52d Flying Training Squadron

The 52nd Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron was part of the Iraq Training and Advisory Mission – Air Force. It operated Cessna and Beechcraft T-6A Texan II aircraft conducting flight training for members of the Iraqi Air Force. In late 2011, all U.S. forces were withdrawn from Iraq and the squadron was inactivated.

The squadron was first activated in 1940 as the 52nd Bombardment Squadron in the build-up of the United States military prior to the country's entry into World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the unit began conducting antisubmarine missions over the Gulf of Mexico. When the German U-boat threat diminished, it moved to Idaho, where it was a training unit for heavy bomber units and aircrews. In 1944, the squadron was inactivated when the Army Air Forces reorganized its training activities, but was immediately activated as a very heavy bomber unit. It deployed to the Pacific, where it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for attacks on Japan. Following V-J Day, the squadron remained in the Pacific until inactivating in 1946.

The squadron was active again in 1972 as the 52nd Flying Training Squadron when it absorbed the resources of another unit at Craig Air Force Base, Alabama. It continued in this role until Craig closed in 1977 as the Air Force demand for pilots diminished following the end of its involvement in Vietnam. The 52nd was active again at Reese Air Force Base, Texas in the pilot training mission from 1990 to 1997. It was converted to provisional status in 2007.

History

World War II

Antisubmarine warfare

The squadron was first activated at Langley Field, Virginia, as the 52nd Bombardment Squadron in February 1940, one of the original squadrons of the 29th Bombardment Group. Its organization was part of the pre-World War II buildup of the United States Army Air Corps after the breakout of war in Europe. In May, it moved to MacDill Field, Florida, where it was equipped with a mix of pre-production YB-17s, early model Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Douglas B-18 Bolos. The squadron was still at MacDill when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and it began to fly antisubmarine patrol missions in the Gulf of Mexico from January 1942. By the summer of 1942, the U-boat threat in the Gulf began to diminish, with all German submarines being withdrawn from the area by September.

Heavy bomber training

No longer needed in the Gulf, the squadron moved to Gowen Field, Idaho, where it became an Operational Training Unit (OTU). The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups". The 96th, 381st, 384th and 388th Bombardment Groups were all formed at Gowen in the second half of 1942.

In 1943, the squadron exchanged its B-17s for Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The squadron mission also changed as the Army Air Forces' (AAF) need for new units diminished and its need for replacements increased. The squadron became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual pilots and aircrews. However, standard military units, like the 52nd Squadron, were based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, and were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. The 29th Bombardment Group and its squadrons (including the 52nd) were inactivated. Its personnel and equipment, along with that of supporting units at Gowen Field were combined into the 212th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Heavy) on 1 April 1944.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 81-82

Combat in the Pacific

The AAF was organizing new Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment units, and the squadron was activated the same day at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas. It briefly returned to flying B-17s until B-29s became available for training. It continued training with the Superfortress until December 1944. Training included long range overwater flights to Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico.

It deployed to North Field, Guam, where it became a component of the 314th Bombardment Wing of XXI Bomber Command. Its first combat mission was an attack on Tokyo on 25 February 1945. Until March 1945, it engaged primarily in daytime high altitude attacks on strategic targets, such as refineries and factories. The campaign against Japan switched that month and the squadron began to conduct low altitude night raids, using incendiaries against area targets. The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a 31 March attack against an airfield at Omura, Japan. The squadron earned a second DUC in June for an attack on an industrial area of Shizuoka Prefecture, which included an aircraft factory operated by Mitsubishi and the Chigusa Arsenal.

Staff Sergeant Henry E."Red" Erwin of the squadron was awarded the Medal of Honor for action that saved his B-29 during a mission over Koriyama, Japan, on 12 April 1945. Sgt Erwin was assigned to job of dropping white phosphorus bombs through a launching chute in the floor of his bomber. A bomb exploded in the chute and shot back into the plane, severely wounding Sgt Erwin and filling the plane with heavy smoke. Despite being blinded by the burning bomb, he picked it up, carried it forward to the cockpit area of the plane and threw it out an open window. Once the smoke had cleared, the pilot was able to pull the Superfortress out of a dive and recover at an emergency base.

During Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa, the squadron was diverted from the strategic campaign against Japanese industry and attacked airfields from which kamikaze attacks were being launched against the landing force. Following VJ Day, the squadron dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war and participated in several show of force missions over Japan. It also conducted reconnaissance flights over Japanese cities. The squadron remained on Guam until it was inactivated in March 1946.

Pilot training

Craig Air Force Base

The 3617th Pilot Training Squadron was organized at Craig Air Force Base, Alabama in February 1956. Like its parent 3615th Pilot Training Wing, it was a Major Command Controlled (MAJCON) unit and could not retain its history once it was discontinued. In 1972, Air Training Command determined to replace its MAJCON units with permanent, Air Force Controlled units. In this organizational change, on 1 July 1972, the squadron, now designated the 52d Flying Training Squadron took over the personnel, equipment and mission of the 3617th, which was simultaneously inactivated. The squadron conducted the basic portion of Undergraduate Pilot Training with Northrop T-38 Talons. In the fall of 1977, Craig closed and the squadron was inactivated.

Reese Air Force Base

The squadron was reactivated at Reese Air Force Base, Texas in May 1990, under Air Training Command's five squadron concept, which reassigned student pilots to the wing's flying training units. Under this organization, It became the second squadron flying T-38s under the 64th Flying Training Wing. With the implementation of the Objective Wing organization, the squadron became part of the wing's reactivated 64th Operations Group. With the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training program limiting instruction in the T-38 to students who would be flying fighter aircraft or bombers, in 1992, the squadron switched to the Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk, training students who would operate tankers and airlift aircraft. To prepare for this project, Air Education and Training Command organized the Flying Training Squadron, Provisional, 52nd at Reese, which was the first squadron to equip with the Jayhawk. On 1 October, the provisional squadron was discontinued and transferred its personnel and equipment to the squadron. Training on the new plane began in January 1993. The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that Reese be closed and as operations there were reduced, the squadron inactivated on 1 April 1997.

Expeditionary operations

In 2007, The squadron was converted to provisional status as the 52nd Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron and activated at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq on 29 March 2007. Its mission was to train Iraqi airmen and to conduct undergraduate and instructor pilot training for the Iraqi Air Force. The squadron had established a fixed wing pilot training school by October. Its initial students, flying Cessna 172

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