On 4 February 1944 thirty-three officers and men from the 29th were sent from the Galapagos Is. to Orlando, Florida to attend a School of Applied Tactics. At this time no details about the type of school, length of attendance, etc. is known.

During March of 1944 only two events occurred important enough to be added to this history. The first incident was the rescue of a disabled seaman from a tanker off the coast of Cristobal Island. Capt. Walter H. Hunt, Flight Commander of the 29th B.S. and pilot of the B-24 that aided in the immediate rescue of the seaman filed the following report: On March 21, 1944, a tanker en route to the Galapagos, at a point about sixty miles east of San Cristobal island, radioed this base for aid. An emergency existed because of the sudden illness of one of the tanker's crew. The crash boat was sent out to intercept the tanker and take the sick man aboard and return to this base. At 1700 G.C.T. the boat had reached a point about forty miles from the probable position of the tanker. We took off in a B-24 to guide the boat to the tanker. After finding the crash boat, we flew the same course that it was sailing until we picked up the tanker on radar. We circled the tanker and headed back to the crash boat, directing them to take up a corrected heading. We then flew back to the tanker, and after many attempts, got the tanker to change course so that it was headed towards the crash boat. When the sick crewman had been taken aboard and the crash boat was under way for the Galapagos we returned to the base.

At the end of the month, March 31, 1944, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived at the base. She was greeted by Lt. Robert K. Roberts and T/Sgt. Stanley Rudnich, the Mess officer and Mess Sgt. Given a partitioned metal tray Mrs. Roosevelt helped herself to portions of crumb fried sea bass, string beans, pickled beets, apple pie and coffee. Seated at the hosts table were S/Sgt John May, Pvt. Bruno Vincris, Cpl. Alexander Gifford, T/Sgt. Walter Wright, Pfc. Arthur Mix and M/Sgt. Norman Smith who answered all questions asked by Mrs. Roosevelt. The evening of her arrival an informal reception in her honor was held at the Officers Club where she mixed with the officers and civilian workers. The next morning she visited Mess Hall #1 as the guest of Lt. Estaban Negrow and the Mess Sgt., S/Sgt. Frank Lopez. Given a G.I. mess kit and cup, she had coffee and toast. She freely mixed with the troops and her guest at the table were T/Sgt. Carlos Portocarico, Cpl. Marvin Kurtzman, Pfc. Harold Rivero, 1st. Sgt. William Villa, S/Sgt. Jose Mora, Sgt. William Freeman and Pvt. Jorge Farquet.

On 3 April 1944, orders from Headquarters VI Bomber Command were received outlining the movement of all heavy bombardment squadrons in the command as follows: A. 3rd Bomb Squadron from David to Howard Field. B. 29th Bomb Squadron from Galapagos to Howard Field. C. 74th Bomb Squadron from Guatemala to Rio Hato D. 397th Bomb Squadron from Rio Hato to Galapagos Special order #66 APO 662 issued the order of transfer for the 29th Bomb Squadron dated 8 April 1944. Beginning the 10th of April all of the Air Echelon plus key personnel, were ferried to Howard Field in B-24's. Capt. Wilkinson took charge of the advance party, which left by air several days earlier. Approximately 180 enlisted men sailed by boat the same week. By 16 April 1944 the entire squadron had moved to Howard Field. This move resulted in the morale of the troops reaching a new high.

On 17 April 1944, Maj. Ford stationed at Howard Field, took off in a L-1 for Cape Mala to arrange for the payment of some of the personnel at remote sites. Late that afternoon he was not heard from and three B-24's of the 29th initiated a search covering the entire area south and west of Cape Mala with no success in locating the aircraft. The visibility was near zero. The following day, 18 April 1944 three more B-24's from the squadron searched further, this time to the south and east of Cape Mala with negative results. It turned out that Maj. Ford, with one passenger, was rescued by a boat shortly after a forced landing and taken to Nicaragua.

On 27 April 1944 all B-24's available from the squadrons assembled at Rio Hato. The mission was to stage a surprise attack on the locks of the Panama Canal the following morning. Flights of two and three planes were assigned various tracks. An element of surprise was enhanced by the aircraft approaching the locks from different directions with altitudes between 6000 and 9000 feet. Despite a 9/10th cloud cover over the locks and the Gatun Spillway the mission was considered successful, though dangerous, because of the poor flying conditions.

