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771st Bombardment Squadron
462d Bombardment Group B-29 Superfortress at Piardoba Airfield
Active	1943–1944
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Bombardment
Engagements	China Burma India Theater
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation

The 771st Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. The squadron was activated in 1943, and became one of the earliest Boeing B-29 Superfortress units. It moved to the China Burma India Theater in April 1944 and participated in the first attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the 1942 Doolittle Raid in June 1944. In August 1944, it earned a Distinguished Unit Citation. It was inactivated on 12 October 1944, when the Army Air Forces reorganized its very heavy bomber groups to consist of three, rather than four squadrons.

History

Training in the United States

The squadron was first activated on 1 July 1943 at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas as one of the four original squadrons of the 462d Bombardment Group, and was intended to be one of the first units to fly the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Smoky Hill was one of four bases chosen for B-29 training based on their proximity to Boeing's factory at Wichita, Kansas, where most of the early Superfortresses would be produced. However, no B-29s were available to equip the squadron. It moved to Walker Army Air Field, Kansas at the end of the month.

At Walker, it received its initial cadre from elements of the 40th Bombardment Group and began to fly a mix of Martin B-26 Marauders and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Delays in producing the B-29, labor disputes at the engine manufacturer, and modifications to the planes to make them ready for combat resulted in belated deliveries to combat units and it was close to the end of 1943 before aircrews could train in the new bomber in any number. Ground echelon personnel began shipping out in December 1943 to prepare the airfields for the bombers without completing their training in the United States. The air echelon of the squadron trained with the B-29 at Walker until March 1944, when it departed for its first overseas base, Piardoba Airfield, Bengal, India, to participate in Operation Matterhorn, which called for B-29 attacks from advanced bases in China, while the bombers' main bases were in India.

Combat operations

The air echelon ferried its planes to India via Canada, across north Africa then to India. Once all elements of the 462d Group had arrived at Piardoba in June, the squadron became part of Twentieth Air Force, which reported directly to Headquarters, Army Air Forces, bypassing theater command. Initially, the squadron's bombers were used to airlift supplies over the Hump to forward bases in China, primarily to Chengtu. It flew its first combat mission, an attack on rail targets in Bangkok, Thailand on 5 June 1944 from its base in India.

Ten days later, the squadron took part in the first attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the 1942 Doolittle Raid. Attacks on Japan required staging through forward bases in China, and it took twelve flights by the bombers to transport enough fuel and munitions to the forward bases to prepare for one attack sortie. This limited attacks on Japan to one in ten days. However, the squadron attacked iron plants, aircraft factories, naval installations, transportation centers and other targets in Japan. The squadron moved its available aircraft to the forward base at Chiung-Lai Airfield. Staging of B-29s, already armed and loaded with bombs began on 13 June and was only completed on the day of the raid, with only refueling needed at Chiung-Lai. The primary target for this mission was the Imperial Steel Works at Yawata.

The squadron also attacked targets in Burma, China, Formosa and Indonesia. In August 1944, operating from China Bay Airport in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where the Royal Air Force provided support for the mission, it mined the Musi River in Sumatra, dropping down below a 1000 foot ceiling to sow the mines in Operation Boomerang. All petroleum products exported from the large refineries at Palembang were shipped via this stream. On 20 August, the squadron again attacked iron and steel works in Yawata, Japan in a daylight raid for which it earned the Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). Fighter opposition on this attack included the first experience of a Japanese fighter plane intentionally ramming a B-29.

In October 1944, the 462d Bombardment Group was reorganized, along with other groups in XX Bomber Command. Although this reorganization increased the number of aircraft assigned to each squadron and to the group, it reduced the number of squadrons in the group from four to three. The squadron was inactivated in this reorganization and its crews and airplanes were distributed to the other three squadrons of the 462d Group.

Lineage

• Constituted 771st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943

Activated on 1 July 1943

Redesignated 771st Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy in November 1943

Inactivated on 12 October 1944

Assignments

• 462d Bombardment Group, 1 July 1943 – 12 October 1944

Stations

• Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 1 July 1943
• Walker Army Air Field, Kansas, 28 July 1943 – c. 12 March 1944
• Piardoba Airfield, India, c. 16 April–12 October 1944

Aircraft

• Martin B-26 Marauder, 1943
• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1944
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1944

Awards and campaigns

Award streamer	Award	Dates	Notes
	Distinguished Unit Citation	20 August 1944	Yawata, Japan

Campaign Streamer	Campaign	Dates	Notes
	India-Burma	c. 16 April 1944 – 12 October 1944
	China Defensive	c. 16 April 1944 – 12 October 1944
	Air Offensive, Japan	15 June 1944 – 12 October 1944
	Western Pacific	17 April 1945––12 October 1944

See also

• List of B-29 Superfortress operators
• B-17 Flying Fortress units of the United States Army Air Forces
• List of Martin B-26 Marauder operators

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

1. Aircraft is Boeing B-29-10-BW Superfortress, serial 42-6347, King Size. It was declared "war weary" on 20 January 1945 and returned to the US, where it was modified as a TB-29 trainer. It was salvaged on 21 December 1949. Baugher, Joe (2 June 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 26 June 2023. Taken in June 1944. This was one of forty-seven B-29s that completed the first combat mission over Japan on 15 June 1944.
2. The twelve to one statistic appears in various forms. This is how the statement appears in the unit history. Cate, however, states that the bombers consumed twelve gallons of fuel to transport one gallon that could be used for combat missions. Cate, p. 90.

Citations

1. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 746–747
2. Cate, p.53
3. ^ "462nd Bomb Group Historical Overview" (PDF). The New England Air Museum. 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
4. Cate, pp. 55-56
5. Cate, pp. 41-42
6. Cate, pp. 77-79
7. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 337–338
8. Robertson, Patsy (20 June 2010). "Factsheet Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (AFGSC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
9. Cate, p. 99
10. Cate, P. 109
11. Cate, p. 114
12. Cate, p. 123

Bibliography

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

• Cate, James L (1953). "The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. V, The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) . 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) . 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.

v t e USAAF Twentieth Air Force in World War II
Airfields	China Hsinching Airfield (A-1) Kwanghan Airfield (A-3) Kuinglai Airfield (A-5) Pengshan Airfield (A-7) India Chakulia Airfield Dudhkundi Airfield Piardoba Airfield Kalaikunda Airfield Ceylon RAF China Bay Marianas Harmon Airfield (Guam) Isely Airfield (Saipan) North Airfield (Guam) North Airfield (Tinian) Northwest Airfield (Guam) West Airfield (Tinian)
Units	Commands VII Fighter XX Bomber XXI Bomber Wings 58th Bombardment 73d Bombardment 313th Bombardment 314th Bombardment 315th Bombardment 301st Fighter Groups Bombardment 6th Bombardment 9th Bombardment 16th Bombardment 19th Bombardment 29th Bombardment 39th Bombardment 40th Bombardment 330th Bombardment 331st Bombardment 444th Bombardment 462d Bombardment 468th Bombardment 497th Bombardment 498th Bombardment 499th Bombardment 500th Bombardment 501st Bombardment 502d Bombardment 504th Bombardment 505th Bombardment 509th Composite Fighter 15th Fighter 21st Fighter 413th Fighter 414th Fighter 506th Fighter 507th Fighter
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

v t e USAAF Second Air Force in World War II
Airfields	Airfields
Units	Commands II Air Support Command II Bomber Command II Fighter Command IV Air Support Command XX Bomber Command XXI Bomber Command XXII Bomber Command Wings 5th Bombardment 15th Bombardment Training 16th Bombardment Operational Training 17th Bombardment Training 18th Replacement 21st Bombardment 46th Bombardment Operational Training 58th Bombardment 73rd Bombardment 315th Bombardment 316th Bombardment Groups Bombardment 2nd Bombardment 6th Bombardment 7th Bombardment 9th Bombardment 12th Bombardment 16th Bombardment 17th Bombardment 19th Bombardment 25th Bombardment 29th Bombardment 34th Bombardment 39th Bombardment 40th Bombardment 42nd Bombardment 46th Bombardment 47th Bombardment 48th Bombardment 85th Bombardment 86th Bombardment 86th Bombardment 88th Bombardment 94th Bombardment 95th Bombardment 96th Bombardment 99th Bombardment 100th Bombardment 301st Bombardment 302nd Bombardment 303rd Bombardment 304th Bombardment 305th Bombardment 306th Bombardment 307th Bombardment 308th Bombardment 312th Bombardment 330th Bombardment 331st Bombardment 333rd Bombardment 346th Bombardment 351st Bombardment 376th Bombardment 379th Bombardment 381st Bombardment 382nd Bombardment 383rd Bombardment 384th Bombardment 385th Bombardment 388th Bombardment 390th Bombardment 393rd Bombardment 395th Bombardment 396th Bombardment 398th Bombardment 399th Bombardment 400th Bombardment 401st Bombardment 407th Bombardment 415th Bombardment 418th Bombardment 444th Bombardment 445th Bombardment 446th Bombardment 447th Bombardment 448th Bombardment 449th Bombardment 450th Bombardment 451st Bombardment 452nd Bombardment 453rd Bombardment 454th Bombardment 455th Bombardment 456th Bombardment 457th Bombardment 458th Bombardment 459th Bombardment 460th Bombardment 461st Bombardment 462nd Bombardment 464th Bombardment 467th Bombardment 468th Bombardment 469th Bombardment 470th Bombardment 471st Bombardment 472nd Bombardment 484th Bombardment 485th Bombardment 486th Bombardment 487th Bombardment 488th Bombardment 489th Bombardment 490th Bombardment 491st Bombardment 493rd Bombardment 494th Bombardment 497th Bombardment 498th Bombardment 499th Bombardment 500th Bombardment 501st Bombardment 502nd Bombardment 504th Bombardment 505th Bombardment 509th Composite Fighter 20th Fighter 54th Fighter 84th Fighter 85th Fighter 507th Fighter 508th Fighter Reconnaissance 2nd Reconnaissance 3rd Reconnaissance 4th Reconnaissance 5th Reconnaissance 6th Reconnaissance 7th Reconnaissance 8th Reconnaissance 71st Reconnaissance 77th Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 443nd Troop Carrier
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

• Strategic bombing squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces
• Military units and formations established in 1943