History
Activated in early 1941 by the Army Air Corps as a medium bomber squadron during the pre-war mobilization by the United States. Performed coastal patrols as part of First Air Force with B-18 Bolos and early-model B-26 Marauders.
Deployed to Australia in early 1942 to reinforce Fifth Air Force after its withdrawal to Australia. Re-equipped with B-25 Mitchell medium bombers and flew missions from Northern Queensland over New Guinea. Moved to forward airfields in New Guinea and followed MacArthur's advance along the northern coast of the island into the Netherlands East Indies flying tactical bombardment missions against Japanese strong points and airfields. Moved to Luzon, Philippines, as part of the United States liberation forces in 1945, then moved to Okinawa during the summer in preparation for the Invasion of Japan. Moved to Japan and became part of the Occupation Forces. Inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions.
Reactivated in France in 1953 as a NATO B-57 light bombardment squadron, equipped for night bombardment with nuclear weapons. Moved to West Germany in 1958 as a MGM-1 Matador tactical missile squadron when the unit was ordered out of France. Remained as a tactical missile unit until 1966 when the Mace was retired.
Read more about this topic: 405th Tactical Missile Squadron
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“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)