52d Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron

Antisubmarine warfare and heavy bomber training

The squadron was first activated at Langley Field, Virginia, as the 52d Bombardment Squadron in January 1940, one of the original squadrons of the 29th Bombardment Group. Its organization was part of the pre-World War II buildup of the United States Army Air Corps after the breakout of war in Europe. In May, it moved to MacDill Field, Florida, where it was equipped with a mix of pre-production YB-17s and early model Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Douglas B-18 Bolos. The squadron was still at MacDill when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and it began to fly antisubmarine patrol missions in the Gulf of Mexico from January 1942.^[1] By the summer of 1942, the U-boat threat in the Gulf began to diminish, with all German submarines being withdrawn from the area by September.^[3]

29th Bombardment Group B-24E Liberator in 1944

No longer needed in the Gulf, the squadron moved to Gowen Field, Idaho, where it became an Operational Training Unit (OTU).^[1] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups".^[4] The 96th, 381st, 384th and 388th Bombardment Groups were all formed at Gowen in the second half of 1942.^[5][6]

In 1943, the squadron exchanged its B-17s for Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The squadron mission also changed as the Army Air Forces' (AAF) need for new units diminished and its need for replacements increased. The squadron became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).^[1] Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual pilots and aircrews. However, standard military units, like the 52d Squadron, were based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, and were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.^[7] The 29th Bombardment Group and its squadrons (including the 52d) were inactivated. Its personnel and equipment, along with that of supporting units at Gowen Field were combined into the 212th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Heavy) on 1 April 1944.^[1][8][9]

Combat in the Pacific

29th Bombardment Group B-29 Formation 1945

The AAF was organizing new Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment units, and the squadron was activated the same day at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas. It briefly returned to flying B-17s until B-29s became available for training. It continued training with the Superfortress until December 1944.^[1] Training included long range overwater flights to Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico.^[10]

It deployed to North Field, Guam, where it became a component of the 314th Bombardment Wing of XXI Bomber Command. Its first combat mission was an attack of Tokyo on 25 February 1945. Until March 1945, it engaged primarily in daytime high altitude attacks on strategic targets, such as refineries and factories. The campaign against Japan switched that month and the squadron began to conduct low altitude night raids, using incendiaries against area targets. The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a 31 March attack against an airfield at Omura, Japan. The squadron earned a second DUC in June for an attack on an industrial area of Shizuoka Prefecture, which included an aircraft factory operated by Mitsubishi and the Chigusa Arsenal.^[8]

Staff Sergeant Henry E."Red" Erwin of the squadron was awarded the Medal of Honor for action that saved his B-29 during a mission over Koriyama, Japan, on 12 April 1945. Sgt Erwin was assigned to job of dropping white phosphorus bombs through a launching chute in the floor of his bomber. A bomb exploded in the chute and shot back into the plane, severely wounding Sgt Erwin and filling the plane with heavy smoke. Despite being blinded by the burning bomb, he picked it up, carried it forward to the cockpit area of the plane and threw it out an open window. Once the smoke had cleared, the pilot was able to pull the Superfortress out of a dive and recover at an emergency base.^[8][11]

During Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa, the squadron was diverted from the strategic campaign against Japanese industry and attacked airfields from which kamikaze attacks were being launched against the landing force. Following VJ Day, the squadron dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war and participated in several show of force missions over Japan.^[8] It also conducted reconnaissance flights over Japanese cities.^[12] The squadron remained on Guam until it was inactivated in March 1946.^[1]

Assignments

• 29th Bombardment Group, 1 February 1940 – 1 April 1944
• 29th Bombardment Group, 1 April 1944 – 20 May 1946
• 29th Flying Training Wing, 1 July 1972 – 30 September 1977
• 64th Flying Training Wing, 11 May 1990
• 64th Operations Group, 15 December 1991 – 1 April 1997
• 370th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, 29 March 2007 – 1 November 2008^[1]
• 321st Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, 1 November 2008 – present

Stations

Aircraft

Notes

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Craven, Wesley F & Cate, James L, ed. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved December 17, 2016.CS1 maint: Multiple names: editors list (link)

Goss, William A. (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F & Cate, James L. The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved December 17, 2016.CS1 maint: Multiple names: editors list (link)

• 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.
• 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.
• Warnock, Timothy. "The Battle Against the U-Boat in the American Theater" (PDF). Bolling AFB, DC: Air Force History Support Office. Retrieved June 22, 2015.