547th Bombardment Squadron

547th Bombardment Squadron
	Emblem of the 547th Bombardment Squadron
Active	1942-1962
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Bombardment

World War II squadron emblem

The 547th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit that saw service in World War II and the Cold War. It last was assigned to the 384th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and was inactivated on 1 January 1962.

History

Established as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron, and trained under Second Air Force, the squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), and assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England, flying combat missions over Nazi Germany and occupied Europe until the German capitulation in May 1945.

After the war, the squadron was reassigned to Air Transport Command and used B-17s as transports for demobilized personnel, flying transport routes to French Morocco and the Azores before returning to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in France. The squadron was inactivated in France during February 1946.

The 547th was activated as a B-29 Superfortress squadron in the reserves, 1947, but was not manned or equipped, and was inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions.

The squadron was activated again in 1958 as a result of Strategic Air Command phasing out the B-47, which required additional squadrons to be activated as part of the consolidation of Stratojet wings and the replacement of the B-47 by B-52 Stratofortresses. In March 1961, President John F. Kennedy directed that the phaseout of the B-47 be accelerated, and the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962 as part of the drawdown of the USAF B-47 force, with the aircraft being sent to AMARC storage at Davis-Monthan.

Lineage

Constituted 547th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 25 November 1942

Activated on 1 December 1942

Inactivated on 28 February 1946

Redesignated 547th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) on 9 July 1947

Activated in the reserve on 16 July 1947

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

Redesignated 547th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 11 August 1958

Activated on 1 September 1958

Discontinued, and inactivated on 1 January 1962

Assignments

384th Bombardment Group, 1 December 1942 – 28 February 1946
96th Bombardment Group, 16 July 1947 – 27 June 1949
384th Bombardment Wing, 1 September 1958 – 1 January 1962

Stations

Gowen Field, Idaho, 1 December 1942
Wendover Field, Utah, 2 January 1943
Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, 5 April-10 May 1943
RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF-106), England, 4 June 1943
Istres Air Base, France, 1 July 1945 – 28 February 1946
Winston-Salem Municipal Airport, North Carolina, 16 July 1947 – 27 June 1949
Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, 1 September 1958 – 1 January 1962

Aircraft

B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946
B-47 Stratojet, 1958–1961

References

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

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.

External links

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