History
From 14 May 1943 to 21 April 1945, the squadron conducted strategic bombardment of shipyards, submarine bases, marshaling yards, oil facilities, airfields, and aircraft plants. On occasion, it flew tactical sorties against gun emplacements, rocket sites, enemy troops, and communications centers.
On 17 August 1943, it earned its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC), striking targets at Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany. Soon after, on 14 October 1943, the squadron participated in the war's single most important raid on ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt.
On 9 April 1944, it earned a second DUC in an attack on aircraft component factories at Poznań, Poland. The squadron subsequently attacked enemy field batteries and miscellaneous targets in support of Normandy operations on 6 June 1944.
Beginning in 1968, B-52 aircraft and crews deployed to Southeast Asia (SEA) for bombardment operations. For much of the conflict, the squadron furnished aircraft and crews to SAC organizations based in SEA. When the Air Force switched to the B-1 Lancer, the 337th was the first unit to fly the new bomber.
As part of the 53d Test and Evaluation Group, the 337th conducts testing of various upgrades to the B-1, as well as trains aircrews to operate and maintain the upgraded aircraft. The squadron has been currently working on the increasing the B-1's weapons payload, attempting to increase the bomber's ability to deliver weapons into heavily defended areas.
Read more about this topic: 337th Test And Evaluation Squadron
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)