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2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron | CBI


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2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron | CBI

 

Lineage

Activated 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Air Route, Medium, 1 Feb 44;  Inactivated 28 Dec 45

 

Assignments

III Reconnaissance Command [3AF], Jan 44; 10th Weather Region [10WS? / 10AF?], Eastern Air Command [Allied Air Command w/RAF], 14 Oct 44

 

Components

Guskhara India, home base

 

Ceylon to Comilla to Chabua. Flew weather recon for Combat Cargo Task Force, ATC and the "Little Hump" (Ratmalana Air Field near Colombo, Ceylon to Chabua).

 

China: Hsing-Ching Army Air Base in Chengtu China area of Szechuan China. The China flight rotated back to India then to Calcutta or Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for R&R. No major maintenance could be done at Comilla so it was done at Guskhara.

 

Stations

Key Fld, Meridian, MS, Jan 45; Guskhara Fld, India, 14 Oct 44

 

In August 1944 the squadron departed for the China-Burma-India theater. Mission: to fly weather route reconnaissance over the Hump, from Barrackpore/Guskhara India, to Kunming China and synoptic flights over the Indian Ocean and the stormy Bay of Bengal.

 

The 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron operated south to India, the Bay of Bengal, Burma and the Indochina peninsula, and east to China, providing weather data in these areas and also weather scouting for frequent flights "over the hump" into China. It was the first AAF weather reconnaissance squadron trained and equipped to operate in a theater of operations. Some of the equipment and many of the procedures used in gathering meteorological data had been devised by members of the squadron This squadron was the pioneering weather reconnaissance in the theater, and in many respects weather reconnaissance in its entirety.

 

China: Hsing-Ching Army Air Base in Chengtu China area of Szechuan China. The China flight rotated back to India then to Calcutta or Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for R&R. No major maintenance could be done at Comilla so it was done at Guskhara.

 

Weather data procured by the squadron were of great assistance to the forecasters of the Calcutta and Chengtu weather centrals of the 10th Weather Region. Data obtained over Burma, in the Bay of Bengal and in adjacent waters was used by the British Fleet in operations that followed. Information obtained on missions flown by the squadron was used in direct support of operations of the XX Bomber Command and other tactical units both against targets in China and the India-Burma sector.

 

The missions flown over the Bay of Bengal and adjacent waters and land areas were carried out to the maximum range of the squadron aircraft often times at deck level. In China all missions were flown off the beaten track over hazardous unchartered terrain in the face of extreme weather conditions and probable enemy interception. All missions were single plane operations performed without benefit of fighter escort in heavily loaded medium bombardment B-25 type aircraft modified and equipped for long range weather reconnaissance. All operations called for extremely precise work on the part of all crew members over and above that normally expected and demanded in other type operations. The B-25s' APQ-13 radars worked so well for storm detection that the guys decided to try them on the ground.

 

Much of the operational flying of this unit was accomplished over terrain and waters controlled by the enemy. In order to obtain the extreme ranges desired it has been necessary to carry dropable, non-selfsealing bomb-bay tanks despite the ever present possibility of enemy interception and attack. The fact that contact with the enemy has been successfully avoided on all missions denotes extreme care on the part of all crew members concerned in planning and completing all missions. Operations in China have been carried out to such areas as South Peiping, the Yellow Sea coastal regions, the Hankow area, and other areas in which the enemy is situated in force. In the India-Burma sector in addition to the extensive over-water operations carried out, daily aircraft have penetrated into enemy territory in the immediate vicinity of such highly defended targets as Bangkok, Moulmein and Rangoon.

 

Theater-made. Hand-painted on leather.

 

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References

AWRA Organizational History

Additional history at CBI History web site, here.

 

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