The 323rd Bombardment squadron was first activated on April 15th, 1942, at Harding Field as the 323rd Bombardment Squadron, one of the three original bombardment squadrons of the 91st Bombardment Group. It was equipped with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. It completed First Phase training at MacDill Field under Third Air Force, with Second and Third Phase training at Walla Walla Army Air Field under Second Air Force in Washington. The squadron’s ground echelon left for Fort Dix in early September 1942, then boarded the RMS Queen Mary for transport to England. The air echelon moved to Gowen Field, Idaho on August 24th, 1942, and began receiving new B-17s there. It began flying them from Dow Field, Maine in September, although it was not fully equipped with new aircraft until October.
The ground echelon was established temporarily at RAF Kimbolton by September 13th, 1942. However, the runways at Kimbolton were not up to handling heavy bombers, and the unit moved to what would be its permanent station in the European Theater of Operations, RAF Bassingbourn, on October 14th, 1942. Bassingbourn had been a prewar Royal Air Force station, so the squadron found itself in more comfortable quarters than most of its contemporaries. The squadron primarily engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, and flew its first mission on November 7th, an attack against submarine pens at Brest, France.
Until the middle of 1943, The squadron concentrated its attacks on naval targets, including submarine pens, dockyards, ship construction facilities and harbors, although it also struck airfields, factories, and communications facilities. On January 27th, 1943, the unit attacked the Kriegsmarine yard at Wilhelmshaven as part of the first penetration by bombers of VIII Bomber Command to a target in Germany. On March 4th, 1943, it attacked marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany despite adverse weather and heavy enemy opposition. For this action, it was awarded its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC).
From the middle of 1943 to the end of the war, the squadron concentrated on attacks on German aviation, including attacks on aircraft factories, including ones at Oranienburg and Brussels; airfields at Oldenburg and Villacoublay; the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt; chemical plants at Leverkusen and Peenemunde; and industrial facilities in Ludwigshafen, Frankfurt am Main and Wilhemshaven. As part of this attack on the German aircraft industry, on January 11th, the squadron penetrated into central Germany, despite bad weather, poor fighter cover, and strong attacks by enemy interceptor aircraft, the unit succeeded in bombing its target, earning a second DUC.
The squadron also performed interdiction and air support missions. It helped prepare for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, by bombing gun emplacements and troop concentrations near the beachhead area. It aided Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo, in July 1944 by attacking enemy troop positions. It supported troops on the front lines near Caen in August 1944 and attacked lines of communications near the battlefield during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. It attacked airfields, bridges, and railroads to support Operation Lumberjack, the push across the Rhine in Germany, in 1945.
Following V-E Day, the squadron evacuated prisoners of war from German camps. The first B-17 left Bassingbourn for the United States on May 27th, 1945. The ground echelon sailed aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth on June 24th, 1945. The squadron was reestablished at Drew Field, Florida in early July, with the intention of deploying it to the Pacific, but it was not fully manned or equipped, and inactivated on November 7th, 1945.
With Masters of the Air now having reached its inevitable conclusion, “Man ‘O War II” stands an awesome tribute to the men and machines of the US Army Air Force, the 8th Air Force, and their death-defying daylight bombing campaign over Nazi-occupied Europe during the Second World War.
