page_title: 524th Special Operations Squadron
section_title: Southwest Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: 524th Special Operations Squadron / History / World War II / Southwest Pacific
caption_attribution_description: English: Unidentified 1941 serial Douglas A-24-DE Banshee (Dauntless) Dive Bomber, ex 27th Bombardment Group, reassigned to the 8th Bombardment Squadron of the 3rd Bombardment Group, 1942. Source: USAAF photo taken at 3d Bomb Group, Australia. http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/3lbg.htm
context_page_description: The 524th Special Operations Squadron is an active squadron of the United States Air Force, based at Duke Field, Florida, with the 492d Special Operations Wing.
context_section_description: The squadron was first activated by General Headquarters Air Force in early 1941 as the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, attached to the 27th Bombardment Group at Hunter Field, Georgia and equipped with Douglas B-18 Bolo Light bombers. In August the squadron was redesignated the 91st Bombardment Squadron and was assigned directly to the 27th Group. On 21 October the squadron was ordered to the Philippines in response to the growing crisis in the Pacific and it sailed on 1 November.
  The squadron arrived at Fort William McKinley in the Philippines and prepared for delivery of its A-24 Banshee dive bombers, however when the Imperial Japanese Army attacked the Philippines in December the situation had not changed. Unknown to the men of the squadron, to avoid capture or destruction of their aircraft, the ship carrying the planes was diverted to Australia.  Members of the squadron flew to Australia to pick up their A-24s from the USAT Meigs. However, because swift Japanese advance prevented the airmen in Australia from returning to the Philippines, these members of the air echelon of the 27th group were ordered to operate from Brisbane.
  The ground echelon of the 27th was evacuated south from Luzon on 25 December to the Bataan Peninsula, arriving to form the 2nd Battalion (27th Bombardment Group), Provisional Infantry Regiment (Air Corps). For the 99 days following the attack on Pearl Harbor until their surrender to the Japanese after the Battle of Bataan, the men of the squadron and other ground elements of the 27th Bombardment Group and other Air Corps units in the Philippines became the only Air Force units in history to fight as an infantry regiment and to be captured as a unit. After surrendering, they were forced to endure the infamous Bataan Death March. Of the 880 or so Airmen who were taken prisoner, fewer than half survived captivity.  However, a number of officers and enlisted men of the 27th Bomb Group were evacuated out of the Philippines in five United States Navy submarines just before it was overrun by the Japanese during April. On the night of 3 May 1942 these subs managed to sneak into Manila Bay and evacuate American personnel from Corregidor to Java and Fremantle, Western Australia.  The squadron continued to participate in combat in the Southwest Pacific 4 May 1942.
  On 12 February pilots of the 91st flew their A-24s to Malang Java in the Netherlands East Indies to defend the island. From 27 February through 1 March, three A-24s of the 91st participated in Battle of the Java Sea.  For its efforts in the Philippines and the Southwest Pacific during late 1941 and early 1942, the squadron received three Distinguished Unit Citations (DUC).
  On 25 March the surviving 27th Bombardment Group personnel were assigned to the 3rd Bombardment Group at Charters Towers Airfield in Queensland, Australia. The remaining A-24 aircraft were added to the 8th Bombardment Squadron. On 4 May the unmanned and unequipped 91st Bombardment Squadron was transferred back to the United States.
caption: Douglas A-24 Banshee Dive Bomber formerly with the 27th Bombardment Group at Charters Towers Airfield, Australia
exif: {}