37th Air Defense Missile Squadron

World War II training unit The squadron was first activated as the 537th Bombardment Squadron at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as one of the four squadrons of the 382d Bombardment Group in late 1942. It then moved to Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho and became a replacement training unit. The 680th was equipped with later-model B-29As, with only minor differences than the original B-29 model built by Boeing with some revised engine nacelles and pneumatically-operated bomb-bay doors which could be snapped shut in less than a second. When its training at Alamogordo was completed. the squadron moved to North Field (Tinian) in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area in June 1945 attacking major Japanese cities, causing massive destruction of urbanized areas. Also flew mining operations against enemy shipping in Korean shipping lanes, the Shimonoseki Strait and harbors of the Inland Sea, for which it received a Distinguished Unit Citation. It initially monitored the construction of the BOMARC missile facility near Raco, Michigan. The squadron moved to the missile site and was operational by 1 June 1961. to accelerate the display of tracking data at the direction center to quickly direct the missile site to engage hostile aircraft. As the strategic bomber threat to the United States diminished, so did the need for the BOMARC missile and the squadron ceased operations on 1 July 1972, and was inactivated on 31 July 1972. The BOMARC missile site was located 19 miles northwest of Kincheloe Air Force Base at . Although geographically separated from the base, it was an off base facility of Kinchloe and received administrative and logistical support from Kinchloe. Consolidation The three squadrons were consolidated as the 37th Tactical Missile Squadron on 19 September 1985 while remaining inactive. ==Lineage==