It served in the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat actions.

[1] On 1 November, the squadron moved to Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho, where it began to act as a Operational Training Unit.

The ground echelon left Pyote on 16 April for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey in the New York Port of Embarkation, sailing on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 5 May and arriving in Scotland on 13 May.

It attacked airdromes, aircraft factories, harbors, oil refineries, railway yards, shipyards, and other industrial targets in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

Targets included airfields at Bordeaux and Augsburg; marshalling yards at Kiel, Hamm, Braunschweig, and Gdynia; aircraft factories at Chemnitz, Hanover, and Diósgyőr; oil refineries at Merseburg and Most, and chemical works in Wiesbaden, Ludwigshafen, and Neunkirchen.

In the preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, it bombed coastal defenses, railway bridges, gun emplacements, and field batteries in the battle area prior to and during D-Day in June 1944.

[3] After V-E Day, the 338th flew food missions to the Netherlands and hauled redeployed personnel to French Morocco, Ireland, France, and Germany.

An American White Pelican struck the Rockwell B-1 Lancer traveling at 600 ft (180 m) and about 645 mph (1,038 km/h) with 6 military aboard, and the damage caused a fire.

A 5,000 ft (1,500 m) low-level restriction was temporarily enacted,[14] and modifications to increase the aircraft design from 6 pounds to withstand a 10-pound strike were complete by December 1988.

Explanatory notes Citations This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency