The squadron frequently deployed to support bombers under Operation Reflex until it was inactivated in 1962 as Strategic Air Command converted its refueling force to Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers.

It was activated at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey later that year and has provided aerial refueling to U.S. forces fighting in the Middle East since then.

[1][3][4] When it joined the 42d, the group was dispersed on several bases in the Pacific Northwest to provide greater coverage for antisubmarine patrols with detachments at smaller fields.

[5] While antisubmarine patrols continued, the squadron trained North American B-25 Mitchell combat crews for the Alaskan Defense Command.

[6] The ground echelon assembled at Camp Stoneman for overseas shipment aboard the SS Catalina and the USAT Maui, departing for Noumea on 27 and 28 March.

[6] The air echelon arrived at Nandi Airfield in late April 1943, where it joined its 69th and 70th Bombardment Squadrons, which were already there.

At 0720 eight Mitchells of the 390th Squadron found the cruiser damaged in the previous night's action creeping to friendly waters at a speed of 2 knots.

The successful strafing and parafrag attack shut down all enemy air forces in the area for the next two days, enabling the Navy to withdraw two crippled destroyers and rescue operations and cargo ships to offload troops and supplies at Barakoma airfield without air opposition.

[10] The 42d group began using the new airfield on Stirling Island as a staging point for strikes in early January and relocated there before the end of the month.

[11] However, space was not available for all the group's squadrons on Stirling Island and the 390th continued to use Stirling as a staging base until July 1944,[1] engaging primarily in the neutralization of enemy airfields and harbor facilities on New Britain, but it also supported ground forces on Bougainville Island and attacked shipping in the northern Solomons and the Bismarck Archipelago.

[3] The squadron also detached Mitchells to act as navigation ships for Douglas A-20 Havocs of the 312th Bombardment Group attacking targets in southwestern New Guinea.

[15] From this base on Palawan the squadron attacked shipping along the China coast, struck targets in French Indochina, bombed airfields and installations in the Philippines, and supported ground operations on Mindanao.

[3] Ground support including air delivering DDT over the landing beaches to suppress disease-bearing insects.

Pre mission experiments determined that the squadron's bombers could carry a bomb load over this distance with fuel tanks installed in their radio compartments despite having to take off from a runway damaged by enemy action.

Despite intense and accurate flak, the squadron destroyed gun positions, warehouses, roadblocks, fuel and ammunition dumps, a radar station as well as huge stores of gasoline and oil which the enemy had placed in position to be released into shallow pits oil the beach and ignited when the Australian ground troops made their assaults.

The unit attacked the beach while naval underwater demolition teams operated offshore without losing a man.

[16] The squadron's final combat action of World War II was attacking isolated Japanese units on Luzon during July and August 1945.

The squadron continued periodic deployments to support Operation Reflex, which based SAC B-47 bombers in North Africa and Europe.

[29] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency