547th Bombardment Squadron

The 547th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit that saw service in World War II and the Cold War. It last was assigned to the 384th Bombardment Wing, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and was inactivated on 1 January 1962.

History
Established as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron, and trained under Second Air Force, the squadron was deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), and assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England, flying combat missions over Nazi Germany and occupied Europe until the German capitulation in May 1945.

After the war, the squadron was reassigned to Air Transport Command and used B-17s as transports for demobilized personnel, flying transport routes to French Morocco and the Azores before returning to Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in France. The squadron was inactivated in France during February 1946.

The 547th was activated as a B-29 Superfortress squadron in the reserves, 1947, but was not manned or equipped, and was inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions.

The squadron was activated again in 1958 as a result of Strategic Air Command phasing out the B-47, which required additional squadrons to be activated as part of the consolidation of Stratojet wings and the replacement of the B-47 by B-52 Stratofortresses. In March 1961, President John F. Kennedy directed that the phaseout of the B-47 be accelerated, and the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962 as part of the drawdown of the USAF B-47 force, with the aircraft being sent to AMARC storage at Davis-Monthan.

Lineage

 * Constituted 547th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 25 November 1942
 * Activated on 1 December 1942
 * Inactivated on 28 February 1946


 * Redesignated 547th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) on 9 July 1947
 * Activated in the reserve on 16 July 1947
 * Inactivated on 27 June 1949


 * Redesignated 547th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) on 11 August 1958
 * Activated on 1 September 1958
 * Discontinued, and inactivated on 1 January 1962

Assignments

 * 384th Bombardment Group, 1 December 1942-28 February 1946
 * 96th Bombardment Group, 16 July 1947-27 June 1949
 * 384th Bombardment Wing, 1 September 1958-1 January 1962

Stations

 * Gowen Field, Idaho, 1 December 1942
 * Wendover Field, Utah, 2 January 1943
 * Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, 5 April-10 May 1943
 * RAF Grafton Underwood (AAF-106), England, 4 June 1943
 * Istres Air Base, France, 1 July 1945-28 February 1946
 * Winston-Salem Municipal Airport, North Carolina, 16 July 1947-27 June 1949
 * Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, 1 September 1958-1 January 1962

Aircraft

 * B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1946
 * B-47 Stratojet, 1958–1961