The 492d Attack Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. It is stationed at March Air Reserve Base, California, where it was reactivated on 15 April 2019 and assigned to the 49th Operations Group.
The squadron's first predecessor was organized in 1917 as the 80th Aero Squadron. It moved to France the following year, where it was redesignated the 492d Aero Squadron (Construction) and served as a support unit. It returned to the United States, where it was demobilized in 1919.
The second predecessor of the squadron is the 492d Bombardment Squadron, which served in the Organized Reserve from 1925 to 1937. It was consolidated with the Aero Squadron in 1936, but was disbanded along with other reserve units in May 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II.
The squadron's third predecessor was activated in India in late 1942 as the 492d Bombardment Squadron. It served in combat in the China Burma India Theater, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation. After V-J Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated at the port of embarkation. A few months later, the squadron was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command bomber unit. It served in the strategic bomber role until being inactivated in 1963, when its resources were transferred to another squadron.
Mission The squadron trains personnel, including maintenance, base operations support, medical and aircrews with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned vehicle.
History World War I The first predecessor of the squadron was organized as the 80th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas, on 15 August 1917. Early the next month the unit's mission became apparent when it was redesignated the 80th Aero Squadron (Construction).Byard, p. 1
The squadron left Kelly Field on 28 October 1917, arriving at the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, New York on 3 November. While at Garden City, the squadron was given intensive drill and training for service overseas. It departed for the port of Hoboken, New Jersey on 22 November and boarded the . The ship left port later that day, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 25 November. It waited in Halifax for other ships to form a convoy for the Atlantic crossing, and arrived at Liverpool, England on 8 December. From there, the squadron took a troop train south to a rest camp at Winchester. With the exception of 30 men who were quarantined with sickness, the squadron left Winchester on 13 December and crossed the English Channel on the SS Mona's Queen, landing at Le Havre, France, on 14 December 1917.
After arriving in France the 80th Squadron moved to Tours Aerodrome, where it was assigned to the Second Aviation Instruction Center. On 1 February 1918, the squadron was redesignated the 492d Aero Squadron (Construction). At Tours Aerodrome. it performed construction tasks until the end of World War I. The squadron moved to Brest, France at the end of December 1918 to prepare for shipment home, and returned to the United States aboard the USS Frederick late in January 1919. It was demobilized at Garden City, New York on 13 February. It was reconstituted in December 1936 and consolidated with the first 492d Bombardment Squadron.Clay, p. 1594
Interwar years The first 492d Bombardment Squadron was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 31 March 1924, and assigned to the 349th Bombardment Group as part of the General Headquarters Reserve and allotted to the Ninth Corps Area. Training began for reserve personnel in January 1925 at Sand Point Airport, Seattle, Washington.
The unit was consolidated on 5 December 1936 with the 492d Aero Squadron, in order to perpetuate the history and traditions of the World War I organization. The unit conducted summer training at various locations including Rockwell Field, California, and Pearson Field, Washington. It was inactivated on 2 March 1937 at Seattle by relief of personnel. It was disbanded on 31 May 1942.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 592-593 In 1960, it was reconstituted and consolidated with the second 492d Bombardment Squadron.
World War II
The 7th Bombardment Group was deploying to the Philippines when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. With the air bases in the Philippines in Japanese hands, it engaged in combat in Australia and the Netherlands East Indies. By late spring 1942, it had moved to India.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 43-45 In India, it was assigned two medium bomber squadrons, the 11th and 22d Bombardment Squadrons,Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 59-60, 115-116 and two heavy bomber squadrons, the 9th and 436th Bombardment Squadrons.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 50-51, 538-40 In September, the two medium squadrons were reassigned to form the cadre for the new 341st Bombardment Group, while the 492d and 493d Bombardment Squadrons were organized to take their places and make the 7th Group an all heavy bomber unit.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 592-93, 594
The second 492d Bombardment Squadron was activated at Camp Malir near Karachi, India (now Pakistan). It initially was nominally manned, but after moving to Gaya Airfield in November 1942, it received substantial manning by February 1943 and was assigned eight Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The squadron flew its first combat mission on 24 January 1943 when it bombed docks, shipping, and warehouses at Rangoon, Burma. During the next five months the squadron participated in repeated attacks on enemy lines of communication in central and southern Burma, particularly in the area around Rangoon. By the beginning of the monsoon season, the squadron was operating from Panagarh Airfield, India. The monsoon slowed combat operations, although the unit attacked enemy shipping in distant Port Blair in the Andaman Islands and harassed shipping lanes in the Gulf of Martaban between Rangoon and the Andaman Islands. The operational pace picked up with the end of the monsoon, and in November it struck the Insein rail yards, reportedly the only facility in Burma capable of repairing locomotives; and in December flew missions to targets in Bangkok, Thailand.Byard, p. 2
At the beginning of January 1944, the squadron moved to Madhaiganj Airfield. It concentrated on Japanese Lines of communication in Burma, attacking bridges, docks and warehouses. It focused on the Burmese rail system with attacks on marshalling yards locomotives, and rolling stock. At sea, at attacked merchant vessels and navy ships in the Bay of Bengal. As the 1944 monsoon began, the squadron moved to Tezgaon Airfield, India (now Bangla Desh). There, it ceased combat operations and began ferrying fuel over the Hump to Fourteenth Air Force in China, making its first delivery to Kunming Airfield on 20 June. Supply operations continued until October, when it returned to Madhaiganj. After spending most of the month retraining for combat, it returned to attacking the Burma rail system, although during most of December it focused on enemy bombing storage locations. On 20 December a detachment of the squadron moved to Luliang Airfield, China, where it resumed airlift operations until the end of January.
