764th Bombardment Squadron

History

World War II

The 764th Bombardment Squadron was activated at Wendover Field, Utah on 1 July 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 461st Bombardment Group. After training with Consolidated B-24 Liberators under Second and Fourth Air Forces in the United States, the squadron departed for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations on New Year's Day of 1944.

The squadron arrived at its combat station, Torretto Airfield, Italy by the end of February 1944.

The squadron was engaged primarily in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, attacking communications, industrial facilities and other enemy strategic targets in Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia. It participated in the campaign against Axis petroleum production with attacks against facilities at Most, Czechoslovakia; Blechhammer, Germany; and Moosbierbaum and Vienna in Austria. It received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for an attack on petroleum facilities at Ploiești, Romania on 15 July 1944, when it heavily damaged its objective, despite clouds and smoke obscuring the target and opposition by flak and interceptors.

it also conducted strategic attacks against enemy airfields and aircraft manufacturing centers. On one of its early missions, it attacked an aircraft component manufacturing facility at Budapest, Hungary, battling its way through enemy air defenses. This attack earned the squadron its first DUC.

The squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic mission, flying air support and air interdiction missions. During Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in August 1944, it hit artillery positions. The following month it flew airlift missions, transporting supplies to forces in France. Some of its last missions were flown to support Operation Grapeshot, the spring 1945 offensive in northern Italy.

Following V-E Day, the squadron flew supplies to prisoners of war in Austria. It began returning to the United States in early July. It reassembled at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota at the end of the month and was inactivated there on 28 August 1945.

Tactical bomber operations

Prompted by experience in the Korean War, the Air Force decided to increase its air support and air interdiction capabilities to support ground forces. As part of this increase, it organized the 461st Bombardment Wing, which included the squadron, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in December 1953. Officer cadre for the squadron was drawn from the 4th Tow Target Squadron at George Air Force Base, California. Facilities at Hill required development and combat readiness training did not begin until July 1954.

The wing trained in light bomber operations and participated in exercises, including simulated deployments. In January 1955, the unit began to receive B-57s and was fully equipped by the end of the year. However, Hill's parking and hangar space was inadequate for the B-57s and even as they began to arrive, the unit anticipated a move to Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, which was being developed by the Corps of Engineers for reopening in 1955. In October 1955, the squadron moved from Hill to Blytheville.

The conversion to the Canberra brought a number of changes. The new aircraft was subject to several periods of grounding, and the unit faced shortfalls in the number of aircrew available. The unit mission also underwent changes, with the delivery of tactical nuclear weapons taking priority over conventional weapons delivery, although conventional weapons remained as a secondary mission. The squadron inactivated in January 1958 as Tactical Air Command, under budget pressures, prepared to transfer Blytheville to Strategic Air Command (SAC).

Strategic bomber operations

In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled units, which could carry a lineage and history. As a result, the 461st Bombardment Wing replaced the 4128th Strategic Wing at Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas. As part of this organizational action, the squadron took over the mission, personnel and equipment of the 718th Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated. SAC wings were organized under the dual deputy system, so the squadron was assigned directly to the 461st Wing, rather than to a group.

One half of the squadron's Boeing B-52 Stratofortress aircraft were maintained on fifteen minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. The squadron continued the mission of strategic bombardment training. It participated in exercises and operational readiness inspections at the direction of SAC.

In January 1967, the squadron deployed its aircraft and crews to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, where it carried out missions in Southeast Asia as part of a provisional bombardment wing participating in Operation Arc Light. The squadron's planes and personnel returned to Amarillo in July, where they returned to nuclear alert. In addition, in January 1968, announcement was made that Amarillo would close at the end of the year. The squadron's last operational B-52 was transferred to another unit on 21 January 1968, and the squadron inactivated on 25 March.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 764th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943 : Activated on 1 July 1943 : Redesignated 764th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 1944 : Inactivated on 28 August 1945
• Redesignated the 764th Bombardment Squadron, Light on 11 December 1953 : Activated on 23 December 1953 : Redesignated 764th Bombardment Squadron, Tactical on 1 October 1955 : Inactivated on 8 January 1958
• Redesignated 764th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy and activated on 15 November 1962 (not organized) : Organized on 1 February 1963 : Discontinued and inactivated on 28 March 1968

Assignments

• 461st Bombardment Group, 1 July 1943 – 28 August 1945
• 461st Bombardment Group, 23 December 1953 – 8 January 1958
• Strategic Air Command, 15 November 1962 (not organized)
• 461st Bombardment Wing, 1 February 1963 – 28 March 1968

Stations

• Wendover Field, Utah 1 July 1943
• Gowen Field, Idaho, 29 July 1943
• Kearns Army Air Base, Utah 11 September 1943
• Wendover Field, Utah, 30 September 1943
• Hammer Field, California, 30 October 1943 – 1 January 1944
• Venosa Airfield, Italy, c. 18 February 1944
• Torretto Airfield, Italy c. 23 February 1944 – 1 July 1945
• Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, 22 July–28 August 1945
• Hill Air Force Base, Utah, 23 December 1953
• Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, 8 October 1955 – 8 January 1958
• Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas, 1 February 1963 – 28 March 1968

Aircraft

• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945
• Douglas B-26 Invader, 1954–1955
• Martin B-57 Canberra, 1955–1958
• Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, 1963–1968

Awards and campaigns

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 743
2. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 743-745
3. (June 12, 2019). "Factsheet 461 Operations Group (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
4. "Abstract, History 461 Bombardment Wing Dec 1953-Jun 1954". Air Force History Index.
5. "Abstract, History 461 Bombardment Wing Jan-Jun 1955". Air Force History Index.
6. Mueller, p. 37
7. "Abstract, History 461 Bombardment Wing Jan-Jun 1956". Air Force History Index.
8. (1 April 1975). "Abstract (Unclassified), History of the Strategic Bomber since 1945 (Top Secret, downgraded to Secret)". Air Force History Index.
9. However, "[i]n December 1965, a few months after the first B-52Bs started leaving the operational inventory, [[Robert S. McNamara]], Secretary of Defense [announced] another phaseout program that would further reduce SAC’s bomber force. Basically, this program called for the mid-1971 retirement of all B-52Cs and of several subsequent B-52 models."Knaack, p. 248 n.41
10. "Abstract, History of Amarillo Air Force Base". Air Force History Index.
11. Lineage, including aircraft, assignments and stations, through March 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 743
12. ''See'' Ravenstein, ''Combat Wings'', pp. 254-256 (inactivation of 461st Wing)