The squadron's origins date to 19 May 1917, about a month after the United States' entry into World War I. On that date a group of recruits were organized at Camp Kelly (later Kelly Field), Texas under the title of the Second Provisional Company F. That was later changed to First Provisional Company E. At Kelly Field, the new army recruits received basic military indoctrination by having drill in the mornings, then spending the balance of each day in the construction of facilities at the new camp, building roads, barracks and aircraft hangars in the afternoons. On 30 June the company was given the permanent designation of the 32d Aero Squadron.[4]
On 11 August, orders were received for the 32d to deploy to France. The 30th to 37th Aero Squadrons were sent as a group to Fort Totten, New York, and embarked on the RMS Baltic on 23 August for their trans-Atlantic voyage. They arrived on 15 September at Liverpool, England, where 50 men of the group were selected to remain to train for aircraft mechanic instruction with the Royal Air Force. The balance of the squadron were ordered to Le Havre, France, arriving on 18 September. There most of the men of the group were sent to various French aviation schools for training to maintain French aircraft. The remainder of the group was designated as the 32d Aero Squadron and sent to the new Issoudun Aerodrome in central France. There the squadron was engaged in construction activities, building roads, barracks and hangars for what was designated as the 3d Air Instructional Center.[4]
The 32d Aero Squadron remained at Issoudun Aerodrome for the balance of the war, engaging in construction activities at the facility as it grew and expanded. By the end of the war, the complex had grown to fifteen different airfields, all with support buildings and facilities. In November 1918, the 32d was reassigned to the Third Army Air Service, being moved to Trier Airdrome, in the Rhineland of Germany to repair the facility for use by the Air Service. In early January 1919, orders for demobilization were received and the squadron moved to a Base Port at Bordeaux, France for the return voyage back to the United States. It remained at the base camp until March, when it finally sailed for New York, arriving at Mitchel Field about 5 April. There the men of the 32d Aero Squadron were demobilized and returned to civilian life. The squadron was itself demobilized formally on 14 April 1919.[4]
Inter-war years
The squadron was reconstituted in the Army Air Service as the 32d Bombardment Squadron on 24 March 1923. It was assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group. however it was not organized or activated until 24 June 1932 when it was assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. The 32d was equipped with Keystone B-3 bombers. It was moved in 1935 along with the group to the new March Field, near Riverside, where it received a mix of Martin B-10 and B-12 monoplane bombers.[5]
In the late 1930s, the 32d received Douglas B-18 Bolo medium and early model YB-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. In 1940, it received the new B-17B Flying Fortress, the first production version of the B-17. The squadron was reassigned to Albuquerque Army Air Base, New Mexico on 4 June 1941. Its purpose was to train air and ground crews for reconnaissance and bombing duty with the B-17 before deployment to Clark Field in the Philippine Islands. On 23 November it moved to Hamilton Field, California to stage for its subsequent movement to Clark Field. It was at Hamilton Field on 7 December 1941 during the Pearl Harbor Attack.[6] The ground echelon departed San Francisco aboard ship on 6 December 1941, but returned on 9 December 1941.[2]
World War II
The day following the Pearl Harbor Attack, the 32d moved to Muroc Army Air Field, performing antisubmarine patrols along the Southern California coast.[6] On 16 December it was attached to the provisional Sierra Bombardment Group. However, as conditions in the Philippines worsened, the air echelon's B-17s departed via Hawaii on 17 December. Upon arrival at Hickam Field, the aircraft were pressed into service for defensive reconnaissance patrols around the Hawaiian Islands. The personnel of the ground echelon at Muroc were assigned to other units,[7] although the unit remained active.[2]
The ground echelon moved to Virginia to prepare for movement overseas, leaving for Fort Dix and the Port of Embarkation on 19 July. The air echelon left for Brainard Field, Connecticut in late June. The squadron ferried its Flying Fortresses via the North Atlantic ferry route as part of Operation Bolero, the build up of American forces in the United Kingdom.[9][10] The squadron and its companion squadrons of the 301st Group were the first B-17F unit to arrive in England.[11][f]
The ground and air echelons were reunited at RAF Chelveston on 19 August 1942. The squadron flew its first mission on 5 September 1942. From England it attacked targets primarily in France, including submarine pens, airfields, railroad targets, and bridges. On 14 September, the 301st Group and its squadrons were reassigned to XII Bomber Command in preparation for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, but they continued to operate under the control of VIII Bomber Command. Between 20 and 23 November 1942, the air echelon moved forward to bases in southeastern England, from which it flew directly to Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria. The ground echelon sailed for Algeria from Liverpool on 8 December 1942.[10][12]
Combat in the Mediterranean
Squadron B-17F enroute to Viterbo Airfield, Italy on 29 July 1943[h]
Until August 1943, the squadron operated from airfields in Algeria, bombing docks, shipping facilities, airfields and marshalling yards in Tunisia, Sicily, and Sardinia. It also attacked enemy ships operating between Sicily and Tunisia. On 6 April 1943, the squadron withstood heavy flak from shore defenses and enemy vessels, when it attacked a merchant convoy near Bizerte, Tunisia carrying supplies essential for the Axis defense of Tunisia. For this mission it was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). In May and June, it participated in Operation Corkscrew, the bombing and invasion of Pantelleria, prior to the invasion of Sicily.[12]
