62d Bombardment Squadron The 62d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the 2d Operations Group at Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana on 18 January 1993 . History . Established in 1941 as a B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron , it was assigned to the GHQAF Northwest Air District in Washington State in July 1941 . It flew antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific Northwest coastline after the Pearl Harbor attack . Its aircraft and crews were sent to Australia in early 1942 , they were assigned to Fifth Air Force units being formed there after the withdrawal of B - 17s from Clark Field in January 1942 after operations from Clark became untenable during the 1942 Battle of the Philippines . The squadron reformed at Davis - Monthan Field , Arizona in February 1942 as a B - 24 Liberator heavy bomber Operational Training Unit under the Second Air Force . It trained new units and replacement crews until heavy bomber training ended in April 1944 . 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 . Strategic Air Command . It was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command B - 52G Stratofortress intercontinental strategic bombardment squadron in 1963 , receiving the mission , personnel , aircraft , and equipment of the 301st Bombardment Squadron , which was inactivated . This was part of a Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) program to provide units with a combat lineage . The squadron performed operational testing of new equipment at Eglin AFB , between 1963 and 1965 ; it was reassigned to Barksdale AFB in 1965 and stood nuclear alert duties . It deployed to the western Pacific and engaged in combat operations over Indochina as part of Operation Arc Light ( 1966 – 1972 ) . The unit returned to training status and stood nuclear alert after the end of the Vietnam War . Aircraft and personnel of the squadron deployed to 806th Provisional Bombardment Wing at RAF Fairford , England , Jan - Mar 1991 ( Operation Desert Storm ) . It was inactivated in 1993 as part of the USAF drawdown after the end of the Cold War and retirement of the B - 52G .