

Assignments

* Unknown (probably Post Headquarters, Kelly Field), 21 August–October 1917 * Attached to RAF for training, October 1917 – November 1918 * Unknown, November–21 December 1918 * 45th Bombardment Group, attached 15 January 1941, assigned 14 August 1941 * 26th Antisubmarine Wing, 22 November 1942 * 494th Bombardment Group, 1 December 1943 – 4 January 1946 * 732d Operations Group, 4 June 2012 – present

Stations

, Texas, 21 August – October 1917 * England, 29 October 1917 – 22 November 1918 * Mitchel Field, New York, c. 4 December 1918 – 21 December 1918 * Army Air Base, Savannah, Georgia, 15 January 1941 * Army Air Base, Manchester (later Grenier Field), New Hampshire, 20 June 1941 *

Dow Field Bangor Air National Guard Base is a United States Air National Guard base. Created in 1927 as the commercial Godfrey Field, the airfield was taken over by the U.S. Army just before World War II and renamed Godfrey Army Airfield and later Dow Arm ...

, Maine, 3 February 1942 * Mitchel Field, New York, 7 April 1942 : Detachments operated from Boca Chica Field and Miami Army Air Field, Florida and from New Orleans Army Air Base, Louisiana, during period May–September 1942 * Miami Army Air Field, Florida, 17 June 1942 * Brookley Field, Alabama, 25 July 1942 *

Galveston Army Air Field Scholes International Airport at Galveston is three miles southwest of Galveston, in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''reliever airport''. The airpor ...

, Texas, 10 September 1942 *

, Idaho, 21 October 1943 *

Wendover Field Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

, Utah, 1 December 1943 – 15 April 1944 * Mountain Home Army Air Field, Idaho, 14 April 1944 – 15 June 1944 *

, Hawaii Territory, 15 June 1944 – 30 September 1944 * Angaur Airstrip,

, 30 September 1944 – 24 June 1945 * Yontan Airfield,

, Ryukyu Islands, 24 June 1945 – 13 December 1945 * Fort Lawton, Washington, 2 January 1946 – 4 January 1946 * Creech Air Force Base, 10 September 2012 – present

Aircraft

World War I *

Airco DH.6 The Airco DH.6 was a British military Trainer (aircraft), trainer biplane used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Known by various nicknames, including the "Clutching hand" and "Skyhook", many survived to be used as a civil ligh ...

, 1918 *

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

models, 1918 *

Royal Aircraft Factory BE Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

models, 1918 *

Royal Aircraft Factory FE Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

models, 1918 *

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

, 1918 *

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

, 1918 World War II * Douglas DB-7 Boston, 1941 * Douglas A-20 Havoc, 1941 *

Lockheed A-29 Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and maritime patrol, coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the ou ...

, 1942 * Douglas B-18 Bolo, 1941 *

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

, 1943 *

Lockheed B-34 Ventura The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in 1 ...

, 1943 * Lockheed RB-37 Ventura, 1942-1943 * Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1944–1945

Awards and campaigns

References

Notes

: Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USAAF 7th Air Force World War II Attack squadrons of the United States Air Force