However, because swift Japanese advance prevented the airmen in Australia from returning to the Philippines, these members of the air echelon of the 27th group were ordered to operate from Brisbane.

[2] The ground echelon of the 27th was evacuated south from Luzon on 25 December to the Bataan Peninsula, arriving to form the 2nd Battalion (27th Bombardment Group), Provisional Infantry Regiment (Air Corps).

However, a number of officers and enlisted men of the 27th Bomb Group were evacuated out of the Philippines in five United States Navy submarines just before it was overrun by the Japanese during April.

[note 3] On the night of 3 May 1942 these subs managed to sneak into Manila Bay and evacuate American personnel from Corregidor to Java and Fremantle, Western Australia.

For its efforts in the Philippines and the Southwest Pacific during late 1941 and early 1942, the squadron received three Distinguished Unit Citations (DUC).

After additional training in Mississippi and Louisiana, the group moved to Ste-Barbe-du-Tlelat Airfield, Algeria, arriving on 26 December[1] to enter combat in North Africa with Twelfth Air Force.

[2] The squadron took part in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, and assisted Seventh Army's advance up the Rhone Valley, receiving a fifth DUC for helping to disrupt the German retreat on 4 September 1944.

[2] The 524th took part in the air interdiction of the enemy's communications in northern Italy, and assisted in the Allied drive from France into Germany during the last months of the war.

[2][3] Less than a year later, in June 1947, the squadron was transferred without personnel or equipment to Bad Kissingen Airfield, then to Andrews Field, Maryland where it was assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC).

The first production F-82Es reached the 27th in early 1948, and almost immediately the unit deployed to McChord AFB, Washington in June where its squadrons stood on alert on a secondary air defense mission due to heightened tensions resulting from the Berlin Airlift.

From McChord, the group flew its Twin Mustangs on weather reconnaissance missions over the northwest Pacific, but problems were encountered with their fuel tanks.

Unused Northrop F-61 Black Widow external tanks were found at Hamilton AFB, California that could be modified for the F-82 which were fitted on the pylons of the Twin Mustang that solved the problem.

The flyover by the Twin Mustangs was a tremendous success, with SAC leadership being amazed that the F-82 was truly an all-weather aircraft and the unit able to carry out their mission despite the weather.

For President Truman's 1949 inauguration, the squadron's parent 27th Fighter Wing launched 48 aircraft to fly in the review in formation down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Two months later SAC decided to close Kearney AFB and the 524th transferred to Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas on 16 March.

The squadron participated in the deployment of 180 F-84s from Bergstrom AFB to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base Germany in September 1950, via Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and England, delivering the Thunderjets to the 36th Fighter-Bomber Group.

The squadron departed Bergstrom on 11 November refueling at Williams AFB, Arizona en route to San Diego, California.

[1] TAC assigned the squadron to Twelfth Air Force and the unit re-equipped with the new McDonnell F-101A Voodoo, which had been planned under SAC.

[1] With the withdrawal of the F-100 from Vietnam in 1970, and the phaseout of the aircraft from the active Air Force inventory, the 27th TFW began conversion to the General Dynamics F-111.

The unit was the major force provider for the 524th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, where it was assigned to the 4404th Operations Group, Provisional.

During the exercise, they dropped inert GBU-24 Paveway III laser-guided bombs and fired live AGM-65 Maverick antitank missiles on Utah test range.

On 11 September 2001 when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., aircraft from the squadron went on air defense alert.

In December 2002, the 524th deployed to Kuwait and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, dropping nearly a million pounds of precision guided munitions, more than any other F-16 Block 40 squadron in history.