page_title: 30th Bombardment Squadron
section_title: Inter-war years
hierarchical_section_title: 30th Bombardment Squadron / History / Inter-war years
context_page_description: The 30th Bombardment Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. On 19 September 1985 it was consolidated with the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, also known as the United States Air Force Thunderbirds. The squadron was first activated in 1917 when the United States entered World War I as the 30th Aero Squadron. It deployed to France in the fall of 1917 and served as a construction unit throughout the war, returning to the United States at the end of 1918 for demobilization. It was reconstituted as the 30th Bombardment Squadron in March 1923 and served with reserve personnel during the decade. In 1932, the squadron became a regular unit, serving at bases in California.
  The squadron, which had equipped with early models of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, deployed to the Philippines in the fall of 1941 to reinforce the American garrison there. The squadron's base at Clark Field was attacked on 8 December 1941. During the month of December, the squadron withdrew through the Philippines to Darwin, Australia, although it continued to stage through Philippine bases through the spring of 1942.
context_section_description: The squadron was reconstituted as the 30th Bombardment Squadron on 24 March 1923 and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group in inactive status.   In June 1926, it was organized as a Regular Army Inactive (RAI) unit, at Langley Field, Virginia, with its personnel serving as associates of the 20th Bombardment Squadron there.  This organization lasted only a few months, and in February 1927, the reservists were withdrawn from the unit, and it was reassigned from Third Corps Area to Ninth Corps Area.  On 15 January 1930, it was again organized as an RAI unit, training at Kelly Field.
  On 24 June 1932 the reservists assigned to the squadron were withdrawn and it was activated at Rockwell Field, California and assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group.  At Rockwell, the squadron was equipped with a variety of amphibious aircraft and light bombers. The squadron moved on 25 October 1935 to March Field, California when the Army and the Navy executed an agreement that transferred Rockwell and two other Army fields to the Navy. At March, the squadron transitioned to the Martin B-10 bomber. It participated in 1st Wing maneuvers in 1935 and 1938 and General Headquarters Air Force maneuvers in 1938.  It also participated in joint exercises, including coastal defense exercises in 1937, an antiaircraft exercise in Pennsylvania in 1939 and an amphibious landing exercise near Fort Ord, California in 1940.
  The 30th became a heavy bombardment squadron in December 1939 when it received its first Boeing B-17B Flying Fortresses. The B-17B was the first production version of the Flying Fortress, and the squadron was upgraded to the faster and better-armed B-17C in late 1940, and to the B-17D in 1941.  Its primary mission was to train pilots and navigators in heavy bomber operations.  In May 1941 the squadron ferried Flying Fortresses to Hickam Field, Hawaii to transfer them to the 11th Bombardment Group. The squadron remained in Hawaii for two weeks to train the 11th's aircrews on their new planes.  This mission also provided the squadron with experience in long range overwater flights that would prove valuable in a few short months.
  In October, the squadron, along with the 93d Bombardment Squadron and headquarters of the 19th Group undertook the first mass flight across the Pacific, as they flew to reinforce American forces in the Philippines.  The 30th was in the lead for this movement, with all but one of the group's planes in place at its new station, Clark Field, on Luzon by 10 November.  The 10,000-mile trip had been conducted almost entirely over water.  The squadron's ground echelon was already at Clark, having sailed on the USAT Willard A. Holbrook on 6 October. When the 19th Bombardment Group arrived in the Philippines, it absorbed the two bomber squadrons already there, the 14th and 28th Bombardment Squadrons.  The 28th was equipped with obsolescent planes and the decision was made to evenly distribute the group's B-17s among its squadrons.  As a result, in November, the squadron lost two of its Flying Fortresses and absorbed aircrews with no experience on the B-17.
caption: 19th Bombardment Group Martin B-12 at March Field, California
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