460th Bombardment Squadron
Maintenance on a B-29 Superfortress at Kadena Air Base
Active1942–1944; 1944; 1944–1946
Country United States
BranchUnited States Army Air Forces
RoleBombardment
EngagementsPacific Theater
Insignia
460th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 17 April 1945)[1]

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.

History

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[2] in a general Army Air Forces reorganization of its training and support units.[3] 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[4] 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.[1][2]

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[1]

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[1]

Stations

Aircraft

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 566-567
  2. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 213-214
  3. ↑ See Goss, p. 75 (details of 1944 reorganization).
  4. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, p. 463

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" (PDF). In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L. (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
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