Gen. Billy Mitchell's 1921 off-shore bombing tests and during World War II fought in the North African and Italian campaigns.

Just before embarking upon its first aerial warfare, the squadron decided upon its insignia, a black triangle outlined by a white strip enclosing the profile of a red devil thumbing his nose at the ground with his left hand.

[3] Returned to the United States from France in May, 1919, was re-organized at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas and equipped with Martin MB-2 day bombers.

[3] In May 1920 was temporarily assigned to Langley Field, Virginia and became part of the First Provisional Air Brigade under General Billy Mitchell.

Its mission would be to attack captured German ships along the Atlantic coast off Virginia in a service demonstration to determine whether a battleship could be sunk by bombing.

The Martin bombers (limited to 300-pound bombs by the rules of the service test by the Navy) sank the former German destroyer G-102 in 19 minutes.

The unit transferred to Langley Field on a permanent basis in June 1922 and engaged in routine training; tested and experimented with equipment and tactics; participated in maneuvers; flew mercy missions to aid victims of a flood in Pennsylvania in 1936 and victims of an earthquake in Chile in 1939; and made goodwill flights to South America in the late 1930s.

[3] Re-equipped with more modern B-17F Flying Fortresses and assigned to II Bomber Command in Pacific Northwest for transition and combat training in late 1942 and early 1943.

Flew many support and interdictory missions, bombing such targets as marshalling yards, airdromes, troop concentrations, bridges, docks, and shipping.

Engaged primarily in long-range bombardment of strategic targets after Oct 1943, attacking oil refineries, aircraft factories, steel plants, and other objectives in Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Greece.

On the following day, while on a mission to attack aircraft factories at Regensburg, it met similar opposition equally well and was awarded a second DUC.

Replaced the propeller-driven B-50s with new Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers in 1954, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union.

Began sending aircraft to other B-47 wings as replacements or to storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in late 1962 and was inactivated in April 1963.

On 1 August 1994 B-52H's 60-0008 "Lucky Lady IV" and 60-0059 "Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulez" set off on a round the world bombing mission, named Exercise Global Power 94-7.

[6] The two bombers continued flying east and landed back at Barksdale AFB 47.2 hours later, setting a new world record.

It supported OEF until early 2007 when it began focusing full-time on the continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific Theater.

In 2023 the 96th Bomb Squadron deployed to the Pacific Theater and performed a flyover at Seoul’s Aerospace and Defense Exhibition, landing a B-52 in the Korean Peninsula for the first time in over 30 years.