After brief training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft, it was one of the first heavy bomber squadrons to deploy to the European Theater of Operations.

The squadron uses the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, a remotely piloted aircraft that provides full-motion, high-definition video surveillance.

[7] The following month, it moved to Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and also flew antisubmarine patrols.

[5] The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in Scotland on 10 June and at RAF Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, the following day.

The squadron's B-17s began arriving at Grafton Underwood on 1 July, where they formed part of the first heavy bomber group assigned to Eighth Air Force.

Most pilots had not flown at high altitudes on oxygen; some gunners had never operated a turret, much less fired at a moving target.

The squadron's first weeks in England were devoted to intensive training, with numerous specialists attending Royal Air Force (RAF) schools to prepare for combat.

[6] In September, the 97th Group and its squadrons were transferred to XII Bomber Command in the preparations for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.

[6][8] Through May 1943, the squadron engaged in the campaign to cut German supply lines in North Africa by striking shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and bombing docks, harbors, airfields and marshalling yards in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and southern France and Italy.

[6] The group also flew air support and interdiction missions against enemy lines of communication, airfields and transportation facilities.

[13] Its Predators were previously deployed in Iraq, where they flew missions surveilling elements of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which continued from Incirlik.

[2] While in flight, video footage was transmitted to operators at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

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