460th Bombardment Squadron

The 460th Bombardment Squadron was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces. Its last was assigned to the 333d Bombardment Group, stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. It was inactivated on 28 May 1946.

Training unit
Established as a B-24 Liberator very heavy bomb squadron in 1944. Mission was as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) under II Bomber Command training B-24 replacement pilots and aircrew.

Deployment to the Pacific
The squadron was again activated at Dalhart on 7 July 1944, but this time was assigned to the 333d Bombardment Group. The 333d Group was also a former heavy bomber training unit that had been inactivated in the spring of 1944 in a general Army Air Forces reorganization of its training and support units. It was reactivated in July as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress group. The squadron trained with Superfortresses until June 1945, when it departed for the Pacific to become an element of Eighth Air Force, which was organizing on Okinawa as a second very heavy bomber air force in the Pacific. However, the squadron did not arrive at its combat station, Kadena Airfield, until it was too late to participate in combat. The squadron flew show-of-force missions and its aircraft helped evacuate prisoners of war from Japan to airfields in the Philippines. The unit was inactivated on 28 May 1946.

In September 1947, all former Air Corps units were transferred from the Army to the Air Force, including inactive units like the 460 BS.

Lineage

 * Constituted as the 460th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 July 1942
 * Activated on 6 July 1942
 * Inactivated on 1 April 1944


 * Redesignated 460th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy
 * Activated on 1 April 1944
 * Inactivated on 10 May 1944


 * Activated on 7 July 1944
 * Inactivated on 28 May 1946

Assignments

 * 330th Bombardment Group, 6 July 1942 – 1 April 1944
 * 330th Bombardment Group, 1 April 1944 – 10 May 1944
 * 333d Bombardment Group, 7 July 1944 – 28 May 1946

Stations

 * Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 6 July 1942
 * Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 August 1942
 * Biggs Field, Texas, 2 September 1942
 * Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 December 1942
 * Biggs Field, Texas, 5 April 1943 – 1 April 1944


 * Walker Army Air Field, Kansas, 1 April-10 May 1944
 * Dalhart Army Airfield, Texas, 7 July 1944
 * Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, 10 December 1944 – 18 June 1945
 * Kadena Airfield, Okinawa, 5 August 1945 – 28 May 1946

Aircraft

 * Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942–1944
 * Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1944–1946