493rd Bombardment Squadron

     The 493rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) was activated at Karachi, India on 25 October 1942. Like it's sister squadron, the 492nd, the 493rd at first had neither aircraft nor air crew, having to wait until the 9th and 436th Bombardment Squadrons had completed their transition from the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" to the Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" before receiving either aircraft or crews to man them. By 31 December 1942 the 493rd was at Pandaveswar Airdrome with the 9th Bombardment Squadron, preparing for it's first operational mission. On 26 January 1943 the 493rd saw it's first action, bombing the dock area of Rangoon, Burma. The 493rd was later designated as the AZON guided bomb unit for the 7th Bombardment Group, making first use of this weapon on 27 December 1944, when three specially equipped B-24s of the 493rd used one bomb each to destroy a bridge at Pyinmana, Burma

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