425th Bombardment Squadron The 425th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last assignment was with 308th Bombardment Wing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base , New York , where it was inactivated in 1961 . The squadron was active in the CBI as a B - 24 Liberator unit . History . Activated in early 1942 in Idaho as a long - range B - 24 Liberator bombardment squadron under Second Air Force . For the next three months little training occurred while the unit worked through its growing pains , resolving administrative and personnel acquisition difficulties . Then a totally new problem arose . . . all but four personnel were transferred to the 330th Bombardment Group ! While active on paper , it wasn ' t until September that personnel were taken from the 39th Bombardment Group to form a headquarters cadre for the 308th Group , again making it a viable unit . On 29 September the squadron was designated an Operational Training Unit ( OTU ) with Wendover Field , Utah as its home station . The unit was fully manned by November , after receiving personnel from the 18th Replacement Wing . During this time of trials and tribulations in forming a recognizable force , the flying echelon had transferred to Davis - Monthan Field , Arizona , on 20 June for incidental training . The flight crews had been chosen and assigned , having completed their respective training schools ; i . e . , pilot , navigator , bombardier , engineer , radio and gunnery . Members of the 425th had to complete three phases of training prior to moving overseas and entering combat . The flying personnel spent most of October in transition training with the B - 24 , training combat crews as well . Meanwhile , the ground echelon was acquiring , organizing and processing personnel and supplies at Wendover Field . With the training complete and the personnel and supplies processed , the 308th Bomb Group and the 425th BS officially transferred to Fourteenth Air Force in China early in 1943 . The air echelon began flying its ' brand new ' B - 24D Liberators from Morrison Field , Florida on 15 February 1943 . Traveling by way of the South Atlantic Transport Route though Central and South America , the Azores , Central Africa , Arabia and finally India ; while the ground echelon traveled by ship across the Pacific Ocean . The squadron arrived in India and made many trips over the ' Hump ' between India and China to obtain gasoline , bombs , spare parts , and other items they needed to prepare for and sustain their combat operations . The 425th supported Chinese ground forces ; attacked airfields , coal yards , docks , oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina ; mined rivers and ports ; bombed maintenance shops and docks at Rangoon , Burma ; attacked Japanese shipping in the East China Sea , Formosa Straits , South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin . The squadron moved to India in June 1945 , ferrying gasoline and supplies from there back into China . The unit sailed for the United States , where it was inactivated on 6 January 1946 . The squadron was activated again in 1958 as Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) ' s Boeing B - 47 Stratojet fleet reached a peak of twenty - seven wings and SAC added a fourth squadron to each wing . However , newer and more capable Boeing B - 52 Stratofortress es and the number of Strategic Wings equipped with dispersed B - 52s more than doubled between 1959 and 1960 . In March 1961 , President John F . Kennedy directed that the phaseout of the B - 47 be accelerated . As a result , the squadron became non operational in July 1959 and was inactivated on 25 June 1961 , and its aircraft were sent to storage with the 2704th AF Aircraft Storage and Disposition Group at Davis - Monthan AFB , Arizona .