The 92d Fighter-Bomber 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 with the 439th Fighter-Bomber Group, based at Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan. It was inactivated on 1 Apr 1954.

History

Activated in June 1943 under

I Troop Carrier Command The I Troop Carrier Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Continental Air Forces, at Stout Field, Indiana, where it was disbanded in November 1945, and its resources transferred to IX Troop Carrier Com ...

and equipped with

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

s. Trained in various parts of the eastern United States until the end of 1943. Deployed 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 ...

and assigned to

IX Troop Carrier Command The IX Troop Carrier Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946. As a component command of the Ninth ...

, Ninth Air Force. Prepared for the

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

Nazi-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. Began

operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

by dropping

paratroop A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

s of the

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

(6 June 1944) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a

Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enem ...

and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom. After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

near

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, ...

. When the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

made the air assault across the

Rhine River ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sourc ...

in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the

17th Airborne Division The 17th Airborne Division, "The Golden Talons", was an airborne infantry division of the United States Army during World War II, commanded by Major General William M. Miley. It was officially activated as an airborne division in April 1943 bu ...

and released them near

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...

. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to C-46s and used the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

after

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. Postwar the squadron was activated in the air force reserve in 1940 at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, operating C-46 Commandos for

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

Eighteenth Air Force. Inactivated 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 ...

in 1951, its aircraft and personnel being used as fillers for active duty units, then inactivated. Reactivated again in the reserve in 1952 as a Tactical Air Command fighter-bomber squadron. Inactivated in April 1954 due to personnel and budget issues.

Operations and Decorations

* Combat Operations: Airborne assaults on Normandy, Southern France, the Netherlands, and Germany; relief of Bastogne; transportation of personnel and cargo in ETO and MTO during World War II. * Campaigns: Rome-Arno, Normandy; Northern France; Southern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe. * Decorations:

: France, -7Jun 1944.

French Croix de Guerre with Palm The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

: -7Jun 1944, 15 Aug 1944. French fourragere.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 92d Troop Carrier Squadron on 14 May 1943 : Activated on 1 June 1943 : Inactivated on 10 June 1946 * Redesignated 92d Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 19 May 1949 : Activated in the reserve on 27 June 1949 : Ordered to active service on 1 April 1951 : Inactivated on 3 April 1951 * Redesignated 92d Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 26 May 1952 : Activated in the reserve on 15 June 1952 : Inactivated on 1 April 1954Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 310-311

Assignments

* 439th Troop Carrier Group, 1 June 1943 – 10 June 1946 * 439th Troop Carrier Group, 27 June 1949 – 3 April 1951 * 439th Fighter-Bomber Group, 15 June 1952 – 1 April 1954

Stations

Alliance Army Air Field An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, Nebraska, 1 June 1943 *

Sedalia Army Air Field Sedalia is the name of several places: Canada *Sedalia, Alberta, a hamlet in Alberta, Canada United States *Sedalia, Colorado *Sedalia, Indiana *Sedalia, Kentucky *Sedalia, Missouri, the largest US city named Sedalia *Sedalia, North Carolina *Midw ...

, Missouri, 15 June 1943 * Alliance Army Air Field, Nebraska, 2 August 1943 * Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base, North Carolina, 19 December 1943 *

Baer Field Baer (or Bär, from german: bear, links=no) or Van Baer is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Baer * Alan Baer, American tuba player * Arthur "Bugs" Baer (1886–1969), American journalist and humorist * Buddy Baer (1915–1986) ...

, Indiana, 1 - 12 February 1944 *

RAF Balderton Royal Air Force Balderton or more simply RAF Balderton was a former Royal Air Force station located south of Newark-on-Trent, sandwiched between the now extinct Great Northern Railway (GNR) Bottesford-Newark line and the A1 road in Notting ...

(AAF-482), England, 6 March 1944 * RAF Upottery (AAF-462), England, 26 April 1944 : Operated from

Orbetello Airfield Orbetello Airfield ''Agostino Brunetta'', is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Central Italy, which is located approximately 5 km north-northeast of Orbetello in the province of Grosseto (Tuscany). Built from the Regia Marin ...

, Italy, 18 July - 24 August 1944 *

Juvincourt Airfield Juvincourt Airfield is an abandoned military airfield, which is located near the commune of Juvincourt-et-Damary in the Aisne department of northern France. Built originally as a grass airfield by the French Air Force before World War II, Juvin ...

(A-68), France, 8 September 1944 *

Lonray Airfield Lonray Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Lonrai in the Orne region of northern France. Located just outside Lonrai, the United States Army Air Force established a temporary airfield on ...

(A-45), France, 30 September 1944 * Chateaudun Airfield (A-39), France, 4 November 1944 - July 1945 * Baer Field, Indiana, 17 September 1945 * Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri, 7 October 1945 – 10 June 1946 * Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan, 27 June 1949 – 3 April 1951 * Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan, 15 June 1952-1 April 1954

History

Operations and Decorations

Lineage

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links