On 7 December 1941, elements of the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron were one of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress units that landed at Hickam Field, Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

From June through October 1944, the squadron was removed from combat operations and was engaged in airlifting fuel to bases in China to support Boeing B-29 Superfortress strikes.

In 1948, it began flying Convair B-36 Peacemakers It converted to Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses and dispersed To Barksdale Air Force Base.

[4] The squadron returned from Europe in the summer of 1919 and in July was stationed at Scott Field, Illinois, where it began to equip with Dayton-Wright DH-4s and Douglas O-2s.

[4][2] In October 1921 the squadron moved from Langley and Charleston to Godman Field, Kentucky to support Army ground forces as part of Fifth Corps Area in 1922, it moved to Wilbur Wright Field, Ohio, where it became the aviation element of the 5th Division, a Regular Army unit that was inactive, but whose headquarters was manned by Organized Reserve officers.

In May 1927, the squadron moved to Brooks Field, Texas, where it was assigned to the Air Corps Training Center, as reserve officers were withdrawn from the 5th Division.

[2] The squadron was assigned once again to a Regular Army inactive unit, the 14th Observation Group, but remained attached to the Field Artillery School.

[4] The squadron dropped food and supplies and flew photographic missions in connection with flood-relief operations in central California, in December 1937.

[4] In October 1941, the squadron and the rest of the 7th Bombardment Group was ordered to move to Clark Field, Philippines to build up forces there due to increased tensions between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Following the attacks in Hawaii and the Philippines, the decision was made to divert the 7th Bombardment Group to Java, where it would be reunited with its ground echelon and begin operations there starting in January 1942.

It spent a brief period flying missions from Nandi Airport in the Fiji Islands, before proceeding to Townsville Airfield, Australia later that month.

[4][2] However, by the time the squadron arrived in the Southwest Pacific, it had been determined that the 7th Group would not remain there, but would be sent forward to reinforce Allied forces in India.

[9] However, Clayton Bissell, commander of Tenth Air Force considered the B-17 unsuitable for the long range operations from India, and in August 1942, the decision was made to convert the group to a Consolidated B-24 Liberator unit.

The squadron attacked airfields, supply dumps, locomotive manufacturing facilities, and vulnerable sites in the Japanese line of communications, including docks, warehouses and shipping.

[8] On 10 June 1944, the squadron was taken off combat operations and provided support for Boeing B-29 Superfortress raids by transporting fuel to bases in China, an operation that continued through November 1944, then the squadron returned to attacking warehouses, shipping, and troop concentrations in Burma, although it maintained a detachment based at Luliang Airfield, China that continued the fuel transportation mission through January 1945.

It received a Distinguished Unit Citation for an attack on railroads and bridges in the Kra Isthmus of Thailand, the narrowest point on the Malay Peninsula.

[10] In June 1945 it moved to Tezpur Airfield, India, which placed the squadron on the same station as the 7th Group for the first time since it left the United States.

The squadron departed India in December 1945 and was inactivated on reaching Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, the Port of Embarkation, on 6 January 1946.

[10] In October 1946, the squadron was reactivated at Fort Worth Army Air Field, along with other elements of the 7th Bombardment /group and equipped initially with B-29 Superfortress bombers,[4][2] and trained in global bombardment operations, flying simulated bombing missions over various cities, as well as performing intercontinental training missions over the Pacific and later to Europe.

[11] In November 1948, the wing began to receive B-36Bs, which were capable of carrying nuclear weapons,[12] By 1951, almost all B-36As and B-36Bs had been withdrawn from service to be modified to newer configuration.

[16] SAC began to disperse its B-52 bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.

[4] Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.

[19] Soon after detection of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, on 20 October all B-52 units, including the 436th, were directed to put two additional planes on alert.

The squadron continues to provide classroom instruction for over 10 courses to students from every major command and multimedia productions used throughout the Department of Defense.

[4][3] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Bergin, Bob (2019).