403d Bombardment Squadron

The squadron was first activated at Langley Field, Virginia as the 13th Reconnaissance Squadron, one of the original four squadrons of the 43d Bombardment Group, in the buildup of the United States military forces prior to the American entry into World War II. Since a reorganization of General Headquarters Air Force in September 1936, each bombardment group of the Army Air Forces (AAF) had an assigned or attached reconnaissance squadron, which operated the same aircraft as that group's assigned bombardment squadrons.Maurer (1987), p. 340 It was equipped with a variety of aircraft, not only the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress that it would fly in combat, but also Douglas B-18 Bolos and Lockheed A-29 Hudsons.

The squadron moved to Army Air Base Bangor, Maine at the end of August. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron conducted antisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic coast, primarily with its Bolos and Hudsons until January 1942, when it began moving to reinforce American forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 99-101

File:403d Bombardment Squadron - B-24 Liberator.jpg, New Guinea after take-off on a training flight for a co-pilot transitioning to the B-24 from the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. {{cite web |url= http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_2a.html |last1=Baugher|first1=Joe |title=1942 USAF Serial Numbers|date=December 28, 2021|publisher=Joe Baugher|access-date=April 1, 2023}}}}]]

The squadron reached Australia via Cape Town in February 1942, the first of the 43d Group's four squadrons to arrive in the theater.{{efn|The other three squadrons arrived in mid to late March. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 241, 243-244, 245-246.}} In April 1942, the Army Air Forces (AAF) ended its practice of assigning or attaching reconnaissance squadrons to medium and heavy bombardment groups,Maurer (1987), p. 436 and the squadron became the 403d Bombardment Squadron. It was originally equipped with B-17s for combat operations. It was not until September 1942 that the squadron reached an operational complement of aircraft and personnel.{{cite web |url= https://www.liberatorcrash.com/history1.html |last1=|first1=|title=History of the 403d Bomb Squadron|date=|publisher=liberatorcrash.com|access-date=January 14, 2023}}

The squadron operated from bases in Australia until November 1942, when it moved to New Guinea. Between May and September 1942 the squadron replaced its B-17s with Consolidated B-24 Liberators, believed to be more suited to the long ranges of many Pacific missions. It returned to Australia from January to May 1943, when it resumed operations from New Guinea, attacking Japanese shipping in the Netherlands East Indies and the Bismarck Archipelago. It experimented with skip bombing. It used this technique during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943. During this battle, it made repeated attacks against an enemy convoy bringing reinforcements to Japanese forces in New Guinea. For this action, the squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. During this period, the squadron also provided air support for ground forces in New Guinea. It attacked airfields and enemy installations in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Celebes, Halmahera, Yap, Palau, and the southern Philippines.

In November 1944 the squadron moved to the Philippines, helping the ground campaign on Luzon as well as conducting bombing missions against airfields, industrial installations and enemy installations in China and Formosa. In July 1945 it moved to Ie Shima Airfield, from which it flew missions over Japan, attacking railroads and airfields, as well as shipping in the Seto Inland Sea until V-J Day. After ceasing operations, the squadron sent its aircraft to the Philippines for reclamation and relocated to Fort William McKinley as a paper unit. It was finally inactivated in April 1946.

File:Lockheed B-47E-50-LM Stratojet 52-3363.jpg on 13 June 1963, and was scrapped on 30 October 1967.}}]]

From 1958, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings of Strategic Air Command (SAC) began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the time spent on alert at overseas bases. The SAC alert cycle divided itself into four parts: planning, flying, alert and rest to meet General Thomas S. Power’s initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC’s planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.Schake, p. 220 (note 43) To implement this new system B-47 wings reorganized from three to four squadrons.Schake, p. 220 (note 43){{cite web |url= http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/001/010/802.xml|title=Abstract (Unclassified), History of the Strategic Bomber since 1945 (Top Secret, downgraded to Secret)|date=1 April 1975|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=March 4, 2014}} The 403d was activated at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the 43d Bombardment Wing. In March 1960, the 43rd Wing moved to Carswell Air Force Base, Texas to become the Air Force's first Convair B-58 Hustler wing, and the squadron was discontinued. Two months later, on 15 May, he squadron was organized at Carswell, but it was inactivated on 1 January 1961, before becoming operational.Ravenstein, pp. 70-72

• Constituted as the 13th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 20 November 1940

: Activated on 15 January 1941

: Redesignated 403d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 April 1942

: Redesignated 403d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 21 September 1943

