| 373d Strategic Missile Squadron | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of the 373d Strategic Missile Squadron | |
| Active | 1942–1987 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Bombardment |
| Engagements | World War II |
The 373d Strategic Missile Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 308th Strategic Missile Wing, based at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. It was inactivated on August 18, 1987.
History
Activated in early 1942 in Idaho as a long-range B-24 Liberator bombardment squadron under Second Air Force. For the next three months little training occurred while the unit worked through its growing pains, resolving administrative and personnel acquisition difficulties. Then a totally new problem arose....all but four personnel were transferred to the 330th Bombardment Group! While active on paper, it wasn't until September that personnel were taken from the 39th Bombardment Group to form a headquarters cadre for the 308th Group, again making it a viable unit. On 29 September the squadron was designated an Operational Training Unit (OTU) with Wendover Field, Utah as its home station. The unit was fully manned by November, after receiving personnel from the 18th Replacement Wing.
During this time of trials and tribulations in forming a recognizable force, the flying echelon had transferred to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, on 20 June for incidental training. The flight crews had been chosen and assigned, having completed their respective training schools; ie., pilot, navigator, bombardier, engineer, radio and gunnery.
Members of the squadron had to complete three phases of training prior to moving overseas and entering combat. The flying personnel spent most of October in transition training with the B-24, training combat crews as well. Meanwhile, the ground echelon was acquiring, organizing and processing personnel and supplies at Wendover Field.
With the training complete and the personnel and supplies processed, the 308th Bomb Group and the 375th BS officially transferred to Fourteenth Air Force in China early in 1943. The air echelon began flying its 'brand new' B-24D Liberators from Morrison Field, Florida on 15 February 1943. Traveling by way of the South Atlantic Transport Route though Central and South America, the Azores, Central Africa, Arabia and finally India; while the ground echelon traveled by ship across the Pacific Ocean.
The squadron arrived in India and made many trips over the 'Hump' between India and China to obtain gasoline, bombs, spare parts, and other items they needed to prepare for and sustain their combat operations. The 375th supported Chinese ground forces; attacked airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina; mined rivers and ports; bombed maintenance shops and docks at Rangoon, Burma; attacked Japanese shipping in the East China Sea, Formosa Straits, South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin.
The squadron moved to India in June 1945, ferrying gasoline and supplies from there back into China. The unit sailed for the United States, where it was inactivated on 6 January 1946.
Reactivated in Alaska in 1947 as a Strategic Air Command weather reconnaissance squadron. Gathering weather information for combat readiness was an integrated part of strategic aerial reconnaissance. Weather recon, though, was a particularly loose term. There was a constant need for weather information, but weather flights were also a convenient cover for the more covert missions with RB-29 Superfortress photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the eastern frontier of the Soviet Union. Inactivated in February 1951.
Reactivated a few months later in October with new B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union. In the early late 1950s, the B-47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence, and was being phased out of SAC's strategic arsenal. B-47s began being sent to AMARC at Davis-Monthan in July 1959 and the squadron went non-operational. Was inactivated on 25 June 1961.
Reactivated and redesignated as a Strategic Air Command LGM-25C Titan II ICBM Strategic Missile Squadron in 1962. Operated 9 Titan II underground silos constructed beginning in 1960; the sites going operationally ready in April 1962. The 9 missile silos controlled by the 570th Strategic Missile Squadron remained on alert for over 20 years during the Cold War.
In October 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced that as part of the strategic modernization program, Titan II systems were to be retired by October 1, 1987. Inactivation of the sites began in early 1987; the squadron being inactivated on 18 August.
After removal from service, the silos had reusable equipment removed by Air Force personnel, and contractors retrieved salvageable metals before destroying the silos with explosives and filling them in. Access to the vacated control centers was blocked off. Some of the properties were then sold; other sites are retained by the Bureau of Land Management.
Lineage
- Constituted 373d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on January 28, 1942
- Activated on April 15, 1942
- Inactivated on January 7, 1946.
- Redesignated: 373d Reconnaissance Squadron (Very Long Range, Weather) on September 16, 1947.
- Activated on October 15, 1947
- Inactivated on February 21, 1951
- Redesignated 373d Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on October 4, 1951
- Activated on October 10, 1951
- Discontinued, and inactivated, on June 25, 1961
- Redesignated 373d Strategic Missile Squadron, and activated, on November 29, 1961
- Organized on April 1, 1962
- Inactivated on August 18, 1987
Assignments
- 308th Bombardment Group, April 15, 1942
- 494th Bombardment Group, July 21, 1945
- 11th Bombardment Group, October 11, 1945 – January 7, 1946
- 8th Weather (later 2108th Air Weather) Group, October 15, 1947 – February 21, 1951
- 308th Bombardment Group, October 10, 1951
- Attached to 21st Air Division, October 10, 1951 – April 17, 1952
- 308th Bombardment Wing, June 16, 1952 – June 25, 1961
- Strategic Air Command, November 29, 1961
- 308th Strategic Missile Wing, April 1, 1962 – August 18, 1987
Stations
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Aircraft and missiles
- B-18 Bolo, 1942
- B-24 Liberator, 1942–1945
- TB-17 Flying Fortress, 1947–1948
- B/RB/WB-29 Superfortress, 1947–1951
- B-29 Superfortress, 1951–1953
- B-47 Stratojet, 1954–1959
- LGM-25C Titan II Missile, 1962–1987
- Operated nine missile sites:
- 373-1, 1.2 mi S of Mount Vernon, AR 35°12′34″N 092°07′27″W / 35.20944°N 92.12417°W
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Mauer, Mauer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. ISBN 0892010975
External links
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Previously: 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers" (Dec 1941-July 1942) China Air Task Force (July 1942-Mar 1943) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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