page_title: 859th Bombardment Squadron
section_title: Antisubmarine campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 859th Bombardment Squadron / History / Antisubmarine campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Maryland National Guard crews assigned to the 104th Observation Squadron prepare to board their North American O-47 aircraft at Logan Field in Baltimore, Maryland (USA), prior to a training sortie on 1 March 1940. Less than a year later, the 104th was mobilized in anticipation of World War II.
context_page_description: The 859th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. it was first activated in October 1942 as the 517th Bombardment Squadron, when the Army Air Forces replaced National Guard observation units that had been mobilized and were performing antisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic coastline. A month after its activation, the squadron was redesignated the 12th Antisubmarine Squadron. In August 1943, the Army Air forces began turning the antisubmarine patrol mission over to the Navy and the squadron moved to California, where, as the 859th Bombardment Squadron, it formed the cadre for the 492d Bombardment Group.
  After deploying to England, the 492d entered the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, but in three months of combat, suffered the most severe losses of an Eighth Air Force bomber group. The 492d Group was withdrawn from combat in August 1944, and the 859th moved on paper to replace the 788th Bombardment Squadron, which was engaged in Operation Carpetbagger, dropping agents and supplies behind German lines, primarily in France. As American forces advanced in France, this special operations mission diminished.
context_section_description: The squadron was first activated at Atlantic City Airport, New Jersey as the 517th Bombardment Squadron on 18 October 1942, when the 377th Bombardment Group replaced the 59th Observation Group at Fort Dix Army Air Field and assumed its mission, personnel and equipment.  It was initially equipped with the Stinson Vigilants, Douglas O-46s and North American O-47s of the 104th Observation Squadron, which it replaced at Atlantic City.  but converted to Douglas B-18 Bolos and North American B-25 Mitchells the following year. The squadrons of the 377th Group were at various bases along the coast between Delaware and New Hampshire.
  In October 1942, the Army Air Forces organized its antisubmarine forces into the single Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, which established the 25th Antisubmarine Wing the following month to control its forces operating over the Atlantic. Its bombardment group headquarters, including the 377th, were inactivated and the squadron, now designated the 12th Antisubmarine Squadron, was assigned directly to the 25th Wing. The squadron moved to Langley Field, Virginia in January 1943. In July 1943, the AAF and Navy reached an agreement to transfer the coastal antisubmarine mission to the Navy. This mission transfer also included an exchange of AAF long-range bombers equipped for antisubmarine warfare for Navy Consolidated B-24 Liberators without such equipment.
caption: 104th Observation Squadron O-47s
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