The 340th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the USAF Weapons School. It is stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The 340th is assigned to the 57th Wing, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The mission of the squadron is to provide Boeing B-52 Stratofortress instructional flying.
The squadron was activated on as the 340th Bombardment Squadron. a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress squadron, assigned to the 97th Bombardment Group. After brief training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, it was one of the first heavy bomber squadrons to deploy to the European Theater of Operations. At the end of the year, following Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany from the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its actions. Following V-E Day, it was inactivated in Italy.
The squadron was again activated as an element of Strategic Air Command in 1946. It flew a series of Boeing bombers in the strategic deterrent role until inactivating. During the Vietnam War, B-52 crews from the squadron participated in the Linebacker offensives over the skies of North Vietnam. In August 1990 the 340th deployed aircrews for Operation Desert Storm.
History
World War II
Organization and training
The squadron was activated at MacDill Field, Florida in February 1942 as the 340th Bombardment Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Group. The following month, it moved to Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and also flew antisubmarine patrols. After a brief training period the squadron left Sarasota on 16 May.
The ground echelon sailed on the , arriving in Scotland on 10 June and at RAF Polebrook two days later. The air echelon, along with the air echelon of the 341st Bombardment Squadron staged through Dow Field, Maine starting on 15 May. From 2 through 11 June the squadrons deployed elements to the Pacific Coast, recommencing their deployment to Great Britain via Goose Bay Airport, Labrador and Greenland to Prestwick Airport Scotland on 23 June. The squadron's B-17s began arriving at Polebrook on 1 July, where they formed part of the first heavy bomber group assigned to Eighth Air Force.
Combat in Europe
Operations from Great Britain
The haste with which the squadron had trained and deployed resulted in deficiencies in its training. Most pilots had not flown at high altitudes on oxygen; some gunners had never operated a turret, much less fired at a moving target. Crews had flown together for only a few weeks in training. The squadron's first weeks in England were devoted to intensive training, with numerous specialists attending Royal Air Force (RAF) schools to prepare for combat. The squadron flew its first mission on 17 August 1942, attacking a marshalling yard at Rouen, which was also the first mission flown by AAF heavy bombers stationed in Great Britain. Two days later, the squadron supported Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, by attacking Abbeville/Drucat Airfield. It attacked naval installations, airfields and industrial and transportation targets in France and the Low Countries.
In September, the 97th Group and its squadrons were transferred to XII Bomber Command in the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. However, VIII Bomber Command retained operational control of these units until they left England. The first AAF bomber groups to deploy to England had patterned their basing on that of the RAF Bomber Command, which typically had a wing with two bomber squadrons on a station. The 97th Group's 342nd and 414th Squadrons were at RAF Grafton Underwood, while 97th Group headquarters, the 340th and the 341st Squadrons were at Polebrook. In September, the AAF decided to follow its own organization and use larger bases that would accommodate an entire group, and the 414th and 342nd Squadrons joined the rest of the group at Polebrook.
Operations in the Mediterranean Theater
Following the Operation Torch landings at Oran and Algiers on 8 November, the air echelon of the 340th left Polebrook on 18 November, staging through RAF Hurn for Maison Blanche Airport, Algeria. The ground echelon sailed by convoy to Algeria. The squadron was established at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria near the end of November.