Active 1942-1945 | Country United States | |
Branch United States Army Air Forces Role Antisubmarine Warfare, Bombardment Engagements European Theater of Operations | ||
The 847th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the 489th Bombardment Group at Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas where it was inactivated on 28 March 1945. The squadron performed antisubmarine patrols in 1942 and 1943. After reforming as a heavy bombardment squadron, it engaged in combat in the European Theater of Operations until returning to the United States in late 1944. The squadron was inactivated while its parent group was training as a very heavy bombardment unit.
Contents
History
The squadron was originally constituted as the 32d Reconnaissance Squadron, but was redesignated as the 421st Bombardment Squadron before being activated in mid-1942 as one of the 304th Bombardment Group's four Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadrons. It was initially part of Second Air Force for training, however it also flew antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific Northwest coastline during the fall of 1942. The squadron was renamed the 20th Antisubmarine Squadron and moved to Newfoundland in late 1942 where it continued flying antisubmarine missions over the Northeast coastline from Newfoundland and Long Island, New York during 1943 with Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command. In October 1943, when antisubmarine duty was taken over by the United States Navy, the squadron was redesignated the 847th Bombardment Squadron and moved to Wyoming where its personnel formed the cadre for the newly forming 489th Bombardment Group.
There the unit re-equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators and once again trained with Second Air Force until deploying to the European Theater of Operations where it was part of VIII Bomber Command in England. The squadron entered combat on 30 May 1944, shortly before the D-Day landings. It took part in the strategic bombing campaign over Europe. The squadron also supported the D-Day landings and the massive aerial attack that preceded the breakthrough at St. Lo. The unit was also used to carry food to liberated France and to the rapidly advancing Allied troops during August and September 1944 and to carry supplies to the Allied troops in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden.
In November and December 1944 the squadron was returned to the United States, where it began to prepare to deploy to the Pacific. The unit was inactivated on 28 March 1945 when the its parent 489th group became very heavy bombardment group, made up of three rather than four operational squadrons.