641st Bombardment Squadron

641st Bombardment Squadron

Emblem of the 641st Bombardment Squadron
Active 1943-1945
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Airlift

The 641st Bombing Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 409th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force, stationed at Westover Field, Massachusetts. It was inactivated on 27 November 1945

Contents

History

Established in mid-1943 and trained in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana as a light bomb group with A-20 Havoc attack aircraft. Deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in March 1944, being assigned to the 9th Bomber Command, Ninth Air Force.

Initially flew sweeps over Occupied France from its base in England, attacking coastal defences, V-weapon sites, aerodromes, and other targets in France in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. After the D-Day invasion in June, the squadron supported ground forces during the Battle of Normandy by hitting gun batteries, rail lines, bridges, communications, and other objectives. During July 1944, aided the Allied offensive at Caen and the breakthrough at Saint-Lô with attacks on enemy troops, flak positions, fortified villages, and supply dumps.

Moved to Advanced Landing Grounds in France in September 1944, and advanced east supporting Allied Ground Forces with close air support. Attacked enemy fortifications and strong points, retreating armored columns along with rail and highway traffic, harassing the enemy as they retreated into Germany, then later supporting Allied Ground Forces during the Western Invasion of Germany during the spring of 1945. Ended combat operations after the German Capitulation in May, 1945.

The unit returned to the United States and initially was assigned to Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina where it received A-26 Invader attack bombers and was preparing for deployment to the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) for operations against the Japanese Home Islands. The deployment to the Pacific Theater was cancelled with the Japanese Capitulation in August, being reassigned to Continental Air Forces. The unit demobilized after V-J Day and was inactivated primarily as an administrative unit at Westover Field, Massachusetts during October 1945.

Lineage

Inactivated on 7 Nov 1945.

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

References

United States Air Force portal
Military of the United States portal
World War II portal

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