Training in the United States The
845th Bombardment Squadron was activated as a
Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber
squadron on 1 October 1943 at
Wendover Field, Utah, one of the four original squadrons of the
489th Bombardment Group. The squadron completed combat training and departed Wendover on 3 April 1944. The ground echelon sailed from Boston on board the on 13 April 1944, reaching
Liverpool on 21 April. The squadron arrived at
RAF Halesworth, England, in April 1944, where it became part of
Eighth Air Force. On other missions, squadron aircraft flew into
Orleans/Bricy Airfield to deliver supplies.
Redeployment for the Pacific The squadron was part of the first group in
Eighth Air Force selected for redeployment to the
Pacific theater and became non-operational on 14 November 1944, with most of its B-24s assigned to other groups in England. It was relieved of assignment in the European Theater on 29 November 1944, and returned to the United States. The 845th Squadron returned to
Bradley Field Connecticut at the end of December 1944, where most returning personnel were reassigned to other units while the squadron moved to
Lincoln Army Air Field, Nebraska. At Lincoln it again became part of
Second Air Force. On 22 January 1945, the squadron's personnel were informed that previous plans for refresher training had been cancelled and instead the squadron and its associated 369th Air Service Group were retrained as
Boeing B-29 Superfortress combat and support units. However Second Air Force did not receive redesignation orders for the group until 17 March, until which time they were compelled to maintain duplicate rosters and tables of organization, one for a heavy bombardment group of four squadrons, and one for a very heavy bombardment group of three squadrons. The readiness date for the group air echelon was set back from 1 March to 1 August 1945. The squadron moved to
Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas in mid-February to re-equip with the B-29, and was redesignated the
845th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy in March. The group was alerted for movement overseas in the summer of 1945, but with the
Japanese surrender, the squadron was inactivated on 17 October 1945. ==Lineage==