World War II The group was first activated at
Langley Field, Virginia in January 1941 as the
34th Bombardment Group and equipped with a mixture of
B-17C and B-17D Flying Fortresses and
Douglas B-18 Bolos. Its original squadrons were the
4th,
7th, and
18th Bombardment Squadrons, while the
1st Reconnaissance Squadron) was initially assigned to
General Headquarters Air Force, but attached to the
34th Bombardment Group. The 34th Group moved to
Westover Field, Massachusetts four months after it was activated. After the
Pearl Harbor attack the group began
antisubmarine patrols off the Northeast coast of the United States, but soon became part of
Western Defense Command and moved to
Pendleton Field, Oregon. By the summer of 1942,
Second Air Force had become primarily a heavy bomber training force and the group became a B-17 Replacement Training Unit (RTU) at
Geiger Field. On 15 December 1942 the group moved to
Blythe Army Air Base, California a base of the
Desert Training Center. The 34th provided
cadres for a number of
heavy bomber groups that served with
Eighth Air Force during this period. The group arrived at its permanent station,
RAF Mendlesham, England, in April 1944 and entered
combat on 23 May 1944. The group flew its last B-24 mission on 24 August 1944. and began converting to B-17s and flew its first mission with the new planes on 17 September 1944. The 34th flew its last combat mission on 20 April 1945. The Air Force intended to turn the 19th's Bird Dogs over to the VNAF, and the squadron was inactivated in August 1964. However, the
Gulf of Tonkin incident altered these plans and the squadron was activated again in October. The squadron's
forward air controllers became more critical as the war expanded into populated areas and it became necessary to minimize civilian casualties. Plans had also been made to withdraw the 1st Air Commando Squadron and transfer its aircraft to the VNAF after replacing its AT-28s and B-26s with A-1Hs, but these plans were cancelled. Due to age and hard use in combat, two AT-28s lost their wings and crashed in March and April 1964, while in June all B-26s were grounded. The 1st only remained operational by borrowing nine T-28Bs from the VNAF. These incidents confirmed the plan to convert the squadron's attack aircraft to the
Douglas A-1 Skyraider The 34th also flew combat missions, including
close air support, fighter escort and
interdiction,
psychological warfare, aerial supply, forward air control and tactical liaison. It pioneered tactical
weapons and
munitions, such as the
minigun, the
daisycutter, and the
gunship. In the fall of 1964, the
602d Fighter Squadron (Commando) was activated and assigned to the group. On the night of 1 November,
Viet Cong located just outside the perimeter of Bien Hoa attacked the base with mortars, destroying five B-57s and damaging an additional 15. Aircrews of the 1st Air Commando Squadron performed the first combat tests of the FC-47 (later
Douglas AC-47 Spooky) gunship beginning in December 1964. As more Air Force units moved to Bien Hoa, the 6251st Tactical Fighter Wing replaced the group in July 1965, and the 34th was inactivated. ==Lineage==