: ''See

73d Bombardment Squadron (World War II) __NOTOC__ AD 73 ( LXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitian and Messalinus (or, less frequently, year 826 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination AD ...

for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

squadron'' The 73d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unit. It was last assigned to the 4241st Strategic Wing, based at

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The base is named for U.S. Navy Lt. Seymour A. Johnson, a test pilot from Goldsboro who died in an F4F Wildcat crash near Norbeck, Mary ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. It was inactivated on 15 April 1963.

History

Established in late 1941 as a pursuit squadron in the

Hawaii Territory The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

, initially equipped with obsolete P-26 Peashooters, later with some early model Curtiss P-40C Warhawks. Most aircraft were destroyed on the ground at

Wheeler Field Wheeler Army Airfield , also known as Wheeler Field and formerly as Wheeler Air Force Base, is a United States Army post located in the City & County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii. It is a National H ...

during the

Pearl Harbor Attack The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. At the ti ...

; squadron was reassigned to

Bellows Field A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...

for re-equipping, being re-formed by May 1942 and redesignated as a Fighter Squadron assigned to the new

Seventh Air Force The Seventh Air Force (Air Forces Korea) (7 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The command's mission is to plan and direct air component operations in ...

. Deployed to

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housi ...

after the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...

as a defensive squadron, providing air defense of the island. Reassigned back to Hawaii at the beginning of 1943, remained part of the Territory's air defense forces. Received P-47D Thunderbolts in late 1943; deployed to

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

in the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...

. During the

Marianas Campaign The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Campaign Plan Granite II, was an offensive launched by the United States against Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific between June and November 1944 during the Pacific War. The campaign ...

, worked closely with Marine ground forces, pioneered close infantry support and employed the first use of

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...

. On Saipan the squadron was attacked by Japanese ground forces in June 1944 on Aslito Airfield soon renamed Isley Field, Saipan, sustaining modest casualties. Pilots and ground personnel took a crash course in infantry tactics afterward. Received the new long range P-47Ns in early 1945, before moving next door to

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

Ie Shima , previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa Island. The island measures in circumference and covers . As of December 2012 the island had ...

. With the P-47N the squadron pioneered Very Long Range (VLR) fighter operations across the Pacific with missions of historic length and duration: Kauai to Midway Atoll, Midway to Kaneohe and Makin to Jaluit and Maloelap. By 1945, with the long range P-47Ns, VLR sorties were the rule rather than the exception. In April 1945 the squadron began flying 1300 mile escorts and sweeps from Iwo Jima to Honshu. In May 1945 the 73d advanced to le Shima where they reached out to Japanese targets in Kyu-shu and China. During the summer of 1945 was reassigned to the

Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Intercon ...

and continued its fighter sweeps against Japanese airfields and other targets, in addition to flying long-range B-29 escort missions to Japanese cities, until the end of the war. Assigned to

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

on Okinawa in August 1945, shortly after

V-J Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on wh ...

. Returned to the United States and inactivated in Jan 1946. Activated in the postwar air force reserve, but never manned or equipped. Inactivated due to budget shortages in 1949. Reactivated in 1952 as a

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

RB-36 Peacemaker strategic reconnaissance squadron at Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico; flew very long range intelligence gathering missions over the borders of the Soviet Union, North Korea and Communist China until 1959 when the B-36 was retired. In 1959 was reassigned to SAC provisional 4241st Strategic Wing, being re-equipped with

B-52G Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the ...

intercontinental heavy bombers. Was reassigned to

Seymour Johnson AFB Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The base is named for U.S. Navy Lt. Seymour A. Johnson, a test pilot from Goldsboro who died in an F4F Wildcat crash near Norbeck, Mary ...

by SAC to disperse its heavy bomber force. Conducted worldwide strategic bombardment training missions and providing nuclear deterrent. Was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its provisional Strategic Wings, redesignating them permanent Air Force Wings. Squadron was inactivated with aircraft/personnel/equipment being redesignated 51st Bombardment Squadron in an in-place, name-only transfer.

Lineage

* Constituted 73d Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 4 October 1941 : Activated on 5 October 1941 : Redesignated 73d Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942 : Inactivated on 12 January 1946 * Activated in the reserve on 1 August 1947 : Inactivated on 27 June 1949 * Redesignated 73d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 4 June 1952 : Activated on 16 June 1952 : Redesignated 73d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 1 October 1955. : Discontinued, and inactivated on 15 April 1963; personnel/aircraft/equipment redesignated as 51st Bombardment Squadron

Assignments

* 18th Pursuit (later Fighter) Group, 5 October 1941 *

318th Fighter Group The 318th Fighter Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. It served primarily in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. History The 318th Fighter Group was activated in October 1942 when the remainders of ...

, 15 October 1942 – 12 January 1946 *

72d Reconnaissance Group 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, myt ...

, 1 August 1947 – 27 June 1949 * 72d Strategic Reconnaissance (later Bombardment) Wing, 16 June 1952 * 4241st Strategic Wing, 5 January 1959 – 15 April 1963

Stations

, 5 October 1941 *

, 22 May 1942 * Henderson Field, Midway Eastern Island, 17 June 1942 * Kaneohe Field,

, 26 January 1943 *

Mokuleia Field Dillingham Airfield is a public and military use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) west of the central business district of Mokulēia, in Honolulu County. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012. on the No ...

, 5 May 1943 *

, 8 November 1943 * East Field

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, c. 23 June 1944 *

Ie Shima Airfield is a training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea. The airfield as such was inactivated ...

, 30 April 1945 *

Naha Airfield is an international airport located west of the city hallAIS Japan
in

, November–December 1945 *

Fort Lewis Fort Lewis may refer to: * Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado ** Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States ** Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort L ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 11–12 January 1946 * Hamilton Field (later AFB),

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, 1 August 1947 – 27 June 1949 *

Ramey AFB Ramey Air Force Base also known as Borinquen Field, is a former United States Air Force base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. It was named after United States Army Air Forces Brigadier General Howard Knox Ramey. Following its closure, it was redevelo ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, 16 June 1952 *

, 5 January 1959 – 15 April 1963

Aircraft

Boeing P-26 The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" is the first American production all-metal fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps. Designed and built by Boeing, the prototype first flew in 1 ...

, 1941 *

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

, 1941–1943 *

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

, 1943–1945 *

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinc ...

, 1944–1945 * RB-36 Peacekeeper, 1953–1958 *

, 1959–1963

References

External links

{{USAAF 8th Air Force UK 073 073