530th Bombardment Squadron

530th Bombardment Squadron

Emblem of the 530th Bombardment Squadron
Active 1942-1966
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Role Bombardment
Part of Strategic Air Command

The 530th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 380th Bombardment Wing, based at Plattsburgh AFB, New York. It was inactivated on 25 June 1966.

History

Established in late 1942 as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron; trained under Second Air Force in Texas, and later in Colorado. Deployed to the Southwest Pacific Area (SPA) in April 1943, being assigned to Fifth Air Force in Australia.

From airfields in Australia, including Fenton Airfield, the squadron reached out to the Japanese installations in the Netherlands East Indies. Moved to the Philippines where the squadron operated in early 1945, then to Okinawa where combat operations ended after the Japanese Capitulation in August. After the war, squadron personnel were demobilized and returned to the United States, the B-24s sent to reclamation in the Philippines. Inactivated as a paper unit in early 1946.

In 1947, the squadron was reactivated as a reserve unit of the Strategic Air Command at MacDill Field, Florida. The squadron remained an inactive reserve unit until 1951 when the squadron was inactivated.

The squadron was again activated in 1955 as part of the 380th Strategic Aerospace Wing and equipped with the B-47 Stratojet. Flying the B-47, the squadron took a place as part of SAC's nuclear deterrent to war which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses with its high operational ceiling and near supersonic speed. The squadron flew the B-47 for about a decade when by the mid-1960s it had become obsolescent and vulnerable to new Soviet air defenses. The squadron began to send its stratojets to AMARC at Davis-Monthan AFB for retirement, being inactivated in 1966.

Lineage

Activated on 3 November 1942
Inactivated on 20 February 1946
Activated in the reserve on 17 July 1947
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Activated on 11 July 1955
Inactivated on 25 June 1966

Assignments

Attached to: Royal Australian Air Force, 1 May 1943 - 28 February 1945

Stations

Aircraft

Personnel

Irvin Medgebow was a member of the 530th Bombardent Squadron from the 380th Bombardent Group.[1]

Operational history

Combat in Southwest and Western Pacific, c. 21 May 1943 – 24 July 1945. Reserve B-29 squadron (1947–1949). SAC Medium bomber (B-47) squadron (1955–1965) inactivated when B-47 was withdrawn from service

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

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