| 338th Combat Training Squadron | |
|---|---|
Emblem of the 338th Combat Training Squadron |
|
| Active | 1942-1957 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Training |
The 338th Combat Training Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is currently assigned to the 55th Operations Group, stationed at Offut Air Force Base, Nebraska.
Contents |
The 338th Combat Training Squadron (CTS) is a flying organization. It performs the initial, difference, requalification, and upgrade training as the Formal Training Unit (FTU) for the largest and most diverse operations group in Air Combat Command. The unit prepares 8 squadrons in 6 different programs to execute worldwide reconnaissance, command and control, and treaty verification missions directed by the NCA, JCS, theater CINCs, MAJCOM commanders and national intelligence agencies.
Established in late 1942 as a P-38 Lightning fighter squadron, trained under Second Air Force in the pacific northwest. Deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), assigned to VIII Fighter Command in England in late 1943. Squadron's mission was to provide long range fighter escort for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers on strategic bombing missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. In April 1944 received P-51D Mustang fighter aircraft and continuing its primary task of escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers that attacked such targets as industries and marshalling yards in Germany, and airfields and V-weapon sites in France.
The squadron flew air patrols over the English Channel and bombed bridges in the Tours area during the Invasion of France in June 1944. In July the squadron attacked gun emplacements during the Saint-Lô breakthrough. The unit patrolled the Arnhem sector to support the Airborne invasion of Holland in September 1944, and later in December, transportation facilities during the Battle of the Bulge. During the Western Allied invasion of Germany, the squadron flew ground support missions by strafing trucks, locomotives, and oil depots near Wesel when the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945 and continued offensive operations until 21 April 1945.
After the German Capitulation, became part of the United States Air Forces in Europe Army of Occupation, at AAF Station Kaufbeuren, then moved to AAF Station Giebelstadt in early 1946 where it received its first jet aircraft, the P-80A Shooting Star. Inactivated in August 1946 when personnel were demobilized and aircraft were transferred to the 31st Fighter Group.
Reactivated by Strategic Air Command in 1947 as a reconnaissance squadron, equipped with RB-17 Flying Fortress aircraft. Flew aerial photography, mapping, charting, and photo reconnaissance missions, some of which flew around borders of the Soviet Union and over the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany. Little was known about the air defense capability of the Soviet Union at this time and the most effective way of determining their capability was to probe the borders and see whether they would respond. Gradually the RB-17s and other aircraft mapped the perimeter of the Soviet Air Defenses from the Baltic to the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan.
Upgraded to RB-29 Superfotress aircraft in 1949 and continued its reconnaissance mission, however inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions. Reactivated in 1950 at Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, again flying RB-29s performing strategic reconnaissance, charting photography, precise electronic geodetic mapping, and electronic reconnaissance missions, upgrading to RB-50 Superfortresses in 1952.
In 1954 was equipped with RB-47K Stratojets, a variant of the RB-47E which contained Side-Looking Radar and air sampling equipment. The RB-47K's primary mission was meteorological data collection and weather reconnaissance from Forbes AFB, Kansas. Photographic reconnaissance was a secondary mission. Missions consisted of flying over northern Canadian skies with two missions being flown each day, Weather Alpha and Weather Bravo. Weather Alpha missions consisted of a flight from Forbes AFB, north to Saute Ste. Marie, Michigan then north to Hudson's Bay, counterclockwise around the perimeter of the Bay and then back to Forbes. Weather Bravo took the same route within the United States but traveled east over the Labrador Sea and to the north of Goose Bay, Canada, then back to Forbes. The data collected by these sorties was used to develop War Plan meteorological collection predictions for weather round the Soviet Union. Sampling of radioactive fallout from foreign nuclear tests could also be taken. RB-37Ks served with the 338th for 8 years, being phased out in 1963.
Reactivated in 1999 at Offut AFB, Nebraska as a Combat Training Squadron.
|
|
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.