World War II Background In early 1942, the
Afrika Corps was threatening British forces in Egypt. In response, two contingents of American heavy bombers were diverted to support the British. A flight of
Consolidated B-24 Liberators being ferried to India was halted from their travel in June and some
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from the
9th and
436th Bombardment Squadrons were flown to the Middle East from India. On 20 July 1942, these elements were organized into the 1st Provisional Group at
RAF Lydda, Palestine.
North African operations On 31 October 1942, the 1st Group was dissolved and replaced by a formal
Army Air Forces unit, the
376th Bombardment Group. The
512th Bombardment Squadron was activated as one of its four component squadrons. The squadron was originally equipped with a mix of Liberators and Flying Fortresses, but by the end of the year, the B-17s were transferred to
Twelfth Air Force and the squadron became an all B-24 unit. Moving forward to
bases in Egypt and Libya, the squadron attacked shipping in the Mediterranean and harbor installations in Libya, Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy to cut enemy supply lines to North Africa. After the fall of Tunisia in May 1943, the squadron focused on attacks on
airdromes,
marshalling yards, and other objectives in Sicily and Italy, moving forward to
Enfidaville Airfield, Tunisia in late September. Its actions during these attacks on enemy targets from its activation through August 1943 earned the squadron its first
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). As it approached its assigned targets, the lead aircraft realized that an order from the group commander, who had misidentified the initial point, put the
group off course. The group attempted an attack on the Romana Americana refinery, its assigned objective from a different direction. By this time, enemy
air defenses had been alerted and intense
flak forced the unit to attack targets of opportunity. The squadron was awarded its second DUC for this operation. The squadron primarily flew long range
strategic bombardment missions to targets in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and the Balkans to bomb factories, marshalling yards, oil refineries, oil storage facilities, airdromes, bridges, harbors, and other objectives. On 16 June 1944, it received a third DUC for an attack on oil industry targets in
Bratislava. The squadron also provided
air support for
Operation Shingle, the landings at
Anzio, and flew
interdiction missions to support the
Battle of Monte Cassino between February and March 1944. In the fall of 1944, it assisted the
Red Army in its advance through the Balkans, and in early 1945, supported
Operation Grapeshot, the spring offensive in Northern Italy. The squadron was withdrawn from combat in April 1945 and left Italy for the United States to re-equip for a role in the Pacific. and reassigning its squadrons to its regional headquarters. This resulted in the assignment of the squadron to the 2143d Air Weather Wing. From 27 June through 27 December 1950, the squadron flew over 200 combat missions, making over 5,000 weather observations. These missions were "exceptionally hazardous" because of varying weather conditions and exposure to attack over enemy territory. One of the squadron's WB-29s served as an aerial command post and weather station, giving on-the-spot weather data and directions to incoming bombers on the first B-29 strike against North Korean installations. On this and several later such missions, the WB-29 carried
Major General Emmett O'Donnell, Jr., Commander of
Far East Air Forces Bomber Command. These actions earned the squadron one of the first
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards awarded. As a result of this "dual deputy" reorganization, the 376th Group was inactivated and the squadron was assigned directly to the
376th Bombardment Wing in June 1952. In 1954, the squadron converted to
Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet
medium bombers. From July to October 1955, the squadron deployed to
RAF Upper Heyford, England as part of
Operation Reflex, maintaining bombers on
alert at the advanced station. However, after 1958,
Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-47 units began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases and the squadron did not deploy again as a unit. It moved again in 1957, this time to
Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio. On 24 October SAC went to
DEFCON 2, placing all aircraft on alert. On 15 November 1/6 of the dispersed B-47s were recalled to their home bases. The remaining dispersed B-47s and supporting tankers were recalled on 24 November. On 27 November SAC returned to normal alert posture. The squadron continued to train in electronic warfare techniques until beginning to phase down for inactivation in March 1965 with the retirement of the Stratojet from SAC's inventory. The squadron retained its mission of training helicopter aircrew and participation in
special operations contingencies,
exercises, and
humanitarian rescue helicopter training despite a change to its current name in October 2000. ==Lineage==