492nd Attack Squadron

The first predecessor of the squadron is the 80th Aero Squadron which was organized at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, on 15 August 1917. Early the next month the service nature of the unit became clearly apparent when it was redesignated the 80th Aero Squadron (Construction).[3]

480th Aero Squadron - Formation, Tours Aerodrome, France, November 1918

The squadron left Kelly Field on 28 October 1917, arriving at the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island on 3 November. While at Garden City, the squadron was given intensive drill and training for service overseas. It departed for the port of Hoboken, New Jersey on 22 November and boarded the RMS Carpathia. The ship left port later that day, arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 25 November. It waited in Halifax for other ships to form a convoy for the Atlantic crossing, and arrived at Liverpool, England on 8 December. From there, the squadron took a troop train south to a rest camp at Winchester. With the exception of 30 men who were quarantined with sickness, the squadron left Winchester on 13 December and crossed the English Channel on the SS Mona's Queen, landing at Le Havre, France, on 14 December 1917.[3][4]

After arriving in France the 80th Squadron took station at the Second Aviation Instruction Center at Tours Aerodrome. There it performed construction tasks until the end of World War I. Meanwhile, on 1 February 1918, it had been redesignated the 492d Aero Squadron (Construction). The unit returned to the United States aboard the USS Frederick late in January 1919 and was disbanded at Garden City on 13 February.[3]

The 492d Bombardment Squadron was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 31 March 1924, and assigned to the 349th Bombardment Group as part of the General Headquarters Reserve) and allotted to the Ninth Corps Area. Training began for reserve personnel in January 1925 at Sand Point Airport, Seattle, Washington.[5][note 2]

The unit was consolidated on 5 December 1936 with the 492d Aero Squadron, in order to perpetuate the history and traditions of the World War I organization. The consolidation of the two units under the bombardment designation thus served to extend the history of the reserve squadron back to 15 August 1917.[3]

The unit conducted summer training at various locations including Rockwell Field, California, and Pearson Field, Washington. It was nactivated on 2 March 1937 at Seattle by relief of personnel.[5] It was disbanded on 31 May 1942.[3]

Constituted as the active duty 492d Bombardment Squadron, 7th Bombardment Group, in 1942. The squadron was activated as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment squadron in the China-Burma-India Theater under Tenth Air Force at Karachi Airport, India. The squadron immediately began preparations to enter combat. Personnel strength grew slowly at first. Yet by 1 February 1943, with 48 officers and 388 enlisted men, the squadron was considered a complete fighting unit. By that time it was equipped with eight B-24 Liberator aircraft, a number which ultimately grew to fourteen.[3]

The squadron actually entered combat on 24 January 1943 when, operating from its base at Gaya Airfield, India, it bombed docks, shipping, and warehouses at Rangoon, Burma. That raid was followed early in February with an attack upon a railroad bridge at Myitnge. During the next five months the squadron participated in repeated attacks on enemy communications lines In central and southern Burma, particularly in the area around Rangoon. The monsoon season, commencing in May 1943, slowed down combat operations. In July 1943, however, the unit attacked enemy shipping in the far distant Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. During August it persistently harassed shipping lanes in the Gulf of Martaban from Rangoon down to the Andaman Islands. A significant mission for September was an attack upon the Syriam oil refineries on the river opposite Rangoon.[3]

7th Bombardment Group B-24 Liberators, Panagarh Airfield, India, 1943

On 22 January 1944 the 492d Squadron took station at Madhaiganj Air Base, India. It began the second year of combat activities with continued efforts to destroy enemy-held communications into and within Burma by bombing bridges, docks and warehouses, locomotives and rolling stock, and railway marshalling yards on land, and cargo vessels and naval craft on the adjacent waters. In mid-June 1944, after the beginning of the monsoon period, the squadron moved to Tezganon-Kurmitola, India, and for the time being ceased combat operations. Instead it began transporting gasoline across the Hump to the Fourteenth Air Force in China. The first cargo was flown to Kunming on 20 June. These operations continued until after the first of October.

For the greater part of December 1944, the squadron switched concentrated on destroying enemy stores. In December also a small component of the 492d Squadron left on six weeks of detached service in China. Based at Luliang Air Base, it engaged in hauling gasoline and other supplies to Suichwan Airfield and Liang-shan.[3]

Early in 1945 the 492d Bombardment Squadron supported British ground forces in the region north of Mandalay and east of the Irrawaddy River. After the fall of Rangoon on 7 May 1945 the 492d Bombardment Squadron moved to Tezpur Airfield, India, and once again took on the mission of airlifting gasoline over the Hump into China. Some six weeks were required to refit the heavy bombers as substitute cargo carriers. The first mission was flown on 20 June. The aircrews completed the allotted task by 18 September.[3]

Six weeks later the squadron moved to Dudhkundi Airfield, India, and then to Kanchrapara on 19 November. It sailed from Calcutta aboard the USS General Black on 7 December 1945, and arrived at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on 5 January 1946. The unit was inactivated at Camp Kilmer the following day.[3]

On 1 October 1946 the 492d was redesignated a very heavy bombardment unit, activated at Fort Worth Army Air Field, Texas and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group, of Strategic Air Command. It was not until the last week in October, however, that the squadron received its first contingent of troops, 59 officers and 328 enlisted men on assignment from the 327th Bombardment Squadron. It then began a training program which was designed primarily for overseas operations. The squadron was equipped with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft until late in the summer of 1948.[3]

