World War II Established in late 1942 as a
Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter squadron, trained under
Second Air Force in the Pacific northwest. Deployed to the
European Theater of Operations, assigned to
VIII Fighter Command in England in late 1943. Squadron's mission was to provide long range fighter escort for
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and
Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers on strategic bombing missions over
Occupied Europe and
Nazi Germany. In April 1944 received
P-51D Mustang fighter aircraft and continuing its primary task of escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers that attacked such targets as industries and marshalling yards in Germany, and airfields and V-weapon sites in France. The squadron flew air patrols over the
English Channel and bombed bridges in the
Tours area during the
Invasion of France in June 1944. In July the squadron attacked gun emplacements during the
Saint-Lô breakthrough. The unit patrolled the
Arnhem sector to support the
Airborne invasion of the Netherlands in September 1944, and later in December, transportation facilities during the
Battle of the Bulge. During the
Western Allied invasion of Germany, the squadron flew ground support missions by strafing trucks, locomotives, and oil depots near
Wesel when the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945 and continued offensive operations until 21 April 1945. After the German Capitulation, became part of the
United States Air Forces in Europe Army of Occupation, at AAF Station Kaufbeuren, then moved to
AAF Station Giebelstadt in early 1946 where it received its first jet aircraft, the
Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star. Inactivated in August 1946 when personnel were demobilized and aircraft were transferred to the
31st Fighter Group.
Cold War reconnaissance The squadron was reactivated by
Strategic Air Command in 1947 as a reconnaissance squadron, equipped with Boeing RB-17 Flying Fortress aircraft. It flew aerial photography, mapping, charting, and photo reconnaissance missions, some of which flew around borders of the
Soviet Union and over the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany. Little was known about the
air defense capability of the Soviet Union at this time and the most effective way of determining their capability was to probe the borders and see whether they would respond. Gradually the RB-17s and other aircraft mapped the perimeter of the Soviet Air Defenses from the Baltic Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan. The squadron was upgraded to
Boeing RB-29 Superfortress aircraft in 1949 and continued its reconnaissance mission. However, it was again inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions. The squadron was again reactivated in 1950 at
Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, again flying RB-29s performing strategic reconnaissance, charting photography, precise electronic geodetic mapping, and electronic reconnaissance missions, upgrading to
Boeing RB-50 Superfortresses in 1952. In 1953, the squadron was equipped with
Boeing RB-47E Stratojets and conducted a variety of classified overflights of the Soviet Union during the 1950s. Some of these flights were mounted from
Thule in Greenland and probed deep into the heart of the Soviet Union, taking a photographic and radar recording of the route attacking SAC bombers would follow to reach their targets. Flights which involved penetrating mainland Russia were termed SENSINT (Sensitive Intelligence) missions. One RB-47 even managed to fly 450 miles inland and photograph the city of
Igarka in Siberia. Beginning in 1958, used 3 specially modified Stratojets, known as EB-47Es (Tell Two), in Operation Iron Work to monitor Soviet missile tests from
Baikonur,
Tyuratam and
Kapustin Yar. The early EB-47E 'Tell Two' was easily recognizable as the aircraft were equipped with 2 large telemetry pods attached to either side of the fuselage, just aft of the nose, which intercepted data from Soviet data from missile tests. A later version of the 'Tell Two' housed the telemetry pods internally and had a streamlined nose. The USAF long range radar site at Samsum in Turkey, on the south coast of the Black Sea, also assisted in this activity. Missions flown on a reduced scale after February 1958 when events showed the vulnerability of the RB-47 to Soviet air defenses and the development of the U-2 aircraft. When the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing relocated to
Offutt Air Force Base on 16 August 1966, the 38th took over the
Operation Looking Glass mission from the
34th Air Refueling Squadron and operated
Boeing EC-135C as well as operating 3 KC-135R Rivet Stand reconnaissance aircraft. On 1 April 1970 SAC reorganized the Post Attack Command and Control mission and the 38th inactivated and turned the mission over to the newly
2d Airborne Command and Control Squadron. The squadron flew worldwide strategic reconnaissance including in support of the
Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962,
Operation Urgent Fury in October 1983,
Operation El Dorado Canyon in April 1986,
Operation Just Cause in December 1989, and Operations
Desert Shield and
Desert Storm from January–February 1991. ==Lineage==