The squadron moved temporarily to Tonopah Army Air Field, Nevada, where it performed dive bombing and gunnery training.

[6] The "Drunken Duchess"[note 1] docked at Greenock, Scotland on 3 April and the group was transported by train to its airfield at RAF Stoney Cross, England.

[5] Having trained on single engine aircraft, the squadrons's pilots were surprised to find Lockheed P-38 Lightnings sitting on Stoney Cross's dispersal pads.

[11] For the remainer of the month, the unit flew fighter sweeps, bomber escort and dive bombing, missions and suffered its first combat losses.

[12] On D-Day and the next three days the squadron flew missions maintaining air cover over shipping carrying invasion troops.

The 393d and other P-38 units stationed in England were selected for these missions with the expectation that the distinctive silhouette of the Lightning would prevent potential friendly fire incidents by anti-aircraft gunners mistaking them for enemy fighters.

[13] Shortly after the Normandy invasion, on 12 June, the 367th Group was selected to test the ability of the P-38 to carry a 2,000 lb bomb under each wing.

[14] By mid June German ground forces had withdrawn to defend a perimeter around Cherbourg Harbour, a major port whose capture had become more important to the allies with the destruction of Mulberry A, one of the artificial harbors constructed near the Normandy beachhead.

Briefed by intelligence to expect a "milk run" The 394th flew at low altitude through what turned out to be a heavily defended area.

[16] From Ibsley the group struck railroads, marshaling yards, and trains to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching the front during Operation Cobra, the Allied breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July 1944.

After the breakout of ground forces in the Saint-Lô area, the squadron concentrated on close air support of General Patton's Third Army.

In late August, the squadron attacked German Seventh Army convoys which, to prevent being surrounded, were withdrawing eastward from the Falaise pocket.

The 392d Fighter Squadron dive bombed and destroyed two hangars on one airfield but were jumped by twelve Focke-Wulf Fw 190s as they completed their attack.

[7] In late October, as Ninth Air Force brought its medium bombers to bases in France, the 393d was bumped from its station for the second time by the 387th Bombardment Group, when it moved to Juvincourt Airfield, north of Reims.

During the Battle of the Bulge, the 394th, after escorting C-47s on a resupply drop to encircled troops at Bastogne, conducted an armed reconnaissance of the Trier area.

The 367th Group's target was the headquarters of Field Marshal Kesselring, the German Commander-ln-Chief, West,[note 3] at Ziegenburg near Bad Nauheim, Germany.

Aircraft of the leading 394th Fighter Squadron would attack at low level to achieve surprise, carrying a 1,000-pound bomb under each wing.

[21] Although senior German officers reached the underground bunkers and survived the attack, the group reduced the military complex to ruins, disrupting communications and the flow of intelligence at a critical time.

[7] The squadron struck tanks, trucks, flak positions, and other objectives in support of the assault across the Rhine late in March and the final allied operations in Germany.

[7] On 1 July it was announced the 393d was to redeploy to the Pacific Theater after it was re-equipped with and trained with long range P-47Ns in preparation for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan.

When Japan surrendered, the Morton was diverted to Newport News, Virginia, while the Ericcson sailed for Staten Island, New York.

On active duty it assumed an air defense mission and initially remained assigned to the 133d Fighter-Interceptor Group at Duluth Municipal Airport.

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

The squadron upgraded in 1954 to the radar equipped Lockheed F-94 Starfire all-weather interceptor, armed with .50 caliber machine guns.

The 179th TRS deployed seven RF-4Cs to Erding Air Base in West Germany between 3 and 23 August 1979 as part of Exercise Coronet Bridle.

The return to alert and air defense was accompanied by the McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II tactical fighter,[26] most of the unit's aircraft being veterans of the Vietnam War.

[29] On 10 March 1990, the 179th FIS received the first variants of the F-16A Fighting Falcon air defense fighter (ADF) to take over from the F-4D Phantom II.

[33] The 179th EFS deployed to Southwest Asia as part of Operation Inherent Resolve between April and August 2018, flying nearly 3,500 hours across over 600 sorties.