460th Bombardment Squadron

460th Bombardment Squadron
Emblem of the 460th Bombardment Squadron
Active	1942–1946
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Bombardment

The 460th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 333d Bombardment Group, stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. It was inactivated on 28 May 1946.

History

Established as a B-24 Liberator very heavy bomb squadron in 1944. Mission was as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) under II Bomber Command training B-24 replacement pilots and aircrew.

Redesignated a B-29 Superfortress operational squadron in April 1944. Trained under Second Air Force; deployed to the Western Pacific, being assigned to the new Eighth Air Force. Arrived in Okinawa but Japanese Capitulation led to drawdown of Eighth Air Force and the squadron never was engaged in combat.

Flew show-of-force missions over Occupied Japan and aircraft helped evacuate prisoners of war from Japan and China to airfields in the Philippines. Personnel demobilized and aircraft flown to storage in the United States in May 1946 and the unit was inactivated as a paper unit in Okinawa on 28 May.

Lineage

Constituted 460th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 July 1942

Activated on 6 July 1942

Inactivated on 1 April 1944

Redesignated 460th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy)

Activated on 1 April 1944

Inactivated on 10 May 1944

Activated on 7 July 1944

Inactivated on 28 May 1946

Assignments

330th Bombardment Group, 6 July 1942 – 1 April 1944; 1 April 1944 – 10 May 1944
333d Bombardment Group, 7 July 1944 – 28 May 1946.

Stations

Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 6 July 1942
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 August 1942
Biggs Field, Texas, 2 September 1942
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 December 1942
Biggs Field, Texas, 5 April 1943 – 1 April 1944

Walker Army Airfield, Kansas, 1 April-10 May 1944
Dalhart Army Airfield, Texas, 7 July 1944
Great Bend Army Airfield, Kansas, 10 December 1944 – 18 June 1945
Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, 5 August 1945 – 28 May 1946

Aircraft

B-24 Liberator, 1942–1944
B-29 Superfortress, 1944–1946.

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.

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