| Unit Name: | 369th Bombardment Squadron |
| Dates: | 1942–1946; 1947–1963 |
| Role: | Bomber |
| Battles: | European Theater of Operations[1] |
| Decorations: | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Identification Symbol Label: | 369th Bombardment Squadron emblem |
| Identification Symbol 2: | WW[2] |
| Identification Symbol 2 Label: | World War II squadron fuselage code |
| Identification Symbol 3: | Triangle H |
| Identification Symbol 3 Label: | World War II group tail marking |
The 369th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 306th Bombardment Wing stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
The squadron was first activated in 1942. After training in the United States, it became one of the first units to deploy to the European Theater of Operations to participate in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. earning two Distinguished Unit Citations. After V-E Day, the squadron remained in Europe and participated in the photographic mapping of Europe and Africa until it was inactivated in 1946.
The squadron was reactivated in 1947 and served as a medium bomber unit with Strategic Air Command (SAC) until inactivating in 1963, as SAC drew down its medium bomber force.
The squadron was first established in March 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho, one of the original four squadrons of the 306th Bombardment Group.[3] [4] In April, its personnel moved to Wendover Field, Utah, where it began training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers.[1] On 1 August 1942, the squadron's ground echelon began its deployment, spending a week at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia before moving to Fort Dix, New Jersey at the Port of Embarkation. It sailed on the on 30 August, arriving in Scotland on 5 September 1942. The air echelon departed for Westover Field, Massachusetts, and began ferrying their B-17s to England via the North Atlantic ferrying route.[4] [5]
The squadron settled into its combat station, RAF Thurleigh, England, in early September. Although several bomber units arrived in England before the 369th, when these units left England to participate in Operation Torch it became, along with its companion squadrons of the 306th Group, the oldest bombardment squadrons of VIII Bomber Command. It few its first combat mission on 9 October 1942 against a steel factory near Lille, France, but with poor results. This was the first mission on which VIII Bomber Command assembled a strike force of over 100 bombers.[5] [6] The squadron operated primarily against strategic targets, including the locomotive factory at Lille, marshalling yards at Rouen, France, and Stuttgart, Germany. The squadron took part in the first strike into Germany by bombers of Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 when it struck U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven. It struck shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, the aircraft factory at Leipzig, Germany, and similar facilities.[4]
On 11 January 1944, the squadron participated in an attack on an aircraft plant in central Germany, near Brunswick. Extensive cloud cover had resulted in the recall of two of the three bombardment divisions involved in the mission and made the rendezvous of the fighter groups scheduled to provide cover in the target area difficult. In contrast, clear weather to the east of the target permitted the Germans to assemble one of the largest fighter formations since October 1943, with 207 enemy fighters making contact with the strike force.[7] For this mission, the squadron was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). The following month the squadron earned a second DUC for its performance during Big Week, an intensive bombing campaign against the German aircraft industry. Despite adverse weather on 22 February that led supporting elements to abandon the mission the squadron and group effectively bombed the aircraft assembly plant at Bernburg, Germany.[4]
The squadron also performed in a tactical role, assisting ground forces Operation Cobra, the St Lo breakthrough, Operation Market Garden, the attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine near Arnhem in the Netherlands, stopping German attacking forces in the Battle of the Bulge, and bombing enemy positions during Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in the spring of 1945.[4]
After V-E Day, the squadron became part of the occupation forces and participated in Project Casey Jones, the photographic mapping of portions of Europe and North Africa.[4] The 306th Group began to phase out of the project in July.[8] In February 1946, the squadron moved to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, where it absorbed elements of the inactivating 92d and 384th Bombardment Groups, returning to Germany in July.[5] The squadron was inactivated in December 1946.[1]
I was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command Boeing B-29 Superfortress squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in 1948. It began upgrading to the new Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an advanced version of the B-29 in 1950. The B-50 gave the unit the capability to carry heavy loads of conventional weapons faster and farther as well as being designed for atomic bomb missions if necessary.
It began receiving the first production models of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bomber in 1951 and despite initial difficulties, the Stratojet became the mainstay of the medium-bombing strength of SAC all throughout the 1950s. Began sending its B-47s to AMARC at Davis–Monthan in 1963 when the aircraft was deemed no longer capable of penetrating Soviet airspace. Inactivated in 1963 with phaseout of the B-47.
Activated on 1 March 1942
Redesignated 369th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943[9]
Inactivated on 25 December 1946
Activated on 1 July 1947
Redesignated 369th Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 11 August 1948
Inactivated on 1 April 1963[10]