From 1947 to 1949, the squadron was active as a reserve unit, but does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped. It remained inactive until 1963, when it was activated at Whiteman as the 509th Strategic Missile Squadron.
The ground and air echelons had arrived at the unit's combat station, RAF Polebrook, England by 12 May 1943, and the squadron flew its first mission on 14 May. The squadron primarily flew strategic bombing missions against Germany. It struck targets including ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt; bridges near Köln; oil refineries at Hamburg; communications targets near Mayen; marshalling yards at Koblenz and industrial targets at Berlin, Hannover, and Mannheim. Other targets in France Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway included airfields, harbor installations, and submarine pens.[4] From June 1943 until January 1944 the squadron flew 54 consecutive missions without suffering a combat loss, longest of any Eighth Air Force bomber squadron.[3]
On 9 October 1943, the squadron attacked the Arado Flugzeugwerke aircraft factory Anklam, Germany. Despite heavy flak and attacks by enemy fighters, accurate bombing inflicted heavy damage on the target. The squadron was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for this action. On 11 January 1944, as Operation Pointblank continued, it attacked the heavily defended Focke-Wulf Fw 190 production facility at Oschersleben, without fighter escort and in the face of the strongest fighter opposition encountered for five months, for which it earned a second DUC. It continued attacks on German aircraft production during Big Week, the concentrated attack by VIII Bomber Command against the German aircraft industry in late February.[4][5]
The squadron was occasionally withdrawn from strategic missions to provide air support and interdiction. In the buildup to Operation Overlord, the invasion at Normandy, the squadron participated in Operation Crossbow, attacking V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket launch sites. In June 1944, it provided support for the landings, and the following month supported Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo. In September, it supported Operation Market Garden, an unsuccessful airborne attack attempting to obtain a bridgehead across the Rhine at Arnhem. From December 1944 through January 1945, it attacked front line positions during the Battle of the Bulge. In March 1945, it flew missions to support Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in Germany.[4]
Following V-E Day, the squadron left England, with the first plane being flown back by its crew departing on 21 May 1945. The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth in June 1945. It briefly assembled at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, and was inactivated there on 28 August 1945.[1][3]
Although nominally a very heavy bomber unit, it is not clear whether or not the squadron was fully staffed or equipped.[9] President Truman's reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force,[10] and the 509th was inactivated[1] and most of its personnel transferred to elements of the 440th Troop Carrier Wing at Wold Chamberlain.[11]
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Squadron
The squadron was redesignated the 509th Strategic Missile Squadron in 1962[1] and organized at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri in June 1963 as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) intercontinental ballistic missile squadron, assigned to the 351st Strategic Missile Wing. The wing's first LGM-30B Minuteman I, however did not arrive for emplacement in its silo until 14 January 1964. The squadron became combat ready on 10 June 1964,[12] and began standing alert with a complement of 50 missiles.
Beginning in May 1966, the squadron began an upgrade to LGM-30F Minuteman II missiles. The conversion to the newer model of the Minuteman was completed in October 1967.[12] The new missile had greater range and accuracy, along with the ability to employ penetration aids to reduce the effectiveness of anti-ballistic missile defenses and also had more resistance to nuclear blasts.[14]
In September 1991, the squadron was renamed the 509th Missile Squadron as the Air Force removed the distinction between "tactical" and "strategic" in unit names prior to the combination of SAC and Tactical Air Command into a single Air Combat Command. In the 1990s, President Bush decided to stand down Minuteman II units and the squadron was inactivated on 28 July 1995. Pursuant to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the squadron's former missile sites were destroyed, with the last (Site H-11) being destroyed on 15 December 1997.[15]
Lineage
Constituted as the 509th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 25 September 1942
Activated on 1 October 1942
Redesignated 509th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 11 August 1944
Inactivated on 28 August 1945
Redesignated 509th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 11 March 1947
Activated in the reserve on 9 April 1947
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Redesignated 509th Strategic Missile Squadron (ICBM-Minuteman) and activated on 11 October 1962[16] (not organized)
Organized on 1 June 1963
Redesignated 509th Missile Squadron on 1 September 1991
Inactivated on 28 July 1995
Assignments
351st Bombardment Group, 1 October 1942 – 28 August 1945
351st Bombardment Group, 9 April 1947
381st Bombardment Group, 3 May 1948 – 27 June 1949
Strategic Air Command, 9 August 1962 (not organized)[16]
^Approved 9 December 1943. Description: Over and through an ultramarine blue disc, an annulet white, surmounted by a light red aerial bomb, winged gold, falling toward dexter base.
^Aircraft is Boeing B-17G-80-BO Flying Fortress, serial 43-38116.Classy Chassis. It crashed at Polebrook on returning from a mission on 2 March 1945. It was salvaged two days later. Baugher, Joe (10 April 2023). "1943 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
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 (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-1987-7.
