Based at Camp Kelly, Texas, the squadron trained new pilots as part of the United States Army Air Service until it was demobilized on 21 February 1919.

[c] Until September 1939, the squadron existed only as an inactive cadre of Organized Reserve officers, at Brownsville Municipal Airport, Texas.

The squadron flew patrol and search missions from the Hawaiian Islands, including air support during the Battle of Midway.

[7][9] In June 1942, shortly after the Battle of Midway, the 11th Group was authorized as a mobile force by the Army Air Forces in order to respond to a Navy request by Admiral Nimitz for long-range armed search planes to locate Japanese fleets, accompanied with firepower to withstand defending Japanese interceptors while tracking the fleet.

The 11th Group left Hawaii to support Navy operations in the South Pacific Theater during the Guadalcanal and Northern Solomon Islands Campaigns.

It bombed airfields, supply dumps, ships, docks, troop positions, and other objectives in the South Pacific from July to November 1942, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for those operations.

"[7] After V-J Day, the squadron flew surveillance and reconnaissance missions over China and ferried former prisoners of war to the Philippines.

The following month, it moved to Northwest Field, Guam and began to re-equip with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, but terminated all operations and training by October.

Officially combat-operational in Afghanistan since September 2007, the typical MQ-9 system consists of several aircraft, a ground control station, communications equipment/links, spares, and active duty and/or contractor personnel.