359th Bombardment Squadron

359th Bombardment Squadron
Lockheed B-47E Stratojet 52-3363
Active	1942-1945; 1947-1947; 1951-1964
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Bombardment
Part of	Strategic Air Command
Motto(s)	Caveat Emptor Latin Let the Buyer Beware (from 1956)
Engagements	European Theater of Operations
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
359th Bombardment Squadron emblem
World War II tail and fuselage codes	Triangle C, BN

The 359th Bombardment Squadron was a United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 303d Bombardment Wing, stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 15 June 1964.

The 359th Bombardment Squadron was established in February 1942 as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron at Pendleton Field, Oregon and assigned to the 303d Bombardment Group. It moved to Gowen Field, Idaho, where it trained under Second Air Force. The squadron deployed to Southern California to fly antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific. The 359th completed training in southwest by August 1942. The ground echelon departed Biggs Field, Texas in August 1942, arriving at Fort Dix on 24 August. It sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary and arrived in Great Britain on 10 September. The air echelon flew through Kellogg Field, Michigan and Dow Field, Maine before ferrying its planes across the Atlantic.

Due to the haste to move heavy bombers to Europe, the squadron was insufficiently trained for combat and it continued to train in England until it entered combat on 17 November 1942 in a strike against Saint-Nazaire, but returned without striking, having been unable to locate its target. It attacked Saint-Nazaire the following day, although its intended target was La Pallice. Its initial raids were on airfields, railroads and submarine pens in France. As a unit of one of only four Flying Fortress groups in VIII Bomber Command during late 1942 and early 1943, the squadron participated in the development of the tactics that would be used throughout the air campaign against Germany.