614th Tactical Fighter Squadron

The 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 401st Operations Group at Torrejon Air Base, Spain, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1992.

The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 614th Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States it moved to England, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for combat action. Following V-E Day, the squadron was inactivated in England. It was briefly active in the reserves from 1947 to 1949, but does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped.

The squadron was redesignated the 614th Fighter-Bomber Squadron and activated in 1954 at Alexandria Air Force Base, Louisiana. After temporary deployments to Southeast Asia, the squadron moved to Phan Rang Air Base, South Vietnam. It engaged in combat operations until being withdrawn from the theater and moving to Torrejon Air Base, Spain, where it continued fighter operations until inactivating in 1992, as the Air Force withdrew permanently stationed units from Spain. Shortly before inactivating, its planes and pilots were used to man a provisional organization during Operation Desert Storm.

History

World War II

Organization and training for combat

The 614th Bombardment Squadron was activated March 1943 at Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington, as one of the original squadrons of the 401st Bombardment Group.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 285–286 The initial cadre for the squadron was drawn from the 395th Bombardment Group at Ephrata and the 383d Bombardment Group at Rapid City Army Air Field, South Dakota. The cadre soon departed for Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, where they conducted simulated combat missions with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics out of Brooksville Army Air Field.

The ground echelon moved to Geiger Field, Washington, in May 1943 and to Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana, in July. At Great Falls the first combat crews were assigned to the squadron. In the final stage of training the squadrons dispersed with the 614th training at Glasgow Army Air Field.Closway, p. 45

After completing training the ground echelon left for overseas on 19 October 1943. After staging at Camp Shanks, New York, they embarked on the and sailed on 27 October disembarking at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde on 3 November 1943. The air echelon staged for deployment at Scott Field, Illinois, then flew to England under the control of Air Transport Command via Newfoundland, Iceland and Scotland.

Combat in the European Theater

On arrival in England, half of the 401st Group's aircrews were immediately reassigned to the 351st Bombardment Group. The rest of the squadron became part of the Eighth Air Force at RAF Deenethorpe. The 614th became part of the 92d Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division. Its tail code was Triangle-S.

On 26 November the 614th flew its first combat mission against Bremen, Germany. The 401st Group did not suffer the combat loss of an airplane until its ninth mission on 30 December. The squadron operated chiefly against strategic targets, bombing industries, submarine facilities, shipyards, missile sites, marshalling yards, and airfields. On 11 January 1944 the squadron was in the lead group of the 1st Bombardment Division in an attack against aircraft manufacturing facilities at Oschersleben, Germany. Although the bombers were able to attack, poor weather conditions prevented the division from receiving effective fighter cover. For over three hours the bomber formation suffered more than 400 attacks by Luftwaffe fighters, including air-to-air rocket attacks. Despite these attacks the unit continued its attack and struck a telling blow against German aircraft production for which the squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC).

A little over a month later, on 20 February, the squadron earned its second DUC for an attack on the Erla Maschinenwerke aircraft manufacturing facilities in Leipzig, Germany. Despite fighter attacks and battle damage to the 614th's planes, 100% of the unit's bombs fell within 1,000 feet of the aiming point. Beginning in October 1944, the unit concentrated its attacks on Axis oil reserves.

In addition to strategic missions, squadron operations included attacks on transportation, airfields, and fortifications to support Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion. On D-Day the 614th attacked Normandy beachhead areas dropping bombs five minutes before troops landed. The following month it provided close air support for Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint-Lô

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