After training in the United States, it moved to England in March 1944, helping prepare for Operation Overlord by attacking targets in France.

The following month, it moved to Walterboro Army Air Field, South Carolina, where it began to fly the Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, with which it would be equipped for the rest of World War II.

[3][5] The squadron arrived at its first station in the theater, RAF Christchurch, England in early March 1944 and flew its first combat mission the following month.

The 510th helped prepare for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, by striking military airfields, and lines of communication, particularly bridges and railroad marshalling yards.

[5] Toward the end of June, the squadron moved to Picauville Airfield, France, and for the rest of the war concentrated on providing close air support for ground forces.

It supported Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo in July with attacks on military vehicles and artillery positions.

After immobilizing leading and trailing elements of the 3-mile (4.8 km) long column, the rest of the tanks and trucks were systematically destroyed with multiple sorties.

[6] Its operations from D-Day through September 1944 supporting the liberation of Belgium earned the squadron a citation in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.

The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for action on 24 September 1944 when the 4th Armored Division experienced a counterattack by enemy forces and urgently needed air support.

The squadron left Clark in March 1964 for England Air Force Base, Louisiana, where the 3d Wing was reforming as a tactical fighter unit.

[13] The squadron participated in joint and combined exercises with American and British ground forces and periodically deployed to designated wartime operating bases.

[13] The squadron deployed aircraft and personnel to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey for Operation Provide Comfort to support Kurdish relief in Northern Iraq from 6 September to 10 December 1991, 8 April to 10 June 1992, and from 6 August to 30 October 1992.

[1] In October 1998, the squadron deployed its F-16s to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey to fly in support of Operation Northern Watch.

From September to December 2002, the Buzzards returned to Operation Southern Watch and dropped 136,508 pounds of ordnance over Iraq to include the first use of the GBU-31A Joint Direct Attack Munition in F-16CG combat.