Although briefly active in the reserve from 1947-1949, the squadron was primarily a Strategic Air Command bomber unit with Boeing B-47 Stratojets. The squadron was inactivated in 1960, in connection with the phasing out of the B-47.
History
World War II
Initial organization and training in the United States
The squadron was first established at MacDill Field, Florida on 1 July 1942 as the 443d Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 320th Bombardment Group, a Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber group.[3][4][5] The squadron trained rapidly in Florida, completing Phase I (individual) Operational Training at MacDill and Phase II (aircrew) Operational Training at Drane Field until beginning to move its aircraft to England in August without starting Phase III (unit) training.[6]
The air echelon departed for Baer Field, Indiana on 19 August with initial plans calling for the squadron's air echelon to move to Europe via the North Atlantic Ferrying Route. At Baer Field, it received B-26s direct from the factory. However, these planes were soon withdrawn and transferred to the 319th Bombardment Group, the first B-26 group to fly its bombers across the Atlantic.[6][b] The air echelon continued training at Baer Field with the few Marauders it had remaining. After delays continuing to November, it moved to Morrison Field, Florida to begin ferrying its planes using the South Atlantic Ferrying Route.[3][6]
The ground echelon of the squadron, meanwhile, departed the United States on the RMS Queen Mary on 5 September, arriving at RAF Hethel on 12 September, and moving to RAF Tibenham at the beginning of October.[3][7] In England, it received additional training from units of Eighth Air Force.[6] It departed for North Africa on 21 November 1942.[3][7] The air echelon never conducted operations from England, with their Marauders arriving in North Africa between December 1942 and January 1943.[4]
Combat in the Mediterranean Theater
320th Group B-26 Marauder after attacking a bridge over the Rhone River near Arles[c]
The squadron and its aircraft arrived at its first true overseas station, Oran Es Sénia Airport, Algeria, in early January 1943.[3] The squadron had mine dropping equipment installed on its bomb racks for attacks against enemy submarines. The squadron was withdrawn from antisubmarine combat in February for rest and the antisubmarine mission was transferred to the Royal Air Force.[8] However, it did not fly its first bombing missions until April 1943, by which time it had moved to Montesquieu Airfield, Algeria from its training base at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria. Until July 1943, operating from bases in Algeria and Tunisia, it flew missions against enemy shipping on the approaches to Tunis It flew missions against Tunisia and participated in Operation Corkscrew, the projected invasion of Pantelleria. The following month it provided air support for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.[4]
The squadron bombed marshalling yards. bridges airfields, road junctions, viaducts, harbors, fuel and supply dumps, defense positions and other targets in Italy. It supported Operation Avalanche, the landings near Salerno, on the Italian mainland, and knocked out targets to aid the seizure of Naples and to cross the Volturno River. It flew missions against Anzio and Monte Cassino and flew interdiction missions in central Italy in preparation for the Allied approach to Rome.[3][4]
In November 1943, the squadron moved to Decimomannu Airfield on Sardinia[3] to be better positioned to attack targets in central and northern Italy. Its efforts supporting preparations for and execution of the Allied offensive in central Italy in April through June 1944, including the French breathrough of the Gustav Line,[9] earned the squadron a French Croix de Guerre with Palm. On 12 May 1944, in the face of an intense antiaircraft artillery barrage, it bombed enemy troop concentrations near Fondi supporting United States Fifth Army's advance on Rome, for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC).[3] From June to November 1944, it flew interdiction missions in the Po Valley.[4]
Combat in northern Europe and inactivation
After the Allies carried out Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, in August 1944, the squadron flew air support missions there, moving to Dijon-Longvic Airfield, France in November. It bombed bridges, railroads, gun positions, barracks, supply and munitions dumps and other targets in France and Germany unitl V-E Day. Near the end of the war, on 15 March 1945, the squadron bombed pillboxes, weapons pits, trenches and roads within the Siegfried Line to enable the breakthrough of the United States Seventh Army, for which it was awarded a second DUC.[4]
Following the end of the war, the squadron moved to AAF Station Fürth, Germany, where it took part in Operation Eclipse, the air disarmament campaign, acting as teams to disband the Luftwaffe, and packing its most advanced equipment for shipment back to the US,[10] until the fall, when it moved to France to prepare for return to the US. It departed Europe in November 1945 and was inactivated on its arrival at the Port of Embarkation in December.[3][4]
Service in the reserves
The 443d was reactivated as a reserve unit under Air Defense Command (ADC) at Mitchel Field, New York in July 1947 as a light bomber unit.[3] At Mitchel, its training was supervised by the 113th AAF Base Unit (later the 2230th Air Force Reserve Training Center). It does not appear the squadron was fully staffed or equipped with any operational aircraft during this time.[11] In 1948 Continental Air Command assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.[12] The 443d was inactivated when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system in June 1949.[3] The squadron's personnel continuing in paid reserve status and its equipment were transferred to elements of the 84th Fighter Wing.[13]
