342d Bombardment Squadron

The 342d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 4137th Strategic Wing at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, where it was inactivated on 1 February 1963.

The squadron was activated in February 1942. After brief training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, it was one of the first heavy bomber squadrons to deploy to the European Theater of Operations. At the end of the year, following Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany from the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its actions. Following V-E Day, it was inactivated in Italy.

The squadron was again activated in August 1946 as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber squadron, when it took over the personnel and equipment of another squadron, which was inactivated. It continued to operate medium and heavy bombers under SAC until February 1963, when it was inactivated and its mission, personnel, and equipment transferred to another unit.

Organization and training
The squadron was activated at MacDill Field, Florida in February 1942, one of the original squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Group. The following month, it moved to Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and also flew antisubmarine patrols. After a brief training period the squadron left Sarasota on 16 May.

The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in Scotland on 10 June and at RAF Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, the following day. The air echelon, along with the air echelon of the 414th Bombardment Squadron staged through Grenier Field, New Hampshire starting on 15 May. From 2 through 11 June the squadrons deployed elements to the Pacific Coast, recommencing their deployment to Great Britain via Goose Bay Airport, Labrador and Greenland to Prestwick Airport Scotland on 23 June. The squadron's B-17s began arriving at Grafton Underwood on 1 July, where they formed part of the first heavy bomber group assigned to Eighth Air Force.

Operations from Great Britain
The haste with which the squadron had trained and deployed resulted in deficiencies in its training. Most pilots had not flown at high altitudes on oxygen; some gunners had never operated a turret, much less fired at a moving target. Crews had flown together for only a few weeks in training. The squadron's first weeks in England were devoted to intensive training, with numerous specialists attending Royal Air Force (RAF) schools to prepare for combat. The squadron flew its first mission on 17 August 1942, attacking a marshalling yard at Rouen, which was also the first mission flown by AAF heavy bombers stationed in Great Britain. Two days later, the squadron supported Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, by attacking Abbeville/Drucat Airfield. It attacked naval installations, airfields and industrial and transportation targets in France and the Low Countries.

In September, the 97th Group and its squadrons were transferred to XII Bomber Command in the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. However, VIII Bomber Command retained operational control of these units until they left England. The first AAF bomber groups to deploy to England had patterned their basing on that of the RAF Bomber Command, which typically had a wing with two bomber squadrons on a station. The 414th and 342nd Squadrons were at Grafton Underwood, while the 340th and 341st, along with 97th Group headquarters were at RAF Polebrook. In September, the AAF decided to follow its own organization and use larger bases that would accommodate an entire group, and the 414th and 342nd Squadrons joined the rest of the group at Polebrook.

Operations in the Mediterranean Theater
Following the Operation Torch landings at Oran and Algiers on 8 November, the air echelon of the 342d left Polebrook on 18 November, staging through RAF Hurn for Maison Blanche Airport, Algeria. The ground echelon sailed by convoy to Algeria. The squadron was established at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria near the end of November.

Through May 1943, the squadron engaged in the campaign to cut German supply lines in North Africa by striking shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and bombing docks, harbors, airfields and marshalling yards in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and southern France and Italy. The squadron moved forward through Algeria and into Tunisia during these operations. In June 1943, it supported Operation Corkscrew, the projected invasion of Pantelleria, which resulted in the surrender of the island without invasion. Through the summer of 1943, it supported Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Italy.

From November 1943, the squadron was primarily involved with the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The following month, it moved to Italy, pausing at Cerignola Airfield for a month before moving to Amendola Airfield, which would be its station for the remainder of the war. It bombed targets in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia; striking strategic targets such as oil refineries, aircraft factories and marshalling yards. During Big Week, the intensive attacks on the German aircraft industry in February 1944, it was part of the lead formation on a strike on an aircraft manufacturing plant at Steyr, Austria, for which it was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation. It received a second DUC for an attack on the oil refineries near Ploesti, Romania on 18 August 1944.

