Its most recently active predecessor was an air defense missile squadron in the northern United States from 1960 to 1972.

[1] After the United States entered World War II the group was ordered to search for German U-boats and to fly aerial coverage of friendly convoys off the northeast Atlantic,[2] protecting the Boston and New York City shipping lanes.

[citation needed] The squadron deployed to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba and was attached to the Caribbean Sea Frontier of the United States Navy to patrol northern Caribbean waters, then to airfields in Jamaica, Trinidad and Surinam during 1942, flying antisubmarine missions.

[citation needed] The squadron moved to southwestern England in June 1943 and was reassigned to 479th Antisubmarine Group in July.

[1] It flew killer hunts against German U-boats in the Bay of Biscay[3] off the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border.