444th Bombardment Squadron

444th Bombardment Squadron

Emblem of the 444th Bombardment Squadron (World War II)
Active 1942-1960
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Bombardment
"Pancho and His Reever Rats" B-26G-5-MA Marauder 43-34240 Shot down by AAA over Covigliano,Italy on August 23, 1944. MACR 7997

The 444th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 320th Bombardment Wing, stationed at March Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 15 September 1960.

Fifty-one years later it was redesignated the 444th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron (444 AEAS) on 13 May 2011.[1] The squadron is part of the 838th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group at Shindand Air Base, Afghanistan,[2] where it trains Afghan Air Force members.

History

Established in mid-1942 as a B-26 Marauder medium bomber group. Trained under Third Air Force in Florida, deployed to England under the VIII Air Support Command, 3d Bombardment Wing.

Operated against targets on the continent during early fall of 1942; deployed to North Africa as part of Twelfth Air Force after Operation Torch landings in Algeria in November. Flew tactical bombing missions against Axis forces in North Africa until the end of the Tunisian Campaign in May 1943. Participated in the Sicilian and Italian Campaigns; liberation of Corsica and Sardinia and the Invasion of Southern France. Supported Allied ground forces in the Western Allied Invasion of Germany, spring 1945 and becoming part of the United States Air Forces in Europe Army of Occupation in Germany, fall 1945. Personnel demobilized in Germany and the squadron inactivated as a paper unit in December 1945.

Reactivated in the reserves in 1947. Never manned or equipped. The squadron was activated in 1958 as a result of Strategic Air Command phasing out the B-47, and additional squadrons were activated as part of the consolation 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 15 September 1960 as part of the drawdown of the USAF B-47 force, with the aircraft were sent to AMARC storage at Davis-Monthan.

Lineage

Activated on 1 July 1942
Inactivated on 8 December 1945
Activated in the reserve on 9 July 1947
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Activated on 1 January 1959
Discontinued on 15 September 1960

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

References

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.