61st Bombardment Squadron The 61st Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the 70th Bombardment Wing . It was last stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base , Arkansas , and was inactivated on 25 June 1962 . History . Established in November 1940 as a B - 17 Flying Fortress Heavy Bombardment squadron organized at Fort Douglas , Utah ; assigned to the GHQ Air Force Northwest Air District at Geiger Field , Washington where the squadron flew training missions and also reconnaissance missions along the Northwest Pacific Coast . After the Pearl Harbor Attack , became first an Operational Training Unit ( OTU ) at Davis - Monthan Field , Arizona , later converting to a B - 24 Liberator Replacement Training Unit ( RTU ) . B - 29 Superfortress operations against Japan . Re - designated on 1 April 1944 as a B - 29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment squadron . When training was completed moved to North Field Guam in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area in January 1945 and assigned to XXI Bomber Command , Twentieth Air Force . It ' s mission was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands and the destruction of its war - making capability . Flew " shakedown " missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island , Truk , and other points in the Carolines and Marianas . The squadron began combat missions over Japan on 25 February 1945 with a firebombing mission over Northeast Tokyo . The squadron continued to participate in wide area firebombing attack , but the first ten day blitz resulting in the Army Air Forces running out of incendiary bombs . Until then the squadron flew conventional strategic bombing missions using high explosive bombs . The squadron continued attacking urban areas with incendiary raids until the end of the war in August 1945 , attacking major Japanese cities , causing massive destruction of urbanized areas . Also conducted raids against strategic objectives , bombing aircraft factories , chemical plants , oil refineries , and other targets in Japan . The squadron flew its last combat missions on 14 August when hostilities ended . Afterwards , its B 29s carried relief supplies to Allied prisoner of war camps in Japan and Manchuria Squadron remained in Western Pacific , although largely demobilized in the fall of 1945 . Some aircraft scrapped on Tinian ; others flown to storage depots in the United States . Inactivated as part of Army Service forces at the end of 1945 . Reactivated in 1947 in the reserve at Hamilton Field , California , but it is unclear whether or not the unit had any assigned aircraft of personnel . It was inactivated in 1949 due to budgetary reductions . Strategic Air Command . Reactivated under Strategic Air Command in 1955 as an RB - 47 Stratojet squadron flying strategic reconnaissance missions to meet SAC ' s global reconnaissance commitments from October 1955 – 1962 , but on a reduced scale after February 1958 when events showed the vulnerability of the RB - 47 and the development of the U - 2 aircraft . Converted to standard B - 47 medium bombers in late 1961 but inactivated in 1962 prior to becoming combat ready . Consolidation . The 61st Bombardment Squadron was consolidated with the 961st Airborne Warning and Control Support Squadron 19 Sept , 1985 . The 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron now operates E - 3 AWACS aircraft out of Kadena Air Base , Japan .