It saw combat in the European Theater of Operations as an element of VII Fighter Command before returning to the United States, where it was inactivated.

[1] The unit served primarily as an escort organization, covering the penetration, attack, and withdrawal of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber formations that Eighth Air Force sent against targets on the European continent.

It attacked such targets as airfields, marshalling yards, V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket launch sites, industrial areas, ordnance depots, oil refineries, trains, and highways.

Following the invasion it supported ground forces thereafter, including providing cover during Operation Cobra, the Saint-Lô breakout in July.

The squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, part of the New York Port of Embarkation, in October.

In February 1951 the squadron was called to active duty for the Korean War and assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC).

[2][note 1] However, ADC experienced difficulty under the existing wing base organizational structure in deploying its fighter squadrons to best advantage.

The dedicated forward air control mission lasted until the 172nd transitioned to the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, or Warthog, in 1991 and was returned to its first name as a National Guard unit, the 172nd Fighter Squadron.