362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron
362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron EC-47s near Da Nang in 1972
Active1942–1944; 1944–1946; 1967–1973
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleElectronic Warfare
Part ofPacific Air Forces
EngagementsPacific Ocean Theater
Vietnam War
DecorationsPresidential Unit Citation
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm[1][2]
Insignia
Patch with unofficial 362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron emblem
462d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy emblem[3][note 1]
462d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy emblem[note 2][1]

The 362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 6498th Air Base Wing at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. It was inactivated on 28 February 1973.

The squadron served during World War II as the 462d Bombardment Squadron. It did not see combat, arriving in the Pacific only a few days before VJ Day

History

World War II

Heavy bomber replacement training

The 462d Bombardment Squadron was first activated in July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as one of the original squadrons of the 331st Bombardment Group. In September it moved to Casper Army Air Field, where it conducted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress replacement training until 1943, when it converted to the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.[4] However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were not proving to be well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit,[5] while the groups and squadrons acting as replacement training units were disbanded or inactivated.[6] This resulted in the 462d, along with other units at Casper, being inactivated in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 211th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Heavy), which assumed the 331st Group's mission, personnel, and equipment.[1][7]

Very heavy bomber operations

In August 1944, the squadron was reactivated as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress unit at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas and assigned to the 346th Bombardment Group. It trained with Superfortresses at Dalhart and Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas until June 1945, when it began moving to Okinawa to become part of Eighth Air Force. Although the war ended before the squadron could begin operations, a few of its crews formed part of its forward echelon and flew missions with B-29 units of Twentieth Air Force.[3][1][8]

The squadron flew several show of force missions from Okinawa over Japan following VJ Day. It also evacuated prisoners of war from camps in Japan to the Philippines. The squadron was inactivated on Okinawa in June 1946.[1][8]

Vietnam War

The squadron was activated in South Vietnam in 1967. It flew C-47 aircraft equipped with electronic countermeasures equipment over South Vietnam. It was made inactive as part of United States drawdown in Southeast Asia during 1973.

Lineage

462d Bombardment Squadron
  • Constituted as the 462d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 July 1942
Activated on 6 July 1942
Inactivated on 1 April 1944
  • Redesignated 462d Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 4 August 1944
Activated on 18 August 1944
Inactivated on 30 June 1946[1]
  • Consolidated with the 362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron as the 362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron on 19 September 1985[9]
362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron
  • Constituted as the 362d Reconnaissance Squadron and activated
Organized on 1 February 1967
Redesignated 362d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron on 15 March 1967
Inactivated on 28 February 1973
  • Consolidated with the 462d Bombardment Squadron on 19 September 1985[9]

Assignments

Stations

  • Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 6 July 1942
  • Casper Army Air Field, Wyoming, 15 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
  • Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 18 August 1944
  • Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas, 12 December 1944 – 29 June 1945
  • Kadena Airfield, Okinawa, 13 August 1945 – 30 June 1946
  • Pleiku Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, 1 February 1967
  • Phan Rang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, June 1969
  • Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, 1 February 1972 – 28 February 1973

Aircraft

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ↑ This emblem was not officially approved, but was used while the squadron was assigned to the 346th Bombardment Group.
  2. ↑ Approved 16 January 1943. Used while the squadron was assigned to the 331st Bombardment Group.
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 568–569
  2. ↑ "Air Force Personnel Services: Unit Awards". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 30 April 2017. (search)
  3. 1 2 Carman, Glenn. "346 Bomb Group". 346BombGroup.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  4. ↑ Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi
  5. ↑ Goss, p. 75
  6. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, p. 7
  7. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 211–212
  8. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 224–225
  9. 1 2 Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 662q, 19 September 85, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Tactical Squadrons

Bibliography

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

Goss, William A. (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L. (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
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