The417th Bombardment Squadron was aUnited States Army Air Forces unit. It was activated in the fall of 1939 as the27th Reconnaissance Squadron and moved to Puerto Rico two months later. Following theattack on Pearl Harbor it engaged inantisubmarine patrols in the Caribbean until the antisubmarine mission was taken over by theNavy. In the spring of 1944, it returned to the United States, where it was disbanded on 20 June 1944.
Thesquadron was first organized in September 1939 the27th Reconnaissance Squadron (Long Range) atLangley Field, Virginia, and assigned to the newPuerto Rican Department, which had been organized in July.[1][2] Drawing its personnel from various organizations stationed at Langley, the squadron's ground echelon embarked on theUSAT Chateau Thierry bound for Puerto Rico on 17 November 1939, arriving atBorinquen Field, Puerto Rico on 21 November.[1][3] The air echelon, with nineDouglas B-18A Bolo bombers, arrived on 5 December.[3]
Borinquen was a newly opened field and, in addition to flying training flights, squadron members engaged in making their quarters more livable.[3] In November 1940, the25th Bombardment Group arrived, and the squadron was attached to it.[1][4] As the military garrison at Borrinquen grew, the squadron provided thecadre for the5th Reconnaissance Squadron, which was activated on 1 April 1941[5] and continued training the 5th until it began independent operations in September.[3]
On 22 April 1942, the squadron was redesignated as the417th Bombardment Squadron.[1] The squadron moved toVernam Field, Jamaica on 24 September 1942,[1] and in December, established a detachment atDakota Field,Aruba.[3] It returned to Puerto Rico on 29 May 1943, but toLosey Field, nearPonce. Simultaneously the Camaguey detachment was discontinued[1] At Losey, the squadron began transitioning to theNorth American B-25 Mitchell, as the threat from German submarines in the Caribbean had diminished as theKriegsmarine shifted its operations to the North Atlantic.,[6] while theNavy assumed the antisubmarine patrols the squadron had been performing.[3] In June 1943, theArmy Air Forces had agreed to withdraw from antisubmarine operation as soon as the Navy was able to perform the mission.[7]
In April 1944 the squadron returned to the United States and was disbanded on 20 June,[1] with most of its personnel used to form cadres for heavy bomber units being formed bySecond Air Force.[3]
^Approved 13 January 1943. Description: On a white disc,bordure black, a caricatured stork in flight, yellow wings, beak, and feet, wearing a blue jacket and cap, trimmed white, holding a large black bomb firedproper in the feet, and carrying a large red aerial bomb suspended from the beak by a blue cloth.
^Maurer dates the assignment to the 25th Group to 25 February 1944 inCombat Squadrons, which appears to be a typographical error (omitting the year in the from date), because inCombat Units, he gives the beginning of the assignment as 1942 (year only).
^Maurer indicates B-18 use continued into 1944 in the entry for the squadron inCombat Squadrons of the Air Force in World War II. However the entry for the 25th Bombardment Group inAir Force Combat Units in World War II indicates B-18s had left thegroup in 1943 in favor of the B-25.
United States
United States Air Force
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.jpg)
