393rd Bomb Squadron

History

The 393rd Bomb Squadron is part of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. It operates Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit nuclear-capable strategic bomber aircraft.

The squadron was first organized in March 1944 as the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. In November 1944, the squadron transferred to the 509th Composite Group and began training for the delivery of nuclear weapons. In May 1945, it deployed to the Mariana Islands, where it became the only unit to use nuclear weapons in combat, when its aircraft dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August 1945 and 9 August 1945. After V-J Day, the squadron returned to the United States, and was stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico.

During the early years of the Cold War, the squadron was involved in Operation Crossroads, nuclear weapons testing on Bikini Atoll, and has continued to operate nuclear-capable aircraft since then. At Roswell, the squadron upgraded to Boeing B-50 Superfortresses and later, to jet powered Boeing B-47 Stratojets. In 1958, the squadron and its B-47s moved to Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire. At Pease, it replaced its B-47s with Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses in 1966, and in 1970, became one of only two wings in Strategic Air Command to equip with the General Dynamics FB-111.

With the phaseout of the FB-111 and closure of Pease, the squadron was inactivated in 1990. It was activated at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri in 1993, where it began to receive Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and became operational as the only regular Air Force unit to operate these aircraft.

Text from Wikipedia: 393rd Bomb Squadron, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Key dates

1. 1944
   The squadron began to receive B-29s later in 1944.
2. 1945
   The squadron flew its first atomic mission on 6 August 1945, when the Enola Gay, piloted by the 509th Group Commander, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the bomb known as Little Boy on Hiroshima.
3. 1949
   The squadron began upgrading to the new Boeing B-50 Superfortress, an improved version of the B-29, designed for nuclear weapons delivery, in 1949.
4. 1962
   This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962.
5. 1966
   This decision was reversed, and the squadron received Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses in 1966.
6. 1970
   In December 1970, the 393rd began operations with the FB-111 and resumed alert operations on 1 July 1971.
7. 1999
   The squadron flew its first combat mission in 1999 when two B-2s attacked targets in support of Operation Allied Force.
8. 2025
   On 21 June 2025, the squadron and associated Guardsmen of the 110th launched seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to strike two Iranian nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer.
9. 2026
   On 10 June 2026, the B-2 Spirit Spirit of Texas arrived in Australia as part of a Bomber Task Force rotation built around Exercise Diamond Storm.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone with this unit

A unit history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Morning reports (include Army Air Forces units)
• Search Army and AAF morning reports, 1912–1946 (National Archives Catalog)
• Air Force organizational records and lineage (AFHRA)

More history

• Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Wikipedia: 393rd Bomb Squadron