The Legion of Merit was awarded to T/Sgt. Elroy W. Arnold on 29 April 1944 for exceptional meritorious conduct in performance of his duties as Radar Operator and Technician on duty with the squadron while patrolling the approaches to the Canal Zone.

Training within the squadron came to a temporary halt on 5 May 1944 when the 29th Bomb Squadron replaced the 20th Troop Carrier Squadron in the transportation of freight, mail, and passengers to all outlying bases in the Caribbean Area. The schedule ceased on 10 May 1944, began again and continued until 21 May 1944. B-24s from the squadron stopped at the following bases: San Juan, Aruba, Curacao, Managua, San Jose, Guatemala City, Salinas, 'Talara, and the Galapagos Islands.

The following men were assigned to the squadron effective 21 May 1944: 2nd Lt. James 0. Barrett, 2nd Lt. Kenneth J. Bogart, 2nd Lt. Carl G. Beard Jr. and on 22 May 1944 2nd Lts James Lindenmuth and Graydon P. Sheen. The above officers were rated "Unlimited Copilot" B-24D type aircraft.

On two occasions, planes from the 74th, 3rd, and 29th Bomb Squadrons made simulated attacks on the Canal. one of these flights, because of the weather, was flown at an altitude of 6000 feet. The last attack, on 7 June 1944, came closer to actual combat conditions. B-24s from the squadrons assembled over Rio Hato, climbed on course to David to an altitude of 20,000 feet. From there all planes, in formation, crossed the Isthmus to the Atlantic side, and through a 9/10th cloud cover, struck the Gatun Locks and the Madden Dam.

An extract from the squadron S-3 report for the month of June 1944 states "Our combat crew training has been more diversified during the past period, an effort being made to train the crews in all phases with which they are required to be familiar with. The combat crews have spent three weeks flying patrols between San Jose, Guatemala and the Galapagos Islands.

On 17 June 1944 the following men were assigned to the 29th Bomb Squadron:

On 17 June 1944 the following men were assigned to the squadron:

The arrival of submarines in the Caribbean area, and the torpedoing of three ships, resulted in the alerting of the 29th Bomb Squadron at 0900 GCT on 5 July 1944. The same morning, patrols by the 74th, 3rd, and the 29th were flown from France Field. Numerous disappearing radar contacts were encountered, giving proof to the theory that several submarines were covering the area from 400 to within 100 miles of the Canal. On 11 July 1944, an enemy submarine was sighted by a ship heading for the Canal at 10-OON 78-44W. Patrols were flown by the Navy around the "Hot Spot" the remainder of the day and throughout the evening. The B-24s continued the search the following day,12 July 1944 without success. Under orders from VI Air Force, 9 July 1944, 6 B-24s were dispatched to Vernon Field, Jamaica to continue the Anti submarine operations. Eight B-24s continued to patrol from Howard Field, four from Curacao, N.W.I. and two from Francis Field. These patrols were flown daily until 17 July 1944 when the search was discontinued.

A mock attack against a U.S. Navy force took place on 30 November 1944. Three planes from the 29th B.S. piloted by Lt.'s Smith, Jenkins, and Lange completed a successful mission against the naval force. The battleship "Nevada". was the largest and most well known ship in the naval force.

The 29th Bomb Squadron was transferred from Rio Hato to Howard Field on 8 December 1944. The movement was made by plane and motor transport. The remainder of the month was devoted to training, both flying and ground classes. The squadron also participated in three CPX missions during the month.

3rd Bomb. Sq.

August 1944

During the month, many bombing missions were flown by the Third and other squadrons of the Command in chemical warfare bombing of San Jose Island in the Gulf of Panama to test the effectiveness of chemical agents laid by aircraft in tropical conditions. This work and the results were of a highly confidential nature.

74th Bomb. Sq.

July 1944

On July 19, six of the 74th's planes and four planes from the 29th Bomb. Sq. flew a special mission over San Jose Island. Nine. planes dropped eighty-six H.S. bombs. Practically all the bombs were duds because of faulty fuses. On July 25, another mission was flown over San Jose Island by nine planes, six from the 74th and three from the 29th Bomb. Sq. This mission was successful. Reports from the Island indicated that the concentration was two hundred percent better than theoretical predictions.

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