page_title: 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Gleaming in the warm sunlight, B-17G 44-8020 was the lead aircraft for the 49th Bombardment Squadron from 23 July 1944 until VE-Day. Seen dropping 500-lb RDX bombs just weeks after its arrival in the MTO. the aircraft had its radar 'dustbin' extended, although the lack of cloud on this particuiar day would surely have meant that the bombardiers attacked using their Norden sights. (USAAF Photograph)
context_page_description: The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. Its current assignment is with the 53d Wing, based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
  The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an Air Combat Command unit tasked to support and conduct operational testing for the B-52. The Squadron is responsible for the conduct of the entirety of B-52 operational test programs. Additionally, the squadron also conducts the Nuclear Weapon System Evaluation Program of the Air Launched Cruise Missile. To accomplish its mission, the squadron employs two assigned operational aircraft for operational test via Air Force Global Strike Command.
context_section_description: During the early stages of the Second World War (WWII), the 49th conducted anti-submarine operations on both the Pacific and Atlantic coast prior to being sent to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). From 28 April 1943 to 1 May 1945, the 49th conducted air operations in both the Mediterranean and European theaters as part of the 2nd Bombardment Group, 5th Combat Wing, Fifteenth Air Force stationed at Navarin Airfield, Algeria, flying the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. During 1943, the group moved five times: to Chateaudun-du-Rhumel Airfield, Algeria; Ain M'lila Airfield, Algeria; Massicault Airfield, Tunisia; Bizerte, Tunisia; Amendola Airfield, Italy. Some of the important missions the 49th participated in were: the monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy, on 15 February 1944; enemy troop concentrations at Anzio beachhead on 2 March 1944; and the oil refineries at Ploiești, Romania, throughout the spring of 1944. The last mission was flown on 1 May 1945 against marshalling yards at Salzburg, Austria. On 29 October 1945, the group finally moved to Foggia Airfield, Italy, where it remained as part of the occupation forces and was inactivated on 28 February 1946. By the time the 49th was inactivated, it participated in 412 combat missions flown over Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Hungary.
caption: This B-17G was the lead aircraft for the 49th Bombardment Squadron from 23 July 1944 until VE-Day[note 2]
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