414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron

The squadron was activated at MacDill Field, Florida in February 1942 as the 24th Reconnaissance Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Group.[5][6] Since a reorganization of General Headquarters Air Force in September 1936, each bombardment group of the Army Air Forces (AAF) had an assigned or attached reconnaissance squadron, which operated the same aircraft as that group's assigned bombardment squadrons.[7] The following month, it moved to Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and also flew antisubmarine patrols. In April, the practice of having one squadron of heavy bombardment groups designated for reconnaissance ended and the squadron became the 414th Bombardment Squadron. After a brief training period the squadron left Sarasota on 16 May.[5]

The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in Scotland on 10 June and at RAF Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, the following day. The air echelon, along with the air echelon of the 342nd Bombardment Squadron staged through Grenier Field, New Hampshire starting on 15 May. From 2 through 11 June the squadrons deployed elements to the Pacific Coast, recommencing their deployment to Great Britain via Goose Bay Airport, Labrador and Greenland to Prestwick Airport Scotland on 23 June. The squadron's B-17s began arriving at Grafton Underwood on 1 July, where they formed part of the first heavy bomber group assigned to Eighth Air Force.[8]

The haste with which the squadron had trained and deployed resulted in deficiencies in its training. Most pilots had not flown at high altitudes on oxygen; some gunners had never operated a turret, much less fired at a moving target. Crews had flown together for only a few weeks in training. The squadron's first weeks in England were devoted to intensive training, with numerous specialists attending Royal Air Force (RAF) schools to prepare for combat.[9] The squadron flew its first mission on 17 August 1942, attacking a marshalling yard at Rouen, which was also the first mission flown by AAF heavy bombers stationed in Great Britain. Two days later, the squadron supported Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, by attacking Abbeville/Drucat Airfield.[10] It attacked naval installations, airfields and industrial and transportation targets in France and the Low Countries.[6]

In September, the 97th Group and its squadrons were transferred to XII Bomber Command in the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. However, VIII Bomber Command retained operational control of these units until they left England.[8] The first AAF bomber groups to deploy to England had patterned their basing on that of the RAF Bomber Command, which typically had a wing with two bomber squadrons on a station.[11] The 414th and 342nd Squadrons were at Grafton Underwood, while the 340th and 341st, along with 97th Group headquarters were at RAF Polebrook. In September, the AAF decided to follow its own organization and use larger bases that would accommodate an entire group, and the 414th and 342nd Squadrons joined the rest of the group at Polebrook.[5][6][11]

Squadron B-17F Flying Fortress All American after a collision with a German fighter[lower-alpha 3]

Following the Operation Torch landings at Oran and Algiers on 8 November, the air echelon of the 414th left Polebrook on 18 November, staging through RAF Hurn for Maison Blanche Airport, Algeria. The ground echelon sailed by convoy to Algeria. The squadron was established at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria near the end of November.[6][8]

Through May 1943, the squadron engaged in the campaign to cut German supply lines in North Africa by striking shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and bombing docks, harbors, airfields and marshalling yards in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and southern France and Italy. The squadron moved forward through Algeria and into Tunisia during these operations. In June 1943, it supported Operation Corkscrew, the projected invasion of Pantelleria, which resulted in the surrender of the island without invasion. Through the summer of 1943, it supported Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Italy.[6]

From November 1943, the squadron was primarily involved with the strategic bombing campaign against Germany.[6] The following month, it moved to Italy, pausing at Cerignola Airfield for a month before moving to Amendola Airfield, which would be its station for the remainder of the war.[5] It bombed targets in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia; striking strategic targets such as oil refineries, aircraft factories and marshalling yards. During Big Week, the intensive attacks on the German aircraft industry in February 1944, it was part of the lead formation in a strike on an aircraft manufacturing plant at Steyr, Austria. The group was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation for that raid. It received a second DUC for an attack on the oil refineries near Ploesti, Romania on 18 August 1944.[6]

The group also flew air support and interdiction missions against enemy lines of communication, airfields and transportation facilities. It supported Allied forces at Anzio and Monte Cassino. It supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, with attacks on coastal defenses. In the spring of 1945, it supported United States Fifth Army and British Eighth Army in their advance through the Po Valley.[6]

Following V-E Day, the squadron moved to Marcianise Airfield, Italy, where it was inactivated on 29 October 1945.[5]

The squadron was converted to provisional status as the 414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron and assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in the summer of 2011.[12] USAFE activated it for the first time at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey in the fall.[13] Its Predators were previously deployed in Iraq, where they flew missions surveilling elements of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which continued from Incirlik.[4] The squadron is made up of airmen deployed from Creech and Holloman Air Force Bases.[2] While in flight, video footage was transmitted to operators at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.[4] Squadron operations were limited to reconnaissance until July 2016, when the government of Turkey approved the use of Incirlik to conduct strike missions against ISIS in Syria in Operation Nomad Shadow. The squadron conducted the first strike against ISIS from Incirlik in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in August.[14]

• 97th Bombardment Group, 3 February 1942 – 29 October 1945[17]
• United States Air Forces in Europe to activate or inactivate as needed, 19 July 2011[12]

39th Expeditionary Operations Group, 15 October 2011 – present[13]

• Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 1942[8]
• Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress, 1942–1945[8][17]
• General Atomics MQ-1B Predator, 2011–present

Explanatory notes

Citations

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN 978-0-87938-638-2.
• Maurer, Maurer (1987). Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force. ISBN 0-912799-38-2. LCCN 87012257. OCLC 15661556. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Whitlock, Craig (20 July 2013). "U.S. military drone surveillance is expanding to hot spots beyond declared combat zones" (PDF). Washington Post. Retrieved 21 March 2023.