January 1944. In late February 1944, the unit participated in Big Week, the intensive attacks on the German aircraft industry. The squadron was occasionally taken off strategic operations to perform air support and interdiction missions. It bombed bridges and airfields near the beachhead to support Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, in June 1944. The following month, it attacked positions of enemy forces opposing Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo. It supported Operation Market Garden, the airborne attacks in the Netherlands near Arnhem, in the fall. From December 1944, through January 1945, it attacked lines of communications and airfields near the battle zone during the Battle of the Bulge. It also supported the Allied crossing of the Rhine and push through central Germany in March 1945. Return to the United States and inactivation The squadron flew its last mission on 26 April 1945 and the majority of the unit's aircraft departed the theater on 24 May 1945. Ground personnel sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 24 June, arriving in the US by the end of the month. The squadron was located at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota a few days later and was inactivated on 24 August 1945. Air Force reserve The squadron was activated in September 1947 in the reserve at Offutt Field, Nebraska, where its training was supervised by the 4131st AAF Base Unit of Air Defense Command (ADC). It was again assigned to the 381st Group, which remained at Offutt Air Force Base when the squadron moved to at Lincoln Municipal Airport, Nebraska in February 1948. Although designated a very heavy bombardment group, it does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped. In 1948 Continental Air Command assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC. President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force, and the 535th was inactivated In June 1949, as reserve flying operations at Lincoln Airport ended. Lineage Constituted as the 535th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 28 October 1942 Activated on 3 November 1942 Redesignated 535th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943 Inactivated on 28 August 1945 Redesignated 535th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 25 August 1947 Activated in the reserve on 15 September 1947 Inactivated on 27 June 1949 Assignments 381st Bombardment Group, 3 November 1942 – 28 August 1945 381st Bombardment Group, 15