Background edit

In the fall of 1941, the 19th Bombardment Group began moving to reinforce the Philippine Department Air Force. By the time of the Attack on Clark Field and the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December, group headquarters and its assigned 28th and 93d Bombardment Squadrons and attached 14th Bombardment Squadron were located in the Philippines.^[3][4][5][6] Its 32nd Bombardment Squadron had begun deploying from the Pacific coast.^[7] However, its 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, which arrived at Hickam Field, Hawaii as it was under attack, was used to reinforce the Hawaiian Islands.^[8] The reformed 38th Squadron remained in the United States. In mid-March 1942, the 38th was attached to the 303d Bombardment Group and 5th Air Force was authorized to organize the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron in its place.^[9]

Combat in the Southwest Pacific edit

The 40th was organized at RAAF Base Townsville, Australia in March 1942 combining personnel and equipment already in theater and new arrivals. It initially equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated LB-30 Liberator heavy bombers. Almost immediately upon formation, the squadron was called upon to provide three of its B-17s to evacuate General Douglas MacArthur and Philippines President Manuel Quezon from Del Monte Field in the Philippine Islands.^[2]

The following month the squadron was redesignated the 435th Bombardment Squadron. In May, the squadron participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, staging through Port Moresby, New Guinea and attacking the Japanese fleet.^[3] A report from a B-17 of the squadron of sighting an aircraft carrier convinced American naval commanders that fleet carriers were accompanying the Japanese invasion force.^[10]

It raided enemy transportation and communications targets and Japanese ground forces during th invasion of Papua New Guinea. It was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing airdromes, ground installations and shipping near New Britain and Rabaul from 7 to 12 August 1942. The squadron was withdrawn from combat in November 1942 and returned to the United States on paper.^[2][3]

Training unit edit

The squadron reorganized at Pyote Army Air Base, Texas in January 1943 and began operations as a B-17 Replacement Training Unit in February.^[2] Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.^[11] It stopped its training activities in October 1943, when its personnel were withdrawn. However it remained active as a paper unit until 1 April 1944, when it was inactivated in a general reorganization by the Army Air Forces of its training activities in the United States.^[2]

Return to the Pacific with B-29s edit

The squadron was reactivated the same day at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress squadron. However, B-29 groups were reorganized from four squadrons of 7 airplanes into three squadrons of 10 planes each,^[12] and the squadron was inactivated on 10 May 1944.^[2]

New B-29 groups were being formed, and the squadron was again activated at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas on 7 July 1944, and assigned to the 333d Bombardment Group. The 333d Group was a former heavy bomber training unit that had been inactivated in the spring of 1944.^[13] 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^[14] 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.^[2][13]

• Formed as the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron on 14 March 1942 by authority of the War Department but apparently without formal constitution and activation

Redesignated 435th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 April 1942

Inactivated on 1 April 1944

• Redesignated 435th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy and activated on 1 April 1944

Inactivated on 10 May 1944

• Activated on 7 July 1944

Inactivated on 28 May 1946^[2]

Assignments edit

• 19th Bombardment Group, 14 March 1942 – 1 April 1944 (attached to Allied Air Forces, c. 17 July – c. 24 September 1942)
• 19th Bombardment Group, 1 April – 10 May 1944
• 333d Bombardment Group, 7 July 1944 – 28 May 1946^[2]

Stations edit

• RAAF Base Townsville, Australia, 14 March – c. 15 November 1942
• Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho, c. 30 December 1942
• Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, 5 January 1943 – 1 April 1944
• Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, 1 April – 10 May 1944
• Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 7 July 1944
• Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas, 10 December 1944 – 19 June 1945
• Kadena Airfield, Okinawa, 5 August 1945 – 28 May 1946^[2]

Aircraft edit

• Consolidated LB-30 Liberator, 1942
• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1944
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress 1944–1946^[2]

Awards and campaigns edit

• United States Army Air Forces in Australia
• B-17 Flying Fortress units of the United States Army Air Forces
• List of B-29 Superfortress operators

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography edit

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

• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1953). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. V, The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.

Cate, James L. (1953). "The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn, Chapter 5, Exit Matterhorn". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. V, The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.

• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). "Introduction". The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. xxxvi. LCCN 48003657.
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. New York, NY: Devin-Adair Co. ASIN B0006AUP2C. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
• Edmonds, Walter D. (1992) [1951]. They Fought With What They Had: The Story of the Army Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific 1941-1942 (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
• 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.