World War II Training and strategic bombing The squadron was first organized in October 1943 at
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, as one of the original squadrons of the
492d Bombardment Group. Its
cadre was drawn from the
859th Bombardment Squadron, a former
antisubmarine unit whose mission had transferred to the
Navy. By January 1944, most of the ground echelon of the squadron had been used to form other bomber units.
2d Bombardment Division, which controlled
VIII Bomber Command's Liberator units in England, began to form a new ground echelon for the squadron from personnel of bomber units already in England, while the air echelon of the 857th continued training with
Consolidated B-24 Liberators at Alamogordo. The air echelon began to depart Alamogordo on 1 April 1944, following the southern ferry route, while the few remaining members of the ground echelon departed on 11 April, sailing on the on 20 April. When the 492d Group returned to strategic operation, on 20 June
Luftwaffe fighters, primarily
Messerschmitt Bf 110s, using
air to air rockets shot down fourteen of the 492d Group's B-24s. Heavy losses, this time to fighters from
Jagdgeschwader 3, were again suffered on 29 June.
Special operations The 857th Squadron moved to
RAF Harrington in August, where it assumed the
Operation Carpetbagger missions and most of the personnel and equipment of the
850th Bombardment Squadron. With the 492d Group, the squadron flew 185
Operation Carpetbagger missions by the middle of September. With black-painted aircraft configured with engine flame dampeners and optimized for night operations, the group operated chiefly over France with B-24s and C-47s, transporting agents, supplies, and propaganda leaflets to patriots. As
Allied forces moved forward through northern France and into Belgium, the need for Carpetbagger missions decreased and operations ended on 16 September 1944. The squadron's support for the
French Resistance earned it the
French Croix de Guerre with Palm. With the drawdown of the Carpetbagger mission, the squadron concentrated on hauling gasoline to advancing
mechanized forces in France and Belgium. After December 1944, the squadron began limited night bombing operations. The squadron continued this mission until the end of hostilities. The squadron left England for the United States in early August 1945. In August 1945 it began to reform at Kirtland Field, New Mexico as a
Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber squadron, however it became unnecessary when the Pacific War ended and it was inactivated on 17 October 1945. To implement this new system, B-47
wings reorganized from three to four squadrons. The
657th Bombardment Squadron was activated at
Lake Charles Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the
68th Bombardment Wing. The SAC alert commitment was increased to half the
wing's aircraft in 1962 and the four squadron pattern no longer met the alert cycle commitment, so the squadron became non-operational on 1 October 1961 and was inactivated on 1 January 1962. but the consolidated squadron has never been active. ==Lineage==