460th Bombardment Squadron

History

Established as a B-24 Liberator very heavy bomb squadron in 1944. Mission was as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) under II Bomber Command training B-24 replacement pilots and aircrew.

Redesignated a B-29 Superfortress operational squadron in April 1944. Trained under Second Air Force; deployed to the Western Pacific, being assigned to the new Eighth Air Force. Arrived in Okinawa but Japanese Capitulation led to drawdown of Eighth Air Force and the squadron never was engaged in combat.

Flew show-of-force missions over Occupied Japan and aircraft helped evacuate prisoners of war from Japan and China to airfields in the Philippines. Personnel demobilized and aircraft flown to storage in the United States in May 1946 and the unit was inactivated as a paper unit in Okinawa on 28 May.

Lineage

Constituted 460th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 July 1942

Activated on 6 July 1942Inactivated on 1 April 1944

Redesignated 460th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy)

Activated on 1 April 1944Inactivated on 10 May 1944

Activated on 7 July 1944

Inactivated on 28 May 1946

Assignments

330th Bombardment Group, 6 July 1942 – 1 April 1944; 1 April 1944 – 10 May 1944

333d Bombardment Group, 7 July 1944 – 28 May 1946.

Aircraft

B-24 Liberator, 1942–1944

B-29 Superfortress, 1944–1946.