524th Bombardment Squadron
Encyclopedia
The 524th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force
unit. It was last assigned to the 379th Bombardment Wing. It was last stationed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base
, Michigan
, and was inactivated on 15 June 1993.
. Deployed to the European Theater of Operations
(ETO) in early 1943, being assigned to VIII Bomber Command
in England
.
Began long range strategic bombardment operations over enemy-held Europe
on 19 May 1943; engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets such as industries, oil refineries, storage plants, submarine pens, airfields and communications centers in Germany
, France
, Holland, Belgium
, Norway
and Poland
. Specific targets included a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, an aircraft assembly plant in Brunswick, ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt
and Leipzig
, synthetic oil refineries at Merseburg
and Gelsenkirchen, marshalling yards at Hamm and Reims
and airfields in Mesnil au Val and Berlin
.
On several occasions the squadron attacked interdiction targets and operated in support of ground forces. It bombed V-weapon sites, airfields, radar stations and other installations before the Normandy invasion in June 1944, bombed defended positions just ahead of the Allied landings on 6 June and struck airfields, rail choke points, and gun emplacements during the campaign that followed.
During the Northern France Campaign, the squadron bombed enemy positions to assist ground troops at St Lo during the breakthrough, 24–25 July 1944, attacked German communications and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge
, December 1944 - January 1945, and bombed bridges and viaducts in France and Germany to aid the Allied assault across the Rhine, February–March 1945, combat ending with the German Capitulation in May 1945.
Was reassigned to Air Transport Command
and assigned to Casablanca
, French Morocco
, the squadron used its B-17 bombers as transports, ferrying military personnel from locations in France to Morocco, then south to Dakar
in French West Africa
or to the Azores
for further transportation by other units. Inactivated in place in Morocco in late July 1945.
Was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command
B-47 Stratojet
squadron in 1955 at Homestead AFB, Florida
. Trained with the B-47 and participated in worldwide deployments and SAC exercises. Beginning in October 1960, the squadron began transferring its B-47s to other SAC units and became non-operational. Reassigned to Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan
and assumed the B-52H Stratofortresses and personnel of a provisional squadron. During the Vietnam War
, aircrews and personnel were deployed to forward bases in the Western Pacific; engaging in combat operations over Indochina as part of Operation Arc Light
, Linebacker I and Linebacker II. In 1977, the 524th exchanged their B-52Hs for the conventional bomb capable B-52G.
Retirement of the B-52G began in the late 1980s, however the Gulf War
of 1990-1991 resulted in a temporary delay in the inactivation of B-52G units. The squadron deployed aircraft and personnel to Prince Abdullah AB in Jeddah
, Saudi Arabia
. These planes were part of the 1708th Bombardment Wing (P), a provisional wing formed from B-52Gs out of Barksdale, Castle, Wurtsmith, and others. The planes arrived at dawn on the first day of the air war. One plane flew 29 missions out of Jeddah, the most of any bomber crew in the theater. During the Gulf War, 524th squadron aircraft carried the "Triangle K" tail flash in honor of their World War II predecessors and heritage.
After the end of the Gulf War, the squadron was inactivated in 1993.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
unit. It was last assigned to the 379th Bombardment Wing. It was last stationed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Wurtsmith Air Force Base
Wurtsmith Air Force Base is a decommissioned United States Air Force base in northeastern Iosco County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The former base includes located approximately two miles west of Lake Huron in the Charter Township of Oscoda, bordered by Van Ettan Lake, the Au Sable State...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and was inactivated on 15 June 1993.
History
Established in late 1947 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomb squadron; trained under Second Air ForceSecond Air Force
The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....
. Deployed to the European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
(ETO) in early 1943, being assigned to VIII Bomber Command
VIII Bomber Command
The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.The command was...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Began long range strategic bombardment operations over enemy-held Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on 19 May 1943; engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets such as industries, oil refineries, storage plants, submarine pens, airfields and communications centers in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Holland, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Specific targets included a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, an aircraft assembly plant in Brunswick, ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...
and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, synthetic oil refineries at Merseburg
Merseburg
Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle . It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg....
and Gelsenkirchen, marshalling yards at Hamm and Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
and airfields in Mesnil au Val and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
On several occasions the squadron attacked interdiction targets and operated in support of ground forces. It bombed V-weapon sites, airfields, radar stations and other installations before the Normandy invasion in June 1944, bombed defended positions just ahead of the Allied landings on 6 June and struck airfields, rail choke points, and gun emplacements during the campaign that followed.
