762d Bombardment Squadron

The 762d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 460th Bombardment Group, stationed at Natal Airport, Brazil.

It was inactivated on 26 September 1945.

History

Activated as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron in mid-1943, it was assigned to II Bomber Command for training. It trained primarily in New Mexico and Utah. It received deployment orders for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in August 1943. It moved to Georgia and Virginia where the squadron flew coastal patrol missions over the US southeast, between October 1943 and January 1944 while its station in Italy was being constructed.

The squadron deployed to southern Italy and entered combat in January 1944, being assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force 55th Bombardment Wing. It was engaged in very long range strategic bombing missions on enemy military, industrial and transportation targets in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia. It bombed railroad marshalling yards, oil refineries, airdrome installations and heavy industry.

The squadron flew its last World War II combat mission on 26 April 1945. After V-E Day, it was assigned to the 'Green Project' which was the movement of troops from Europe to the United States via the South Atlantic transport route. Its B-24s were modified with sealed bomb bays, the removal of all defensive armament and the fuselage was equipped with seating to carry approximately 30 personnel. It was assigned to Air Transport Command at Waller Field, Trinidad and to Natal, Brazil. The squadron moved personnel from Dakar in French West Africa where personnel were conveyed across the South Atlantic to Brazil and eventually to Morrison Field, Florida via Trinidad. The unit provided air transport until the end of September when it was inactivated.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 762d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943

Activated on 1 July 1943

Inactivated on 26 September 1945

Assignments

• 460th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1943 – 26 September 1945

Attached to Air Transport Command, 15 June – 26 September 1945

Stations

• Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 July 1943
• Kearns Center, Utah, 31 August 1943
• Chatham Army Airfield, Georgia, 29 October 1943 – 3 January 1944
• Spinazzola Airfield, Italy, c. 11 February 1944 – 6 June 1945
• Waller Field, Trinidad, 15 June 1945
• Natal Airport, Brazil, 30 June – 26 September 1945

Aircraft

• B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945

References

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

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.