789th Bombardment Squadron

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789th Bombardment Squadron
(later 789th Tactical Fighter Squadron)
European Theater of Operations
Insignia
789th Bombardment Squadron emblem[b][1]
World War II fuselage code[2]6A

The 789th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive

Clovis Army Air Field
, New Mexico.

The squadron was redesignated the 789th Tactical Fighter Squadron and activated in April 1965 as part of the

40th Tactical Fighter Squadron
.

History

World War II

Training in the United States and deployment

The

European Theater of Operations.[1][3] The ground echelon departed Wendover on 12 February for the port of embarkation at Camp Shanks, New York, sailing aboard the USAT Frederick Lykes on 28 February. The air echelon ferried their Liberators to England via the South Atlantic Ferry route.[4]

Combat in Europe

The squadron arrived at its combat station,

military air base at Bourges. It attacked targets such as factories at Bonn, Osnabrück and Stuttgart, power generating facilities at Hamm, and the harbor at Kiel. It also attacked the German aircraft industry at Brunswick, and other objectives. In September 1944, the squadron spent some time transporting fuel to France to support the Allied advance toward Germany.[3]

The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic campaign to engage in

lines of communication and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 through January 1945. It bombed enemy transportation to assist Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. The squadron flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945.[3]

Return to the United States and inactivation

Following

Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico, where it became one of the first units in Strategic Air Command. On 4 August 1946, the squadron was inactivated and its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 352d Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously activated.[1][3][4][5]

Fighter operations

As the United States Air Force expanded its

40th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which moved on paper to Eglin from Yokota Air Base, Japan.[6]

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 789th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943
Activated on 1 August 1943
Redesignated 789th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 10 August 1944
Redesignated 789th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 5 August 1945
Inactivated on 4 August 1946[7]
  • Redesignated 789th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 9 February 1965 and activated (not organized)
Organized on 1 April 1965[8]
Inactivated on 20 June 1965[8]

Assignments

Stations

  • Wendover Field
    , Utah, 1 August 1943
  • Mountain Home Army Air Field
    , Idaho, 8 September 1943
  • Kearns Army Air Base, Utah 17 October 1943
  • Wendover Field, Utah, 2 November 1943 – 12 February 1944
  • RAF Rackheath (AAF-145),[9] England, 11 March 1944 – 12 June 1945
  • Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, 15 July 1945
  • Fairmont Army Air Field
    , Nebraska, 25 July 1945
  • Alamogordo Army Air Field
    , New Mexico, 22 August 1945
  • Harvard Army Air Field, Nebraska, 8 September 1945
  • Clovis Army Air Field, New Mexico, 7 January–4 August 1946[10]
  • Eglin Air Force Base, 1 April 1965 – 20 June 1965[8]

Aircraft

Campaigns

Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
Air Offensive, Europe 12 March 1944 – 5 June 1944 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Normandy 6 June 1944 – 24 July 1944 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Northern France 25 July 1944 – 14 September 1944 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Rhineland 15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Ardennes-Alsace 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Central Europe 22 March 1944 – 21 May 1945 789th Bombardment Squadron[1]

See also

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. Ford Motors built Consolidated B-24H-25-FO Liberator, serial 42-95234. This aircraft survived the war and returned to the United States on 11 June 1945. Baugher, Joe (15 July 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers"
    . Joe Baugher. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ Approved 19 January 1945. Description: On a white disc, edged black, a caricatured red box car with gray wings and wheels, having a caricatured tan face and hands, in flight toward sinister base, dropping a green aerial bomb with the right hand and aiming a like aerial bomb with the left hand, all in front of a medium blue cloud formation.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 756–757
  2. ^ Watkins, p. 101
  3. ^ a b c d Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 342–343
  4. ^ a b Freeman, p. 259
  5. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 436–437
  6. ^ a b Bailey, Carl E. (28 November 2007). "Factsheet 33 Fighter Wing (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Lineage, including assignments and aircraft, through March 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 756–757.
  8. ^ a b c d See Bailey, Factsheet 33 Fighter Wing
  9. ^ Station number in Anderson.
  10. ^ Station information through March 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 756–757, except as noted.

Bibliography

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

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