Early in 1945 the squadron supported British ground forces in the region north of Mandalay and east of the Irrawaddy River.Byard, p. 3 On 19 March it attacked rail lines and bridges in Thailand, for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. In 1945, the squadron had adopted the "glip" (for GLide-skIP) bombing technique against bridges, that had been developed by the 490th Bombardment Squadron. After the fall of Rangoon in May 1945 and the onset of the 1945 monsoon, the 492d moved to Tezpur Airfield, India, and once again took on the mission of airlifting gasoline over the Hump into China. This time, its Liberators were modified to act as substitute cargo carriers, and it was 20 June before it resumed operations over the Hump. Hump operations continued past V-J Day, terminating on 18 September. It sailed from Calcutta aboard the on 7 December 1945 as part of Operation Magic Carpet, and arrived at the Port of Embarkation, Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 5 January 1946. The unit was inactivated at Camp Kilmer the following day.
Strategic Air Command B-29 Superfortress operations
On 1 October 1946 the 492d was activated at Fort Worth Army Airfield, Texas and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group of Strategic Air Command (SAC). When the 327th Bombardment Squadron moved on paper from Fort Worth to Smoky Hill Army Airfield, Kansas in the last week of October,Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 403 the squadron received its first contingent of troops and Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft, which had been assigned to the 327th. It then began a training program which was designed primarily to prepare the unit for overseas operations.
In April 1947 the 492d engaged in a mass formation flight from Fort Worth to Los Angeles. During June and July, it deployed to Japan to participate in maneuvers. The following month, most of its planes made a nonstop flight to Elmendorf Field, Alaska, to test the immediate mobility of the 7th Bombardment Group. In September, the 7th Group deployed to Giebelstadt Airfield, Germany. While in Europe they flew training missions in the central and southern parts of the continent.
B-36 Peacemaker operations
In 1948, the squadron began transitioning to the Convair B-36 Peacemaker. it received its first B-36 in June and by January 1949 it completed the transition to the new bomber and ended B-29 operations. In March 1949 an aircrew assigned to the unit flew nonstop a distance of 9,600 miles from Fort Worth to Minneapolis, Great Falls, Montana Key West, Denver, Great Falls, Spokane, Denver, and back to Fort Worth. This 44 hour flight was reported to be the longest to that date in a B-36. The squadron mission was to maintain the ability to conduct strategic strikes, conducting most of its operations from its home base, now named Carswell Air Force Base, primarily operating in the 48 United States. However, it also conducted deployments and exercises outside the United States.Byard, p. 4
In August 1949 the squadron inaugurated a series of training missions to Alaska. During February 1950 it participated in an operational readiness test in which it deployed several aircraft to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Eielson served as a forward staging area from which simulated missions were directed against targets in the United States. In May 1950 the 492d provided a B-36 for a mobility mission to Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico.
In 1951 and 1954, squadron aircraft and aircrews departed Carswell for Goose Air Base, Labrador, Canada, performing a navigation mission to Thule Air Base, Greenland. On the return flight, they made simulated attacks on targets in the United States. In December 1951 the squadron provided a bomber on a special mission to RAF Sculthorpe, England. On this deployment it participated in a Royal Air Force navigation mission and had a mutual exchange of ideas with Royal Air Force personnel, and compared techniques in target study and briefing.
Starting in August 1954 the squadron began a number of operations in North Africa. That month it flew a simulated strike mission, flying non-stop the 4,600 miles to Nouasseur Air Base, French Morocco, which had been designated its post-strike headquarters. In July 1955, the entire 7th Bombardment Wing deployed to Nouasseur for 60 days. It tested the ability of Nouasseur to act as a prestrike and a post-strike staging area for a B-36 task force. The squadron deployed again to North Africa in February and in October 1956. While deployed, it conducted simulated missions against targets in Europe and the Middle East.Byard, pp. 4-5
B-52 Stratofortress operations