73d Bombardment Squadron The 73d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the 4241st Strategic Wing , based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base , North Carolina . It was inactivated on 15 April 1963 . History . Established in late 1941 as a pursuit squadron in the Hawaii Territory , initially equipped with obsolete P - 26 Peashooters , later with some early model Curtiss P - 40C Warhawks . Most aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Wheeler Field during the Pearl Harbor Attack ; squadron was reassigned to Bellows Field for re - equipping , being re - formed by May 1942 and redesignated as a Fighter Squadron assigned to the new Seventh Air Force . Deployed to Midway Island after the Battle of Midway as a defensive squadron , providing air defense of the island . Reassigned back to Hawaii at the beginning of 1943 , remained part of the Territory ' s air defense forces . Received P - 47D Thunderbolts in late 1943 ; deployed to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands . During the Marianas Campaign , worked closely with Marine ground forces , pioneered close infantry support and employed the first use of napalm . On Saipan the squadron was attacked by Japanese ground forces in June 1944 on Aslito Airfield soon renamed Isley Field , Saipan , sustaining modest casualties . Pilots and ground personnel took a crash course in infantry tactics afterward . Received the new long range P - 47Ns in early 1945 , before moving next door to Okinawa on Ie Shima . With the P - 47N the squadron pioneered Very Long Range ( VLR ) fighter operations across the Pacific with missions of historic length and duration : Kauai to Midway Atoll , Midway to Kaneohe and Makin to Jaluit and Maloelap . By 1945 , with the long range P - 47Ns , VLR sorties were the rule rather than the exception . In April 1945 the squadron began flying 1300 mile escorts and sweeps from Iwo Jima to Honshu . In May 1945 the 73d advanced to le Shima where they reached out to Japanese targets in Kyu - shu and China . During the summer of 1945 was reassigned to the Twentieth Air Force and continued its fighter sweeps against Japanese airfields and other targets , in addition to flying long - range B - 29 escort missions to Japanese cities , until the end of the war . Assigned to Eighth Air Force on Okinawa in August 1945 , shortly after V - J Day . Returned to the United States and inactivated in Jan 1946 . Activated in the postwar air force reserve , but never manned or equipped . Inactivated due to budget shortages in 1949 . Reactivated in 1952 as a Strategic Air Command RB - 36 Peacemaker strategic reconnaissance squadron at Ramey AFB , Puerto Rico ; flew very long range intelligence gathering missions over the borders of the Soviet Union , North Korea and Communist China . until 1959 when the B - 36 was retired . In 1959 was reassigned to SAC provisional 4241st Strategic Wing , being re - equipped with B - 52G Stratofortress intercontinental heavy bombers . Was reassigned to Seymour Johnson AFB , Texas by SAC to disperse its heavy bomber force . Conducted worldwide strategic bombardment training missions and providing nuclear deterrent . Was inactivated in 1963 when SAC inactivated its provisional Strategic Wings , redesignating them permanent Air Force Wings . Squadron was inactivated with aircraft / personnel / equipment being redesignated 51st Bombardment Squadron in an in - place , name - only transfer .