In early 1953, the squadron began to replace its B-29s with Boeing B-47B Stratojets. For a while the service test model of the reconnaissance version of this new jet bomber, the YRB-47, was on the squadron's strength.[3] In December, the squadron began training the cadre of B-47 aircrews for the 96th Bombardment Wing, which had been activated at Altus Air Force Base with only minimum manning as that station was being reopened. This training continued for a little more than a year.[14][16]
In June 1954, the squadron, along with the entire 320th Wing, deployed as a unit to RAF Brize Norton remaining there until September. It repeated this performance at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam between September 1956 and January 1957. Later in 1957, overseas alert operations changed in character when overseas alert began to be supported by multiple wings, with individuals rotating home during an extended overseas Operation Reflex alert, rather than deploying an entire wing overseas as a unit. Reflex placed Stratojets and Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters at bases closer to the Soviet Union.[17]
The percentage of SAC planes on alert gradually grew over the next three years to reach its goal of 1/3 of SAC’s force on alert by 1960.[18] From 1958, SAC's B-47 Stratojet squadrons began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases. This was designed to meet General Thomas S. Power’s initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC’s planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.[19][20]
However, SAC was relying on the longer range Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, deciding to reduce the number of B-47 wings at March Air Force Base from two to one. With this reduction, the 443d was inactivated on 15 September 1960.[3]
Expeditionary operations
The squadron was converted to provisional status and redesignated the 443d Air Expeditionary Squadron on 13 May 2011 and assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed.[3] It was activated by 15 June 2016 to support Operation Inherent Resolve.[21] In November 2018 "[a]s the fight against ISIS continue[d] in the border region between Iraq and Syria, security forces defenders from the 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron integrated with Iraqi Security Forces and other coalition partners to launch the first joint base defense exercise at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. 443d airmen deliver combat support through airfield management, cargo processing and personnel movement.[22] In June 2021, the squadron began operating Erbil Air Base, Iraq in addition, when the 442nd Air Expeditionary Squadron, which had been operating the base independently, was inactivated.[23]
Airmen deployed to the unit are required to perform in multiple skill areas, not only their specialties to keep the base running with the smallest number of personnel. The unit was active as late as March 2024.[24][21]
Lineage
Constituted as the 443d Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 19 June 1942
Activated on 1 July 1942
Redesignated 443d Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 9 October 1944
Inactivated on 6 December 1945
Redesignated 443d Bombardment Squadron, Light on 26 May 1947
Activated in the reserve on 9 July 1947
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Redesignated 443d Bombardment Squadron, Medium and activated, on 1 December 1952
Discontinued on 15 September 1960
Redesignated 443d Air Expeditionary Squadron and converted to provisional status on 13 May 2011[3]
Activated c. 15 June 2016
Assignments
320th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1942 – 4 December 1945
320th Bombardment Group, 9 July 1947 – 27 June 1949
320th Bombardment Wing, 1 December 1952 – 15 September 1960
Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate at any time after 13 May 2011[3]
^Approved 4 March 1954. Description: On a blue disc a caricature of an angry yellow parrot with red beak and black and white eyes, hurling a red bomb across the lower left edge of the disc and leaving white speed lines.
^The 319th Bombardment Group suffered several losses on its ferry flight, as winter weather began to impact the northern ferry route and planes were delayed for weather or aircraft malfunctions. As a result, beginning with the 320th Group, further deployments of B-26 units to Europe travelled over the South Atlantic route, Freeman, pp. 15, 55.
^Aircraft is Martin B-26G-5-MA Marauder, serial 43-34240. This aircraft was hit by German flak and exploded while attacking a roadblock near Covigliano, Italy on 23 August 1944. There were no survivors reported, though three parachutes were reported. Missing Aircrew Report 7997.
^Despite being numbered in the series reserved for Air National Guard units (101-299), and unlike the 106th Wing's other two B-29 bomber units, the 135th was not an Air National Guard unit. It had served during World War II as the 74th Bombardment Squadron and was always a regular squadron.
^Although the 320th Wing was a new organization, it later continued, through temporary bestowal, the history, and honors of the 320th Bombardment Group. This temporary bestowal ended in January 1984, when the wing and group were consolidated into a single unit.
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
Watkins, Robert A. (2009). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Vol. IV, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations. Atglen,PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-3401-6.
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