Initial organization and training

The squadron was first activated at Langley Field, Virginia as one of the original four squadrons of the 43d Bombardment Group, in the buildup of the United States military forces prior to the American entry into World War II. It was equipped with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress that it would fly in combat, but also flew North American B-25 Mitchells for training.

The squadron moved to Army Air Base Bangor, Maine at the end of August. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron conducted antisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic coast until January 1942, and began moving to reinforce American forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater the following month.^[2][5]

Combat in the Southwest Pacific Theatre

Squadron B-17 at Port Moresby.^{[note 3]}

The squadron reached Australia via Cape Town in March 1942. It was originally equipped with B-17s for combat operations.^[2] The squadron operated from bases in Australia until January 1943, when it moved to New Guinea. Between May and September 1942 the squadron replaced its B-17s with Consolidated B-24 Liberators, believed to be more suited to the long ranges of many Pacific missions.^[2][6] It attacked Japanese shipping in the Netherlands East Indies and the Bismarck Archipelago.^[5] It experimented with skip bombing and used this technique during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943. During this battle, it made repeated attacks against an enemy convoy bringing reinforcements to Japanese forces in New Guinea. For this action, the squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. During this period, the squadron also provided air support for ground forces in New Guinea. It attacked airfields and enemy installations in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Celebes, Halmahera, Yap, Palau, and the southern Philippines.^[2][5]

Squadron B-24 Liberator in December 1943^{[note 4]}

In November 1944 the squadron moved to the Philippines, helping the ground campaign on Luzon as well as conducting bombing missions against airfields, industrial installations and enemy installations in China and Formosa. In July 1945 it moved to Ie Shima Airfield, from which it flew missions over Japan, attacking railroads and airfields, as well as shipping in the Seto Inland Sea until V-J Day.^[5] After ceasing operations, the squadron sent its aircraft to the Philippines for reclamation and relocated to Fort William McKinley, near Manila, largely as a paper unit.^[6] Although not fully equipped or manned after November 1945, it was finally inactivated in April 1946.^[2]

Medal of Honor

On 16 June 1943, Captain Jay Zeamer Jr. and his crew flew a photographic reconnaissance mission, targeting Japanese installations on Buka. When the mission was nearly completed, their B-17 was attacked by about 20 enemy fighters. The navigator, Lieutenant Joseph Sarnoski, fought off the first fighter attacks, permitting Captain Zeamer to complete the plotted course for the mission. He remained at the nose guns of the bomber, firing at the attacking Japanese and shooting down two fighters. A 20 millimeter shell knocked him back from his position, but he crawled back, and despite severe injury continued firing until he collapsed over his guns. Captain Zeamer maneuvered the plane to permit the crew's gunners to repel the attacks until the fighters broke off their attacks after 40 minutes, then, despite wounds to his arms and legs that caused lapses into unconsciousness, directed the plane back to its base, about than 580 miles (930 km) away. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.^[5][7][8]

As a result of this mission, the Zeamer crew has been called the most decorated aircrew in United States Air Force history. Each other member of the crew was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.^{[9][note 5]}

Early SAC operations

43d Group B-29 Superfortress^{[note 6]}

The squadron was reactivated under Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona on 1 October 1946 and, along with the other squadrons of the 43rd Group, absorbed the personnel and Boeing B-29 Superfortresses of the 40th and 444th Bombardment Groups, which were simultaneously inactivated.^[2][10][11] It was one of the first operational Boeing B-29 Superfortress squadrons of SAC and trained for strategic bombardment missions during the postwar years; began upgrading to the improved Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an advanced version of the B-29 in 1948.^[2]

SAC’s mobilization for the Korean War highlighted that SAC wing commanders focused too much on running the base organization and not overseeing actual combat preparations. To allow wing commanders the ability to focus on combat operations, the air base group commander became responsible for managing the base housekeeping functions. Under the plan implemented in February 1951 and finalized in June 1952, the wing commander focused primarily on the combat units and the maintenance necessary to support combat aircraft by having the combat and maintenance squadrons report directly to the wing and eliminating the intermediate group structures.^[12] the squadron was attached to the 43d Bombardment Wingin February 1951, then assigned permanently in June 1952.^{[2][note 7]}

The emergence of the Soviet MiG-15 interceptor in the skies of North Korea signaled the end of the propeller-driven B-50 as a first-line strategic bomber. It replaced them with new Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers in 1954,^[2] capable of flying at high subsonic speeds. In the late 1950s, the B-47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence, and was being phased out of SAC's strategic arsenal. The squadron began sending aircraft to other B-47 wings as replacements in late 1959. The squadron moved on paper to Carswell Air Force Base, Texas in early 1960,^[2] in preparation for receiving the new Convair B-58 Hustler supersonic medium bomber, sending the last of its B-47s to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) in early 1960.

B-58 operations

B-58 Hustler in flight^{[note 8]}

The squadron moved to Carswell Air Force Base without personnel or equipment on 15 April 1960, and was not manned or equipped until August.^[13] Then it took over personnel and equipment from the 3958th Combat Crew Training Squadron and the 6592d Test Squadron, which were discontinued.^[14] The squadron immediately began training crews on the Convair B-58 Hustler. The squadron was equipped with experimental and training models of the Hustler, along with Convair TF-102 Delta Daggers, to perform Category II and III evaluations of the new bomber, along with its training responsibilities. The evaluations of the Hustler ended in 1962.^[13]

In 1962, a crew from the 65th won the Mackay Trophy and the Bendix Trophy for setting a trio of transcontinental speed records in a round trip from Los Angeles to New York and back during Operation Heat Rise.^[15]

At the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Only six B-58s in the entire SAC inventory were on alert. Even these aircraft were "second cycle" (follow on) sorties. Crew training was suspended, and the squadron, along with SAC's other B-58 squadrons, began placing its bombers on alert> By the first week of November, 84 B-58s were standing nuclear alert. and as SAC redeployed its Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, 20 of these were "first cycle" sorties.^{[note 9]} Within a short time, this grew to 41 bombers. By 20 November, SAC resumed its normal alert posture, and half the squadron's aircraft were kept on alert.^[16][17]

In September 1964, the 43d Wing and the squadron moved to Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. In December 1965, Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense announced a phaseout program that would further reduce SAC’s bomber force. This program called for the mid-1971 retirement of all B-58s and some Boeing B-52 Stratofortress models.^[18] With the removal of the B-58 from SAC's bomber force, the squadron was inactivated at the end of January 1970.

Control of SAC units in the Pacific

The squadron was redesignated the 65th Strategic Squadron and activated at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam in July 1986. When Anderson was transferred from SAC to Pacific Air Forces in 1990, the squadron moved to Kadena Air Base, Japan, where it was assigned to the 376th Strategic Wing. Until it was inactivated in October 1991, the squadron controlled Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers deployed from SAC units in the United States.^[2]