338th Combat Crew Training Squadron
B-1 Lancer from Dyess AFB
Active1942–1945; 1947–1949; 1953–1963; 1986–1993
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleBomber crew training
EngagementsEuropean Theater of Operations[1]
DecorationsDistinguished Unit Citation
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1]
Insignia
Patch with 338th Combat Crew Training Squadron emblem
338th Bombardment Squadron emblem[a][1]
World War II fuselage code[2]BX

The 338th Combat Crew Training Squadron is a currently inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 96th Operations Group at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on October 1, 1993.

The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 338th Bombardment Squadron. It served in the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat actions. Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated.

This squadron was again active from 1947 to 1949 in the reserves, although it was apparently never fully manned or equipped. It was active as a Boeing B-47 Stratojet squadron in Strategic Air Command from 1953 to 1963.

History

World War II

Initial organization and training

96th Group B-17G[b]

The squadron was activated at Salt Lake City Army Air Base in July 1942 as the 338th Bombardment Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 96th Bombardment Group.[1][3] In early August the squadron moved to Gowen Field, Idaho, where it received its initial cadre, then, later that month to Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington to begin training with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.[1] On 1 November, the squadron moved to Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho, where it began to act as a Operational Training Unit. It moved to Pyote Army Air Base, Texas in January 1943 and resumed training for overseas movement.[4]

The air echelon of the squadron began ferrying their B-17s via the North Atlantic ferry route, stopping at Presque Isle Army Air Field, Newfoundland, Iceland, then at Prestwick Airport, Scotland on 4 April 1943. The ground echelon left Pyote on 16 April for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey in the New York Port of Embarkation, sailing on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 5 May and arriving in Scotland on 13 May.[4]

Combat in the European Theater

The squadron was established at RAF Great Saling by 12 May, and flew its first combat mission the next day, an attack against the airfield at Saint-Omer, France.[3] However, the squadron was late assembling and did not complete the mission. The following day, it made its first strike on a target, an airfield at Courtrai.[5][c] Eighth Air Force decided to transfer its new Martin B-26 Marauder units from VIII Bomber Command to VIII Air Support Command and concentrate them on bases closer to the European continent. As a result, the 322d Bombardment Group moved to Great Saling on 12 June, forcing the 96th Group and its squadrons to relocate to RAF Snetterton Heath, which would be its combat station for the rest of the war.[6]

The squadron engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It attacked airdromes, aircraft factories, harbors, oil refineries, railway yards, shipyards, and other industrial targets in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Targets included airfields at Bordeaux and Augsburg; marshalling yards at Kiel, Hamm, Braunschweig, and Gdynia; aircraft factories at Chemnitz, Hanover, and Diósgyőr; oil refineries at Merseburg and Brüx, and chemical works in Wiesbaden, Ludwigshafen, and Neunkirchen[3]

During an attack on the Messerschmitt factory at Regensberg on 17 August 1943, the squadron was without escort after its escorting Republic P-47 Thunderbolts reached the limit of their range. It withstood repeated attacks, first by enemy Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 interceptors, then by Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Junkers Ju 88 night fighters, to strike its target, earning its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). This was a "shuttle" mission, with the squadron recovering on bases in North Africa, rather than returning to England.[3][7]

The squadron formed part of the leading 45th Combat Bombardment Wing formation on very long-range mission against the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 factory at Poznan Heavy clouds led an entire wing and some combat boxes of the 45th Wing to abandon the mission and return to England. The 96th Group and one other combat box proceded to the target and were surprised to find they were able to bomb visually, although the target was defended by intense flak fire, earning the squadron its second DUC.[3][8]

In addition to strategic operations, the squadron participated in air support and interdiction missions. In the preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, it bombed coastal defenses, railway bridges, gun emplacements, and field batteries in the battle area prior to and during D-Day in June 1944. It attacked enemy positions in support of Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo in July 1944, aiding the campaign in France in August by striking roads and road junctions, and by dropping supplies to the Maquis. During the early months of 1945, it attacked the communications supplying German armies on the western front.[3]

After V-E Day, the 338th flew food missions to the Netherlands and hauled redeployed personnel to French Morocco, Ireland, France, and Germany. The squadron was scheduled for occupation duty, but that plan was cancelled in September 1945. In November 1945 its aircraft were flown back to the United States or transferred to other units in Europe. The unit's remaining personnel returned to the United States and it was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation on 29 November 1945.[1][3][4]

Postwar reserve

The squadron was activated in the reserves under Air Defense Command (ADC) at Jackson Army Air Base, Mississippi on 29 May 1947, and was again assigned to the 96th Group, stationed at Gunter Field, Alabama. In October, the squadron was reassigned to the 384th Bombardment Group at Nashville Municipal Airport, Tennessee.[1][3][9] At Jackson, the squadron's training was supervised by the 4103rd AAF Base Unit (Reserve Training), later the 2588th AF Reserve Flying Training Center. In 1948, Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.[10]

The squadron does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped with operational aircraft.[11] In 1949, as ConAC was reorganizing its operational units under the Wing Base Organization system, President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of flying units in the Air Force,[12] and the 338th was inactivated.[1]

Strategic Air Command

Reactivated in 1953 as a Strategic Air Command B-47 Stratojet squadron. Performed global deployments and training until inactivated in 1963. With the phaseout of the B-47 the training aircraft sent to storage at Davis-Monthan and the squadron was inactivated.

