Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 342 (VMSB-342) was a

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

squadron in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. The squadron, also known as the “Bats from Hell”, was active during

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 ...

but never saw combat in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The squadron were decommissioned on October 10, 1944.

History

Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 342 was commissioned on July 1, 1943, at

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. During November 1943, the squadron moved up to Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Atlantic and was assigned to

Marine Aircraft Group 33 Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 33 (MATSG-33) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training group that was originally established during World War II as Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33). Fighter squadrons from MAG-33 fought most ...

. Some of the squadron's pilots departed for follow on training at

Boca Chica Key Boca Chica Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys, about a mile () east of the island of Key West at its closest point. Its name is Spanish for "small mouth". It is mostly covered by salt marshes and mangrove trees, and is the home of the la ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the site of what today is Naval Air Station Key West. In August 1944, the squadron with its twenty SBD dive bombers again transferred, this time to Marine Corps Air Station Newport,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

where it joined Marine Aircraft Group 94. VMSB-remained until it was decommissioned on October 10, 1944.

Notes

References

;Books * * * ;Web {{US Marine Corps navbox Inactive units of the United States Marine Corps

History

See also

Notes

References