: Inactivated on 29 April 1946

• Redesignated 403d Bombardment Squadron, Medium on 20 August 1958

: Activated on 1 December 1958

: Discontinued on 15 March 1960

: Organized on 15 May 1960

: Discontinued and inactivated on 1 January 1961

• 43rd Bombardment Group, 15 January 1941 – 29 April 1946{{efn|It is not clear if the squadron was assigned or attached to the group prior to early 1942. Maurer, Combat Squadrons and the Air Force Historical Research Agency factsheet for the 43 Air Mobility Group both state the squadron was assigned from the date of activation. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 493. However, Maurer, Combat Units does not list the 13th Squadron as a component and dates the assignment of the 403d as starting in 1942. Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 99-101 Most reconnaissance squadrons were only attached to bombardment groups prior to 1942. Maurer (1987), p. 340.}}
• 43rd Bombardment Wing, 1 December 1958 – 15 March 1960
• Strategic Air Command, 12 April 1960 (not organized)
• 43rd Bombardment Wing, 15 May 1960 – 1 January 1961

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Langley Field, Virginia, 15 January 1941
• Army Air Base, Bangor, Maine, 30 August 1941 – 18 January 1942
• Essendon Airport,Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 February 1942
• RAAF Laverton, Victoria, Australia, 14 March 1942
• Longreach Airport, Torrens Creek, Queensland, Australia, 27 August 1942
• Iron Range Airfield, Queensland, Australia, c. 17 October 1942
• Gurney Airfield, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, 23 November 1942
• Mareeba Airfield, Queensland, Australia, c. 21 January 1943
• Jackson Airfield, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, c. 11 May 1943
• Dobodura Airfield, Papua New Guinea, c. 13 December 1943
• Nadzab Airfield, Papua New Guinea, 12 March 1944
• Owi Airfield, Schouten Islands, Netherlands East Indies, 28 July 1944
• Tacloban Airfield, Leyte, Philippines, C. 19 November 1944
• Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines, c. 15 March 1945
• Ie Shima Airfield, Okinawa, Ryuku Islands, 22 July 1945
• Fort William McKinley, Luzon, Philippines, 11 December 1945 – 29 April 1946
• Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, 1 December 1958 – 15 March 1960
• Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, 15 May 1960 – 1 January 1961Station information in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 493, except as noted.

{{div col end}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1941, 1942–1943
• Douglas B-18 Bolo, 1941–1942
• Lockheed A-29 Hudson, 1941–1942
• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942–1945
• Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1958–1960
• Convair B-58 Hustler, 1960

{{div col end}}

{{unit awards table

|award_image1=AF PUC

|award_name1=Distinguished Unit Citation

|award_date1=2 October 1942 – 23 January 1943

|award_notes1=Papua New Guinea 403d Bombardment Squadron

|award_image2=AF PUC

|award_name2=Distinguished Unit Citation

|award_date2=2-4 March 1943

|award_notes2=Bismarck Sea 403d Bombardment Squadron

|award_image3=PPUC

|award_name3=Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation

|award_date3=17 October 44 – 4 July 45

|award_notes3=403d Bombardment Squadron

}}

• United States Army Air Forces in Australia
• B-17 Flying Fortress units of the United States Army Air Forces
• B-24 Liberator units of the United States Army Air Forces
• List of B-47 units of the United States Air Force

; Explanatory notes

{{Notelist}}

; Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}

• {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|archive-url= https://archive.today/20210115181723/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 15 January 2021|access-date= December 17, 2016|edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher= Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979}}
• {{cite book|last=Maurer|first=Maurer|title=Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/23/2001330114/-1/-1/0/AFD-100923-007.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170421193633/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/23/2001330114/-1/-1/0/AFD-100923-007.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 21 April 2017 |access-date=December 17, 2016|year= 1987|publisher=Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-38-2|oclc=15661556|lccn=87012257}}
• {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= 20 December 2016 |edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
• {{cite book|last=Ravenstein|first=Charles A.|title=Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977|url= https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330257/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-047.pdf|access-date= December 17, 2016|year=1984|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-12-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Schake|first=Col Kurt W.|title=Strategic Frontier: American Bomber Bases Overseas, 1950-1960|url= http://www.theblackvault.com/documents/ADA353633.pdf |access-date=July 27, 2015|year=1998|publisher=Norwegian University of Science and Technology|location= Trondheim, Norway|isbn=978-8277650241}}
• {{cite book|last=Watkins|first=Robert A.|title=Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force In World War II|volume=V, Pacific Theater of Operations|year=2013|publisher=Shiffer Publishing, Ltd.|location=Atglen, PA|isbn=978-0-7643-4346-9}}

{{Strategic Air Command}}

{{USAAF 5th Air Force World War II}}

{{USAAF 1st Air Force World War II}}

Category:Bombardment squadrons of the United States Air Force

Category:Bombardment squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces

Category:Strategic bombing squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces

Category:Military units and formations established in 1941

Category:Units and formations of Strategic Air Command

Category:Military units and formations of the United States in the Cold War