The 679th Bombardment Squadron was activated on 1 March 1943 at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona as one of the original squadrons of the 444th Bombardment Group.[2] The 444th was assigned to the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress wing, the 58th Bombardment Wing. After a period of organization at Davis-Monthan the squadron moved to Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas. for training, initially flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Martin B-26 Marauders.[3] The group engaged in training on the new aircraft and its mission of long range precision bombing. At Great Bend, the squadron received early model Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and prototype YB-29s, however aircraft were still undergoing development and were frequently modified by Boeing technicians in the field while the squadron was undergoing training in Kansas. In November 1943 The 444th reorganized as a Very Heavy group and added the 8th Bombardment Maintenance Squadron, which was paired with the 679th to maintain its B-29s.[4]
China Burma India Theater
In early April 1944, the squadron left the United States and deployed to a former B-24 Liberator airfield at Charra Airfield, India. The first airplane of the 444th group landed at Charra on 11 April 1944. Due to the lack of revetments at Charra the squadron's airplanes were parked wingtip to wingtip on the field's shorter runway. Charra served only as a maintenance and staging base. Its runways were too short for a B-29 to take off fully loaded. While the group was stationed there, all missions were flown from the bases of the other groups in the 58th Bombardment Wing.[5]
From India, the 444th Bomb Group planned to fly missions against Japan from advanced airfields in China. However, all the supplies of fuel, bombs and spare parts needed to support operations from the forward bases in China had to be flown from India over The Hump. For this role, one aircraft from the squadron was stripped of combat equipment and used as a flying tanker. Each aircraft carried seven tons of fuel, but the amount that was delivered to China depended on weather, including headwinds and aircraft icing which increased the fuel consumption of the "tankers."[6]
The squadron flew its first combat mission on 5 June 1944 against the Makasan railroad yards at Bangkok, Thailand. Ten days later the 679th participated in the first American air attack on the Japanese home islands since the 1942 Doolittle raid, staging through Chinese bases on a nighttime raid against the iron and steel works at Yawata, Japan.[7] It returned to Yawata on 20 August on a daytime raid for which the unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.[2] Operating from bases in India and at times staging through fields in China, the group struck transportation centers, naval installations, aircraft plants and other targets in Burma, China, Thailand, Japan and Formosa.[3]
On 12 October 1944 the 444th group reorganized. The 679th Bombardment Squadron and the four bombardment maintenance squadrons were disbanded and their personnel and equipment were transferred to the other squadrons of the group.[2][4]
Lineage
Constituted as the 679th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 15 February 1943
Activated on 1 March 1943
Redesignated 679th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (B-29) on 26 April 1943
Redesignated 679th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 20 November 1943
^Aircraft is Bell Aircraft built Boeing B-29-30-BA Superfortress, serial 42-63577 Round Robin Rosie. This aircraft returned to the United States after the war and was reclaimed on 15 February 1957. Bauger, "1942 USAF Serial Numbers".
^ abcdLineage, assignments, stations, aircraft, awards and campaigns in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 705, except April 1943 redesignation, see Robertson, Patsy (6 April 2010). "Factsheet 444 Air Expeditionary Wing (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
Watkins, Robert A. (2017). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Vol. VI, China-Burma-India & The Western Pacific. Atglen,PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-5273-7.
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