462d Bombardment Squadron

462d Bombardment Squadron
Emblem of the 462d Bombardment Squadron
Active	1942-1946
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Type	Bombardment

The 462d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 346th Bombardment Group stationed at Kadena Airfield, Okinawa. It was inactivated on 30 June 1946.

History

Established as a very heavy bomb squadron in 1942. 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 August 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 30 June.

Lineage

• Constituted 462d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 Jul 1942

Activated on 6 Jul 1942

Inactivated on 1 Apr 1944

• Redesignated 462d Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) on 4 Aug 1944

Activated on 18 Aug 1944

Inactivated on 30 Jun 1946

Assignments

• 331st Bombardment Group, 6 Jul 1942-1 Apr 1944
• 346th Bombardment Group, 18 Aug 1944-30 Jun 1946.

Stations

• Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 6 Jul 1942
• Casper Army Air Field, Wyoming, 15 Sep 1942-1 Apr 1944
• Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 18 Aug 1944
• Pratt Army Airfield, Kansas, 12 Dec 1944-29 Jun 1945
• Kadena Airfield, Okinawa, 13 Aug 1945-30 Jun 1946

Aircraft

• B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1943, 1945
• B-24 Liberator, 1943-1944
• B-29 Superfortress, 1945-1946
• C-46 Commando, 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 (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_sq_of_the_af_wwii.pdf.