Initial organization and training

The squadron was activated at Gowen Field, Idaho on 15 April 1942 as the 374th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 308th Bombardment Group.^[2][3] As the squadron was forming and beginning its training in Consolidated B-24 Liberators, at Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico in August 1942, almost all its personnel were transferred to the 330th Bombardment Group.^[4]

The following month, a fresh cadre taken from the 39th Bombardment Group joined the group. In addition to its own training activities, at the beginning of October, the unit was briefly designated as an Operational Training Unit^[4] The squadron began its movement to the China Burma India Theater in January 1943.^[1] The air echelon ferried its Liberators across the Atlantic and Africa, leaving from Morrison Field, while the ground echelon moved by ship across the Pacific.^[3][4]

Combat operations

308th Bombardment Group B-24D Liberator at Kwanghan Airfield, China^{[lower-alpha 2]}

In late March 1943, the squadron arrived at Chengkung Airfield, China. In order to prepare for and sustain combat operations in China, the squadron had to conduct numerous flights over the Hump transporting gasoline, lubricants, ordnance, spare parts and the other items it needed. The 374th supported Chinese ground forces and attacked airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina. It attacked shipping, mined rivers and ports and bombed maintenance shops and docks at Rangoon, Burma and attacked Japanese shipping in the East China Sea, Formosa Straits, South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin. On 21 August 1943, the squadron conducted an unescorted bombing attack on docks and warehouses at Hankow, China, pressing its attack despite heavy flak and fighter opposition. For this mission it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). Its operations interdicting Japanese shipping in 1944 and 1945 earned it a second (DUC).^[3]

On 26 October 1944, Major Horace S. Carswell, the squadron's operations officer, attacked a Japanese convoy in the South China Sea, meeting with heavy antiaircraft fire, badly damaging his plane. Because of the damage, once he was over land, he ordered the crew to bail out. One crewmember could not bail out because his parachute had been shredded by the enemy fire. Major Carswell remained at the controls to attempt a crash landing, but his Liberator struck a mountain and crashed in the attempt. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.^[3] Carswell Air Force Base, Texas was named in his honor.^[5]

The squadron moved to Rupsi Airfield, Assam, India in June 1945. Its mission again was primarily air transport as it ferried gasoline and supplies from there back into China. The unit sailed for the United States in October 1945, and it was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation on 6 January 1946.^[1][3]

Bomber operations

It was reactivated a few months later in October with new B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers, which were capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union.

By the late 1950s, the B-47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence, and was being phased out of SAC's strategic arsenal. B-47s began the transition to AMARC (also known as the boneyard) at Davis-Monthan in July 1959 and the squadron became non-operational. It was inactivated on 25 June 1961.

Intercontinental ballistic missile squadron

The squadron was reactivated and redesignated as the 374th Strategic Missile Squadro, a SAC LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile missile squadron in 1962. It operated nine Titan II underground silos, construction of which began in 1960; the first (374–9), being operationally ready on 28 Oct 1963. The nine missile silos controlled by the 374th Strategic Missile Squadron remained on alert for over 20 years during the Cold War. The 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion is a 'Broken Arrow' incident occurred at site 374–7 on 19 September 1980 which killed one airman and injured twenty-one personnel in the immediate vicinity (see below).

In October 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced that as part of the strategic modernization program, the Titan II systems were to be retired by 1 October 1987. Inactivation of the sites began on 17 March 1985 with 374-8 being the first; the last was on 15 Aug 1986 involving 374–1, 374–4 and 374–2. The squadron was inactivated the same day.

After removal from service, the silos had reusable equipment removed by Air Force personnel, and contractors retrieved salvageable metals before destroying the silos with explosives and filling them in. Access to the vacated control centers was blocked off. Missile sites were later sold off to private ownership after demilitarization. Today the remains of the sites are still visible through aerial imagery, in various states of use or dereliction.