Active 1941-1945 | Country United States | |
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Branch United States Air Force Role Anti-Submarine;Bombardment | ||
The 835th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 486th Bombardment Group, based at Drew Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 7 November 1945.
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Antisubmarine Warfare
The squadron was organized in early 1941 as the 80th Bombardment Squadron assigned to First Air Force as a light bombardment squadron equipped with A-20 Havocs. The unit was assigned to the 45th Bombardment Group at Savannah AAB, Georgia, then moving to Grenier Field, New Hampshire.
After the United States entered World War II the group was equipped with B-18 Bolo medium bombers and ordered to search for German U-Boats and to fly aerial coverage of friendly convoys off the northeast coast, then being reassigned to Langley Field, Virginia, then to Miami Airport, Florida flying missions along the mid-Atlantic and southeast coastline. In November 1942, the squadron was redesignated as the 9th Antisubmarine Squadron and deployed to Trinidad, flying antisubmarine patrols over the Caribbean with seven radar-equipped Douglas B-18B and three B-18C Bolos, conducting anti-submarine sweeps from there as part of the Antilles Task Force from November 1942 until March 1943.
The squadron was reassigned from First Air Force to the 25th Antisubmarine Wing, Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command in December 1942.
B-24 Liberator era
In the spring of 1943, the squadron was taken off antisubmarine patrols and assigned to the 486th Bombardment Group which was training in Arizona under Second Air Force before deploying to England. In Arizona, the squadron was re-equipped with B-24 Liberators and transitioned from the 2-engine medium to the 4-engine heavy bomber.
In March 1944, after several months of training at Davis-Monthan, the squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), being assigned to Eighth Air Force in England. From its base at Sudbury, the squadron began flying long-range strategic bombing missions over Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe, attacking enemy military and industrial targets primarily in Germany. In November 1944 unit re-equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses and reassigned from 2d to 4th Bombardment Division. Continued strategic bombardment attacks on enemy targets until German capitation in May 1945.
Personnel largely demobilized during the summer of 1945; small cadre of squadron returned to the United States assigned to Drew Field, Florida. Scheduled for re-equipping and re-manning as B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomb squadron and deployment to Western Pacific. However, Japanese capitulation in August 1945 led to squadron's inactivation in November 1945.