World War II The
squadron was activated in June 1942 as the
346th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the
99th Bombardment Group, at
Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, moving on paper the same day to
MacDill Field, Florida. However, the
Army Air Forces had decided to concentrate all
heavy bomber training under
Second Air Force, and before the end of the month, the squadron moved to
Pendleton Field, Oregon to begin its training in
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. It continued training with the B-17 until January 1943, when it began deploying to the
Mediterranean Theater of Operations. In early June 1943, the squadron participated in
Operation Corkscrew, the reduction of
Pantelleria Island in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. The squadron helped neutralize enemy
fighter aircraft opposition to
Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, penetrating enemy
air defenses by bombing
airplanes,
hangars and fuel and ammunition storage sites at
Gerbini Airfield. For these actions, it was awarded the
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). Although it was nominally a very heavy bomber unit, it is not clear whether or not the squadron was fully staffed or equipped with combat aircraft. In 1948
Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and
Air National Guard units from ADC. President
Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget, however, required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force, ConAC also reorganized its reserve units under the
Wing Base Organization, and the
19th Air Division and other reserve units at Birmingham Municipal Airport, including the squadron, were inactivated and replaced by the
514th Troop Carrier Wing in June 1949. The squadron was redesignated the
346th Cyberspace Test & Evaluation Squadron on 28 January 2025 ==Lineage==