781st Bombardment Squadron

History

Activated as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron in mid-1943, it trained under the Second Air Force. It was deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in March 1944, where it was assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force. It flew strategic bombardment combat missions over France, Germany, Italy, Austria and the Balkans until the German capitulation in May 1945.

The squadron was attached to Air Transport Command in June 1945; it used its B-24s as transport aircraft, flying personnel from Trinidad to Florida. The unit was inactivated in place in Trinidad during July 1945.

Re-activated in 1953 as a Tactical Air Command C-119 Troop Carrier squadron under the Eighteenth Air Force, it primarily flew cargo transport missions, but also supported Army Airborne parachute units on maneuvers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The unit was reassigned in 1953 as a United States Air Forces in Europe troop carrier squadron, in France. It performed theater airlift and transport operations until 1958 when it was inactivated due to budget restrictions.

The squadron was re-activated in 1963 as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-52G strategic bombardment squadron at Robins AFB, Georgia. It maintained nuclear alert and flew training missions on a global scale. It deployed to the Western Pacific and flew 'Arc Light' conventional strategic bombardment missions over Indochina. It returned to Robins where it was inactivated in 1968 when the 465th Bomb Wing was inactivated and its squadrons were absorbed by the re-activation of the 19th Bomb Wing, also at Robins.

Lineage

Constituted as the 781st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943

Activated on 1 August 1943 Inactivated on 31 July 1945

Redesignated the 781st Troop Carrier Squadron (Medium) on 22 December 1952

Activated on 1 February 1953 Inactivated on 8 March 1958

Redesignated the 781st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) and activated on 15 November 1962

Organized on 1 February 1963 by assuming personnel/equipment/and aircraft of 342nd Bombardment Squadron (Inactivated) Discontinued and inactivated on 25 July 1968.

Assignments

465th Bombardment Group, 1 August 1943 – 31 July 1945

465th Troop Carrier Group, 1 February 1953

465th Troop Carrier Wing, 12 March 1957

317th Troop Carrier Wing, 8 July 1957 – 8 March 1958

465th Bombardment Wing, 15 November 1962 – 25 July 1968

Stations

Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, 1 August 1943

Kearns Center, Utah, c. 13 September 1943

McCook Army Airfield, Nebraska, c. 5 October 1943 – 1 February 1944

Pantanella Airfield, Italy, 15 March 1944 – June 1945

Waller Field, Trinidad, c. 15 June – 31 July 1945

Donaldson AFB, South Carolina, 1 February 1953 – December 1953

Toul-Rosières Air Base, France, 26 December 1953

Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France, 6 December 1954 – 8 March 1958

Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 15 November 1962 – 25 July 1968

Aircraft

B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945

C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1953–1957

C-130A Hercules, 1957–1958

B-52 Stratofortress, 1962–1968