414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron

Mission

The squadron's mission is to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for NATO and Turkey. The squadron uses the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, a remotely piloted aircraft that provides full-motion, high-definition video surveillance. About fifteen Air Force personnel are stationed at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey to operate the Predators. Maintenance operations were transferred to a contractor. The squadron is responsible for the launch and recovery of mission aircraft, acting as the launch and recovery element, while a mission control element operates the Reaper during its mission.

In 2011 the mission control element was located at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.

History

World War II

Organization and training

The squadron was activated at MacDill Field, Florida in February 1942 as the 24th Reconnaissance Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Group. Since a reorganization of General Headquarters Air Force in September 1936, each bombardment group of the Army Air Forces (AAF) had an assigned or attached reconnaissance squadron, which operated the same aircraft as that group's assigned bombardment squadrons. The following month, it moved to Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and also flew antisubmarine patrols. In April, the practice of having one squadron of heavy bombardment groups designated for reconnaissance ended and the squadron became the 414th Bombardment Squadron. After a brief training period the squadron left Sarasota on 16 May.

The ground echelon sailed on the , arriving in Scotland on 10 June and at RAF Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, the following day. The air echelon, along with the air echelon of the 342nd Bombardment Squadron staged through Grenier Field, New Hampshire starting on 15 May. From 2 through 11 June the squadrons deployed elements to the Pacific Coast, recommencing their deployment to Great Britain via Goose Bay Airport, Labrador and Greenland to Prestwick Airport Scotland on 23 June. The squadron's B-17s began arriving at Grafton Underwood on 1 July, where they formed part of the first heavy bomber group assigned to Eighth Air Force.

Combat in Europe

Operations from Great Britain

The haste with which the squadron had trained and deployed resulted in deficiencies in its training. Most pilots had not flown at high altitudes on oxygen; some gunners had never operated a turret, much less fired at a moving target. Crews had flown together for only a few weeks in training. The squadron's first weeks in England were devoted to intensive training, with numerous specialists attending Royal Air Force (RAF) schools to prepare for combat. The squadron flew its first mission on 17 August 1942, attacking a marshalling yard at Rouen, which was also the first mission flown by AAF heavy bombers stationed in Great Britain. Two days later, the squadron supported Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, by attacking Abbeville/Drucat Airfield. It attacked naval installations, airfields and industrial and transportation targets in France and the Low Countries.

In September, the 97th Group and its squadrons were transferred to XII Bomber Command in the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. However, VIII Bomber Command retained operational control of these units until they left England. The 414th and 342nd Squadrons were at Grafton Underwood, while the 340th and 341st, along with 97th Group headquarters were at RAF Polebrook. In September, the AAF decided to follow its own organization and use larger bases that would accommodate an entire group, and the 414th and 342nd Squadrons joined the rest of the group at Polebrook.

Operations in the Mediterranean Theater

Following the Operation Torch landings at Oran and Algiers on 8 November, the air echelon of the 414th left Polebrook on 18 November, staging through RAF Hurn for Maison Blanche Airport, Algeria. The ground echelon sailed by convoy to Algeria. The squadron was established at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria near the end of November.

Through May 1943, the squadron engaged in the campaign to cut German supply lines in North Africa by striking shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and bombing docks, harbors, airfields and marshalling yards in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and southern France and Italy. The squadron moved forward through Algeria and into Tunisia during these operations. In June 1943, it supported Operation Corkscrew, the projected invasion of Pantelleria, which resulted in the surrender of the island without invasion. Through the summer of 1943, it supported Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Italy.

From November 1943, the squadron was primarily involved with the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The following month, it moved to Italy, pausing at Cerignola Airfield for a month before moving to Amendola Airfield, which would be its station for the remainder of the war. It bombed targets in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia; striking strategic targets such as oil refineries, aircraft factories and marshalling yards. During Big Week, the intensive attacks on the German aircraft industry in February 1944, it was part of the lead formation in a strike on an aircraft manufacturing plant at Steyr, Austria. The group was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation for that raid. It received a second DUC for an attack on the oil refineries near Ploesti, Romania on 18 August 1944.

The group also flew air support and interdiction missions against enemy lines of communication, airfields and transportation facilities. It supported Allied forces at Anzio and Monte Cassino. It supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, with attacks on coastal defenses. In the spring of 1945, it supported United States Fifth Army and British Eighth Army in their advance through the Po Valley.

Following V-E Day, the squadron moved to Marcianise Airfield, Italy, where it was inactivated on 29 October 1945.

Expeditionary operations

The squadron was converted to provisional status as the 414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron and assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in the summer of 2011. USAFE activated it for the first time at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey in the fall. Its Predators were previously deployed in Iraq, where they flew missions surveilling elements of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which continued from Incirlik. The squadron is made up of airmen deployed from Creech and Holloman Air Force Bases.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 24th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942 : Activated on 3 February 1942 : Redesignated 414th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 April 1942 : Redesignated 414th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy 30 September 1944 : Inactivated on 29 October 1945
• Converted to provisional status and redesignated 414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron on 19 July 2011 : Activated on 15 October 2011

Assignments

• 97th Bombardment Group, 3 February 1942 – 29 October 1945
• United States Air Forces in Europe to activate or inactivate as needed, 19 July 2011 :: 39th Expeditionary Operations Group, 15 October 2011 – present

Stations

• MacDill Field, Florida, 3 February 1942
• Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, 29 March 1942 – 16 May 1942
• RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF-106), England, 11 June 1942
• RAF Polebrook (AAF-110), England, 8 September 1942 – 10 November 1942
• Maison Blanche Airport, Algeria, c. 19 November 1942
• Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria, c. 22 November 1942
• Biskra Airfield, Algeria, 26 December 1942
• Chateaudun-du-Rhumel Airfield, Algeria, 8 February 1943
• Pont du Fahs Airfield, Tunisia, 12 August 1943
• Depienne Airfield, Tunisia, 14 August 1943
• Cerignola Airfield, Italy, c. 14 December 1943
• Amendola Airfield, Italy, 17 January 1944
• Marcianise Airfield, Italy, c. October 1945 – 29 October 1945
• Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, 15 October 2011 – present

Aircraft

• Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 1942
• Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, 1942–1945
• General Atomics MQ-1B Predator, 2011–present

Awards and campaigns

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes

; Citations

Bibliography

References

1. Staff Historian. "Factsheet 414 Expeditionary Reconnaissance Group (USAFE)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
2. (16 March 2012). "414th ERS marks 70 years, embraces new mission". 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs.
3. (16 January 2018). "United States Air Force Abbreviated Aircraft Accident Investigation Board Report MQ-1B Predator, T/N 04-3129". Air Force History Index.
4. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 506
5. Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 166-168
6. Maurer (1987), p. 340
7. Freeman,p. 246
8. Freeman, p. 11
9. Freeman, p. 16
10. The first AAF bomber groups to deploy to England had patterned their basing on that of the [[RAF Bomber Command]], which typically had a [[wing (military aviation unit)
11. Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organizational Status Change Report, July 2011
12. Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organizational Status Change Report, October 2011
13. (5 August 2015). "U.S. Launches First Airstrike from Incirlik Against ISIS In Syria". Military.com.
14. (1 April 2022). "Factsheet 97 Operations Group (AETC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
15. Lineage and stations through March 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 506, except as noted.
16. Assignments, and aircraft through March 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 506.
17. Station number in Anderson, p. 19.
18. Station number in Anderson, p. 20.
19. "Air Force Personnel Services: Unit Awards". Air Force Personnel Center.