The squadron operated QB-17 drones and DB-17 controller aircraft, providing aerial targets for surface-to-air and air-to-air missile development programs at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

The unit also used QF-80 Shooting Star jets for aerial gunnery targets for Air Defense Command interceptor squadrons.

The squadron deployed elements to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Nevada Test Site and Pacific Proving Grounds during the 1950s, flying drone Flying Fortresses equipped with air sampling equipment and other instrumentation though atomic and nuclear testing mushroom clouds for post-detonation analysis.

Beginning in 1960, the squadron's QF-80 Shooting Star target drones were replaced by QF-104A Starfighters, modified F-104As that were deemed surplus to United States Air Force requirements.

The drone mission continued at Eglin until June 1971, when it was transferred to Aerospace Defense Command's air-to-air weapons school at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.