428th Bombardment Squadron

"39th Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium)" redirects here. For the 39th Reconnaissance Squadron of 1943-1944, see 101st Bombardment (Photographic) Squadron.

428th Bombardment Squadron
B-47 Stratojet as flown by the squadron 1958-1962
Active	1942-1945; 1959-1962
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Medium Bomber
Motto(s)	Tempori Efficientes Latin On Time and Effective
Engagements	Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation
Insignia
Patch with 428th Bombardment Squadron emblem
Patch with 428th Bombardment Squadron World War II emblem
World War II tail stripe	Top Yellow, bottom third red

The 428th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was as part of the 310th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Shilling Air Force Base, Kansas.

It was inactivated on 1 January 1962.

History

World War II

310th Bombardmnet Group Mitchells attacking Brenner Pass 1944

Activated as a B-25 reconnaissance squadron in early 1942, it was redesignated a medium bomber unit in April. It trained with the Third Air Force in the southeastern United States. It was deployed initially to England in September 1942 and flew some missions under VIII Bomber Command over German-occupied France; attacking enemy troop formations, bridges and airfields. It was part of the Operation Torch invasion of North Africa in November 1942, being deployed to the new Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). It was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force in French Morocco in November. The squadron engaged primarily in support and interdictory operations; bombing marshalling yards, rail lines, highways, bridges, viaducts, troop concentrations, gun emplacements, shipping, harbors and other objectives in North Africa.

The squadron also engaged in psychological warfare missions, dropping propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines. It took part in the Allied operations against Axis forces in North Africa during March–May 1943, the reduction of Pantelleria and Lampedusa islands during June, the invasion of Sicily in July and the landing at Salerno in September. The squadron was also involved in the Allied advance toward Rome during January–June 1944, the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 and the Allied operations in northern Italy from September 1944 to April 1945. It was inactivated in Italy after the German capitulation in September 1945.

Strategic Air Command

From 1958, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings of Strategic Air Command (SAC) began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases. The SAC alert cycle divided itself into four parts: planning, flying, alert and rest 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. To implement this new system B-47 wings reorganized from three to four squadrons. The 428th was activated at Schilling Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the 310th Bombardment Wing. The alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962 and the four squadron pattern no longer met the alert cycle commitment, so the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 39th Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium) on 28 January 1942

Activated on 15 March 1942

Redesignated 428th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 22 April 1942

Redesignated 428th Bombardment Squadron, Medium c. 20 August 1943

Inactivated on 12 September 1945

• Activated on 1 February 1959

Discontinued and inactivated on 1 January 1962

Assignments

• 310th Bombardment Group, 15 Mar 1942-12 Sep 1945
• 310th Bombardment Wing, 1 Feb 1959-1 Jan 1962

Stations

• Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, March 15, 1942
• Jackson AAB, Mississippi, March 15, 1942
• Key Field, Mississippi, c. April 25, 1942
• Columbia AAB, South Carolina, May 17, 1942
• Walterboro Army Airfield, South Carolina, August 14, 1942
• Greenville AAB, South Carolina, September 18 – October 17, 1942 (ground echelon)

RAF Hardwick, England, September–November 1942 (air echelon)

• Mediouna Airfield, French Morocco, November 18, 1942

• Telergma Airfield, Algeria, December 21, 1942
• Berteaux Airfield, Algeria, January 1, 1943
• Dar el Koudia Airfield, Tunisia, c. June 6, 1943
• Menzel Temime Airfield, Tunisia, c. August 5, 1943
• Philippeville Airfield, Algeria, November 10, 1943
• Ghisonaccia Airfield, Corsica, c. December 10, 1943
• Fano Airfield, Italy, April 7, 1945
• Pomigliano Airfield, Italy, c. August 15 – September 12, 1945
• Schilling AFB, Kansas, 1 Feb 1959-1 Jan 1962

Aircraft

• B-25 Mitchell, 1942-1945
• B-47 Stratojet, 1959-1962

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Schake, Col Kurt W. (1998). Strategic Frontier: American Bomber Bases Overseas, 1950-1960 (PDF). Trondheim, Norway: Norwegian University of Science and Technology. ISBN 978-8277650241. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
• Watkins, Robert A. (2009). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force In World War II. Vol. Volume IV, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations. Atglen,PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7643-3401-6. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)