It served in combat in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

Although briefly active in the reserve from 1947-1949, the squadron was primarily a Strategic Air Command bomber unit with Boeing B-47 Stratojets.

[4] The squadron and its aircraft arrived at its first true overseas station, Oran Es Sénia Airport, Algeria, in early January 1943.

bridges airfields, road junctions, viaducts, harbors, fuel and supply dumps, defense positions and other targets in Italy.

It supported Operation Avalanche, the landings near Salerno, on the Italian mainland, and knocked out targets to aid the seizure of Naples and to cross the Volturno River.

[3][4] In November 1943, the squadron moved to Decimomannu Airfield on Sardinia[3] to be better positioned to attack targets in central and northern Italy.

It bombed bridges, railroads, gun positions, barracks, supply and munitions dumps and other targets in France and Germany unitl V-E Day.

Near the end of the war, on 15 March 1945, the squadron bombed pillboxes, weapons pits, trenches and roads within the Siegfried Line to enable the breakthrough of the United States Seventh Army, for which it was awarded a second DUC.

[12] The 443d was inactivated when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system in June 1949.

[3] In December, the squadron began training the cadre of B-47 aircrews for the 96th Bombardment Wing, which had been activated at Altus Air Force Base with only minimum manning as that station was being reopened.

This was designed to meet General Thomas S. Power’s initial goal of maintaining one third of SAC’s planes on fifteen minute ground alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.

[19][20] However, SAC was relying on the longer range Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, deciding to reduce the number of B-47 wings at March Air Force Base from two to one.

[21] In November 2018 "[a]s the fight against ISIS continue[d] in the border region between Iraq and Syria, security forces defenders from the 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron integrated with Iraqi Security Forces and other coalition partners to launch the first joint base defense exercise at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.

[23] Airmen deployed to the unit are required to perform in multiple skill areas, not only their specialties to keep the base running with the smallest number of personnel.