page_title: 560th Flying Training Squadron
section_title: Combat in Europe
hierarchical_section_title: 560th Flying Training Squadron / History / World War II / Combat in Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17F "Tom Paine" of the 388th Bomb Group, RAF Knettishall, England, World War II.
context_page_description: The 560th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 12th Flying Training Wing of the United States Air Force based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. It operates the Northrop T-38 Talon.
  The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 560th Bombardment Squadron. After training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft in the United States, the unit moved to the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. The squadron was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation on two occasions for its performance in combat. After V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated.
  The squadron served in the reserve from 1947 to 1949, but apparently was only partially manned and equipped. It was redesignated the 560th Tactical Fighter Squadron and activated in 1962. It served in the United States until 1970, training pilots for deployment to Southeast Asia, while maintaining readiness for combat operations. It deployed to Korea during the Pueblo Crisis of 1968. The squadron was again activated in its current role as a flying training unit in 1972.
context_section_description: The squadron assembled at RAF Knettishall, its combat station and flew its first combat mission on 17 July, when it attacked an aircraft factory in Amsterdam.  The squadron primarily engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, attacking industrial sites, oil refineries and storage facilities, communications centers and naval targets on the European Continent.
  The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for attacking an aircraft factory at Regensburg, Germany, on 17 August 1943, withstanding heavy resistance to reach the target.  It was awarded a second DUC for three separate missions: an earlier attack on a tire and rubber factory in Hanover, Germany on 26 July 1943 and two missions in 1944, one against synthetic oil refineries near Brüx, Germany on 12 May and at Ruhland, Germany on 21 June. This last attack was on a shuttle bombing mission from England to Germany to Poltava, USSR, to Foggia, Italy, and back to England.  Other strategic targets included aircraft factories at Brunswick, Kassel, and Reims; airfields at Paris, Berlin and in Bordeaux; naval installations at Emden, Kiel and La Pallice, chemical works in Ludwigshafen; ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt and rail marshalling yards in Bielefeld, Brussels, and Osnabruck.
  The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic campaign to perform air support and interdiction missions.  It attacked military installations in France in early 1944 to help prepare the way for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, and on D Day hit coastal defenses, artillery batteries and transportation targets.  It attacked troop concentrations and supply depots.  In July 1944, it supported Operation Cobra at Saint Lo and the following month attacked targets in Caen.  It struck military installations and airfields near Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, the unsuccessful attempt to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands.  It attacked transportation targets to support the final drive through Germany in early 1945.
caption: 388th Group B-17 in England[note 2]
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