464th Bombardment Squadron

History

Heavy bomber replacement training

The 464th Bombardment Squadron was first activated in July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as one of the four original squadrons of the 331st Bombardment Group. In September it moved to Casper Army Air Field, where it became a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Replacement Training Unit until 1943, when it converted to the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were not proving to be well adapted to the training mission, particularly to replacement training. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, while the groups and squadrons acting as replacement training units were disbanded or inactivated. This resulted in the 464th, along with other units at Casper, being inactivated in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 211th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Heavy), which assumed the 331st Group's mission, personnel, and equipment.

Very heavy bomber operations

In September 1944, the squadron was reactivated as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress unit at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas and assigned to the 382d Bombardment Group. In December it moved to Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, where it began training with B-29s.

Training was considerably delayed due to equipment shortages, and it did not receive B-29 aircraft until late spring 1945. The ground echelon deployed to Guam by ship in early August 1945, while the air echelon remained in the United States. The ground echelon remained in the Marianas supporting other units' aircraft. After the ground echelon returned to the United States in December 1945, the entire unit was inactivated ay Camp Anza, California on 4 January 1946.

Lineage

• Constituted 464th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 July 1942 : Activated on 6 July 1942 : Inactivated on 1 April 1944
• Redesignated 464th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 4 August 1944 : Activated on 19 September 1944 : Inactivated on 4 January 1946

Assignments

• 331st Bombardment Group, 6 July 1942 – 1 April 1944
• 382d Bombardment Group, 19 September 1944 – 4 January 1946

Stations

• Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 6 July 1942
• Casper Army Air Field, Wyoming, 15 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 19 September 1944
• Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 11 December 1944 – 1 August 1945
• Guam, 8 September 1945 (ground echelon only)
• Tinian, c. October – 15 December 1945 (ground echelon only)
• Camp Anza, California, 28 December 1945 – 4 January 1946

Aircraft

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1943, 1944–1945
• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943-1944, 1944–1945
• North American B-25 Mitchell, 1944–1945
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1945-1946

Campaigns

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes

; Citations

Bibliography

::

References

1. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 570–571
2. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 569-571
3. Goss, p. 75
4. Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 7
5. Unknown. "Abstract, History Casper Army Air Field un 1944". Air Force History Index.