367th Training Support Squadron

The United States Air Force 367th Training Support Squadron, located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is a component of the 782nd Training Group; part of the 82nd Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. The squadron was first activated as the 367th Bombardment Squadron in the spring of 1942, one of the original four squadrons assigned to the 306th Bombardment Group. After training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, the squadron moved overseas and participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations for its efforts. After the war the 367th remained in Europe with the occupation forces until inactivating in 1946. It has been reactivated twice since then, to serve in the Vietnam War and since 1997 as a Training Support Squadron.

Mission

The 367 Training Support Squadron produces interactive multimedia instruction for aircraft and munitions maintenance training for Air Combat Command and Air Mobility Command. It produces visual information products for senior United States Air Force and Department of Defense senior leaders decision-making. It trains and deploys combat camera forces to document worldwide military operations, exercises, contingencies, and humanitarian relief operations.

History

World War II

Initial organization and training

The squadron was first established in March 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho, as the 367th Bombardment Squadron, one of the original four squadrons of the 306th Bombardment Group.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 179–180 In April, its personnel moved to Wendover Field, Utah, where it began training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. On 1 August 1942, the squadron's ground echelon began its deployment, spending a week at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia before moving to Fort Dix, New Jersey at the Port of Embarkation. It sailed on the on 30 August, arriving in Scotland on 5 September 1942. The air echelon departed for Westover Field, Massachusetts, and began ferrying their B-17s to England via the North Atlantic ferrying route.Freeman, p. 248

Combat in Europe

The squadron settled into its combat station, RAF Thurleigh, England, in early September. Although several bomber units arrived in England before the 367th, when these units left England to participate in Operation Torch it became, along with its companion squadrons of the 306th Group, the oldest bombardment squadrons of VIII Bomber Command. It few its first combat mission on 9 October 1942 against a steel factory near Lille, France, but with poor results. This was the first mission on which VIII Bomber Command assembled a strike force of over 100 bombers. The squadron operated primarily against strategic targets, including the locomotive factory at Lille, marshalling yards at Rouen, France, and Stuttgart, Germany. The squadron took part in the first strike into Germany by bombers of Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 when it struck U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven. It struck shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, the aircraft factory at Leipzig, Germany, and similar facilities.

On 11 January 1944, the squadron participated in an attack on an aircraft plant in central Germany, near Brunswick. Extensive cloud cover had resulted in the recall of two of the three bombardment divisions involved in the mission and made the rendezvous of the fighter groups scheduled to provide cover in the target area difficult. In contrast, clear weather to the east of the target permitted the Germans to assemble one of the largest fighter formations since October 1943, with 207 enemy fighters making contact with the strike force. For this mission, the squadron was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). The following month the squadron earned a second DUC for its performance during Big Week, an intensive bombing campaign against the German aircraft industry. Despite adverse weather on 22 February that led supporting elements to abandon the mission the squadron and group effectively bombed the aircraft assembly plant at Bernburg, Germany.

The squadron also performed in a tactical role, assisting ground forces Operation Cobra, the St Lo breakthrough, Operation Market Garden, the attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine near Arnhem in the Netherlands, stopping German attacking forces in the Battle of the Bulge, and bombing enemy positions during Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in the spring of 1945.

After V-E Day, the squadron became part of the occupation forces and participated in Project Casey Jones, the photographic mapping of portions of Europe and North Africa. The 306th Group began to phase out of the project in July. In February 1946, the squadron moved to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base, France, where it absorbed elements of the inactivating 92d and 384th Bombardment Groups, returning to Germany in July. The squadron was inactivated in December 1946.

Strategic Air Command

The squadron was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) Boeing B-29 Superfortress squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in 1948, where it began upgrading to the new Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an advanced version of the B-29 in 1950. It began receiving the first production models of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bomber in 1951 and despite initial difficulties, the Stratojet became the mainstay of the medium-bombing strength of SAC all throughout the 1950s. It began sending its B-47s to AMARC at Davis–Monthan in 1963 when the aircraft was deemed no longer capable of penetrating Soviet airspace. The squadron was not operational after 3 January 1963.

