781st Bombardment Squadron

781st Bombardment Squadron

Emblem of the SAC 781st Bombardment Squadron
Active 1943–1968
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Bombardment/Troop Carrier
Emblem of the 781st Troop Carrier Squadron
Emblem of the World War II 781st Bombardment Squadron

The 781st Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 465th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.

It was inactivated on 25 July 1968.

History

Activated as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron in mid-1943, it trained under the Second Air Force. It was deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in March 1944, where it was assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force. It flew strategic bombardment combat missions over France, Germany, Italy, Austria and the Balkans until the German capitulation in May 1945.

The squadron was attached to Air Transport Command in June 1945; it used its B-24s as transport aircraft, flying personnel from Trinidad to Florida. The unit was inactivated in place in Trinidad during July 1945.

Re-activated in 1953 as a Tactical Air Command C-119 Troop Carrier squadron under the Eighteenth Air Force, it primarily flew cargo transport missions, but also supported Army Airborne parachute units on maneuvers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The unit was reassigned in 1953 as a United States Air Forces in Europe troop carrier squadron, in France. It performed theater airlift and transport operations until 1958 when it was inactivated due to budget restrictions.

The squadron was re-activated in 1963 as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-52G strategic bombardment squadron at Robins AFB, Georgia. It maintained nuclear alert and flew training missions on a global scale. It deployed to the Western Pacific and flew 'Arc Light' conventional strategic bombardment missions over Indochina. It returned to Robins where it was inactivated in 1968 when the 465th Bomb Wing was inactivated and its squadrons were absorbed by the re-activation of the 19th Bomb Wing, also at Robins.

Lineage

Activated on 1 August 1943
Inactivated on 31 July 1945
Activated on 1 February 1953
Inactivated on 8 March 1958
Organized on 1 February 1963 by assuming personnel/equipment/and aircraft of 342nd Bombardment Squadron (Inactivated)
Discontinued and inactivated on 25 July 1968.

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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