489th Attack Squadron

The squadron was activated as the 77th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas in August 1917, and commanded by Capt. H. L. Mumma. In September under the command of 1st Lt Kenneth M. Spence. In November 1917 the 77th moved to the Air Depot at Garden City, New York for deployment to the American Expeditionary Force. On 4 December 1917 the squadron moved to port of Embarkation Philadelphia and boarded the transport Northland. On the Northland were 9 Aero Squadrons with 70 officers and 1,339 enlisted men. These 9 Squadrons were the 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 75th, 76th, 77th and 101st.

In January 1918 a new numbering scheme for aero squadrons was set up. The numbers 400 through 599 were reserved for Aero Squadrons (Construction). The 77th was redesignated as the 489th Aero Squadron (Construction).[1] It served in France building facilities. The 489th returned to the States in February 1919 and went to Camp Stuart, Virginia. In March 1919 it was demobilized at Camp Lee, Virginia.[1]

The first 489th Bombardment Squadron was constituted in the Organized Reserve in March 1924 and allotted to the Ninth Corps Area. The squadron was manned in 1925 at Boeing Field, near Seattle, Washington.[1][5] It was assigned to the 349th Bombardment Group from 22 October 1925 until c. June 1929 for mobilization as part of the General Headquarters Reserve.[6] The 489th was one of the few Air Corps units in the Organized Reserve that possessed facilities, equipment and aircraft between the wars. In June 1932, the 489 Aero Squadron was reconstitued and consolidated with the 489 Bombardment Squadron. The unit typically conducted its inactive training at Pearson Field or in Seattle. It performed its summer training at various Air Corps installations on the Pacific coastal region. The squadron was disbanded, along with all other Organized Reserve Air Corps units on 31 May 1942 and its remaining personnel were called to active duty individually.[1][5]

The second 489th Bombardment Squadron was organized as a North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber squadron in mid-1942, trained by Third Air Force in the southeastern United States. As part of the 340th Bombardment Group, the squadron deployed to IX Bomber Command of the 9th Air Force in Egypt initially in March 1943 via Air Transport Command South Atlantic Route through Caribbean, Brazil, Liberia, Central Africa and Sudan. Operated in the Tactical Bomber Force of the Northwest African Tactical Air Force primarily in support of the British 8th Army in the Tunisian Campaign and participated in the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) in July 1943. In August 1943, the squadron was reassigned to XII Bomber Command of the 12th Air Force and participated in the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943. Moved to Corsica as part of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force in April 1944 and provided tactical support for Allied troops in Italy and Southern France (Operation Dragoon). Based at Rimini, Italy in April 1945 until the end of the war.

Personnel demobilized in Italy during summer of 1945; squadron returned to the United States, being prepared for deployment to Pacific Theater for use as a tactical bomb squadron in programmed Invasion of Japan. Japanese capitulation led to squadron's inactivation in November 1945.

Activated as an A-26 Invader squadron in the postwar Air Force reserves in 1947; inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions.

From 1958, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings of Strategic Air Command (SAC) began to assume an alert posture at their home bases, reducing the amount of time spent on alert at overseas bases. The SAC alert cycle divided itself into four parts: planning, flying, alert and rest to meet General Thomas S. Power's initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC's planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.[7] To implement this new system B-47 wings reorganized from three to four squadrons.[7][8] The 489th was activated at Whiteman Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the 340th Bombardment Wing.[4] The alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962 and the four squadron pattern no longer met the alert cycle commitment, so the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962.[4][8]

The squadron was activated as the 489th Reconnaissance Squadron on 26 August 2011 at Beale Air Force Base near Marysville, CA as a component of the 9th Operations Group, 9th Reconnaissance Wing, flying MC-12W aircraft. It was inactivated 10 May 2015.

The squadron was redesignated as the 489th Attack Squadron at Creech Air Force Base under the 432d Operations Group, on 2 December 2016. It is equipped with MQ-1 and MQ-9 UAV aircraft.[4][3]

• Unknown, 13 August 1917 – February 1918[note 3]
• Air Service Production Center No. 2, February–December 1918
• Unknown, December 1918 – 6 March 1919
• Ninth Corps Area, 1925 – 31 May 1942 (349th Bombardment Group for mobilization until c. June 1929)[5]
• 340th Bombardment Group, 20 August 1942 – 7 November 1945
• 340th Bombardment Group, 10 November 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 340th Bombardment Wing, 1 October 1958 – 1 January 1962
• 9th Operations Group, 26 August 2011 – 10 May 2015
• 432nd Operations Group, 2 December 2016 – present[4]

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

• Alley, Bill (2006). Pearson Field: Pioneering Aviation in Vancouver and Portland. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-7385-3129-4.
• Clay, Steven E. (2011). US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941 (PDF). Vol. 3 The Services: Air Service, Engineers, and Special Troops 1919-1941. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-98419-014-0. LCCN 2010022326. OCLC 637712205. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Schake, Col Kurt W. (1998). Strategic Frontier: American Bomber Bases Overseas, 1950-1960 (PDF). Trondheim, Norway: Norwegian University of Science and Technology. ISBN 978-8277650241. Retrieved 27 July 2015.