In April 1947 the 492d Squadron engaged in three long-range missions. The first was as part of a mass formation flight from its home base to Los Angeles. Next it participated in a simulated bombing attack on Kansas City. Lastly, the squadron helped to provide an escort for President Miguel Alemán Valdés of Mexico in a flight from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., in May 1947.[3]

The squadron spent a part of June and July 1947 on maneuvers in Japan. During August most of its B-29's joined others of its companion units (9th and 436th Bombardment Squadrons) on a nonstop flight to Anchorage, Alaska, to test the immediate mobility of the 7th Bombardment Group. Before returning to Fort Worth they engaged in flights that provided training in local approach procedures and in navigation. The following month the three squadrons deployed to Giebelstadt Air Base, Germany. While in Europe they flew several training missions in the central and southern parts of the continent.[3]

The squadron received its first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft in June 1948. A few weeks thereafter it was redesignated a heavy bombardment unit. By January 1949 the squadron had completed the transition to the new bomber and had closed out its B-29 program. In March 1949 an aircrew assigned to the unit flew nonstop a distance of 9,600 miles (from Fort Worth to Minneapolis, Great Falls, Montana Key West, Denver, Great Falls, Spokane, Denver, and back to Fort Worth) in 44 hours. As reported, this was the longest recorded flight to that date in a B-36 bomber.[3]

In August 1949 the 492d Squadron inaugurated for the 7th Bombardment Group a series of routine training missions to Alaska. During February 1950 the squadron participated with other bombardment units of the group in an operational readiness test which also involved flights to Alaska. For that purpose they deployed several aircraft to Eielson Air Force Base. It served as a forward staging area from which simulated missions were directed against designated targets in the United States. In Hay 1950 the 492d Squadron provided one of two B-36'8 on a mobility mission to Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico.[3]

On 17 July 1951 six aircraft and aircrews assigned to the squadron departed Fort Worth for Goose Air Base, Labrador, Canada. Thence they were dispatched on a navigation mission to Thule Air Base, Greenland. On the return flight from Goose Bay to Carswell, they made simulated attacks on Tampa, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; and Fort Worth. Another deployment to Goose Bay on a unit simulated combat mission followed in March 1954. Meanwhile, in December 1951 the squadron provided one of two heavy bombers of the 7th Bombardment Wing on a special mission to RAF Sculthorpe, England. The purpose of this deployment was to participate in a Royal Air Force navigation mission on a noncompetitive basis, to effect a mutual exchange of ideas with Royal Air Force personnel, and to compare techniques in target study and briefing.[3]

In August 1954 the 492d Squadron participated in a 7th Bombardment Wing maneuver to North Africa on a simulated strike mission, flying non-stop the 4,600 miles to Nouasseur Air Base, French Morocco, which had been designated the post-strike headquarters.[3]

In December 1957 the entire 7th Bombardment wing began preparations for converting from the B-36 aircraft to the Boeing B-52F Stratofortress. Early in February, the wing officially became a B-52 organization. In January 1959 the wing attained a combat ready status in the B-52.[3]

On 15 June 1959, less than six months after having completed the transition from the B-36 to the B-52 aircraft, the 492d Bombardment Squadron was reassigned to SAC's 4228th Strategic Wing and moved to Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi to disperse SAC's heavy bomber force. It conducted worldwide strategic bombardment training missions and providing nuclear deterrent.[3]

It was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its MAJCON Strategic Wings, replacing them with permanent AFCON Wings. The squadron's aircraft, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 736th Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously activated.[3]

The squadron was redesignated the 492d Attack Squadron and activated at March Air Reserve Base, California to train operators of unmanned aerial vehicles.[2]

• Post Headquarters, Kelly Field, Texas, 15 August-28 October 1917
• Aviation Concentration Center, 3–22 November 1917
• Second Aviation Instruction Center, 15 January 1918 – 9 December 1918[note 3]
• Air Service, Service of Supply, 9 December 1918 – 13 February 1919[4][note 4]
• 349th Bombardment Group, 1925 – 2 Mar 1937
• 7th Bombardment Group, 25 October 1942 – 6 January 1946; 1 October 1946
• 7th Bombardment Wing, 16 June 1952
• 4228th Strategic Wing, 15 June 1959 – 1 February 1963
• 49th Operations Group, 15 April 2019 – present[2]

• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942–1945
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1946–1948
• Convair B-36 Peacemaker, 1948–1958
• Boeing B-52F Stratofortress, 1958-1963[2]
• General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, 2019–present

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• Byard, TSG Gregory S. (1985). 492nd Bombardment Squadron (PDF). Carswell AFB, TX: 7th Bombardment Wing History Office.
• 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 9780984190140. LCCN 2010022326. OCLC 637712205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
• Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series E: Squadron Histories. Vol. 23 History of the 400th, 462d–470th, 474th, 477th, and 480th-500th Aero Squadrons. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. OCLC 215070705.
• 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.
• Watkins, Robert A. (2017). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force In World War II. Vol. VI, China-Burma-India & The Western Pacific. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7643-5273-7.