| 733d Bombardment Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1943-1945 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Bombardment |
The 733d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 453d Bombardment Group, stationed at Fort Dix Army Air Base, New Jersey. It was inactivated on 12 September 1945.
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This squadron was created in mid 1943 as a B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment squadron. The squadron was assigned to II Bomber Command for training. The squadron trained in Idaho for the first phase of training which included local area flights, bombing and aerial gunnery practice. They moved to California for the second and third phases of training. The training there was more extensive. It included cross country missions, navigation problems, gunnery, bombing and pilot training problems. At this time considerable time was spent in ground school instruction on problems pertaining to heavy bombardment operations for overseas duty. This squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), being assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England in December 1943.
The 733rd squadron was engaged in long-range strategic bombardment of enemy targets in Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. Some of its targets included transportation, industrial, and oil industry facilities. Also engaged in tactical bombardment of enemy forces in France in support of the Operation Overlord landings in Normandy, and the subsequent breakout at St-Lo in July 1944. Attacked enemy formations and armor during the Battle of the Bulge, January 1945. Continued bombardment of strategic targets until the German Capitulation in May.
The squadron returned to the United States shortly after the Capitulation, prepared for B-29 Superfortress upgrade training, however never was organized or equipped. Most personnel demobilized during the summer of 1945, and the unit was inactivated in September after the Japanese Capitulation.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.