It was active during World War II in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator unit, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany.

Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and began training with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas.

The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for continuing an attack on an oil refinery near Vienna, Austria on 26 June 1944 despite heavy fighter opposition.

It also hit communications lines and other targets during March and April 1945 to support the advance of the British Eighth Army in northern Italy in Operation Grapeshot.

In late July, it reassembled at Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa and was redesignated as a very heavy unit the following month.

With the advent of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, the B-29 was no longer considered a very heavy bomber, and the squadron was redesignated as a medium unit in July 1948.

[1] The B-50 gave the unit the capability to carry heavy loads of conventional weapons faster and farther as well as being designed for atomic bomb missions if necessary.