Training unit

Reactivated in 1986 as a B-1B Lancer training squadron, assuming assets of 4018th Combat Crew Training Squadron which was assigned to the 96th Wing on 15 March 1985[13] when B-1s first arrived at Dyess.

On September 28, 1987, a squadron B-1B Lancer 84-52 suffered a bird strike during a Radar Bomb Scoring training mission to the Strategic Training Range Complex serviced by the La Junta, Colorado radar bomb scoring site. An American White Pelican struck the Rockwell B-1 Lancer traveling at 600 ft (180 m) and about 645 mph (1,038 km/h) with 6 military aboard, and the damage caused a fire. The instructor pilot took control and flew the B-1B to 3,500 ft after which the crash occurred.[14]

The copilot's ejection seat failed and two others in jump seats were unable to successfully bail out, killing Maj. James T. Acklin (instructor pilot, age 37), 1st Lt. Ricky M. Bean (student pilot, 27), and Maj. Wayne D. Whitlock (instructor defensive systems officer, 39). The student defensive systems officer, student aircraft commander, and instructor offensive systems officer successfully ejected and were treated for minor injuries at the USAF Academy hospital. A 5,000 ft (1,500 m) low-level restriction was temporarily enacted,[14] and modifications to increase the aircraft design from 6 pounds to withstand a 10-pound strike were complete by December 1988.

The squadron was inactivated in October 1993 along with the 96th Bomb Wing, which was replaced at Dyess by the 7th Bomb Wing. The 7th moved to Dyess from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas without personnel or equipment. In this reflagging of units, the 338th's equipment and personnel were transferred to the 337th Bomb Squadron.

Lineage

Activated on 15 July 1942
Redesignated 338th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943
Inactivated on 19 December 1945
Activated in the reserve on 29 May 1947
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Activated on 18 November 1953
Inactivated on 15 March 1963[15]
Activated on 1 July 1986[16]
Redesignated 338th Combat Crew Training Squadron on 1 June 1987
Inactivated on 1 October 1993[17]

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Approved 28 December 1942. Description: over and through a blue disc, border white, an orange aerial bomb dropping into the open head of a barrel proper, speed lines white.
  2. ^ Aircraft is Lockheed-Vega built Boeing B-17G-45-DL Flying Fortress, serial 44-6153, AW-S, Shoot the Works. It was declared excess on 30 November 1945 and sold for scrap on 9 August 1946.
  3. ^ After action reports described the bombing as "ineffective." However, later intelligence found that damage to the facilities was severe enough to force III/Jagdgeschwader 26 to move from the field. Freeman (1970), p. 47.

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 417-418
  2. ^ Watkins, pp. 44-45
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 165-166
  4. ^ a b c Freeman (1970), pp. 245-246
  5. ^ Freeman (1970), p. 47
  6. ^ Freeman (1970), p. 50.
  7. ^ Freeman (1970), p. 68
  8. ^ Freeman (1970), p. 133
  9. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 20-272
  10. ^ "Abstract, Mission Project Closeup, Continental Air Command". Air Force History Index. 27 December 1961. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  11. ^ See Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 505 (no aircraft assigned); Ream (unknown what aircraft assigned).
  12. ^ Knaack, p. 25
  13. ^ a b Haulman, Daniel (2 January 2017). "Factsheet 96 Test Wing (AFMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b Broder, John M. (21 January 1988). "Freak Collision of Bird, B-1B Caused Crash". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Lineage through February 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 417-418.
  16. ^ See Haulman, 96 Test Wing Factsheet (end of assignment of 4018th and beginning of assignment of 338th to 96th Bombardment Wing).
  17. ^ See Ream, 96 Operations Group Factsheet (end of assignment to 96th Operations Group).
  18. ^ Ream, Margaret (1 July 2021). "Factsheet 96 Operations Group (AFMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  19. ^ Station number in Anderson, p. 33.
  20. ^ Station number in Anderson, p. 65.
  21. ^ Station information through February 1963 in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 417-418, except as noted.

Bibliography

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

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