The squadron moved to McCoy Air Force Base, Florida after the B-47 was phased out at MacDill. At McCoy, it assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 347th Bombardment Squadron becoming a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber squadron. It deployed to Pacific during the Vietnam War, engaging in Operation Arc Light combat missions over North Vietnam. It was also deployed to Thailand, flying out of U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield for combat missions over Cambodia and Laos. It returned to the United States in 1973, and was phased down for inactivation and inactivated as part of the post-Vietnam drawdown of the USAF. The squadron was not operational after 1 November 1973.

Training support

In January 1997, the Air Education and Training Command Training Support Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah transferred its flying related support functions to the Air Education and Training Command Air Operations Squadron at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Three months later, on 1 April, it moved to Randolph, where it assumed the assets of the 619th Training Support Squadron. The 367th Squadron was again reactivated as the 367th Training Support Squadron at Hill, where it assumed the remaining mission, personnel, and equipment of the AETC Training Support Squadron.''The First Command'', p. 375

The 367th supports the Air Combat Command and the Air Mobility Command by providing fact-based performance analysis, identifying root causes of performance deficiencies, and recommending possible solutions.

Members of the squadron's analysis section travel to maintenance units across the Air Force to analyze performance deficiencies and identify training gaps. Once initial analysis is complete, design members interpret the collected data and apply ISD principles to create the framework. This framework is then passed along to the software development and graphics sections to create the designed framework. Finally, the near-finished products are scrutinized for technical accuracy, safety compliance, and overall quality by the evaluation section. Then the product is provided to a focus-group from the target audience for feedback. Once stamped with a seal of approval, products are hosted on the internally-developed and maintained Griffin website for field level use.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 367th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 January 1942
: Activated on 1 March 1942
: Redesignated 367th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 20 August 1943
: Inactivated on 25 December 1946
* Redesignated 367th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) on 11 June 1947
: Activated on 1 July 1947
: Redesignated 367th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 11 August 1948
: Redesignated 367th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 April 1963.Lineage through March 1963 in Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 454
: Inactivated on 1 July 1974
* Redesignated 367th Training Support Squadron
* Activated on 1 April 1997

Assignments

* 306th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1942 – 25 December 1946
* 306th Bombardment Group, 1 July 1947 (attached to 306th Bombardment Wing after 10 February 1951)
* 306th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952 – 1 July 1974
* 782nd Training Group, 1 April 1997 – present

Stations

* Gowen Field, Idaho, 1 March 1942
* Wendover Field, Utah, 6 April–1 August 1942
* RAF Thurleigh (Station 111), England, c. 6 September 1942 (detachments operated from Lajes Field, Azores, 20 August–October 1945; Dakar Airport, French West Africa, September 1945; Marrakech Airport, French Morocco, October 1945)
* AAF Station Giebelstadt (Y-90), Germany, 25 December 1945

* Istres-Le Tubé Air Base (Station 196) (Y-17), France, 26 February 1946
* AAF Station Fürstenfeldbruck (R-72), Germany, 16 August 1946
* AAF Station Lechfeld (R-71),Station number in Johnson, p. 60. Germany, 13 September – 25 December 1946
* Andrews Field (later Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, 1 July 1947
* MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, 1 August 1948
* McCoy Air Force Base, Florida, 1 April 1963 – 1 July 1974
* Hill Air Force Base, Utah, 1 April 1997 – present

Aircraft

* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946
* Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1948–1951
* Boeing B-50 Superfortress, 1950–1951
* Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1951–1963
* Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, 1963–1973

See also

* List of B-29 Superfortress operators
* List of B-47 units of the United States Air Force
* List of B-50 units of the United States Air Force
* List of B-52 units of the United States Air Force

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes

; Citations

Bibliography

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External links

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