During the Northern France Campaign, the squadron bombed enemy positions to assist ground troops at St Lo during the breakthrough, 24–25 July 1944, attacked German communications and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
, December 1944 - January 1945, and bombed bridges and viaducts in France and Germany to aid the Allied assault across the Rhine, February–March 1945, combat ending with the German Capitulation in May 1945.
Was reassigned to Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...
and assigned to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, French Morocco
French Morocco
French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
, the squadron used its B-17 bombers as transports, ferrying military personnel from locations in France to Morocco, then south to Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
in French West Africa
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
or to the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
for further transportation by other units. Inactivated in place in Morocco in late July 1945.
Was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
B-47 Stratojet
B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...
squadron in 1955 at Homestead AFB, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Trained with the B-47 and participated in worldwide deployments and SAC exercises. Beginning in October 1960, the squadron began transferring its B-47s to other SAC units and became non-operational. Reassigned to Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and assumed the B-52H Stratofortresses and personnel of a provisional squadron. During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, aircrews and personnel were deployed to forward bases in the Western Pacific; engaging in combat operations over Indochina as part of Operation Arc Light
Arc Light
Arc Light is the debut novel by Eric L. Harry, a techno-thriller about limited nuclear war published in 1994 and written in 1991-2.As China and Russia clash in Siberia in June 1999, nuclear missiles strike the United States. The U.S. retaliates against Russia, and World War III begins...
, Linebacker I and Linebacker II. In 1977, the 524th exchanged their B-52Hs for the conventional bomb capable B-52G.
Retirement of the B-52G began in the late 1980s, however the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
of 1990-1991 resulted in a temporary delay in the inactivation of B-52G units. The squadron deployed aircraft and personnel to Prince Abdullah AB in Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. These planes were part of the 1708th Bombardment Wing (P), a provisional wing formed from B-52Gs out of Barksdale, Castle, Wurtsmith, and others. The planes arrived at dawn on the first day of the air war. One plane flew 29 missions out of Jeddah, the most of any bomber crew in the theater. During the Gulf War, 524th squadron aircraft carried the "Triangle K" tail flash in honor of their World War II predecessors and heritage.
After the end of the Gulf War, the squadron was inactivated in 1993.
Lineage
- Constituted 524th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) On 28 Oct 1942
- Activated on 3 Nov 1942
- Inactivated on 25 Jul 1945
- Redesignated 524th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 12 Jul 1955
- Activated on 1 Nov 1955
- Redesignated 524th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 9 Jan 1961
- Inactivated on 15 Jun 1993
Assignments
- 379th Bombardment Group, 3 Nov 1942 - 25 Jul 1945
- 379th Bombardment Wing, 1 Nov 1955 - 15 Jun 1993
Stations
- Geiger Field, Washington, 3 Nov 1942
- Wendover Field, UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, 19 Nov 1942 - Sioux City Army Air Base, IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, 3 Feb-Apr 1943 - RAF KimboltonRAF KimboltonRAF Kimbolton is a former World War II airfield in England, located 8 miles west of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.-USAAF use:The airfield was originally built in 1941 for RAF Bomber Command, then expanded to Class A airfield standards for use by American heavy bombers during 1942. Kimbolton was...
(AAF-117), EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 21 May 1943-12 June 1945 - Casablanca Airfield, French MoroccoFrench MoroccoFrench Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
, 17 Jun-25 July 1945 - Homestead AFB, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, 1 Nov 1955 - Wurtsmith AFB, MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, 9 Jan 1961-15 Jun 1993
- Flight of aircraft and personnel deployed to 1708th Provisional Bombardment Wing, Prince Abdulla AB, JeddahJeddahJeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Aug 1990-Mar 1991 (Operation Desert Storm); additional aircraft and personnel deployed in Dec 1990-Mar 1991.
Aircraft
- B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1945
- B-47 StratojetB-47 StratojetThe Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...
, 1956–1960 - B-52H Stratofortress, 9 May 1961 - July 1977
- B-52G Stratofortress, 2 May 1977 - 2 December 1992