Starting in July 1943, the squadron began flying numerous missions to targets in Italy, moving forward to Oudna Airfield, Tunisia in early August. In November 1943, strategic and tactical forces in the Mediterranean were divided and the squadron became part of Fifteenth Air Force. It moved to Italy in December 1943 and in February 1944 it was established at Lucera Airfield, Italy, from which it would conduct combat operations for the remainder of the war. From its Italian base, it concentrated on the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, attacking oil centers, lines of communications, and industrial areas in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. On 23 February 1944, it participated in an attack on the Messerschmitt aircraft factory at Regensburg, succeeding despite "viscous" attacks by enemy interceptors. For this mission, it was awarded a second DUC.[12]
Following V-E Day, the squadron remained in Italy until July 1945. In August, it was designated as a "very heavy" unit in preparation for conversion to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and deployment to Pacific Theater. Before the squadron arrived at its planned training base, Pyote Army Air Field, Texas, Japan had surrendered and there was no need for additional bomber units. The squadron was inactivated in October 1945, shortly before Pyote ended training operations and became an aircraft storage depot.[2][14]
In 1965 the squadron was redesignated 32d Air Refueling Squadron and assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 321st Air Refueling Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated, at Lockbourne Air Force Base. The unit performed air refueling operations worldwide from 1965–1979 and since 1981. From c. 10 June–8 October 1972, all personnel and aircraft were on loan to units in the Pacific or other Strategic Air Command units, leaving the squadron unmanned. It deployed most aircraft and personnel to Southeast Asia October–December 1972, in support of Operation Linebacker II. It again deployed aircrews and tankers to various locations for air refueling support in Southwest Asia from August 1990–April 1991.
Smoky Hill Army Air Field (later Smoky Hill Air Force Base), Kansas 16 July 1947
Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana 7 November 1949 (deployed to RAF Lakenheath, England 16 May - 1 December 1950; RAF Brize Norton, England 8 December 1952 – 6 March 1953; Sidi Slimane Air Base, French Morocco 14 February - 15 April 1954)
Lockbourne Air Force Base (later Rickenbacker Air Force Base), Ohio 15 March 1965 – 30 September 1979
Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana 1 November 1981
McGuire Air Force Base (later Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst), New Jersey 1 September 1994 – present[2]
^Approved 27 September 1994. Description: Celeste, on an equilateral triangle one point to baseAzure a stylized eagle Argent grasping two lightning flashes saltirewiseOr surmounted in base by a compass rose as a mullet of eight Gules, all within a diminished bordure of the fourth [color mentioned].
^Approved 21 November 1936. Description: On a dark blue equilateral triangle, one point down, a conventionalized fowl, white outlined with yellow, grasping two green lightning bolts which cross below the fowl and behind a yellow compass rose surmounted by a green drop bomb outlined with white.
^The 97th Bombardment Group had arrived earlier, but was equipped with B-17Es. Freeman, p. 13.
^The aircraft in the background is Boeing B-17F-1-BO Flying Fortress, serial 41-24352. This plane suffered severe battle damage on a mission to steel works at Lille, France (Although located in the Lille metropolitan area, the target was actually in Belgium, on the left bank of the Deûle River.) on 9 October 1942. The crew prepared to bail out but the bomber made it back to Chelveston with one engine on fire, two propellers feathered and a couple of hundred holes in it. Following this mission, it was named Holey Joe.
^The aircraft is Boeing B-17F-35-BO Flying Fortress, serial 42-5145, The Gremlin. Assigned to the group seven months earlier, this aircraft had completed 62 missions by the time it was transferred on to the 86th Bombardment Squadron in November 1943. It was lost on its 102nd combat sortie when it was shot down by German fighters on a mission to Padua, Italy, on 11 March 1944. Six crewmen bailed out. Baugher, Joe (2 June 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 13 November 2023. Missing Air Crew Report 2836.
^Aircraft is Boeing B-29A-40-BN Superfortress, serial 44-61640. It was later converted to WB-29 weather reconnaissance configuration and was lost on 26 February 1952. Baugher, Joe (9 October 2023). "1944 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
^The squadron is not related to a 32d Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy that was constituted the same day and assigned to Strategic Air Command for activation on or about 8 March 1965. This action was retroactively revoked in November 1965 and the 32d Bombardment Squadron was redesignated as the 32d Air Refueling Squadron. AFOMO Letter 346n, 23 December 1964, Subject: Activation of the 32d Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy and Certain Other USAF Unit Actions; AFOMO Letter 481n, Subject: Amendment to AFOMO Letter 346n, 23 Nov 1965.
Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series E. Vol. 7, History of the 28th, 30th–37th, 41st and 43d Aero Squadrons. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC215070705.
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
Mitchell, John H. (1990). On Wings We Conquer (In Alis Vicimus) [sic]: the 19th and 7th Bomb Groups of the United Stares Air Force [sic] in the Southwest Pacific in the First Year of World War Two. Union, NJ: Gem Publishers. ASINB002F1O2HY.
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