The group also flew air support and interdiction missions against enemy lines of communication, airfields and transportation facilities. It supported Allied forces at Anzio and Monte Cassino. It supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, with attacks on coastal defenses. In the spring of 1945, it supported United States Fifth Army and British Eighth Army in their advance through the Po Valley.

Following V-E Day, the squadron moved to Marcianise Airfield, Italy, where it was inactivated on 29 October 1945.

Strategic Air Command
The squadron was reactivated in 1946 under Strategic Air Command. It was equipped with B-29 Superfortresses and participated in numerous exercises, operational readiness inspections, and overseas deployments. One of these deployments involved the squadron's mission in West Germany and Berlin (then in East Germany) in July 1947. Just a month later, the unit was in Guam and Japan. It became part of SAC nuclear deterrent force.

The squadron began upgrading to the new Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an advanced version of the B-29 in 1949. The B-50 gave the unit the capability to carry heavy loads of conventional weapons faster and farther as well as being designed for atomic bomb missions if necessary.

By 1951, the emergence of the Soviet Mig interceptors in the skies of North Korea signaled the end of the propeller-driven B-50 as a first-line strategic bomber. The squadron received Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bombers in 1955 and despite initial difficulties, the Stratojet became the mainstay of the medium-bombing strength of SAC all throughout the 1950s, deployed frequently to North Africa and England for Reflex exercises. The squadron began sending its B-47s to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in 1959 when the aircraft was deemed no longer capable of penetrating Soviet airspace.

In 1960 the squadron was reassigned to the 4137th Strategic Wing, being re-equipped with Boeing B-52G Stratofortress intercontinental heavy bombers. It moved to Robins Air Force Base, Georgia by SAC to disperse its heavy bomber force. It conducted worldwide strategic-bombardment training missions and provided nuclear deterrent. It was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its strategic wings, replacing them with permanent Air Force wings. The squadron was inactivated, with aircraft, personnel, and equipment being transferred to the 781st Bombardment Squadron.

Lineage

 * Constituted as the 342d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942
 * Activated on 3 February 1942
 * Redesignated 42d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 30 September 1944
 * Inactivated on 29 October 1945


 * Redesignated 342d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 15 July 1946
 * Activated on 4 August 1946
 * Redesignated 342d Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 28 May 1948
 * Redesignated 342d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 1 October 1959
 * Discontinued and inactivated on 1 February 1963

Assignments

 * 97th Bombardment Group, 3 February 1942 – 29 October 1945
 * 97th Bombardment Group, 4 August 1946 (attached to 97th Bombardment Wing after 10 February 1951)
 * 97th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952
 * 4137th Strategic Wing, 15 May 1960 – 1 February 1963

Stations

 * MacDill Field, Florida, 3 February 1942
 * Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, 29 March 1942 – 16 May 1942
 * RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF Station 106), England, 9 June 1942
 * RAF Polebrook (AAF Station 110), England, 8 September 1942
 * Maison Blanche Airport,, Algeria, c. 19 November 1942
 * Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria, c. 22 November 1942
 * Biskra Airfield, Algeria, 27 December 1942
 * Chateaudun-du-Rhumel Airfield, Algeria, 18 February 1943
 * Pont du Fahs Airfield, Tunisia, 10 August 1943


 * Depienne Airfield, Tunisia, 14 August 1943
 * Cerignola Airfield, Italy, c. 9 December 1943
 * Amendola Airfield, Italy, 16 January 1944
 * Marcianise Airfield, Italy, c. 1 October 1945 – 29 October 1945
 * Smoky Hill Army Air Field (later Smoky Hill Air Force Base), Kansas, 4 August 1946
 * Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, 18 May 1948
 * Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, 1 July 1959
 * Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 15 May 1960 – 1 February 1963

Aircraft

 * Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1945
 * Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1946–1950
 * Boeing B-50 Superfortress, 1950–1955
 * Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1955–1959
 * Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 1960–1963