874th Tactical Missile Squadron

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874th Tactical Missile Squadron
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
874th Tactical Missile Squadron emblem
874th Bombardment Squadron emblem[a][1]

The 874th Tactical Missile Squadron is an inactive

Distinguished Unit Citations
before the end of hostilities in August 1945. The squadron returned to the United States in December 1945 and was inactivated in March 1946, and its personnel and equipment transferred to another organization.

The 874th was activated again at Kadena in 1961, and became one of the first Air Force units to operate the

TM-76B Mace
cruise missile, serving in that role until 1965.

History

B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan

874th Bomb Sq B-29 Superfortress[b]

The

498th Bombardment Group, an early Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber squadrons. The squadron trained in New Mexico and at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas with early model B-29s until July 1944, when it began its deployment to the Pacific.[1][2]

The squadron arrived at its combat station,

Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for an attack on an aircraft manufacturing plant in Nagoya on 13 December 1944.[2]

In March 1945, the tactics of

MacDill Field, Florida on 4 August and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 371st Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously activated.[1][2][3]

Tactical missile operations

The squadron was redesignated the 874th Tactical Missile Squadron and reactivated in September 1961 as a

Okinawa.[1] However, it was not until early in 1962 that the 498th Tactical Missile Group's first launch site at Bolo Point became operational. Early arrivals to the squadron assisted contractor personnel in making the launch sites operational.[4] Other launch sites were at Onna Point, White Beach, and in Kin just north of Camp Hansen. Once all four sites were operational, the squadron took over the two most recently completed sites.[5] The squadron was equipped with the B model of the Mace, which was deployed so that a single crew was able to launch all missiles located at a single launch site directly from the underground bunkers in which they were stored. The 874th was one of the first squadrons equipped with the TM-76B, which used an inertial guidance system.[6]

During the

museums including one devoted to the nuclear weapons once based on Okinawa.[9]

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 874th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 19 November 1943
Activated on 20 November 1943
Inactivated on 4 August 1946
  • Redesignated 874th Tactical Missile Squadron and activated, on 25 April 1961 (not organized)
Organized on 8 September 1961[10]
Inactivated on 8 July 1965[11]

Assignments

  • 498th Bombardment Group, 20 November 1943 – 4 August 1946
  • Pacific Air Forces, 25 April 1961 (not organized)[10]
  • 498th Tactical Missile Group, 8 September 1961 – 8 July 1965[8]

Stations

Aircraft and missiles

Awards and campaigns

Award streamer Award Dates Notes
Distinguished Unit Citation
 13 December 1944 Japan, 874th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Distinguished Unit Citation 1–7 June 1945 Japan, 874th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
 8 February 1961 – 29 May 1963 874th Tactical Missile Squadron[1]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
Air Offensive, Japan 7 September 1944 – 2 September 1945 874th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Eastern Mandates 7 September 1944 – 14 April 1944 874th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Western Pacific 17 April 1945 – 2 September 1945 874th Bombardment Squadron[1]

See also

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ^ Approved 10 August 1944. Description: over and through a disc bendy of 12 blue and red, the head and neck of a green dragon, striking toward sinister base between 8 white stars, arranged 3 to chief and 5 to base.
  2. Martin Aircraft built Boeing B-29-5-MO Superfortress, serial 42-65210, Filthy Fay (later Fay). Shot down on 25 March 1945 in an attack on the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company factory, all eleven crewmembers were lost. Baugher, Joe (10 June 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers"
    . Joe Baugher. Retrieved 4 August 2023. Missing Air Crew Report 13447.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 793
  2. ^ a b c Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 364–365
  3. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 459–460
  4. ^ Mitchell, Jon (8 July 2012). "Okinawa's first nuclear missile men break silence". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  5. ^ Mindling & Bolton, p. 234
  6. ^ Mindling & Bolton, p. 215
  7. ^ Mindling & Bolton, p. 260
  8. ^ a b Bailey, Carl E. (8 February 2010). "498 Nuclear Systems Wing (AFMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  9. ^ "SGI's Anti-nuclear Weapons Exhibition "Everything You Treasure" Shown in New Zealand and Okinawa". Soka Gakkai International. 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d Lineage, including assignments, stations, aircraft and missiles through May 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 793
  11. ^ a b See Fletcher, p. 65 (dates at Kadena Air Base), Bailey (dates assigned to 498th Group)
  12. ^ Fletcher, p. 65

Bibliography

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

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