World War II edit

The first predecessor of the squadron was organized as the 361st Bombardment Squadron at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah in July 1942. It was one of the original squadrons of the 304th Bombardment Group. The squadron was only nominally manned until September, when it moved with the 304th Group to Geiger Field, Washington. The squadron moved to Ephrata Army Air Field, Washington, later that month and equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (briefly) and Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers.^[1][2]

The following month, the 304th Group moved to Langley Field, Virginia, where it became part of AAF Antisubmarine Command. In the fall of 1942, the Kriegsmarine began to equip its U-boats with radar receivers capable of detecting the Royal Air Force's long wave radars used for Air-to-Surface Vessel radar. This enabled the subs to dive, avoiding detection while on the surface. RAF's Coastal Command requested reinforcements from the AAFin the form of B-24s equipped with radars operating in the microwave band. In response, the squadron's air echelon was dispatched to RAF St Eval, England on 10 November to support Coastal Command.^[3] On arrival in England, it was attached to VIII Bomber Command for operations. Later that month, it was redesignated the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron.^[1]

The squadron flew its first mission from St Eval on 10 November, operating under the control of Coastal Command, training on British operational methods and use of radar while conducting operational missions over the Atlantic lasting up to twelve hours. In January, the squadron was joined by the 2d Antisubmarine Squadron, forming a provisional group. In February, the squadron joined RAF units in a concerted attack on German submarines returning from attacks on convoys in the Atlantic. The group conducted its last mission from England on 5 March 1943.^[4]

In March the squadron moved to Craw Field, French Morocco, where they augmented two United States Navy squadrons flying Consolidated PBY Catalinas defending the Atlantic approaches to the Straits of Gibraltar. It was administratively attached to the Northwest African Coastal Air Force, but was operationally assigned to Fleet Air Wing 15 of the Moroccan Sea Frontier. Much of the squadron's flying time was spent providing convoy coverage to ships approaching or departing the Straits of Gibraltar, but it also flew patrols as far north as Cape Finisterre and as far west as 1000 miles west of Port Lyautey, French Morocco into the Atlantic.^[5]

As the German submarine threat in the Atlantic diminished and moved farther west in August 1943, the squadron moved to Protville Airfield, Tunisia in September. It attacked enemy submarines and shipping in the area of Sicily and the Italian peninsula until Operation Avalanche began with landings at Salerno, Italy. It extended antisubmarine patrols after 9 September to cover the sea west of Sardinia and Corsica. In addition to the antisubmarine patrols, the squadron covered the escape of Italian naval vessels from Genoa and Spezia to Malta following Italy's surrender.^[6] The squadron's actions in Europe earned it a Distinguished Unit Citation.^[1]

The squadron returned to Morocco on 18 September and returned to the United States in November 1943, it was inactivated in January 1944 and its personnel were used as cadres for newly forming heavy bomber groups.^[1]

Cold War edit

From 1958, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings of Strategic Air Command (SAC) began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases. The SAC alert cycle divided itself into four parts: planning, flying, alert and rest to meet General Thomas S. Power’s initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC’s planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.^[7] To implement this new system B-47 wings reorganized from three to four squadrons.^[7][8] The 661st was activated at Pease Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the 509th Bombardment Wing.^[9] The alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962 and the four squadron pattern no longer met the alert cycle commitment, so the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962.^[8][10]

In 1985, the two previous squadrons were consolidated, on paper, under the title of the 361st Tactical Missile Squadron.^[11]

1st Antisubmarine Squadron

• Constituted as the 361st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942

Activated on 15 July 1942

Redesignated: 1st Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) on 23 November 1942

Disbanded on 29 January 1944^[12]

• Reconstituted and consolidated with the 661st Bombardment Squadron, Medium as the 361st Tactical Missile Squadron on 19 September 1985^[11]

661st Bombardment Squadron

• Constituted as the 661st Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 1 December 1958

Activated on 1 March 1959

Inactivated on 1 January 1962

• Consolidated with the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron on 15 September 1985 as the 361st Tactical Missile Squadron^[11]

Consolidated Squadron

• Formed on 15 September 1985 by consolidation of the 1st Antisubmarine Squadron and the 661st Bombardment Squadron (inactive)^[11]

Assignments edit

• 304th Bombardment Group, 15 July 1942 (air echelon attached to VIII Bomber Command after c. 10 November 1942)
• 25th Antisubmarine Wing, 30 December 1942 (air echelon attached to VIII Bomber Command until 15 January 1943), (attached to 1st Antisubmarine Group (Provisional) until l March 1943, 2037th Antisubmarine Wing (Provisional))
• 480th Antisubmarine Group, 21 June 1943 – 29 January 1944^[12]
• 509th Bombardment Wing, 1 March 1959 – 1 January 1962^[9]

Stations edit

• Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 15 July 1942
• Geiger Field, Washington, 15 September 1942
• Ephrata Army Air Field, Washington, 1 October 1942
• Langley Field, Virginia, 29 October–26 December 1942 (operated from RAF St Eval, England after 10 November 1942)
• RAF St Eval (Sta 129),^[13] England, 13 January 1943
• Port Lyautey, French Morocco, 9 March–27 November 1943 (operated from Agadir, French Morocco, July 1943, Protville Airfield, Tunisia, 2–18 September 1943)
• Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico, c. 4–29 January 1944^[12]
• Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, 1 March 1959 – 1 January 1962^[9]

Aircraft edit

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942
• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942-1944^[12]
• Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1958-1962^[9]

Awards and campaigns edit

Notes

Bibliography edit

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

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Schake, Col Kurt W. (1998). Strategic Frontier: American Bomber Bases Overseas, 1950-1960 (PDF). Trondheim, Norway: Norwegian University of Science and Technology. ISBN 978-8277650241. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
• Warnock, Timothy (1999). Air Power versus U-boats: Confronting Hitler's Submarine Menace in the European Theater (PDF). Bolling AFB, DC: Air Force History Support Office. Retrieved 11 December 2019.

Further reading

• Ferguson, Arthur B. (April 1945). "The Antisubmarine Command, USAF Historical Study No. 107" (PDF). Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence Historical Division. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
• Schoenfeld, Max (1995). Stalking the U-Boat: USAAF Offensive Antisubmarine Operations in World War II. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 978-1-56098-403-0.
• Warnock, Timothy. "The Battle Against the U-Boat in the American Theater" (PDF). Bolling AFB, DC: Air Force History Support Office. Retrieved 22 June 2015.

• "Sub Hunters Return". Time Magazine. 20 December 1943. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2017. (Introduction only, full article requires subscription)